VicCrownVic's 1991 Mercury Grand Marquis LS "The Scab"

[VicCrownVic]

LOL, not that kind of LS. Besides, all of my rot boxes would fall apart with anything more than a stock lopo. If I ever do any engine upgrade swap it will not be on any of the rot boxes that I currently own.

Well, I found out what was causing The Scab to run funny. While shuffling vehicles in my parents' driveway I left it running and came back to it not running. It wouldn't start and appeared to be spark related. The coil looked like corroded crap so a new one that I had laying around went on along with a new wire (last set came with 2) from the coil to the dizzy. Still no start. Swapped my spare dizzy from the trunk of the blue GS and The Scab started right up.

Since I didn't get to everything I wanted to do and I'm still waiting on some more parts (new hoses), The Scab is still at my parents' place and the blue GS will remain on DD duty for another week or two. It's supposed to be cold and snowy through next weekend so we'll see how much I get done next weekend. The cold forecast is also part of why the blue car is going home since it has much better heat.

So far I've put over 150 miles on The Scab and it seems like it should be up to the task of beimg a temporary DD while I work on my other junk.

[TecNickal]

Now you have ditch lights! Nice find! congrats on the purchase - another fun thread to follow

[VicCrownVic]

Thanks mang!

I'm not sure how much fun will be in store for this one. If I end up keeping this one around for any amount of time I will probably end up replacing the manual heater and A/C control like Sly did on his ('93?). If I don't keep it around for more than a year I'll most likely end up selling it to my dad.

I got out of work early today and hightailed it up to mom and dad's house. That gave me a couple hours of daylight to work on this one a bit more.

I replaced the fuel filter, changed the oil and oil filter, and since I was running out of daylight and the temperature was plummeting the last thing I did was adjust both passenger doors since they weren't closing tightly.
Tomorrow I will be replacing hoses, flushing the heater core (if I cause it to leak, I'll bypass it and replace it later), replace spark plugs and wires, check the timing and set as needed, test/service/clean out the EGR since it was setting a code and if needed I'll replace it with one of my spares, then move on to the window motors and hopefully take it out for a spin before heading home tomorrow evening.

[VicCrownVic]

I left the blue car and The Scab is now home. The wind and snow was pretty intense this morning so I didn't get much done until around noon when the temperature made its way up to the upper 20s. New hoses are on and heater core is flushed and the heat now cooks. If I feel up to it I'll get to spark plugs, wires, and timing tomorrow. It's running well enough that I can wait for warmer weather next weekend if just don't feel like doing it tomorrow.

I've put over 260 miles on and it looks like I'll finally be DDing this car. While this one is on DD duty I'll probably swap the engine from my '89 into the blue '91. Then, hopefully, get around to rebuilding the engine in the Yukon.

[slack]

Nice! It's always a good feeling when you can start driving your new projects around.

[DerekTheGreat]

I think Pantera had a saying about driving your project cars...

[VicCrownVic]

That's ok, my cars are just wannabe projects, LOL!
Derek, if I'm not busy the 23rd maybe we can do a JY run or something so you can see this car.

[DerekTheGreat]

Sounds good to me! I've been meaning to head back up to US auto to grab the nice bumper off of this 2500 GMC truck we found. Bedliner would be nice too. We pulled the headliner as that was minty but I didn't bring the right gear for the bumper so hoping it's still there. Not like it was mint but would be better than the Dodge bumper that's currently on the truck. Could also make the rounds at the other yards too, hoping their inventories have rotated at least.

[VicCrownVic]

Had the day off from work today so I got some more work done on The Scab.

I changed the spark plugs and wires and checked timing then put a couple hundred more miles on. The car is really running well now. My wife was even able to detect the difference the new plugs and wires made.

I've moved on to more minor stuff like windows and door locks. Both driver side doors are done and I discovered that the front passenger side door is not original to the car. The paint on the exterior of the door matches the rest of the car right down to the peeling clear coat. I think the door must have been replaced early in this car's life.

So far this car is doing great as a DD and I hadn't even changed spark plugs and wires until today, so next week should be even better.

[87gtVIC]

I've moved on to more minor stuff like windows and door locks. Both driver side doors are done and I discovered that the front passenger side door is not original to the car. The paint on the exterior of the door matches the rest of the car right down to the peeling clear coat. I think the door must have been replaced early in this car's life.

What clued you in on the door not being original? All evidence provided points to it being so. Was it a different color under the door panel?

[VicCrownVic]

The door was originally white. The clip that is taped into the harness for the light in that door was not attached to the door because there was already a clip in the door.

I think I'm going to find that the rear passenger door is also not original to the car. One of the rear hinges has a very small spot there the paint flaked and I can see white.

[sly]

meh... close enough.

[VicCrownVic]

Yep, the rear door was also originally white. Not that it really matters, I just found it interesting.

All windows and locks are working as well as I want them to. Front electric locks don't work, but I ditched the electric door locks on my blue '91 and my '89, so after about 6 years of not having electric locks up front I'm used to it and have no plans to fix them.

[DerekTheGreat]

I think regular exercise & lube of that stuff keeps them working good. I tend not to roll up the windows completely unless the engine isn't running as I've stripped a worn gear that way and rather than just use my key to open the door and manually lock it I often lock it by hand and then cycle the locks open and closed with the buttons, so far, so good. Not sure what it is that goes bad with Ferds, I know with 80's GM's there's a module that lives somewhere and when it dies you get locks that only want to go so far. Like with my Bird you gotta press the button like 10 times rapidly to get them to go. Don't feel like pulling trim apart to get the part to work as the open button works well enough. Windows are super slow on that car too.

[VicCrownVic]

First Wash

Derek, thanks for the PoTM nom. Is that your way of saying it needs to be washed? lol

If the car is qualified, cool. If not, I understand. It is a bit beat up and it's just my sub $1K DD.
I think it looks better in the pictures than it does in person. The passenger side of this car is really not the good side.

Well I was going to wash before the nom because I was getting sick of not being able to see the white on the tires. I ended up not getting to it the previous weekend, but this past weekend I finally gave the car a bit of a wash. I've put over 3,000 miles on the car so far and I've changed the oil twice but this is the first time I've done any washing of the car.
I need to give the wheels a good scrub still, especially the front wheels, and I didn't have a chance to wax since the weather didn't want to cooperate.

I also didn't get to the interior yet, so we'll see if I can get to that next weekend (don't hold your breath, lol).

Some before pics are in previous posts in this thread.
Here are a few more before pics:




And after pics: