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Buyer's Remorse (AKA "Hideous") - Giraffe's 1990 Grand Marquis LS

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    Excellent work. I would dread performing that task while engine still installed. You have some good patience.

    One can go gasket-less between the egr spacer and throttle body if you are not using the egr coolant ports. Would just need to cap off the two ports so the idle wouldn't raise up because of that potential vacuum leak.

    The stock egr spacer also has a little "moat" so to speak that can handle a little bit of coolant if it so happens to escape the gaskets walls and route it either out the top corner or bottom corner between the egr spacer and throttle body. I forget which one to be exact.

    A common practice after boring out a stock panther egr spacer is to place some JB weld into whats left of that moat....which is now basically a vacuum leak in and of itself because the boring process takes away one side of the moat. You have a direct path from the outside to the intake if it is not somehow blocked off.

    It also helps to put the JB weld in there after a bore job so coolant does not enter and drip into the intake as well.
    ~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


      Trick with the "moat" is that it only works if the drain hole isn't blocked up, which it probably would be with RTV.

      Last spacer I bored out, I faced it off so that there was no groove. There wasn't enough metal left for it to have had any chance of sealing, and it was easier to just shave the spacer and get rid of it entirely. Its not that deep, maybe about .030.
      86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
      5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

      91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

      1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

      Originally posted by phayzer5
      I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

      Comment


        Great job. Fun task but rewarding when oil leaks are gone
        -Nick M.
        Columbia, SC

        66 Squire, 89 Colony Park, 90 TC, 03 TC, 06 TC, 07 TC (2x)
        03 BMW 540iT, 07 Toyota Tundra SR5 Dbl Cab/5.7 2WD

        Comment


          Originally posted by gadget73 View Post

          Last spacer I bored out, I faced it off so that there was no groove. There wasn't enough metal left for it to have had any chance of sealing, and it was easier to just shave the spacer and get rid of it entirely. Its not that deep, maybe about .030.

          That is a good idea.
          ~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


            That block drain plug is going to seize now without all that oil keeping the rust away.
            1990 MGM: $50 E7 heads, HO cam, Holley SysteMAX lower intake, HO upper intake with an Explorer TB. LSC ECM. Lincoln logs into stock dual exhaust. K&N drop in air filter. Wide ratio AOD, 2400 converter with a 3.08 one tire fire out back. Car is less slow now. Then there's the '92 Beater. Dual 2.25" exhaust with shiny tips. Rumbles nice. Super slow. Burns oil too.

            Comment


              There's still so much oil and grime on my beater from the VC and lower intake leaks... it'll take years for all of that to come off.

              Also, that was all of the leaks (save the power steering pump and that is minimal).

              Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
              rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
              Originally posted by gadget73
              ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
              Originally posted by dmccaig
              Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

              Comment


                Have you tried Gunk?
                1993 Ford F-150 Flareside - July 2010 - August 2013
                2004 Ford Mustang - September 2013 - February 2018
                1987 Mercury Colony Park GS - August 2015 - Present
                2018 VW Golf GTI - February 2018-February 2021 (was a lease)
                2003 EZGO TXT - March 2015 - May 2019 (it's road legal!)

                2019 VW Golf Alltrack company provided April 2019 - Present
                2012 Fiat 500 5 speed - January 2021-Present
                2003 Audi A6 Allroad 6 speed July 2021-Present

                Comment


                  Originally posted by DerekTheGreat View Post
                  A lot of times you can tell if it's got the JBL stuff by looking at the speaker grilles; JBL stuff will have a "Ford JBL" logo that faces the rear window whereas the standard stuff will have "Premium Sound" on them. That's always my tip off, I think Mark VII's also have a cover over the amp & rear speakers. You'll most certainly want the rear JBL 6x9's, those are hard to beat soundwise without spending considerable money. You'll have to take the four screws off the top to get at the tweeter & midrange speaker wiring to disable the mid range as they have foam surrounds which will most likely have disintegrated by now. Rest of it will work great, especially the bass.

                  Check your car first though, I think on CV's & GM's the premium sound amplifier lives in the trunk just behind the driver's side rear speaker. Show us some pics so we can verify what you've got.
                  My front speaker grilles just say "STEREO" on them, and my door tag says I have standard cassette sound. Is there any way to upgrade to the Mark VII JBL stuff without premium sound already installed? I assume it is no longer plug and play.

                  Originally posted by 87gtVIC View Post
                  Excellent work. I would dread performing that task while engine still installed. You have some good patience.

                  One can go gasket-less between the egr spacer and throttle body if you are not using the egr coolant ports. Would just need to cap off the two ports so the idle wouldn't raise up because of that potential vacuum leak.

                  The stock egr spacer also has a little "moat" so to speak that can handle a little bit of coolant if it so happens to escape the gaskets walls and route it either out the top corner or bottom corner between the egr spacer and throttle body. I forget which one to be exact.

                  A common practice after boring out a stock panther egr spacer is to place some JB weld into whats left of that moat....which is now basically a vacuum leak in and of itself because the boring process takes away one side of the moat. You have a direct path from the outside to the intake if it is not somehow blocked off.

                  It also helps to put the JB weld in there after a bore job so coolant does not enter and drip into the intake as well.
                  It wasn't that bad this time around. I just took my time and tried to be patient with things. I parked the car over a clean spot in the driveway yesterday and still didn't see any leaks. Very happy with the results. I may go ahead and get rid of the EGR coolant passages. My '95 Mustang doesn't have that stuff; I can't imagine that it would really heat soak the intake charge so bad that the coolant would be necessary.

                  Originally posted by TecNickal View Post
                  Great job. Fun task but rewarding when oil leaks are gone
                  Very fun!

                  Originally posted by sly View Post
                  There's still so much oil and grime on my beater from the VC and lower intake leaks... it'll take years for all of that to come off.

                  Also, that was all of the leaks (save the power steering pump and that is minimal).
                  Someday I'll pull the car off the frame and clean it really well when I own a lift and a power washer.
                  —John

                  1985 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat
                  1990 Mercury Grand Marquis LS (POTM March 2017 & May 2019 - gone, but not forgotten)
                  1995 Mustang SVT Cobra coupe (cream puff)
                  1966 Mustang coupe (restoration in-progress)

                  Comment


                    Originally posted by Giraffe View Post
                    My front speaker grilles just say "STEREO" on them, and my door tag says I have standard cassette sound. Is there any way to upgrade to the Mark VII JBL stuff without premium sound already installed? I assume it is no longer plug and play.
                    Pics please.

                    If you've got speakers in the door that says to me you've got the premium set up. Come to think of it, all of the speakers will have "premium sound" on the magnet if so, or unless someone swapped them out before. My 85 had factory base radio and were devoid of any markings.

                    You are correct; If you don't have the premium sound already on board it's no longer a plug & play type of deal. Maybe you do though, post pics of that rear trunk shelf area. Even if you have the silver football garbage (I've seen some later cars with it...) I have the JBL amp that might work with those connectors.
                    1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
                    1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

                    Comment


                      Originally posted by DerekTheGreat View Post
                      Pics please.

                      If you've got speakers in the door that says to me you've got the premium set up. Come to think of it, all of the speakers will have "premium sound" on the magnet if so, or unless someone swapped them out before. My 85 had factory base radio and were devoid of any markings.

                      You are correct; If you don't have the premium sound already on board it's no longer a plug & play type of deal. Maybe you do though, post pics of that rear trunk shelf area. Even if you have the silver football garbage (I've seen some later cars with it...) I have the JBL amp that might work with those connectors.
                      This is a '90. There are speakers in the door because they did away with the dash speakers in '90. What he has is not premium sound (unless someone swapped the speaker pods out for some reason), the same as what The Ice Car has where the speaker pods on the door say stereo instead of premium sound like the ones in The Scab.
                      Vic

                      ~ 1989 MGM LS Colony Park - Large Marge
                      ~ 1998 MGM LS - new DD
                      ~ 1991 MGM LS "The Scab"
                      ~ 1991 MGM GS "The Ice Car"

                      Comment


                        Everything is possible, it just gets more complicated if there isn't an amp in the trunk already. You'd need the donor wiring harness out of another car though.

                        Or you just put in a better radio and don't worry about it. At some point it stops making sense to be installing 25+ year old amplifiers that have parts which cannot be replaced and speakers made of paper that have been baked in the sun for decades.
                        86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
                        5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

                        91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

                        1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

                        Originally posted by phayzer5
                        I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

                        Comment


                          I get what you're saying. I'm thinking I may just get some good aftermarket speakers that fit in the stock locations and get a good head unit to complement it all. If I can't find anything I like that isn't too gaudy on the usual market, I can possibly look into something like Retro Sound.

                          On another note, it's time to reflect on how far the car has come in just the month and a half since I purchased it. Since purchase I've fixed all four windows, the rear power locks (if you can call spraying a ton of WD-40 on something "fixing" it), changed all the leaking gaskets on the engine and cleaned up the engine bay (still needs more cleaning, though), added the '90 TC fan shroud/overflow bottle and PI air tube, and replaced the missing factory exhaust.

                          The before and after for the engine alone is pretty impressive. There is still some residual oil stuck between the heat shield and catalytic converter burning off, but everything else down there is still dry.

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                          I also just happened to figure out my air box mounting problem over the weekend while I was dealing with the oil pan gasket. The '07 CVPI from which I pulled the air box had one of the mounting studs screwed into the front support doubling as a mount for the air box and a hold down for the splash shield. I removed my air box to prep for the gasket change because I was having a tough time removing the overflow bottle tube from the radiator since it was so cold. I noticed an extra hole in the splash shield just behind the one where I had screwed in the stud. I had another large washer nut laying around and used that to attach it to the bottom side. The air box reaches all three studs now.

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                          Now that all that's done, I still need/want to do the following:

                          3G alternator swap. I already bought a junkyard alternator which I have yet to get tested.

                          Explorer engine swap. There is a '96 Explorer at one of the local yards that I seem to remember having "bad motor" spray painted on it. I want to grab the non-P heads from that motor and pull the motor/AOD from the Mark VII from which I pulled my power steering pulley. Build this up in the garage and drop it in at a later date along with a MAF conversion.

                          Big brake swap! I want to get this done and install a set of 16" AR Torq Thrust wheels.

                          Disc brake rear end swap. I'll have to do some research into which ones would be best. I decoded my door tag yesterday and, of course, I have the lamest axle of them all (8).

                          Those are the major things. I'm sure there are a million other small things that will pop up along the way. I also want to eventually repaint it along with a color change. I want to paint it a dark blue and replace the vinyl top with a dark grey. I was originally wanting to slick top it, but I think it would just be missing something without it. I was thinking something along the lines of True Blue that Ford used on a lot of its vehicles in the mid-2000s. Here's a great example of a two-tone with the kind of grey I'm looking for on the top.

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                          —John

                          1985 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat
                          1990 Mercury Grand Marquis LS (POTM March 2017 & May 2019 - gone, but not forgotten)
                          1995 Mustang SVT Cobra coupe (cream puff)
                          1966 Mustang coupe (restoration in-progress)

                          Comment


                            Oh, I keep forgetting about the 90+ boxes. So it looks like you won't be able to do the plug & play upgrade. You can still scour yards for the JBL rears and fronts as those will still sound great. The woofer cones on the rears are impregnated with some sort of resin so they're still in the same shape. It's the door & dash speakers that are always sketchy. Like gadget said the ones in the dash are usually fried from sun exposure and the door ones are usually rusty from just being stuck in the door with no added protection.

                            Also, looks like I can't use a '90 TC airbox and such as the box goes right where my air compressor is.

                            And yes, if it didn't work before and now it does I'd say you fixed it.
                            1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
                            1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

                            Comment


                              One small thing. The tags arrived today at which time I took the opportunity to install the NOS front license plate bracket I acquired.

                              Pretty sure the J stands for "junk".

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                              —John

                              1985 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat
                              1990 Mercury Grand Marquis LS (POTM March 2017 & May 2019 - gone, but not forgotten)
                              1995 Mustang SVT Cobra coupe (cream puff)
                              1966 Mustang coupe (restoration in-progress)

                              Comment


                                At least boxes or anything else with a real bumper upfront doesn't look so hideous with a plate up front.
                                1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
                                1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

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