VicCrownVic's 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis LS

[VicCrownVic]

What Sly said. It would definitely be interesting to know if the driver side panel fits a pre-'90 box. The steering column changed considerably in '90 but maybe the panel would fit the pre-'90 boxes. I don't think that panel changed much after '90 all the way through the end. That panel I think would only be an aesthetic upgrade if it fits.

The clip Sly mentioned, again from the heater core writeup.
Panel off:

Panel on:


Upper support for that panel is a bolted in brace piece:

That brace can be removed with the panel still attached:


I don't have a good shot of that panel though.

[87gtVIC]

Appreciate the information. Based off of that the passenger side has much more of a chance at fitting properly.

[VicCrownVic]

Last Saturday I changed the oil, then went out to dinner at Cracker Barrel in Port Huron. Grabbed a couple of pics of my dirty ride after dinner.
Summer wheels have been on for a while now.




While at the JY the previous weekend I was looking for another one of those panels with the power port. I found the partial panel like my '98 has in a '97 and '03. I also found, in a '05, the panel designed for the power port without the power port:

[VicCrownVic]

...
The front end on the 92-02 are IMO, weaker than the boxes. They go through ball joints and tie rod ends more so than the older stuff did.
...

Yeah, about that...
Sunday evening pulling out of my driveway (luckily) the right front lower ball joint decided it didn't need the ball-stud and socket to remain together. Didn't get any pictures since I was too embarrassed that it happened. No fender damage at all, not even bent or tweaked. Compared to the boxes I'm used to, it was not quite as obvious that the ball joints were on their last leg. In fact I changed the factory originals on The Scab a couple years ago pushing an estimated (per PO) milage of near 300k miles. This car is south of 100k, apparently they didn't make these ball joints as well as the older box ball joints were made.

Backed back into my driveway (control arm left quite the scrape on the concrete) then ended up taking The Scab to grab my uncle's ball joint press and the last lower ball joint in stock at my local AZ. Finally got it back together today. Couldn't get the ball-stud out of the knuckle, it was too late Sunday after retrieving the press to do anything more. Then at least one of the days after work rain shut me down. Went to HF yesterday to grab a small sledge and two pickle forks. Everyone online said to use two forks and they were right. The ball-stud actually came out fairly easy with the sledge and forks. Should have went with that in the first place instead of breaking a tie rod end/pitman arm puller yesterday.

For now The Scab is on driver duty until the rest of the ball joints get replaced, but at least I can now move the car. Glad I fixed the brake line on The Scab on Saturday instead of putting it off.

[VicCrownVic]

Only took me a month, but since I mostly work from home I didn't need to drive much. Waiting on the alignment to be done now.

[VicCrownVic]

Fucking deer! Only good for eating.

I grew up in the middle of nowhere, where herds of deer roam and I've never in my life hit a deer until last night. I've had plenty of close calls, but this one was booking across the road left to right and I caught it with my right front corner. Slammed the brakes as soon as I saw the damned thing bolting like lightning across my path. Slammed on those brakes and had no time to think. I've been over the scenario a million times in my head and there just wasn't any avoiding this one other than being somewhere else at that time. At least I was able to instinctually slam on the brakes, the car braked straight, so things weren't worse. I pulled onto the next cross road (dirt road) to survey the damage, tucked the cornering lamp harness between the fender an hood since it was dragging on the ground/flapping in the wind. The road I was previously on did not have a shoulder to safely pull over, and I wasn't about to get hit from behind. A few small hills increase the chances for that to happen and contributed, along with being a wooded area, to not seeing this deer sooner.

I took the afternoon off from work today, hit a few JYs and was surprised to find a 98% rust free (about as good as it gets around here), color matching fender. I thought this was going to be the hardest part to find without loads of cancer. It's not perfect, there's a huge scratch (set of scratches that look like one from a distance) above the wheel arch and some rock chips, but I should be able to take care of the non-rust-cosmetic issues. Sadly, the scratches may not have been there before the donor entered the JY. It will do to get the new-to-me header panel mounted so I can get the new-to-me headlight and cornering light mounted.
The header panel I found is not the right color, some gorilla destroyed the color matching one on the 2000 MGM that the fender came from. Is it seriously that hard to not destroy things that others might want? Anyway, the color could be a worse mismatch but the crystal blue metallic or frost blue metallic (whatever it is) is good enough until I find a matching '98-'02 header panel. I forgot the nuts that I set aside with the intention of putting back on the grill studs. This header panel will be swapped out if a matching color one shows up in good shape, but for now I need to be able to mount my lights.
The bumper cover isn't too bad, but you can see stress cracks in the paint and scuffs if you get close. I've actually been looking for a bumper cover for a couple years but they are either trash or the damned derby dicks cut them.
The hood is usable so it will stay until I find a color matching replacement. The one from the 2000 MGM fender donor was missing. From what I've seen, hoods tend to be less of an issue to find without cancer.

Last night:


Today at one of the yards I went to, locals will know which yard this is:


The parts after a power wash (minus the lights):



I'll likely be swapping the new-to-me parts on in my in-laws driveway on Saturday. Memphis, MI, where I'll be, is having their annual Memphis Festival Days. Yard sales all over town, hopefully more than last year if I have time after working on the car.

[friskyfrankie]

As long as you are not injured - cars can be fixed, people, sometimes not as easy! Is a pain in the ass, though and scary.

[Tiggie]

Sometimes you can't avoid the little (or big) beasts. Still sucks. Driving from dusk to dawn seems like a game of roulette.

You'll get it back into shape.

[DerekTheGreat]

That's a bummer. I hope you killed it. Mmm, backstraps & venison jerky.

[sly]

Bah... at least the parts are decent. And that nose is pretty close even though it's not a direct match. Much closer than the harvest gold on the front of my white CV.

[87gtVIC]

Bummer. Lucky you can find the parts and are capable of swapping them out. Others would be forced to drive it that way or have insurance total it out.

[Mainemantom]

Glad you are not hurt. Nice to find the parts as quick as you did. Deer are stupid creatures. I had one hit my brand new LTC back in 2005 . It was like it dropped from the sky. Shocking experience. Maybe you can find a paint shop that can blend in the parts.

[VicCrownVic]

So far I'm about $150 into the repair effort. Dave, unfortunately, this car actually was totaled a year or two before I got it. The history says left front damage and I can tell that the left fender is not original as is the bumper cover which has a factory sticker with a 2000 MGM VIN (and possibly the hood is not original). (The right fender without pinstripe will now match the left.) I suspect it was similar damage, but the price for repair on the history report was a little over $5200. Yeah, I'm not terribly worried about the imperfections saving that kind of dough. A hood will be an additional $50-$55 depending on where I find it, and if I decide to hold out for a correct color header panel, which I'd prefer over painting, that's another $45 about. While I'm not done putting money into the fix it will still be a far cry from $5200.

Derek, that bastard just kept on going. I braked enough that it probably just got some serious bruising. I don't even recall thinking about braking, I just did while saying MF I didn't even get a good look at it and don't know if it was a doe or a buck, but it was an adult.

Spent some time last night cleaning the new-to-me headlight. I used the same Cerakote product on both headlights before the deer destroyed the one. I actually wanted to replace that one anyway, it had a crack in it. Anyway, the replacement came from a green '98 MGM and was in about the same shape as my headlights before I restored them, so I figured this would would match the D-side well after the same treatment.
The Cerakote stuff does OK. Having never used any headlight restore product I have nothing to compare it to in terms of how well this product does.



Picture before the accident after applying the Cerakote product. (The last picture before the accident.) I didn't get a before picture either time I used the product.



Also, I did not realize how large these fenders are until I tried putting it into the car in the JY parking lot.

[DerekTheGreat]

Ah, that sucks. Guess in order to kill a deer it has to kill the car.

I'm curious about the headlight restore stuff. I'd like to try it on the Tahoe and new to me Camaro. But I've heard the stuff doesn't last very long.

[Arquemann]

Guess in order to kill a deer it has to kill the car.

And even killing a car doesn't necessarily kill the deer...
I dunno what kinda deer you americans got, but here adult deer are really tough.
I've bumped a deer once and got a fender kicked by a moose, I also know a guy whose 5-series Beemer was utterly totaled in a deer collision and the animal just got up and fucked off to ruin someone else's day.

Moose are a whole different thing, they are fucking huge and scary as hell. If you're not driving a freaking lifted pickup truck, those things come in through the windshield if you crash into them.

[VicCrownVic]

Whitetail (white-tailed) deer, is what we have around here. We have moose up north in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where I spent my college years. (Many other places in the US also have moose, but not the Lower Peninsula of Michigan that I'm aware of.) I've actually never seen a moose. Hitting one of those would put my car in a state beyond my ability to repair if I'm lucky to even make it.

[Arquemann]

Whitetail (white-tailed) deer, is what we have around here. We have moose up north in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where I spent my college years. (Many other places in the US also have moose, but not the Lower Peninsula of Michigan that I'm aware of.) I've actually never seen a moose. Hitting one of those would put my car in a state beyond my ability to repair if I'm lucky to even make it.

Yeah we've got those too and roe deer(?) aswell, and of course moose and reindeer. I've seen all of 'em, reindeers on trips up north, but moose and deer can be seen off the road every now and then, and I don't even live in the middle of nowhere.
Big or small, they always scare you shitless when driving, only the potential damage differs. Best enjoyed on a platter.

[sly]

This is the reason for the deer launcher bumper on my Expedition.

[VicCrownVic]

No pictures, I'll upload after I get home (Saturday night or Sunday), but it's starting to look better. Staying the night in Memphis, MI and got a head start since the original plan was to start tomorrow. Fender and header panel are on and bumper cover is back on. Lots more bolts to go and then adjustments tomorrow. Driver side is pretty much back together with headlight mounted but forgot to plug in the headlight. Phone (aka flashlight) battery was just about dead (2%) so I called it a night. Managed to get the new-to-me fender mounted without completely removing the hood. Have all the rear most bolts in but none are tight yet. Only a couple of front bolts are in. The passenger side of the radiator support did get tweaked a little. About 1/4" less tweak at the bottom header panel mount bolt and it wouldn't be a problem, but for now only the top mount bolt is in. Hood closes fine but quite the gap on the front passenger side since it got smashed there. Ordered some touch-up paint from automotivetouchup.com, I've used their paint before and it was good enough for me, and some trim adhesive to transfer the trim on the rear of the fender to the new-to-me fender. Should be all wrapped up with the non-paint work tomorrow.