My 79 Marquis

[Grand1]

Let the rust war begin.
Scored a beautiful $125 rear bumper at a yard...literally two tiny pits in the whole thing.

[87gtVIC]

Nice job on the bumper. Great find. I am sure they are difficult to come by nowadays.

[Mainemantom]

Did you undercoat the backside of the bumper ? It might be too cold and wet to do it now.

[Grand1]

There was minimal rust, most came off with 150 grit sandpaper....the small stuff that didnt I sprayed with convertor. Can def do what you recommend next spring. I had to use a cuting disk to cut the 6 nuts off the old bumper, kinda rushed it to see what it would look like.

[Tiggie]

Awesome find on the bumper. Glad you are bringing this one back to life.

[87gtVIC]

There was minimal rust, most came off with 150 grit sandpaper....the small stuff that didnt I sprayed with convertor. Can def do what you recommend next spring. I had to use a cuting disk to cut the 6 nuts off the old bumper, kinda rushed it to see what it would look like.

I did similar with my NOS pick ups:

Front:

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...l=1#post813737

Rear:

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...l=1#post814438

They are both still in the crawl space awaiting for their day to shine again.

[Brown_Muscle]

Nice 79! That interior is awesome. I love the fender "gills" on the early models. What are your overall plans/goals for this one? That bumper was a really nice find too

[slack]

That's one heck of a nice bumper! I dig the car and the color (though I might be biased having now owned two beige box panthers. ). I feel like your rarely see the 79s anymore. Even more so for the Grand Marquis.

[massacre]

Yes that only lasted a few years years ! Wonder how many state vehicle inspectors failed vehicles for no horn.

Same with early fox bodies. Looks like a lot of similarities- dash pad, fuse box location, horn location, similar fender grilles, etc

[Grand1]

Thanks for all the enthusiasm gents. I was tossing and turning thinking about the 87 GM donor vehicle from which I took the bumper....went back to the boneyard and scored an elusive power passenger seat. Also fixed the broken lamp.

[VicCrownVic]

Oh, I see a project I can help with. I have no idea the if '79 floor pan is the same and will accept that '87 seat track.
Did you get the harness from under the donor carpet to plug in to both the driver and passenger seat? Other than that it looks like everything I would need as long as the floor pan is the same.

[Grand1]

The brackets seem to match after a crude measure. One difference in the 79 seat is that it doesnt have a lever on the side to manually recline. Didnt grab that harness, damn

[VicCrownVic]

Not a deal breaker, a harness isn't too hard to make up. If you do get back to the JY pull the driver seat out, pull the carpet up, and get as much of the harness as you can. Should be just two wires. One is a bolted on ground wire and cut the other wire, somewhere along that floor channel just inside of the driver door.
Figuring out the physical mounting of the switch will be fun since '79 has that trim piece on the side of the seat that I'll have to figure out how to not mangle in the process.

[87gtVIC]

Not a deal breaker, a harness isn't too hard to make up. If you do get back to the JY pull the driver seat out, pull the carpet up, and get as much of the harness as you can. Should be just two wires. One is a bolted on ground wire and cut the other wire, somewhere along that floor channel just inside of the driver door.
Figuring out the physical mounting of the switch will be fun since '79 has that trim piece on the side of the seat that I'll have to figure out how to not mangle in the process.

Been there! Maybe this will help:

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...l=1#post666548

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...l=1#post666560

[kishy]

That really is the beauty of having access to the Metro Detroit area...these cars are so common (as I think my junkyard thread has demonstrated), that parts which would otherwise be expensive or difficult to find are at your fingertips for pennies.

It won't be this way forever but it's pretty great while it still is.

[Grand1]

Well said, kish.
Me and Vic talked about this the other week....I think there is about 3 to 5 years before most of everything will be gone. Not sure if we have a master parts list on this site for parts that people need and have. It may be a good idea to start a thread listing things/inventory for the benefit of this awesome car club...if not we will all be regulated to shitty parts on Egay.

[Grand1]

*Ebay.

[Mainemantom]

The brackets seem to match after a crude measure. One difference in the 79 seat is that it doesnt have a lever on the side to manually recline. Didnt grab that harness, damn

It is easy to change the seat over to manual recline. It is just a bracket assembly on lower and upper frames. I did it on my 90 CV. Just have to move the seat cover up and around a little. If there is a aluminum trim cover on lower seat cushion, a hole will have to be drilled for the lever.
I would be harvesting as many parts from that junkyard car as possible if the prices are reasonable. EBay prices are really high. JY availability is becoming less every day.

[VicCrownVic]

I did not know that about the recline, good to know. Good thing he got the whole seat.

[Mainemantom]

FYI The brackets are not on both sides of the seat, only the outside