1988 Mercury Grand Marquis

[cherniydiavel]

That's a really great deal, with tons of potential! Btw, my OD kicks in at light throttle around 35MPH, normal driving 40-45 MPH. Full out, over 85.

[marquis_82_withneons]

Way ahead of ya my friend. 82 has already been lowered a bit. Mild suspension parts and looks great also. Future involves a 302 in it with a centrifugal supercharger.

As do the 88 im still having issues with that OD. As you said cherniydiavel, I was expecting it to kick it at 40ish. My 82 works like that as well.

On a similar note. It still has the plastic tv kickdown bushing. Anyone got a spare brass one around? Or should I just hop on ebay again?

[marquis_82_withneons]

did some mods the 88 recently. new straight piped exhaust under the car. ditched the burnt out glass pack for a new Y , stuck in an S shape to deleted the muffler, and a new tailpipe. sounds nice and quieter inside. the water leak is fixed, had another pop up, was an issue witht the threads stripping off the plastic radiator drain plug. got a bolt with an oring and now works wonders haha.

got the dash cleaned up, popped out the blue light diffusers and put in new green LEDs behind the cluster. green also in the coach lamps on the pillars. stuck in a CD player i got for free, and put my vintage license plate on.

next up is a set of recycled and plastidipped turbines along with rotors as i have a baaaad vibration and new shoes for the rear cause the parking brake is hanging up. just over 400 in her at the moment

updated pics will be up in a few hours

[88Vic]

I wish I had gone the single exhaust route on my Lincoln. Yeah the duals flow more and sound better but for the price I think single with no muffler would have been better bang for the buck for a stock lopo. The H-pipe is way more expensive than the y-pipe, I should have just had a pipe welded in place of the single muffler and let it alone, but oh well.

[marquis_82_withneons]

that worked well for mine. i work at Advance Auto, so i got a discount but i think my complete exhaust was something like 50?.. it was super budget-y

[88Vic]

A guy who used to live at my apartment has an 82 TC and he had just taken the stock muffler off and left the open mid-pipe. It sounded good, told him he should put a flex pipe on it and reattach the tailpipe so he wouldn't get fumes in the car but he said he never smelled any unless he sat in one spot for a while.

I'd like to know what a single exhaust would sound like with no cats or muffler, that'd be the ultimate cheapo high performance exhaust.

[sly]

sounds really mean and pretty loud, but still no go. All bark and no bite as it were. It is obnoxiously loud without the cats though. It's amazing how much cats shut up the lopo.

[88Vic]

I know, my neighbor has a 96 Mustang GT and it has 6 cats, at least they all look he same, I would assume they didn't put in resonators that look identical. It has short glasspacks and it's very mild. My Lincoln is the same, very mild for no mufflers at all. I'm sure with only a pair of new Walker 3-way cats would be a good deal louder, and flow much better.

The engine output makes the biggest difference. The 96 isn't too powerful but a good bit louder than my Lincoln. I think when he takes the 255 out and drops in a built 302 it'll be louder and sound a lot better with twice the power output.

[marquis_82_withneons]

my 82 merc has legit duals. mustang shortys with no cats dropped down to 2" with glasspacks. no H pipe. it sounds nice. after i put the 302 in ill be running an H with borla muffs.

as for the 88 merc in this thread. shes still got her cats but no muffler. sounds decent. and still very quiet inside. FI 302

[marquis_82_withneons]

finally got around to some more work on the 88. got the new rotors up front and repacked the bearings. sooooo much smoother now. but as luck would have it she sprung a leak again.. after repeated filling the radiator from the previous small leak most of the system was water... which froze.. and my gf drove it to work WITH THE ENGINE LIGHT ON.... till the just gave up and stopped.. after a day we went back to car. dumped some hot water down it and got it fired up brought it home and wow... steaming the whole way. we thought for sure it was a freeze plug or head gasket. after it wass all said and done it ended up being the steel tube running under the plenum that had a pinhole in a weak rusty spot. fixed that... and yet again another leak... now its the radiator. but thats a story for another day as it will be done soon.

on a more positive note. i came across a real gem at the scrapper last year in the form of a $15 rice muff off a hyundai.. didnt really have a use for it till i got the 88. after doing just the pipe on the car and driving it awhile i decided wasnt happy with the sound, so a friend of mine welded this one up real nice for me. and it sounds amazing. i cant believe the difference in tone and i love it.. doesnt look teh best but it sounds good and its just a work beater untill we fix her up.

[sly]

Need exhaust video

[88Vic]

That's awesome, junkyard parts kick ass. Definitely agree, need an exhaust vid. Then scrap the cats for cash, and get another vid

[Rodentkiller]

Time to teach the girlfriend about car care and what that idiot light means and what to do...

[marquis_82_withneons]

new radiator and stereo went into the ol 88 thursday. sounds sooooo much better in there. got an old 12" kicker with an audiobahn amp laying around. so ima throw them in there to balance out the sound. still gonna get the exhaust vid up as well but its been cold as balls lately and rainy/wet, so hopefully in a day or so ill get a vid up here.

[Mainemantom]

Time to teach the girlfriend about car care and what that idiot light means and what to do...

When the idiot light comes on, there needs to be some hands on work to check things out !