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1987 Lincoln-Load Leveling troubleshooting- compressor is good but won't pump up

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    #31
    Originally posted by DerekTheGreat View Post
    I think if you get the '86 JBL amp it might be. (I have one )

    I certainly talk it up. I used to have to put stereos in everything I drove, speakers and all that. Only the $300+ a pair stuff I bought from Boston Acoustics (Back when they still sold car audio stuff) came close and was maybe better. But I blew two pairs of their 6x9's and I've never been able to blow this JBL stuff and for the price, can't beat it. A car is a terrible listening environment anyway. I'm much more satisfied with what I've got going on at home now. JBL L150A's, Marantz 510M with a Marantz 3600 Preamp and a Audio Control Series II equalizer. Audiophonic Nirvana right there.

    Yah, here's the first page of my car's thread: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...-1988-Town-Car

    NADA is just talk, a person standing in front of you makin' an offer is what I go buy. I certainly wouldn't pay 10k to own my car haha.

    Those 6x9's are set up such that the big woofer has a cloth type surround which never needs to be redone, there is a midrange type speaker which does have the foam which has rotted away and a tweeter which will be fine. It'll be the dash speakers you'll never find. They've all been rotted away by the sun so you'll be SOL there. I just leave mine disconnected and run door & rears as well a sub. The JBL amp should talk to the aftermarket speakers just fine, but might run hotter since they're lower impedance than the factory stuff. Maybe it'll blow the fuse more often or whatnot. Not sure. Gadget will chime in and say the amps do tend to die after awhile and need to have a thing-a-ma-bob replaced. You can find the parts online though. You can use the JBL amp with a aftermarket stereo too. I did that but noticed the volume was really low for whatever reason. I then just bought an aftermarket amp and when all out with it.

    Aesthetically, the '87 and down looks better. In daylight. Everywhere else, the newer stuff reigns to me. I even appreciate the updated warning light cluster with added check engine light. Although it doesn't work on many '88's for whatever reason. Mine never has, Ashley's old '89 did though.
    Really?... It sure would be nice if it'd plug in and work. So, ya got one huh... Would you let it go?

    Totally agree with ya about a car being a terrible listening environment. That's why for the most part I'm not too interested in car audio. Stock is good enough for me (as long as it works right). My primary music listening is at the house. That set up you have looks awesome. I looked up each piece online... impressive. My junk is more "lofi" than any of that... I'm cheap though, don't like spending too much and I don't often see higher end stuff like that for a decent price. I got a crappy 100wpc Fisher system from the 80's in my living room atm. Had my restored Lafayette LR-1500T there, but that decided to kill itself back in January. I've since fixed it, but now its the shop stereo for awhile since I brought the spare(the fisher) home.

    That is a fudging sweet car

    If I was legitimately rich, I would not give a crap about spending 10K for your car. Especially if it was turn key ready and I don't have to do nothing to it. I get what ya mean though. My Grand Wagoneer is supposedly worth 10K as it is, but I wouldn't pay it. Hell, I wouldn't pay what most ask for them any way's, regardless of what the nice ones go for at auction. But other people do... Unfortunately though, too many people actually try to screw ya when it comes time that you want to sell, then act like they're doing you a favor... screw em'.

    Really, the woofer has a cloth surround? Ya don't see that too often. What about running the stock "premium sound" dash speakers? Mine sound allright. No plans for a Sub here. I don't like the idea of wasting the space and the extra weight.

    I see what you mean(regarding the gauge cluster) At night it is a bit lackluster, but I still prefer it. It's different compared to the other's I got. I like different.



    Originally posted by gadget73 View Post
    It can be made to work on an 87 with the premium sound amp but it does require a bit of jiggering around. I was able to run it from the original head unit without issue, but I did eventually swap it to the JBL one. I can dig up my notes from when I converted the 84 Continental. it should be pretty much the same process on an 87 Towncar. I made adapter harnesses so the factory wiring isn't much modified. I can actually plug the football amp back in and have it work. Somewhere in the middle I converted it from 2 channel football to 4 channel to see if it made a difference. Honestly it did not, o at least not enough of one to bother with. What I'm using doesn't exactly match what the car would have come with if it was a factory JBL system but I was able to make it go. If you can find an 87-89 car with the JBL rig, that might be a better donor though. Pull the signal cable from front to back and use the later head unit. That will get you into the 90s for stereos, and those could be had with a CD player or changer. Very simple to hack in an aux input on the later stuff that was changer-compatible. Its possible to do on the earlier ones but it requires a little internal surgery.

    The factory speakers were fairly low impedance. Premium sound rears should be 6 ohm, the fronts are also 6 ohm for a total load of 3 ohms since they're in parallel.

    In a perfect world I'd have a heavier power cable, but its functional as-is. At some point I may upgrade the power feed though.
    Hmm, what kind of "jiggering around"?
    oh, the harnesses... that kind of jiggering. Well, that's no big deal- I could do that... As long as I have schematics or notes to show how to set it up. Did you have a write up online here that you could link? Eh, im not worried too much about using CD's in the car. I got more cassettes anyways... I'd rather just stick to the older equipment, especially if that means less rigamarolling around.
    Last edited by ZackN920; 02-07-2020, 10:27 PM.
    1987 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series-102k miles- LOPO 302, AOD, open 3.27, Dual exhaust w/ Thrush Turbo mufflers

    Comment


      #32
      I'll see if I can find my notes and scan them. My "instructions" tend to be closer to something written in code that is of debatable value to anyone else. Honestly its not that complicated really. On the 2 channel premium sound amps, there are 3 wires (L, ground, R) to the amp and two to each rear speaker for a total of 7 wires. Basically what you have to do is move the wires from the rear speakers to the rear channel inputs on the amp, and connect the front ones in as well. Original amp front output wires go to new amp front outputs. New wires run from the amp to the rear speakers. Move over the power and switch wires too. I used a bunch of OE terminals and connector shells from a junk premium sound amp to make an adapter harness that sits between the original car wiring and the 86 JBL amp. It might not be the coolest looking thing, but its absolutely functional and completely reversible.
      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


        #33
        ok, back on track here.

        UPDATE!

        I recently changed out the rear shocks with a set of new Monroe's from Rockauto. Got them for like $45! I haven't had problem with there stuff, and at that price- I'll give these guy's a shot. Man, what a bitch of a job that was! Afternoon project. I just went gung-ho. Didn't look up any how-to's or nothin'. Probably took me about 5 hours overall to figure out my plan and get things apart and back together. Did it all from underneath the car. Luckily those top nut's weren't too rusted. I did have to put a chain strap tool I have (don't know what it's called) around the shock body and use that to turn it to break those top nuts loose, but that got em. Got the new shocks in, connected to new lines, then the new T-adapter to match them with the old line coming from the compressor. Today I leak tested the system and tied up my lines so I don't have to worry about them getting pinched or melted by the exhaust. No leaks in the back!

        Well, they work as they should! and They'll really jack it up too if I wanted. I need to re-adjust the height sensor again because it appears that it's set to keep the back about 1-1/4" taller than the front. That's according to the tape measure, measuring from the garage floor to the wheel well openings on each corner. I also pulled the car outside today to get a look at it and it does have a little rake. If I could get it down to about 3/4" higher in the rear I think that would be perfect. It would look pretty straight (normal height looks like town cars sag a bit) and would guarantee that the shocks have something in them (Monroe recommends having 20 psi in them at all times).

        Still have 1 problem though. It has been a few days since I was in that building and I noticed that the car had lost it's air pressure. The back end was back down. Like said above, I tested the fittings/connections in the back and no leaks. But that fitting at the compressor sure was leaking, lots of bubbles from my soapy water mix. Before I cut the end of the air line off, is there anything else I could do to get this to seal? Can I replace the O ring inside that press in fitting? I noticed that the line does appear have an indentation around itself and when pushed in all the way, it seems to leak the most. If its pushed in just half the way it leaks less. I don't know if there are any tricks I can try or not. I really didn't find much when searching about it on one of our cars.

        Anyways, that's where I'm at.
        1987 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series-102k miles- LOPO 302, AOD, open 3.27, Dual exhaust w/ Thrush Turbo mufflers

        Comment


          #34
          needs a new O ring. If you can get the X profile one, they seal better. Or shoot me a PM with your address and I'll mail you a couple. I bought a bag of 100 of the proper ones from McMaster for 8 bucks.

          Pop the plastic ring off the fitting
          pull the brass piece out of the compressor
          carefully extract the O ring and possibly the plastic washer from inside
          replace the O ring and plastic washer (some had it, some don't)
          put the brass thing and the plastic cap back on
          put a smidge of lube on the plastic line and put it back together.
          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


            #35
            Awesome!

            I didn't know that would come apart. This little project will be on my to-do list for tomorrow. I've got plenty of regular O-rings, so I'll give one of them a try first and report back how it went. If it still doesn't seal well, I may take you up on that offer. I've never seen X profile O rings before and I probably won't be able to find any here in town.
            1987 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series-102k miles- LOPO 302, AOD, open 3.27, Dual exhaust w/ Thrush Turbo mufflers

            Comment


              #36
              They're a bit of an odd item but absolutely perfect for this. Should be a -008 O-ring if your kit has the listed by dash numbers.

              https://o-ring.info/en/downloads/mat...ing-vs-o-ring/
              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


                #37
                Ok. Yea, my kit does have each size numbered, didn't really pay much attention to them earlier... I just grabbed what looked to be the closest size to the old one (which was mis-shape'nd) and tried it. Still leaked though. I didn't really have as much time as I wanted to mess with it.

                I checked out that link. Interesting info.
                1987 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series-102k miles- LOPO 302, AOD, open 3.27, Dual exhaust w/ Thrush Turbo mufflers

                Comment


                  #38
                  Originally posted by ZackN920 View Post
                  Really?... It sure would be nice if it'd plug in and work. So, ya got one huh... Would you let it go?

                  Totally agree with ya about a car being a terrible listening environment. That's why for the most part I'm not too interested in car audio. Stock is good enough for me (as long as it works right). My primary music listening is at the house. That set up you have looks awesome. I looked up each piece online... impressive. My junk is more "lofi" than any of that... I'm cheap though, don't like spending too much and I don't often see higher end stuff like that for a decent price. I got a crappy 100wpc Fisher system from the 80's in my living room atm. Had my restored Lafayette LR-1500T there, but that decided to kill itself back in January. I've since fixed it, but now its the shop stereo for awhile since I brought the spare(the fisher) home.

                  That is a fudging sweet car

                  If I was legitimately rich, I would not give a crap about spending 10K for your car. Especially if it was turn key ready and I don't have to do nothing to it. I get what ya mean though. My Grand Wagoneer is supposedly worth 10K as it is, but I wouldn't pay it. Hell, I wouldn't pay what most ask for them any way's, regardless of what the nice ones go for at auction. But other people do... Unfortunately though, too many people actually try to screw ya when it comes time that you want to sell, then act like they're doing you a favor... screw em'.

                  Really, the woofer has a cloth surround? Ya don't see that too often. What about running the stock "premium sound" dash speakers? Mine sound allright. No plans for a Sub here. I don't like the idea of wasting the space and the extra weight.

                  I see what you mean(regarding the gauge cluster) At night it is a bit lackluster, but I still prefer it. It's different compared to the other's I got. I like different...
                  I could be persuaded to let the thing go, doubt I'll ever need it. Not sure if it works though, the fuse was blown when I pulled it. Had some aftermarket junk radio hooked to it and aftermarket junk speakers that went with it, could have been a combination of factors as to why that fuse was blown. Not sure. Didn't/doesn't smell like someone let the smoke out though. I wouldn't have popped on it if it had.

                  Indeed, I do too. Didn't realize how much better it is until I took home audio more seriously and listened to the people who were trying to tell me that already. Thanks man, I like the gear a lot too! I've also picked up some late 70's Klipsch Cornwalls, they're almost as good as the JBL's but the JBL's are better in the midrange & treble department, not to mention they dig deeper in the bass. But they need all the power that 510M has. The Cornwalls are damned efficent, and the 510M doesn't flinch when driving them by comparison. So if a fella didn't have 300+ watts at their disposal, I'd recommend the Cornwalls over the JBL's. I got out of hand with the gear, it originally started as me trying to channel my old man by buying a Marantz 4300. At that time, it was hooked up to a pair of JBL LX44's (which I still have) and that sounded fantastical. That gave me the "bug" and I blew the money I had saved to resurrect the Firebird in favor of audio gear. I don't regret that decision but damn, spent more than I planned on haha. The L150A's needed more power than the 4300's 100wpc could muster. Wanted to keep that old school Marantz look and the 510M was the most powerful thing they made during that era with that same look, so I jumped on one. Had it semi restored along with that equalizer and preamp. Been damn fine ever since. Well, I had to invest lots of money on the JBL's too. Protip: NEVER, under any circumstances buy a speaker without listening to it first unless you're getting them dirt cheap or for the price of just the cabinets. I had to send the F'n woofers to California to be done right (thanks Ken, over at Upland Loudspeaker Service) as the local "expert" couldn't get the job done after two tries... I should still probably redo the caps in the crossovers and bypass the pots for the the tweeter and mid for each speaker. Still sound fabulous though. Got the Cornwalls dirt cheap as again, the bug still has a hold of me and everywhere you turn, nobody has a bad thing to say about them. Although back when I asked, the Cornwalls were deemed superior to the L150A's, but not to my ears. However, if I had bought the Cornies first, I doubt I'd change them, they sound damn good and they're super efficient. So if you can score a set for <$1,000, do it. You won't regret it. At most, all you'll have to do is redo the crossovers. Everything else is rock solid. My pair will be going in the garage to better compete with the neighbor's trash I have to contend with during the summer.

                  Thanks for the compliments on the car too! Yeah, selling stuff has never been a pleasant experience for me. Everyone acts like they're too broke and so I can only imagine what they'd do if I so much as listed the thing for $6,500. That's a lot of cash to count too haha.. It, along with the Firebird have become the most valuable cars I've ever owned aside from that one time I bought a brand new car. I must never speak of that experience again haha.. Grand Wagoneers are pretty cool. I've always liked them but they never made an EFI variant with over drive, did they?

                  Yeah, the surrounds on the rear JBL's are cloth, as they are on the premium stuff too. Superior in my mind in terms of durability and longevity. I guess there is a science behind speaker surround materials but I hate foam. Redoing it can be a pain and there's a chance you might not center the voice coil correctly and then you're doing it all over again. Stock premium dash speaks would probably be fine. It's just the JBL's are a nice two way design, but unfortunately most of those are roached so run what ya got. I'd have tried mine out if I had known I wouldn't have liked the JBL stuff I put in there.

                  When I first got started on Box Townies, I had never seen one without the digital dash. Now the non digi's are pretty much all I see. I saw quite a few of these as a kid too. Guess there is some truth to what they say- that the poorer folk tend to take better care of their cars so that's why poverty models are most often found in great condition and thus what is left? I dunno..
                  1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
                  1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

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