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My New 1978 Ford LTD

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    #76
    Originally posted by Hearsesrock427 View Post
    Just read through this whole thread. VERY interesting car you got there, a bona-fide stripper barge! To think there used to be tons of big old beasts like this around..... and now they're next to unobtanium. It's incredible what happens when callousness and neglect get their way. I wasn't at all surprised to hear the fluids weren't flushed and there were gasket issues from sitting. People just stop caring and let stuff go to waste. The fact you don't have any holes despite this being parked outside for 6 years is incredible. You'd think all the ice wedging and dew accumlating would've killed something. Betting she'd look extra mean slicktopped, and it'd help cut down on water traps. Deleting the trim with it carries additional practical benefits. Namely even fewer water traps and less weight. It's up to you as to how far to go with such things.

    First year with a project is going to be boring, as you likely know by now. Gotta catch up on 20+ years of neglected maintenance, replace wear items, etc. You've got a good start already! Shame she had drums at the rear though; full size Fords could be had with 4 wheel discs from '76-'78. Guessing it was an extra cost option, and it would've been at odds with the stripper in this LTD. So it wasn't ordered with them. At least you've got a really solid base for a torque monster build! Early pre roller cam 351Ws can run roller cams with link bar lifters (thanks to khead for that insight!).... all the sex of roller cams with none of the odd factory roller cam 351W cracking issues. Read all about those '94-'96 specific issues on some other forums, either Corral or SBFtech.
    Thanks! Yeah, I love the fact that it's so bare bones. I think if the Custom 500 wasn't fleet only by '78, the guy who originally bought this would have picked one of those up to save even a few more bucks. It's crazy how Ford sold millions of these cars and they're getting very rare. I only know of two or three other LTDs of this era on Long Island and that's only after following years of Craigslist/eBay searches. Who knows if they're actually still kicking as of today. I haven't seen another one in person on the road in about 12 years.

    I actually had a guy stop and talk to me for a bit while I was working on the car the other day in my driveway. (I live on a busier street). The car is definitely an attention getter even in it's current state. Surprisingly, my '89 also gets compliments too from time to time. I had someone call it a "sweet ride" while I was unloading my stuff for a gig at a bar the other month and a kid just the other day at CVS gave it a compliment as well.

    Also, you're absolutely correct about the unobtanium. Parts are getting really scarce for non normal wear items... and even those are going to soon be all gone. (God I hope Moog doesn't stop selling stuff, they're one of the last good brands making new steering parts) I plan on stocking up on extra sets of stuff while I can because I feel like with every purchase from RockAuto, another thing goes "Out of Stock" forever. Two points on that matter: The drums. I had to reuse the original ones because I literally cannot find replacements. They just don't exist unless I can find another similar year LTD rotting in a junkyard somewhere in a neighboring state with halfway decent drums. Also, crank window door handles. RockAuto had the nice replacements up until just last week. I went to finally grab them to keep as backups and now they only have the plastic Dorman cheapo replacements that I've read are just absolute garbage. Damn. Looks like I'll be on eBay looking for some NOS Motorcrafts to pop up...

    I actually don't find the regular maintenance and rot fixes as boring. I sort of enjoy the headache. Thanks for the info on the roller cam. I'll be sure to keep that in the back of my head. I do plan on tearing down and upgrading some stuff in the engine once I square all the body stuff away.
    Last edited by slack; 06-02-2016, 02:00 AM.

    '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

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      #77
      Coffee Can Exhaust Patch & Differential Fluid Change

      This past weekend I decided to use a coffee can I had to do a quick patch of one of the exhaust leaks that was right after the cats. It was making the car a little obnoxious with how loud it was. Until I figure out exactly what I want to do with the exhaust, the quick patch seemed like the quickest, cheapest and simplest solution. That said, I still don't have much time left with the rest of the exhaust, the muffler is in such a state of rot that some hard bumps will probably send it to it's final grave. (Had that happen to my '84 Celebrity one night... hit a pothole and the muffler was just gone.)

      Coffee can used:
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      Can opener to remove both top and bottom:
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      Slice down the middle with the cutoff wheel:
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      Some paint, hose clamps and tada! All good for now:
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      I also changed the diff fluid while the weather was nice as I assumed it was the same as all the other nasty fluids in this car and even though it's only 2.47 gears in the back, I really didn't want to blow them up.

      Differential tag showing my rear end info:
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      Inside of the housing looked fine:
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      Oil was nasty as expected... but strangely didn't smell as strong as the new stuff.
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      I gave the cover plate a coat of high temp paint like I do with almost everything I take off:
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      All installed and ready to go: The cover plate will look more fitting once I get to POR-15ing the back of the car.
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      To refill, I used the Harbor Freight gear oil pump and it worked awesome. In the past I've always used those shitty orange transfer pumps that everywhere sells and they suck. I feel like I've broken almost every one that I've used. (They just pop apart). This thing stayed together and made the refill a breeze. Link to what I'm talking about

      '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

      Comment


        #78
        Moving right along buddy, I love it! There was a time not long ago i'd have considered these cars goofy and dumb, but they really set the stage for the box panther cars that I've now come to love, and with that, comes a love of the older, weirder variety of big Fords. I always get a kick out of watching movies of the era and seeing these clumsy boats thrown around for dramatic effect. Let's face it, they were pretty much state-of-the-art at the time and set the stage for better and better vehicles to follow. To see an example as clean as yours is an inspiration to others that these relics should be rescued, loved, and driven. Cheers!

        Comment


          #79
          Heater Core Replacement

          Another update. Spamming my own thread.

          Today I got around to replacing the heater core and hoses that I originally bypassed when I first got the car as it was busted and pouring coolant all over the place. The heater core box is located in the engine bay on the firewall and was really easy to get to unlike the panther cars. There were about five bolts that held the top cover on and other than that, you just needed to move the vacuum tree out of the way (two bolts to the firewall) and disconnect/move stuff so you have room to pull the heater core out. Getting to the hose clamps in the front of the engine was a bit more annoying but no where near impossible.

          Cover removed and stuff moved out of the way. I ended up just cutting the hoses as they were being difficult and I had replacements anyway.
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          Here's the heater core box cover that I was talking about. To the left is this plastic thing that sits between the heater core and the cover. It looks like it originally had foam on it but all that was mostly disintegrated.
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          Old nasty busted heater core:
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          Inside the heater core box. You can see some of the foam that's fallen to the bottom. (This would later fly out of the vents into my face when I was testing the new heater core...)
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          Old vs. New. I reused the sticky goopy stuff from the side tanks on the original and put it on the new one. As you can see, the top ports aren't the exact same spacing/direction. This made the fit tight when reassembling but it wasn't impossible. (Heater core used was a Spectra)
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          Installed. Ready for plastic piece and cover:
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          I decided to paint the cover and the little bracket that mounts to it while I had it off the car. I ran out of high temp black paint but still had some dark silver. Not my first choice in color but it'll do. It's mostly just to help prevent rust anyway.
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          All reassembled!
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          All in all, I think it took me 2 hours with waiting for the paint to dry. It was really a surprisingly quick job. After topping the coolant back up and running it through a test. The heat works. It's not crazy hot when the fan is on high, but pretty decent on lower fan speeds. I'm guessing this might have to do with the lack of foam insulation in the heater box or just a less efficient heater core? Might also be air in the system as well. I'll top the coolant off again tomorrow when the engine is cool again.

          '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

          Comment


            #80
            Originally posted by knucklehead0202 View Post
            Moving right along buddy, I love it! There was a time not long ago i'd have considered these cars goofy and dumb, but they really set the stage for the box panther cars that I've now come to love, and with that, comes a love of the older, weirder variety of big Fords. I always get a kick out of watching movies of the era and seeing these clumsy boats thrown around for dramatic effect. Let's face it, they were pretty much state-of-the-art at the time and set the stage for better and better vehicles to follow. To see an example as clean as yours is an inspiration to others that these relics should be rescued, loved, and driven. Cheers!
            Thank you very much for the kind words! I think the goofiness is part of what drew me to this era of barges. Where everywhere else in the auto industry they were downsizing for fuel economy, Ford decided to stick it out and still push forward with these massive behemoths until '79 model year and '80 for the Lincolns. (Gas prices be damned!)

            They sure are clumsy to drive. Next paycheck I'm looking at picking up some new shocks (possibly springs too) as this car is a little nerve wracking on the highway at 60+mph if you hit a pot hole. The body role is also impressive. The fact there's no arm rest, even with a seat belts, you could be flying over to the passenger's seat if you hit a turn too hard. (and visa-versa)

            '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

            Comment


              #81
              Hahaha I love it! Hilarious to watch these things in movies damn-near scraping the mirrors off in turns. There's a certain romance to it though and hell yeah, here's to FoMoCo for keeping the huge cars alive long after it seemed like a good idea. They paid the price on the mustangs but quickly and efficiently sorted that out, building a world-beater out of the lowly fox chassis. Not sure if i'd go late '70s LTD but I definitely want a barge Lincoln. Time will tell what happens with that but it sure to shit isn't in the cards now. If I had a large driveway and a good amount of spare cash, i'd have one of all of them, or two!

              Comment


                #82
                Now that is how a heater core job should be. Nice and convenient to get to.
                ~David~

                My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
                My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

                Originally posted by ootdega
                My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

                Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
                But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

                Originally posted by gadget73
                my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.




                Comment


                  #83
                  Your heater core is the perfect example of why older is better. Things were designed to be serviced and repaired. I think car manufacturers quit thinking about that after 1980.
                  1990 Country Squire - weekend cruiser, next project
                  1988 Crown Vic LTD Wagon - waiting in the wings

                  GMN Box Panther History
                  Box Panther Horsepower and Torque Ratings
                  Box Panther Production Numbers

                  Comment


                    #84
                    1991 Mercury Grand Marquis LE SOLD

                    1972 Ford F100 Custom - 5.9 - Stock

                    2011 Ford Fusion SE - 2.5 - Stock

                    2018 Toyota Highlander XLE

                    Comment


                      #85
                      Your doing a great job with the LTD. The heater core job seemed easier than any new car could be.
                      If you ever find a 75-78 LTD in a wrecking yard, strip it of as many parts as possible. Especially the inside plastic parts. With the scrap metal prices as low as they are now, you might find one in a junkyard.
                      My 75 is still in storage. Maybe I will get it out in a few days. It is time to sell it. Whoever gets it MIGHT get all the spare parts for it. If the buyer wants to beat me up on the price, no spare parts will go with the car.

                      Comment


                        #86
                        Originally posted by Mainemantom View Post
                        Your doing a great job with the LTD. The heater core job seemed easier than any new car could be.
                        If you ever find a 75-78 LTD in a wrecking yard, strip it of as many parts as possible. Especially the inside plastic parts. With the scrap metal prices as low as they are now, you might find one in a junkyard.
                        Thanks and agreed. The heater core job couldn't of been much easier.

                        Yeah, if I ever run across one in a junk yard, I'm going to town on it. There was potential plans to go junk yard hunting sometime later this summer, but I'm not holding my breath just yet.

                        '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

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                          #87
                          New Fuel Sending Unit and Discovery of Carb Leak

                          Earlier this month I replaced my fuel sending unit. Before doing so, I tested the gauge with a few resistors on the plug by the tank to verify that it moved the correct amount for the correct amount of resistance. (I think it was between 10ohms and 90ohms? I don't have my book on me, but it was close to that).

                          After pulling the old sending unit out, I noticed it looked okay actually. The float had just sank. The arm still did a nice smooth sweep through the resistance range when plugged up the multimeter.

                          Old Float:
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                          Old sending unit without the float:
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                          I don't have pics of the replacement but it looked exactly the same. I've been running with the new sending unit for a week or so now (though I haven't really put any miles on the car) and I might switch the good float over to the old unit. I've noticed that the needle stays pinned all the way on full and hasn't moved yet even though I know I've must have used something. I'll see how it goes as the tank gets lower. They should act about the same as their resistance sweep was a very similar range.

                          At least now I know I won't get stuck on the side of the road because I ran out of gas (Hopefully).

                          Moving on from this, I went ahead and wanted to tune the carb better. It would run pretty awful. It didn't really like to idle and would always die coming from a stop sign cold.

                          While messing with the idle screws and checking the vacuum lines, I noticed that there was wetness pooling on the one side of the carb and running down the intake manifold. The idle mixture screw on that side of the carb wasn't really doing anything. (I could put it 100% in or way out and it didn't change the idle).

                          Here's the leak:
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                          Seeing this, I gave up on trying to get the carb tuned right as it had a gasket leak in the EGR spacer. I ordered a new gasket set from Felpro to replace the old ones.

                          '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

                          Comment


                            #88
                            Carb and EGR Spacer Gasket Replacements

                            It took a few days to get the gaskets but they came in. The kit includes the intake to EGR spacer, EGR spacer to carb and EGR gasket.

                            First step, I took a bunch of pictures of all the vacuum lines and where they go. (Not going to bore you with that). After that, disassembly was a cake walk. I think it took all of 15 minutes. Just had to pop the vacuum lines off, disconnect the fuel lines, disconnect the choke heater tube and plug. Then there were just four nuts holding the whole thing together.

                            Ready to come off:
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                            Off:
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                            Here you can see where the gasket failed on the EGR spacer:
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                            Intake side: (It was pretty caked on there. I used a shop vac to make sure all the rust flakes were vacuumed before taking the carb off and then again as I was scraping)
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                            EGR spacer cleaned and ready to go back on:
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                            No pic of final assembly because it just looks like it did before I took everything off.

                            I plugged my vacuum gauge to the brake booster vacuum line and hooked up my timing light with a tach to the car. I set the initial idle mixture screws a turn and a half out. After the car was warmed up, I backed out each screw a half turn at a time watching the vacuum gauge and making sure it went up. I also brought the idle back down if it started to go higher than where I started.

                            All in all, I was pretty happy with the results. I got it idling in drive at around 600rpms hot (that's what the emission sticker says it should be).

                            I also managed to get around 20in of vacuum pressure in idle:
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                            Next on the to-do list is to figure out where the hell this came from though. When I disconnected my vacuum gauge, it had fluid built up in the line:
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                            It sort of has the consistency of transmission fluid when I compared it to some fresh Type F. I'm now wondering if the vacuum modulator on the transmission is leaking internally letting trans fluid seep into the vacuum lines. Woo!
                            Last edited by slack; 07-22-2016, 01:45 AM.

                            '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

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                              #89
                              Originally posted by slack View Post
                              ...After topping the coolant back up and running it through a test. The heat works. It's not crazy hot when the fan is on high, but pretty decent on lower fan speeds. I'm guessing this might have to do with the lack of foam insulation in the heater box or just a less efficient heater core? Might also be air in the system as well. I'll top the coolant off again tomorrow when the engine is cool again.
                              I've been slacking on following this things progress! You've been a busy dude. Nice job on the brakes btw, you replaced all of the offending garbage and that's the way to do it in my book.

                              As for the heat, I'd say that's probably spot on. It's just a dinky looking heater core but when you think about it, the more time the air has to pass through the heater core, the more heat it will pick up and deliver to you. Same holds true with the A/C. So in the winter with any car if you really want to sweat, turn the fan down to medium or low once you get the chill out of the air. Same with the A/C.
                              1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
                              1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

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                                #90
                                Originally posted by slack View Post

                                Next on the to-do list is to figure out where the hell this came from though. When I disconnected my vacuum gauge, it had fluid built up in the line:
                                [ATTACH=CONFIG]45758[/ATTACH]

                                It sort of has the consistency of transmission fluid when I compared it to some fresh Type F. I'm now wondering if the vacuum modulator on the transmission is leaking internally letting trans fluid seep into the vacuum lines. Woo!
                                Think you've got this one figured out.
                                1990 Country Squire - weekend cruiser, next project
                                1988 Crown Vic LTD Wagon - waiting in the wings

                                GMN Box Panther History
                                Box Panther Horsepower and Torque Ratings
                                Box Panther Production Numbers

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