1997 Grand Marquis

[hot__box]

Some of you may recognize me from CVN. For the majority that don’t know me, here is my 1997 Grand Marquis. Disclaimer, this thread has largely been copied from my build thread at CVN, edited slightly. Enjoy.

I’ll use this thread to document my progress for my newly acquired Grand Marquis, as well as any cool photos, and/or anything else related to the car.

Basic Information:
-1997 Mercury Grand Marquis M75 (LS)
-163K Miles
-Well optioned car; leather seats, EATC, digital dash, alloy rims, factory amplifier. Not sure how much was standard on the LS trim level, but I’m almost certain that at least the digital dash and factory amplifier were optional. Also, regardless wether leather seats were standard or not, I’m sure that the two tone leather seats must have been optional.
-All stock and appears completely unmolested.
-Acquired December 2021.

A few things I’ve noticed immediately:

-The car only came with two center caps, both caps had all the “chrome” plastic peeled completely peeled off leaving the natural yellow color visible. Pretty ugly so I’ve removed them both. I’ve sourced refurbed center caps from several different sources.

-All of the power window regulators have failed. (Extremely common issue, yet annoying none the less.)

- The car appears to have been completely repainted at some point or another. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but some paint peel in the rear door jamb reveals a rather unique dark blue metallic color. Yes, I know I can check the paint code on the door, but I’ve been so busy I couldn’t be bothered to do so yet. The door jambs and under hood have all been painted, as well as a factory looking pinstripe.. implying that it wasn’t a cheapo paint job. However, the paint is starting to fail by quarter panel.

Pics from first few days:

[hot__box]

Learned a valuable lesson in replacing the window regulator, (which I have done several times before btw)



Don’t tighten the bolts into the glass too tight. Dummy move due to rushing to get the job done. Thankfully I had another glass handy.

1 down. 3 more to go.

Also, replaced the headlights, turn signals and corner light assemblies for some crispy fresh new ones.






[I]I think HID’s may be in the future...’

Other things done:

-Oil and filter change
-Spark plugs, wires, and distributor coils changed
-2 center caps added, waiting for the two others
-fuel and air filter change

[hot__box]

Because I’m a glutton for punishment... !





But I didn’t break anything this time. Funny thing is, it looks like the regulator was aftermarket, and all the little sound deadener and everything was already missing so someone’s definitely been in here before.. but the regulator was riveted in..

Anyways, now I have two working front window regulators. Back two when the parts come in.

After that, I replaced a missing rivet holding the plastic panel trim in, and replaced the burnt out parking light on the driver’s side. I then vacuumed the car,.



After that, I took on several errands. To finish off the day, I went and washed the car at a self serve car wash. I had a can of tire shine in the trunk, so it cleaned up pretty nice. After the car wash I went to the lake to take a few pictures.

[hot__box]

New fuel injectors !!





Also, I finally got the final center cap in so now that’s taken care of.

[hot__box]

Installed the radio!

It was cold today, but the sun was out. I decided I would put the stereo in. Remembered after I started that the car has a factory amplifier which turned what should have been a 30 minute job into a several hour affair. Because I was going to have to run wires to the trunk, I went ahead and ran the subwoofer wires together with the amplifier adapter harness, so I won’t have to do it in the future when I do put the subwoofers in.





















Well hot__box, where’s the shroud/housing for the radio? I’ve got it, but am debating if I want to put it on now or just wait untilI put the subs in. If I put the subs in sooner rather than later, it doesn’t make sense to put the housing in now since the aftermarket ones can be a PITA to take out some times. I’ll know pretty soon which route I’m going to go. If I decide it’ll be a while before the subs go in I’ll just throw the housing in so it looks better.

[hot__box]

Well, I’ve been out sick since my last post in this thread. Against my better judgement and as a result of being cooped up in the house for 2 weeks I could no longer control the urge to do something productive, and went and installed the door and deck speakers. Waited until it got dark to go fo it, because you know, it’d be even colder outside and who needs to see what you’re doing. Bundled up like a snowman I went out with the work light and two screwdrivers.



Was slightly annoying in the cold and dark. Didn’t help that the thought of getting sick again was in the back of my mind the whole time, but I was already committed.



To top it off golden, I got in the car to test the speakers and voila... the battery was dead. I can’t say I wasn’t anticipating this, the date on the battery was 2017, so it was on borrowed time. Thankfully, since I was anticipating the battery to fail, I already had the replacement sitting there waiting. Tossed the new battery in and everything works great but there is a definite shortage of bass, so my next project will be to drop the amp and sub in.

[hot__box]

Alright, today I did the sub and amp install. It was a pretty day.. but a little cold tbh.

So, to start things off, I made my own battery cables and grounds using welding leads. It’s high quality copper wire, and thought it’d be a bit better than the stuff they’re selling in the amp kits nowadays.



I started by drilling a hole in the firewall and feeding the power cable thru the engine bay to the battery.







Next, I added a fuse block.






Next I made my way to the trunk.



I then drilled a hole for my grounding location. Note that I ended up taking a lot more paint off for a solid connection.







New battery terminals !



Alright, so here’s the perfect time to go head and say that I totally dropped the ball last time when I did the head unit install. Yes, I ran the speaker wires.. but I forgot to run the REMOTE wire. 🤦🏻*♂️

That came back to haunt me today. Naturally, I’m like I know I’m missing something. Oh yeah, the remote wire. Well damn, it’s been so long since I’ve installed an amp and sub it totally slipped my mind. But then I’m sitting there like how TF am I supposed to run this wire.. Like yeah, one goes to the amp.. then what.. I swear in the past the harness adapters would have a lead wire for remote that you could just connect to , but guess what!!! NOT THIS ONE!!!

I ended up having to splice into the 12V in the head unit harness to get power. After that, I ran the remote wire on the passenger side with speaker wires and the amplifier bypass harness. After that, I was pretty much done. Just clean up the tools & stuff, I zip tied the power cable in a couple places in the engine bay.



Aghh!! Yes I know, the mounting looks terrible. As usual, it got dark on me and this time I didn’t feel like working and messing about in the dark and cold, so this is how it sits tonight. I’d really like a home brew solution, like a custom deck that I can have the speaker and amp rest on, and still have room for all my crap. At the very least, I’ll probably remove the donut tire as it serves no purpose (You can clearly see I already have a full size spare) and just let the sub sit on the trunk floor. Also, I need to clean up that mess of a wiring harness that was needed to bypass the factory amp.



That’s it for now.. stay tuned!

__________________________________________________ ____________________
[Parts replaced or added since December 2021:

- (8) Spark Plugs; Platinum (Motorcraft)
- Spark Plug Wires (Motorcraft)
- (2) Distributor Coils (Motorcraft)
- (8) Fuel Injectors (SMP)
- (2) Window Regulators (Driver’s Front & Passenger’s Front) (Cardone)
- New Head Light Assemblies (Driver’s and Passenger’s Side) (Depo)
- New Parking Light Assemblies (Driver’s and Passenger’s Side) (Depo)
- New Turn Signal Assemblies (Driver’s and Passenger’s Side) (Depo)
- TPS (Motorcraft)
- Fuel Filter (Motorcraft)
- Air Filter (Motorcraft)
- Battery (Exide)
- 4 NOS Center caps for alloy rims (Ford)
- Alpine Head Unit
- (2) JVC 6x8’s (Front Doors)
- (2) Kicker 6x9’s (Front Deck)
- Kicker Amp
- Kicker 12” Subwoofer
- Custom Power & Ground Cables (#2 Welding Lead)
- Dashboard Carpet
__________________________________________________ _____________________

[hot__box]

Blew out the sub LOL. It lasted.. one day. Thing is, it was already an old speaker.. a “hand me down” if you will. It had been sitting for some years as well.. it was rode hard and put away wet, so I’m not surprised it didn’t last. Being Sunday I took the car out for a cruise and went a little heavy on the sound.

So, I had another set of subs sitting around. 2 10” in a box, I just swapped them out. Tbh, it actually looks better because it sits more flush. I think I’m going to just get two new 12’s. I may shuffle these 10’s into the Cherokee but IDK.

These subwoofers are from the 90’s, so in theory they should be made better. However, with electronics I feel like that may not be the case. Curious to see how long these will last



Replaced the brake light assemblies.



A little disappointed with the fit. It’s not terrible and virtually nobody would notice.. but I do. I notice. Still think it looks better than the OEM lights that have been sun faded to the point where they’ve whitened.

Also, finished the job with the head unit.



Alright, so now.. what are the future plans?

Well, for one, window tint is a must. So that’s going to be coming soon. Though I have all the tools to do it myself, I hate tinting windows. Especially cars, those rear windows just feel impossible. I’ve done it before on my C2500 standard cab, E350 work van, and on the ‘98 Cherokee.. anything else I tried came out like absolute trash.

Also, rims. I like the stock rims but I want some wire wheels. Don’t know if true Daytons are in the budget, but considering some replicas in 15 or 16”. If I go 16”, I believe it’ll be possible for me to do the big brake upgrade.

Finally, some dual exhaust and chrome tips I think would compliment this car nicely. There are plenty of other things I want to do but lets not get ahead of ourselves.. this is where we’re at with it right now.

Stay Tuned

Let’s stop playing around. I just went ahead and dropped the big boys in.



Wrapped the power cable in some wire cover, and taped over it with red electrical tape.






System sounds great, though I’m considering some high pass filters for the door speakers. We shall see.

Oh, I also reached out to Dayton for some information on some rims. 6 to 8 month lead time if ordered today. Currently debating if I should just order them now or go a different route.

Stay Tuned.

[hot__box]

Disaster strikes. I dropped the Marquis off at my go-to exhaust shop yesterday, expecting to get the car back today. I get the call expecting my guy to tell me to come pick the car up. Nope. The car is on fire. So I go down there and he says the car basically just went up in flames. No rhyme or reason. He says it looks like the fire started from a harness by the brake fluid reservoir.







It’s hard to tell from the pictures but the damage is pretty bad. There isn’t a wire harness in the vicinity that hasn’t been burned, well.. except for my sub power wire.. which was blackened from the fire but not affected.

They say that it appears as if a faulty recall harness replacement is likely to be the culprit.. what do the experts here say about that? I haven’t heard of this recall myself, but apparently it does affect older model panthers. The harness looks like it may have been replaced under recall before since it’s zip-tied in place.. obviously not factory.








Exhaust was looking good.. at least what they had got complete before the car went up in flames.





At any rate, I don’t know what to do. Even the control arms are scorched. I’ve been pretty lucky not to have any real electrical gremlins with this car... got the feeling those days are over. ****.

[87gtVIC]

Bummer man. No idea about the recall harness.


The car was definitely not resprayed from a blue metallic considering under neath all the trim you pulled, deep in the engine compartment and deep inside the trunk you see white paint. Curious what it is you have seen.


Nice job on all the work and hopefully something simple can be done to get it back up and running again safely for you.

[friskyfrankie]

Sorry to hear about the fire but your work and especially documentation (photos) are GREAT! Sounds as if you are also a picky SOB, just like me, so we'd get along great. I do remember the recalls and if I remember correctly, there was 2 recalls for the same problem. Probably because you are not the original owner, you did not receive the letters. Fix it up and keep going. I wish you many more years of service out of the car - it is worth it!!

[GM_Guy]

I remember that recall. Bad switch leaks fluid through the connector and poof. From what I remember, the original deactivation switch did not get replaced unless it showed signs of leaking when the car was brought in to get the recall performed. So lots of cars still out there with questionable switches and bad recall harness waiting for their day.

You might find info on cvn if you use google to search the really old threads, but I think the color of the switch connector body would identify if the switch was compatable with the "bad" harness, or if a replacement switch was installed.

[GM_Guy]

Switch identification;

[sly]

My 93 had the recall done to it many moons ago. The problem with the fix is that it only puts a fuse in the setup to help prevent the fire from starting, but the fuse is not a guarantee that it will actually prevent the fire as the wires may spark as the fuse blows, igniting leaking brake fluid. Preventing the brake reservoir from leaking by keeping an eye on it is the only real measure to keep these from burning down.

[Pvt.Hudson]

The two tone seats are a carryover from the Bayshore edition.



I've seen a few at the yards. Think it was a option on 97's as well as the flying M floor mats.



I've owned a number of aeros that have had the recalled harness installed and never had a issue but I do wonder if the wires on the harness chaffed causing a short because it was not properly zip tied.