My 1987 Mercury Colony Park

[87gtVIC]

Nice deal on being able to remove the shift indicator whilst still in the vehicle. Cannot do that with the ford version..Crown Vic. Sure saves one from wrecking the fragile plastic for the shift indicator adjustment during a removal/reinstall.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Now I still don't agree with how the radio was rewired years ago, at least whoever did the job wired the speakers correctly. Polarity seemed correct and all channels were directed properly. Since I was using a new Pioneer head unit to replace an old one, the existing wires from the old head unit used the same colors, so all I had to do was just match them up, so installation was easy.



This system sounds great now that it's driven by a healthy head unit. I have it faded a touch to the back since the only front speakers are the dash ones, so it seems rather balanced now. The bass even hits nicely.

The only modification I had to make was to the bezel around the head unit by shaving the sides down some so it would fit through the dash trim opening, but you can barely tell I did that.

I'll look into finding the wires that come from the door speakers later on and get those wired into the system. I'm sure it'll sound even better having those working alongside everything else.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

So the wagon developed a new "feature" before my trip to North Carolina a few weeks ago. I was getting on the expressway and the A/C started blowing warm. Uh oh... I expected a real issue, however it boiled down to the shady A/C compressor connector. I could tap it and the compressor would kick on, but would go out when going over rough roads or when it felt like it.

The old connector was pretty crappy. Someone splice on just the plug end and broke apart the diode housing to do so. The whole harness wasn't well secured, either, and was prone to bouncing about, which probably aggravated the issue.



I grabbed a replacement diode and connector from an '88 Town Car and spliced that in place today. I also reattached it to the plastic tab holder that is placed on top of the A/C compressor bracket.



A touch of dielectric grease in the compressor socket and the A/C system seems to back to normal. The compressor cycles properly and I have icy cold air again.

[Brown_Muscle]

Nice wagon! I actually love the wheels on it, (gadgets favorites ) The color combo is nice as well. I've been itching for a nice wagon to use as a work vehicle and passenger toter. They just don't make station wagons like that anymore, and they are so damn useful, our Outback has nothing on the old box wagons. I look forward to seeing more updates on it!

[TecNickal]

I forgot about that issue haha. Well glad it's fixed! Wonder where the spare harnesses went...I snipped a couple...

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I forgot about that issue haha. Well glad it's fixed! Wonder where the spare harnesses went...I snipped a couple...

I searched under all the seats and through all of the storage compartments. It's probably hidden somewhere. I did find that ancient poncho in a pouch deal in the driver's seat rear pocket, lol. The repaired connector worked well today while I ran some errands. Love the A/C in this thing.

I also worked on the passenger window. The motor has been replaced before as holes were already drilled previously to access the bolts. I'd say the motor has been worked on at least twice given the fact that the two wires running to the motor had a splice job done right next to the motor and then another splice job right up the motor. The Dorman motor I got had replacement connectors, so I cut right behind the furthest splice job and added in a plug so if I ever need to service the motor again, I can just unplug it. The motor swap went generally well, except for some reason the bottom screw would not thread into the motor, but the two on the sides did. Hopefully that won't cause any issues for the time being.

The old motor was a Ford one, but could not move the window on the regulator and ran very slowly after it was removed from the door. I'm going to look into possibly refurbishing it if possible should I need a spare for the front passenger or rear driver door.

I did not get around to doing the vent window swap yet. I need to find my cordless drill so I can drill the rivets out of the glass. It doesn't look like it should be too bad getting the glass out once the rivets are out.

Last thing I did before closing up the door was cleaned the drain holes at the bottom of the door. The front one was plugged with all sorts of garbage. These doors are solid on the inside, and I'd like to keep them that way.

[DerekTheGreat]

A/C in these works great, except in heavy traffic of course.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

A/C in these works great, except in heavy traffic of course.

I'm thinking I may look at doing a setup similar to the Aeros with the electric fans that kick on when the A/C is turned on the to keep air flowing through the condenser. That would improve low speed A/C efficiency.

[gadget73]

Aux fan is a good idea, but just making sure the fan clutch is good helps a lot.

[tjc78]

It will help a little. Even my 04s A/C performance in heavy traffic wasn't nearly as cold as when you were above 30MPH. Keeping it on Recirc(Max) made it better.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Been meaning to put up a picture of the instrument cluster with the refreshed backlighting:


The lighting is a little more even in person, but this is a fairly close picture. I probably need to add a good body ground since the cluster will dim or flicker a little bit when the brakes or turn signals are on. It's not aggravating, but you notice when it does it.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

More work today!

The passenger side front door finally got its vent window swapped in with new window felt. The old window channel felt was so tough and brittle that once I got it all out, I had reduced it into hundreds of small pieces and chunks. I also installed a vent window dew wipe trim piece since it had a healthier dew wipe compared to what I pulled off. The old one was badly cracked and had scratched the original glass very deeply.

Swap photos:




I need to clean the glass, since it has been collecting dust and grime for some time. I know Nick had grabbed the glass and vent window some time ago since I remember the driver's side having been converted in 2014.

As far as the installation, it wasn't as bad as I expected. Getting the glass in and out wasn't any worse than when I changed my regulators on the '97. The only thing I'll complain about is Ford's affinity for pop rivets. All of the pop rivets that were removed were replaced by 1/4-20 x 1 flange bolts and locking flange nuts. The use of flange bolts and lock nuts cuts down the need for washers of the standard or locking type. The vent glass was secured with M6-20 x 22mm bolts and nuts since the 1/4-20 bolts were a touch large and didn't want to fit between the door body, dew wipe trim, and the vent window chassis.

Anyway, everything is good and I should be able to get the glass cleaned either tomorrow or Wednesday.

[Tiggie]

I plan to do exactly that to my 90. Vent windows are a must.

[VicCrownVic]

Cluster lighting looks good, reminds me of the dash in the '87 MGM that rsolis has; it looks like the same lighting he's running.
Hmm... I my have to stock up on vent window parts.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I plan to do exactly that to my 90. Vent windows are a must.

Hmm... I my have to stock up on vent window parts.

When I was speaking some time ago with TecNickal, I think he was looking to add them to his '89, but something about the holes weren't there on the door shell? Kinda hopes he chimes in on that in case I'm wrong. The disappearance of those holes may correlate to the vent window being dropped around '89 or there about. I know '90-'91 could not get them.

Anyway, if that happens to be an issue, it shouldn't be hard to drill the necessary holes to make it all work. The trick would be aligning the vent glass properly so that the window glass fits. You could probably use the dew wipe from the donor car as a template since there's a hole where the bolt passes through. Essentially there's a sandwich made when you bolt everything together from one side to the other: Door shell, dew wipe, vent window frame.

As far as sourcing the windows from donor cars, I typically have seen the style on my car on LTD models. They have the latches on the glass. On the Marquis models, I typically see those with a knob on the door panel which you turn that opens the glass. I have no idea how that setup is done, and I would say that the LTD would probably be the easiest one to do since you really don't "modify" anything to add them. I figure if you want to get crazy and make the knob style from a Marquis work, power to you.