Regular reader moved to California

[grandmarquisdriversince98]

Hi. Finally decided to post. I'm one of those 1988 Grand Marquis driving around in California. Hopefully some of the rust that is coming out will slow way down. I took off my civilian rear sway bar that I got from a member a long time ago to hold me over until I found a police one and am ready to switch to the police one I got from Picknpull recently. I know there is more of a lip on the traction bars on the civies so I'm guessing the answer is to get a slightly smaller bolt that will push through? Otherwise the old bolt doesn't push through. There is probably a thread on what bolt to get at Autozone as surgical strike shopping or something since there seems to be a thread on everything. I think Addco sells bars but I got the police one already. Later.

Daniel

[79lincolnlover]

Have fun in California

[grandpaslincoln]

Yay, another west coaster! Welcome!

[grandmarquisdriversince98]

My brother has a 1988 crown victoria cruiser so he is another west coaster that has a box. He is on crownvic.net mostly and he got to California years ago but I arrived this year. We're originally from Indiana but we have been wanting to restore our cars together. I wonder what the police speedometer looks like in Canada for the 5.8 liter 1988 Grand Marquis cruiser. I know someone from Canada posted a thread once with a picture but I think it was civilian and there doesn't seem to be a US one that goes up to 140.

[Lincolnmania]

welcome to gmn!

[LTDMan83]

[mikeroc283]

Welcome!

[p71towny]

Addco makes a KILLER front bar, however, I don't believe they make a rear one for boxes so if you put an addco up front, the best you could get out back is a PI bar and that would still set you up for oversteer. (I think Im getting that right)

[86VickyLX]

My brother has a 1988 crown victoria cruiser so he is another west coaster that has a box. He is on crownvic.net mostly and he got to California years ago but I arrived this year. We're originally from Indiana but we have been wanting to restore our cars together. I wonder what the police speedometer looks like in Canada for the 5.8 liter 1988 Grand Marquis cruiser. I know someone from Canada posted a thread once with a picture but I think it was civilian and there doesn't seem to be a US one that goes up to 140.

There was always a rumor to a Merc Speedometer that went up to 140 mph, but I haven't seen any proof to one ever existing. If you really want a 140mph speedometer, you can convert your dash to one of a LTD Vic of that year.

[p71towny]

Oh god the rumor. Id rather never know, well unless its real.

[grandmarquisdriversince98]

I also got the front bar from the cruiser at pick n pull. It doesn't look any bigger to me. I know there is something about whether it is hollow or not so maybe I'll use it. I'll check out Addco to see what sort of diameters they are saying. I thought I saw a place that was selling the rear bar for Addco once but it was hard to run into. I think it only said 1" for Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car instead of saying Crown Victoria too. It was a webpage somewhere.

I asked the dealer about the speedometer for the Grand Marquis once a couple of years ago and they didn't give a blank to talk to me but I was able to get from them that there was a part with mph, a part with kmph, and a third part number that said Canada in the system and they assumed it was in kmph and nothing about whether it was Canadian police or not. That's about all the research I ever did on the rumor. It would be cool if the passenger dash for Grand Marquis had the cutout for the extra stock police guages just like a Crown Vic that had that option.

[p71towny]

All the bars are interchangable. Town Car, Grand Marquis, and Crown Victoria all share the same chassis. Town cars have a different tail shaft on the tranny tho cause they are a bit longer, but thats bout it. Chassis/drivetrain parts all interchange.

[85crownHPP]

good luck passing California emissions testing!!!

[grandmarquisdriversince98]

Emissions wasn't so bad as long as everything is stock. New cats and a gas vapor hose was all it took. I was really afraid at first that I would have to modify to get mass airflow but that didn't start on grand marquis until 1990. It was earlier for the stangs. I will just have to focus on reliability and anything that has a CARB number. The reliability I have so far is composed of Bosch platinum +4s, the MSD AL6 stuff, an oil cooler, a transmission cooler, and a 2 inch thick radiator that are all jery rigged in. I also have the R134A retrofit. It made it from Indiana to California just fine. Only after I got here, did I go out and do something stupid. I left my car in my sisters sprinkers too long! Also, sometimes I have to change my air bypass valve or clean it out so the idle doesn't get bad.

[grandmarquisdriversince98]

Oh, and it came with stock traction lock too.