My 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis

[friskyfrankie]

If we're talking about the '87, the IAC is on the driver's side towards the back of the intake.

[slack]

Sounds like the IAC valve may be not quite doing its job. Unplug it at warm idle. If the idle drops, it's working. If it stays the same, it's not.

Thanks. This was the issue. I popped on the one from my CV's engine and it did like you said. When I unplugged it, the idle dropped and got bad unlike the one that was on there that had no change in idle. The IAC I pulled off the had an E7 date code so I'm guessing it was original. The car idles and rides so much smoother now. I actually drove it up to the Poconos this past weekend and back home. No issues at all (besides baking alive in the heat with no AC )

One issue I still have is that the car sometimes randomly dies when I start it up and go to reverse out of a parking spot. After restarting, it runs fine. I'm thinking maybe the neutral safety switch going bad?

[sly]

If you did not disconnect the battery when changing the IAC, try that first. The ECM may need to relearn idle.

[slack]

Catching up to date...

This thread is a bit behind on things done.

Back in July I created a post asking about adding a transmission drain plug: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...ion-drain-plug

I ended up doing that about a week later. My outside of the transmission pan was so unbelievably dirty. I think it took longer to clean it off than it did to get it out. For the drain plug, I picked up the kind where the one bolt screws into the other. I help keep it from leaking, I secured the outer bolt with red loctite and then the inner one with blue loctite. It's been about two months now and seems to be holding up just fine. I have a sinking feeling though that it might start to leak the first time I pop the bolt out to drain it though.


I also addressed the issue with the car randomly turning off mentioned earlier in this thread with a new ignition switch (didn't realize it was going on that long): http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...s-off-randomly

Besides that, I ended up running Eastwood internal frame coating through as much of the frame and nooks and crannies as I could. I then POR15'd as much of the frame as I could with a brush. Currently looks pretty good down there. Hopefully it holds up. I have a bunch of fluid film I plan on spraying down there as well once it gets a bit further into Fall.

I do have some body rust I'd like to address before it gets too cold. I have the matching (hopefully) paint to cover it, just curious on thoughts of removing the trim or just tape it and replace the fender/door at a later date with the ones from my CV.

Here's the fender spot. Should I attempt to unscrew that fender trim or do you think it'll just strip out or never go back on right?


Here's the corner light. That one I plan on taking out. I don't think it'll be too much of a PITA to get in/out.


Door rot is a bit more interesting:


I don't think I can get that aluminum trim off. There's actually not much metal at the bottom of the door behind it. It also looks like the previous owner bondo'd that bottom lip. I'm guessing for this one, I'll just have to tape the trim and sand and paint what I can see. It'll definitely continue to get worse but I'm not sure what else to do there.

[87gtVIC]

Wheel well trim may be quite hard to remove. A SHIT TON of pressure needs to be put on the bit to prevent you from stripping out the heads. The factory self tappers stick up through the metal and just collect crap on them for 35+ years now. It can be done of course if you take your time. Clean out the backside of the lip and spray some rust penetrant from the back side. Id recommend taking the wheel off and having a nice fitting screwdriver that has a square or hex shank on it so you can not only twist the screw driver while holding a SHIT TON of pressure onto the fastener but use a properly fitting wrench on the shank of the screwdriver to help twist.

The ditch light should not be a big deal.


The door trim is simple. Two acorn nuts one at the front of the door and one at the rear. You can then try sliding the trim front or back but I have been able to just lightly pry up one side and it kinda just pops off of the plastic clips that will remain with the door skin. The plastic clips are quite stout and will not break. They rotate onto metal tits that are on the door.

You decide if it is worth it.

[WagonMan]

I NEVER use penetrating oils where I am going to paint! WD-40 is very hard to remove completely! Use the proper tip screwdriver and the screws on the wheel trim should come off. WagonMan

[87GrandMarq]

Where’d you get the paint from? I have some rust spots that need to be addressed as well. I’ve used the same rattle can you used in the trunk but it doesn’t quite match the sun faded paint on my hood.

Just out of curiousity, how come you didn’t go with an aftermarket deep pan? I have one sitting on a shelf ready to go.

[gadget73]

double wrench the drain plug if you're worried about it. Big wrench to keep the non-removable part from moving, small wrench to pull the plug.

[Tiggie]

Rust always gets worse the longer you do nothing. Do something with it. Gotta get both moldings off. I've always been able to get the fender lip moldings off with a good Phillips bit in a ratchet. They are tight but they come out.

[DerekTheGreat]

If the car will continue to see rain/salt, I vote to leave it. Keep in mind that the level of "rust protection" offered by a coating is only as good as said coating's adhesion to the substrate. Nothing currently available will match the level of protection offered by the factory. Translation- you will see rot reemerge within four years or less. Start spraying the underside, inside doors/panels and wheel lips with Fluid Film or Krown T40.

[slack]

The car sees rain but doesn't see salt. I stop driving the this car and the LTD once the first snowfall happens.

Thanks for all the tips on getting the molding off. I did a half-ass attempt at getting the wheel molding off just to see if there was any hope there. Well, one screw turned. The rest didn't want to budge. I'm hoping this weekend I'll have some time to actually take the wheel off and try to get in there with a good bit at the right angle.

double wrench the drain plug if you're worried about it. Big wrench to keep the non-removable part from moving, small wrench to pull the plug.

Thanks. I'll be sure to give that a try when the time comes.

Where’d you get the paint from? I have some rust spots that need to be addressed as well. I’ve used the same rattle can you used in the trunk but it doesn’t quite match the sun faded paint on my hood.

Just out of curiousity, how come you didn’t go with an aftermarket deep pan? I have one sitting on a shelf ready to go.

I got a few cans from Automotive Touchup. I've had okay luck with them in the past. I used them to paint the hood and header panel of my CV and the header panel of the LTD. The paint match isn't 100% but it's close enough for a beater/daily driver I suppose. It would probably match better without the paint fade from age and sun.

I did some test areas to see how it would match up. I sprayed over some POR15 spots to see if it would actually stick to it or not.

Door hinge area before with some POR15 slapped on the week before for testing over:


After: You can see how the new paint is a bit darker. This spot didn't come out great and I over sprayed on the rubber. (Did the same on the driver's side.. that's what I get for trying to rush things during a lunch break)


Driver's side door bottom. This whole bottom section from the door lock actuator nut down was black POR15. This side looked much better. Maybe because by then I had shaken the can some more?


Driver's side hinge:


I sprayed the first lip section here on the left :


This spot also had some POR15 on the whole section from the molding to the filler. still needs to be sanded down and redone and stuff but I wanted to see a spot on the outside of the car that wasn't too obvious:




Then some trunk spots: Again, you can see a little bit where the new paint is a bit darker


Though this spot blended in almost perfect (the horizontal "o"s in the middle)


All in all, I think it's good enough to go forward with these colors for my touch up spots. It won't be perfect but it will hopefully look a little bit better than it did. One thing I'm not crazy about is the paint seems super thin and runny so you have to be really careful not to be too heavy. I don't remember that from previous orders. Maybe it was and I just don't remember though.

[87gtVIC]

Using some gray primer on scuffed up por 15 may help you with the coverage of the runny paint. Black is tough to cover up with any color other than black.

I think it will work out well for you. Color looks nice and close.

[gadget73]

I could swear I've seen tan primer before. Might work as an intermediate.

[GM_Guy]

SEM makes various colors, high build in white, beige, black, gray, rose; https://www.autobodytoolmart.com/pro...-primer-sealer
https://www.amazon.com/SEM-High-Buil...073T7KXGV?th=1

https://www.duplicolor.com/product/sandable-primer/

[slack]

Hi All, looooong time since I've updated this thread (almost 3 years)!

The car's been great daily driver (knock on wood) for this whole time. No real issues have popped up but some body rust is starting to creep to a point I'm not happy about.

Before getting into rust repair, I also had to replace the driver's window motor. I grabbed one from my 89 CV. Originally I was thinking of replacing it as it only has 2/3 of the mounting bolts but it's so much quicker up/down I'm going to keep it. (Link to thread for completeness sake: https://www.grandmarq.net/vb/forum/t...n-87-and-88-91)

Also link to the thread regarding getting replacement trunk lip trim clips: https://www.grandmarq.net/vb/forum/t...ing-trim-clips

And finally, I fixed my hub cap center caps so I finally have a full set. Related link: https://www.grandmarq.net/vb/forum/t...ter-cap-repair

One other 'repair' I've done this past few weeks was that sometimes the idle would be a bit dodgy at start up. I had replaced the IAC a while ago (I think it's mentioned in this this thread) and it helped but never fully fixed it. When I had the hood up, I noticed that the vacuum lines to the emissions stuff on the passenger fender were disconnected. I reconnected those and also popped open the top of..I forget what the name of it is... that they plug into and vacuumed out the insides as it was caked solid. Right now, I'm without the little filter that's under there so I guess I should get another one but it seemed to fix the idle... or at least made it better.

Anyway, on with the rust repair... or I should say my first real run in with giving bondo a try. I know people don't really like bondo but the unfortunate truth of this car is that it has a good amount of hidden rust on the body and is still sort of a $500 'beater'. So, I'm trying to make it the best I can without breaking the bank (and hopefully buy some more time on the rusty panels as well).

I wish I had taken some before pics. There was basically heavy bubbling along the trunk lip, rust on the bottom half of the passenger's side door, passenger's side wheel well, and the ditch light. The passenger's side rear quarter panel corner actually looked 'okay' from the outside but then I poked it and the screw driver when right through. I ended up taking a wheel and grinding and grinding and the whole just got bigger. The whole section was basically held together by por15 on the inside and paint on the outside. The before pic I have here is actually decently smaller than the final hole when all rust was grinded out.


It's amazing how many extra holes appeared that didn't even show until the paint was removed...

Rear of this car was hit on the driver's side at some point and repainted. The trunk looks like it must have came from a silver car after taking the trim off...






For the quarter panel hole, I used one of those mesh patches to fill the hole before using the body filler.


After pic for the ditch light. No filler needed here, just grinding down rust and repainting:


My bumper is also trashed...and has been since forever. Sprayed the inside with some more rust converter and paint and fluid film and decided to "attempt" to throw some bumper tape on it. It wasn't really sticky so I needed to spray some industrial spray adhesive first which caused it to be extra sticky and then didn't place 100% smooth.. Oh well. At a distance it looks better than it did previously. Up close? trash but it's something...





And some more after pics. The paint is the same that I tested earlier in this thread. It's not an exact match but close enough...









All in all, I'm pretty happy with how it came out. It's definitely not pretty up close but from a distance it looks okay. How long will it last for? I'm not sure.. if the filler on the fender and trunk end up needing to be redone in a year, I don't think it would surprise me even though I took off as much rust as I could find.