My 1989 Grand Marquis “Clifford”

[GMUE03]

I remember seeing this pop up on Facebook marketplace a while back. I was tempted but I have too many cars lol. Beautiful color.

I agree with you on working on these cars. They’re very simplistic compared to anything remotely new. Plus they’re cheap and there’s a lot of room under the hood to work with. I’m never getting rid of either my boxes.

Hey that’s neat. It was in Vero. The ad said “power windows, cold ac” LOL. Thank you!

Yea, that list of things in my post totaled out to be a little over $700. Not bad for a laundry list of stuff.

[GMUE03]

Got all of my front end stuff in from Rock Auto. Also rented an internal coil spring compressor for good measure.
So next weekend I’m gonna tackle new coil springs and insulators, shocks, sway bar links, sway bar bushings and possibly upper control arm bushings.

My plan of attack (let me know if I’m missing something here):
•get front end off ground and remove wheels
•put jack under lower control arm to relive spring tension
•remove shock
•disconnect sway bar link
•disconnect upper control arm ball joint
•disconnect tie rod
•slowly lower jack to allow the spring to fully extend
•remove spring from vehicle


Maybe someone could point me in the right direction here. I’ve noticed just by looking at the front of the car that my camber seems wayy too negative.



Camber seems off on both sides, but it worse on the passenger side, which just so happens to sit an inch lower than the drivers side. Could it be possible that my blown ride hight could be contributing to negative camber like what’s shown? I guess worn control arms could cause negative camber like this as well?

After getting the front wheels off the ground and giving them a good tug I don’t feel any vertical or horizontal play in either side. I’d imagine blown control arm bushings would give me some sort of play? I could be wrong.

[Arquemann]

Plan sounds good, internal spring compressor is the key to not getting maimed (and getting springs back in).

I think these cars get more negative camber when lowered. But you should pry on the control arms to see if the bushes are sloppy, giving the wheel a tug isn't that much force on them.
By the pics the camber doesn't look too excessive, but you should definitely get an alignment after you're done changing parts under there.

[GMUE03]

Plan sounds good, internal spring compressor is the key to not getting maimed (and getting springs back in).

I think these cars get more negative camber when lowered. But you should pry on the control arms to see if the bushes are sloppy, giving the wheel a tug isn't that much force on them.
By the pics the camber doesn't look too excessive, but you should definitely get an alignment after you're done changing parts under there.

Thanks for the input on my plan here. I’ve never messed with a non MacPherson strut so this will be my first time pulling coil springs like this.

Also interesting input on the camber situation. I’ll give that a shot. Like I said I have upper control arm bushings just in case, but I’ve heard they’re not fun to change. I was thinking using my vice to press the old ones out and press the new ones in.



Maybe my picture doesn’t do a justice. The car looks like it’s trying to say “KACHOWW!” when you’re looking directly at the front of it haha. We’ll see how it looks after all the new stuff goes on. Hoping the Lesjöfors HD front springs get the stock ride hight back (only option Rockauto had). The front left side is actually hitting the bump stops .

As the car sits now, my alignment is a hot mess. I need to keep the wheel pointed at 10 o’clock to keep the car driving straight, so it definitely needs a good toe alignment at the least. Once I have everything put together I’ll have new tires put on and an alignment done at the same time.

[Tynnerstroem]

What an absolute beauty! Nice to see a color like that, works great with the gray interior.

[GMUE03]

What an absolute beauty! Nice to see a color like that, works great with the gray interior.

Thank you, and likewise!
I’ve been following your journey with the 88’ for a couple months now. It’s funny because it seems that whatever you have to fix on your car I have to fix on mine a month later haha. Perfect example would be the lower intake gaskets. I’m suspecting a slow coolant leak from there.

[GMUE03]

Took the car on its weekly drive to the gym today. No surprises which is always relieving. Sitting in traffic in 95* weather gets me a little on the anxious side but the car seems to handle it with no issues.


I do have a question regarding the radiator fan. I’m sorta new to belt driven fans so it might be a dumb one.

So on a cold engine, I can spin my rad. fan by hand pretty easily and it stops itself by maybe half a turn. On a hot engine that’s been shut down there’s no difference, still spins just as easily.
My understanding is that the fan clutch is supposed to engage when it gets warm. Weak fan clutch possibly?

[DerekTheGreat]

Yeah, they're notorious for their short lifespan. However, unless it's overheating and your A/C performance sucks at idle, I wouldn't worry about it. I replaced mine about ten years ago and it was dead within six months. It's still on there. The only time I've seen the temp gauge climb was during the Dream Cruise when it was bumper to bumper and 90 so degrees outside. Switched the A/C off and it was fine, especially once we got going again. Tinting your windows with ceramic tint will also help the A/C immensely. Even when it sucks outside heat wise, I'm usually running my fan on the lowest setting and still freezing people out.

[GMUE03]

Yeah, they're notorious for their short lifespan. However, unless it's overheating and your A/C performance sucks at idle, I wouldn't worry about it. I replaced mine about ten years ago and it was dead within six months. It's still on there. The only time I've seen the temp gauge climb was during the Dream Cruise when it was bumper to bumper and 90 so degrees outside. Switched the A/C off and it was fine, especially once we got going again. Tinting your windows with ceramic tint will also help the A/C immensely. Even when it sucks outside heat wise, I'm usually running my fan on the lowest setting and still freezing people out.

Gotcha. Well I keep the A/C off since there’s no Freon in the system. I haven’t had any issues with the car getting hot so it looks like I’ll be ok. I may put a clutch in the rock auto cart as a precaution since they’re cheap. Thank you!

[Arquemann]

Gotcha. Well I keep the A/C off since there’s no Freon in the system. I haven’t had any issues with the car getting hot so it looks like I’ll be ok. I may put a clutch in the rock auto cart as a precaution since they’re cheap. Thank you!

If it stops quick after shutting off the engine, it's fine. Danger is if it freespins for a while after shutting off, that means the clutch isn't engaging properly.
Other end of course is that the clutch won't disengage properly, but it only causes loud whooshy noises and a slight hit in fuel mileage.

And if you end up getting a new clutch, by goodness don't buy a non-thermal clutch.

[GMUE03]

If it stops quick after shutting off the engine, it's fine. Danger is if it freespins for a while after shutting off, that means the clutch isn't engaging properly.
Other end of course is that the clutch won't disengage properly, but it only causes loud whooshy noises and a slight hit in fuel mileage.

And if you end up getting a new clutch, by goodness don't buy a non-thermal clutch.

Noted. I guess I’m a little paranoid considering how hot it gets here.

[sly]

keep an eye on it at traffic lights. You'll know when it needs replaced. Temp will start getting up past the middle of the gauge and then drop instantly as soon as you're moving at speed again.

[GMUE03]

keep an eye on it at traffic lights. You'll know when it needs replaced. Temp will start getting up past the middle of the gauge and then drop instantly as soon as you're moving at speed again.

I have an 89’ so all I have is the replace engine light .

[sly]

Right. I added gauges to the 88 I used to have because of that. Might be a good idea.

[DerekTheGreat]

Oh yeah, Mercury problems.. Definitely get a gauge in there for temperature. Funny, of all the platforms that would be gauge-less temperature wise, I would've figured the Lincoln would be it. Lincoln owners can't be bothered with such peasantries. But no, we got a temperature gauge and a 4" clock. Guess you gotta keep your cool while you make sure you get to the office on time.