My 1987 Mercury Colony Park

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Oh how this thing likes to be difficult.

It started running stupid at idle with a dead miss. Cylinder balance test kept bringing up cylinder 1 as a culprit. Checked wires, all good. Pulled the plug only to find it drenched in gas and covered in white deposits. Swapped the plug from cylinder 2 just to see if anything changed, stayed on cylinder 1. You could unplug the injector on 1 and it kept running the same. I'm assuming it was sticking or leaking, because despite feeling it pulse, it must have been dumping gas.

I'll send that one back under warranty to get it fixed. In the interim, I tossed in a BWD injector. Seems to be running well enough, but something tells me it prefers the single pintle type injector over the 4 hole one for some reason. I would have used one of those Chinesium ones I pulled out, but finally figured out why they're worthless, and it boiled down to the fact that the injector tip doesn't come down far enough to clear the pintle cap, so I can only assume it was shooting fuel into it's own pintle cap. Replacement o-ring and pintle kits don't fit them correctly either.


Got some more news for things in the power department. The guy who is giving me the heads and such said since he's not going to worry about pulling stuff apart and is essentially delivering an entire HO top end to me, cam included. I would essentially be a single PCM away to having all of the components available. I'm guessing the AOD may need a better governor in it for that, however. Maybe this summer I might just go crazy and pull everything apart. An Explorer swap sounds appealing, but this is cheap, since I'm really only paying for gaskets and fluids.

[dcpjfs432]

I have a 1988 mercury grand marquis that thing it awesome super smooth riding. nice car btw


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[TecNickal]

Zach - the 4 pintle injectors have nothing to do with the issue. I have them on my 89, Chris on his 91. Bummer about the tingtangtong injectors. Wow.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Nick handed me the factory build sheet today, except it was in a red Solo cup and just about would disintegrate if you touched it wrong, but with a little time and a lot of tape, I got what was left of it back together:


It's interesting that this says 16 IN LIT ALUM SPARE FIRESTON. I'm taking a wild guess it was supposed to have a 16" lightweight aluminum minispare with a Firestone tire. That spare was definitely no longer present when I got it, and appears it was replaced with a 15" full size steel wheel with a 205/75R15 Michelin tire (Even though this apparently did come with 215/70R15 WSW Firestone tires).

I also got some fresh parts from him as well, particularly clean front corner lights and headlight bezels. I also got some '87 wiring diagrams from him.


Wagon has to be compression tested here soon. Cylinder 1 is still dead after my friend and I checked it out again. Gone over fuel/ignition basics, issue remains on that cylinder. Checked the valve springs with valve cover off, top end has full movement. Given the exhaust leak note changed from a light tick to a chuffing sound when the issue arose, at this point I now suspect something inside may have an issue, like a burnt valve. I'll confirm my suspicions later on and I'll give an update.

[DerekTheGreat]

A chuffing sound eh?
That's how my GM 350 sounded.. It had a burnt valve. Chuffed and chuffed, not all the time of course, just like every 3 seconds or so. Fouled the plug often.

[DerekTheGreat]

If you think you've got a burnt valve you can quickly test for it... Stick a paper towel or piece of paper up to the tailpipe about 1/2 inch away. If it goes to get sucked in, you've got a burnt valve. Do this for each tailpipe should you have duals.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Took some compression readings today. Upon removing the plug from cylinder 1, it was damp with fuel, as it was last time. I think I finally know why it got back to idling stupid.

Cylinder 1:

It's like 10 PSI.

Cylinder 2:

A healthier looking 120-ish PSI.


It's not the end of the world, just the start of performance improvement. It won't be driven much except to get two things done: 1.) Get the dual exhaust fitted up; and 2.) Get the necessary repairs done. I'm not going to try to do the repairs under the lean-to, simply because it's ill equipped to deal with any serious work.

Hopefully it'll be back in full swing come spring time.

[DerekTheGreat]

Oooo! Do the paper towel burnt valve test! Do the paper towel burnt valve test!

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Oooo! Do the paper towel burnt valve test! Do the paper towel burnt valve test!

I’ll definitely do it next time I swing out that way.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Oooo! Do the paper towel burnt valve test! Do the paper towel burnt valve test!

There's some suction there.

Oh, if anyone was wondering how a '88-'89 instrument cluster looks when it has a '79-'87 fascia installed:


This one is more accurate than my old one. Thanks to TecNickal for grabbing this one for me.

[87gtVIC]

Interesting. Gonna check this out on random running cars I find.

[DerekTheGreat]

There's some suction there...

Video wont play for me but there shouldn't be any suction in a perfect world. Burnt exhaust valve confirmed. That or bent or something. How does the exhaust sound, chuffy at times? I forget if you already mentioned that. Bad Derek.

Interesting. Gonna check this out on random running cars I find.

Yep, I'll never get burned (pun intended) by this again. I'll pull spark plugs too.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Did a little work today. It was nice to drive it again despite the engine not being all there. Definitely had to knock off the dust with a hose before I went anywhere. It needs a proper wash, but it'll have to wait.

I focused on getting the exhaust lined up, sans the over the axle portion. After reviewing how the tails line up towards the muffler, it'll be much easier to let a shop play with that, since I've been waffling about letting a guy from work give it a shot. I figure it'll just make the both of us mad trying to get stuff fitted up with minimal supplies. It'll need couplers made up to match the awkward sizing between both tail sections and the mufflers. Nothing is quite the same size. I guess that's to be expected when using junkyard parts.

I did get the down pipe squared away. When I crawled up underneath it, I found the H-pipe and the down pipe were now magically aligned, something I couldn't get straightened out last time, so that was half of the job done right there. The next issue was dealing with the stud that wouldn't stay in the exhaust manifold. I planned on using a slightly smaller diameter bolt and a nut and just dropping it through the hole, but then forgot that those replacement exhaust studs have a small lip on them to keep them seated. Luckily I was able to get the end rammed up through the hole and tightened a nut onto the few threads on the top side to keep it in place. I was then able to properly tighten the down pipe flange into place. Now the exhaust just dumps right before the rear axle. It's a bit quieter than before, but since the noise doesn't have anymore pipe to travel through, it's still rather rumbly, but that'll be sorted soon.

Maybe in the next week or so I'll try to get by the shop I used that did the '97's muffler install.

All that needs to be done is:
-Flange Gaskets (Was not sure if I was going to get stuff fitted properly today)
-Tail pipes installed
-Hangers installed

If you're wondering what's holding that system up, it's mechanic's wire. Good enough to keep it in place while doing a basic fitting, terrible for long term service.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

After enough waiting I’ve finally had some time to swing down to the exhaust shop and get the system properly finished.

Work done includes:
-Mandrel bent over-the-axle section for driver side tailpipe (matches passenger side)
-Three new hangers
-Coupler welded in-line to existing passenger side tailpipe

$85 out the door all said and done. This place does excellent work for great prices, especially considering I rolled up and essentially was like, “Can we make this a functional system?”

These aren’t the greatest pictures since I didn’t get any photos before it came off the lift, but they did a great job getting all the sections matched up.

Driver side muffler:


Rear view:


Passenger muffler:


Driver tailpipe exit:




Passenger side exit:


The only thing that might need a slight touch up is how far out the driver side pipe exits from the body. It comes out about an inch, but could be quickly cleaned up with a saw. I’m not overly concerned since overall it’s nice that it finally has duals (and breaths much better even on 7 cylinders) and doesn’t look like something’s about to fall off the undercarriage of the car.

If anyone is wondering the down pipes (gutted cats ), H-Pipe, and muffler came off of a 1990 Town Car. TecNickal grabbed the components some time ago and included it with the car after I got it. From what he told me, the system looked like someone had recently installed it, then junked the car.

The wagon is nice and quiet, just like it was on a single pipe system.

Maybe in a few weeks I’ll have worked out an arrangement for getting the replacement heads and intake. The other guy’s Mustang is done so he’ll have the parts back from the machine shop.

[87gtVIC]

Looks good to me. One angle and it looks far out, another and it looks fine.

If your worried about it getting hooked on anything/anybody then chop her down.


Whats the three dots on the differential cover?