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VicCrownVic's 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis LS

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    Those wheels do indeed look great.
    1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
    1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

    Comment


      I installed the wire harness for my gauge pod after work today. Ran it from the d-side kick panel to above the mirror. Then I decided to "test fit" the gauge pod which turned into just installing it.
      All wires are connected at the gauges, but nothing is connected at the kick panel.
      Packed weekend for mother's day so that all I'm getting done for now.
      Attached Files
      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


        Oh yeah. A little here and a little work there will always get things done. A step forward is a step forward toward the end product. Coming out nice. Great option for the clean dash look.
        ~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


          The fit of the pod isn't perfect, but it wasn't designed for this application. The contour of the mating surface to headliner actually looks like it might fit a box better (I should have mocked it up in the box). The car I got the idea from was a box and pictures of that one looked right at home, although pictures can hide small details like the slightly more gap than I'd like at the top.

          On this car there is no headliner trim at the windshield, so installing the wire harness I made was super easy.

          Adjusting the rearview mirror sucked, but I shouldn't have to do that often, if ever. A 3 spot pod would leave some room to grab the top of the mirror. This 4 spot pod is wide enough that there is no way to grab at the top of the mirror.

          I've put on about 100 miles and it wasn't distracting at all. I'll have to see if that's still true once (at least) power and ground are connected. If it seems too bright for my liking I may look into some stick on tint or smoke stuff to tone it down. It didn't seem too bad sitting on top of my computer monitor connected to my power supply all day while I was working from home. Of course the change of environment may make it seem too bright. I'll cross that bridge when I get there eventually.
          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


            This is going to look awesome. I like it.
            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


              I went out to Grand1's place on Saturday to hang out and get some work done. Derek came along as well and we had a great time.
              While the two of them were working on replacing the fuel tank on Grand1's '79 I attempted to swap the '08 (I think) P71 aluminum driveshaft. Side by side I couldn't see a reason why I needed the spacer that everything I have read said I would need. Derek was sure I didn't need it and after I got home and posted in the WAYWO thread Gadget's opinion was the same. The thing that stopped me from doing the swap is that I had ordered 1330 u-joints last year but it turns out that I need a 1330/1310 conversion u-joint to run the stock '98 slip yoke. So I slapped the stock driveshaft back in which I had marked the position with my paint pen before removing. Conversion u-joint is on its way, so I'll get this swap done eventually.

              After that I moved on to wiring up my trailer lighting module that I had already ran wires for a while ago. Put the proper fuse, that it came with, on the power feed in the engine bay and put a single terminal connector on the power feed at the module so it can easily be transferred to another vehicle in the future if needed.

              After the fuel tank was done on the '79 (I helped a little with that, but Derek and Grand1 did most of that work) and after a break for some food I moved on to wiring up power and ground to my gauges. All the wiring had previously been ran to the D-side kick panel so I tapped into a constant hot feed and keyed hot feed to the fuse panel. A .3 Amp inline fuse (which the gauge instructions called for and bench test measurements confirmed) on each of those feeds and connected the ground to a factory ground point a few inches from where I had previously left the wires dangling. Keyed on and everything worked, but without sending units the oil pressure showed dashes and trans temp showed 0 so I connected those two sending units and have them riding in the kick panel for now. The tach also shows 0 but I would need to actually wire up the tach adapter to make that display something other than 0. Since Derek and Grand1 were fiddling with the carb on the '79 and I'm useless when it comes to carbs, I did all the gauge wiring stuff while they worked on setting up the new carb.

              I was able to adjust the pod a couple weeks ago. The "3M Dual Lock"(tm) stuff holds strong. It was hard to get that stuff to separate but after the first time it got easier each time. It took a few tries to get the top gap acceptable. I also found that the gauges seem a bit bright when I'm in the middle of nowhere pitch black darkness with no other cars around. I even wired the gauges to always be on the dim setting (dim when running lights on, bright for daytime use with running lights off) by connecting to a hot in run feed. Eventually I'll actually tap into the running lights, but to solve the brightness issue I'll probably put some tint on at least the middle two Intellitronix gauges. The outer two eBay gauges seem to not be the problem (some of the stuff on those doesn't even show up right in the picture but looks just fine in person.) I'll probably also adjust the gauges since the alignment seems a little off to me.

              Also (if I didn't mention already) the wife noticed a problem the first day I put the pod in. The visors hit the pod so the visors can't be flipped all the way. I have no plans to fix this, but I have thought of some ideas.

              In the video most of the clicking is the tape deck loading, then the AC kicks on at max setting, but it gives you an idea what startup is like with the new gauges.






              Attached Files
              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


                The reason you need the spacer is for full engagement of the splines. P71/TC have longer tail shaft vs the short one CV/GM. Look at the P71 yoke you can see it isn't fully splined like the non P71 yoke is.

                1997 Grand Marquis LS HPP
                2000 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series

                - Richard

                Comment


                  Thanks for the feedback, I'm a bit slow at times when it comes to understanding things.
                  I was able to take a look in the P71 slip yoke on Saturday and noticed that those splines start much further down/in than the fully splined stock slip yoke. Even though the stock slip yoke is shorter, the stock slip yoke has much more splined area.
                  So that makes sense that I would need the spacer with the P71 slip yoke (for the splines to reach/better engage the shorter non-P71 output shaft).
                  But if I swap the stock slip yoke onto the P71 driveshaft, it seems to me (Derek and Gadget as well) that I would not need the spacer since both driveshafts are the same length (or very close to the same, certainly not 3/4" different) center of u-join to center of u-joint. With the stock '98 MGM slip yoke and P71 driveshaft there would be negligible difference (if any) compared to the stock shaft with stock slip yoke. Or am I not understanding something correctly?
                  Last edited by VicCrownVic; 06-01-2021, 12:18 AM.
                  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 I've researched recommends using a spacer. You will get more engagement using the regular yoke but you don't have the long tail shaft which also helps support the the longer p71 yoke.

                    I'm using a F150 yoke that fully splined with a spacer.
                    1997 Grand Marquis LS HPP
                    2000 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series

                    - Richard

                    Comment


                      I've been working from "home" aka working from my parents home most of this week. That gave me time to work on stuff while sitting in meetings.
                      Got the tach adapter wired in. Started on it on Wednesday evening then was able to take advantage of sitting in meetings this morning and finish it up.
                      I'll go in with FORScan later today or tomorrow and see if the RPMs read from the PCM match the tach display since I'm curious if this setup is accurate.
                      The camera really does not like the outer two gauges (tach and oil pressure.) Still haven't adjusted the alignment of the gauges and still need to install the sending units for oil pressure and trans temp but I'm slowly getting there.
                      I also have some tint on the way to tone down the middle two gauges. Holding my clip on sunglasses over the center gauges really cuts down the intensity and still plenty bright to see them so the tint should work pretty well.
                      Attached Files
                      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


                        Its still damn good looking up there.

                        Any option on these cars for dual visors? Main one swings over to side and a smaller one swings down? Maybe that would help with the gauge pod and visors trying to share the same space while in use?
                        ~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


                          Actually I was thinking the same thing. I think aero TCs might have the dual visor option. I'll have to look in my shed to see if that is what I harvested from a TC years ago, but they are blue (intended for The Ice Car.) I don't remember why I got those visors but I'm pretty sure it was because they are dual (it's been so long I don't remember, lol.)
                          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


                            My wife's 2000 vic has dual visors. My 93 has dual visors. I'm sure there's plenty of options for the acquisition of dual visors. Pretty much any LX, MGM, or Towny should have them and any base CV with keyless entry like my wife's.

                            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


                              Originally posted by VicCrownVic View Post
                              Actually I was thinking the same thing. I think aero TCs might have the dual visor option. I'll have to look in my shed to see if that is what I harvested from a TC years ago, but they are blue (intended for The Ice Car.) I don't remember why I got those visors but I'm pretty sure it was because they are dual (it's been so long I don't remember, lol.)
                              I've robbed a dual visor from a '95 and a '01 Marquis, IIRC. The '95 one had the small air bag warning notice on the outside, and then the normal sized info box on the visor flap. The '01 had the huge one on the outside, so I took time and removed it from the visor fabric. Town Car ones don't fit quite right.


                              My Cars:
                              -1964 Comet 202 (116K Miles) - Long Term Project
                              -1986 Dodge D-150 Royale SE (112K Miles) - Slowly Getting Put Back Together
                              -1987 Grand Marquis Colony Park LS (325K Miles) - April 2017 + September 2019 POTM Winner
                              -1997 Grand Marquis LS (240K Miles) - The Daily Workhorse & March 2015 + January 2019 POTM Winner

                              Comment


                                Good info mangs!
                                This shouldn't be too hard to find in Detroit area yards. Making it out to the yards will actually be the hard part. Probably won't get back out to the yards for at least a couple of weeks.
                                FORScan will have to wait for tomorrow since it's dark out and I'm not going back out to the car tonight. I did do some driving around up to my sister's house, out to dinner, and back to my parent's place. The RPMs on the tach seemed believable, but I would like to check against the PCM. I believe there is an RPM reading in the PCM data.
                                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

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