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Mainemantom's 1996 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor

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    Mainemantom's 1996 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor

    This is a story on how I came to buy this car. The Crown Vic was used by a small town police department in California, next to where I used to work. The city shop was suppose to send two CVPIs to the local high school auto shop. A small rip off car dealer got them instead. The car was sold to a person who had no license, registration or insurance. The Highway Patrol stopped the car one night because there was no rear lights. The car got impounded and the dealer got it back. I guy who worked at another car dealer bought for a personal car. One day I drove by the dealer and saw the car on the lot for sale. I stopped and asked the guy how much. He said he needed to sell it quick as he needed to get out of town. Debt collectors were after him. I offered him $1100. He took my offer and I took it home after going to the DMV to get the title in my name. It became mine on February 2007. I quickly fixed the lights as the wires were cut when the light bar was taken off. The wires were located under the door scuff plates.
    The car had 124,500 miles on it when I got it. I started replacing a variety of parts. I had the car repainted in July 2007. A excellent job was done with the repaint. Chrome bumper guards were installed as the old push bar had been cut off. A "red top" re-manufactured steering box and nos Ford power steering cooling lines were replaced. A factory am/fm cassette radio was installed to replace the basic am/fm. New intake manifold and cooling hose under the intake was replaced as it still had the original type. I installed a center console and mounted era correct police radio, cb radio. Two new chrome housing spot lights were installed. I replace the headliner, Installed a dash cam. New poverty caps. A new rear back seat was obtained. New Falken 225-70-15 tires and spare were installed a few months ago. The car now has 151.000 miles on it. Gas mileage is between 20 in town and up to 28 on a long trip.
    Upcoming projects when it comes out of winter storage will be a new clutch fan, Maybe a repaint on the hood and top. The driver door is a bit out of adjustment. I just bought a nos door latch for the door. The car will be wired for xm radio. I have all the maintenance records since I bought it. The pictures attached were taken a few years ago. I will add more pictures soon.
    Attached Files

    #2
    Nice to see at least one Aero CVPI survived in good condition.
    1990 Country Squire - under restoration
    1988 Crown Vic LTD Wagon - daily beater

    GMN Box Panther History
    Box Panther Horsepower and Torque Ratings
    Box Panther Production Numbers

    Comment


      #3
      This is so cool. The aero Vics are my absolute favorite of every car to ever bear the Crown Victoria nameplate between 1979 and 2011, most likely because it's the ones that I saw on TV as cabs and police cars growing up. It's awesome to see a police version that's still this nice. Super cool car!

      Comment


        #4
        A couple of days ago I replaced the fan clutch. The fan clutch tools I bought did not fit the nut of the clutch fan. They got returned to Harbor Freight today. The tool to hold the water pump pulley worked ok though. I had to use a long pipe wrench to get the fan clutch off. The mechanic who put it on the last time used a air chisel so it was super tight. After I replaced the fan clutch I took the car out for a drive. It ran perfectly. I got it home, turned it off then tried to restart the car. Nothing, no lights anywhere, no crank. I checked the battery, which checked out fine. Battery cables are tight. Checked out the fuses, and relays. All appear ok. Checked the under dash fuses, which were ok. I plan to remove, clean and reinstall the battery cables at both ends. Check the ground wires and hopefully find an in line fuse. It is suppose to rain the next couple of days so I may be delayed.
        Any suggestions will be appreciated. Hopefully some rodent did not chew a wire. I find it odd that it started and ran fine one minutes,upon trying to restart, nothing.

        Comment


          #5
          Wow, what a nice car. You know, I never cared for cars as they got roundy and such. But seeing ones like yours all spiffy like they were back when I was a kid sure brings me back. Like Tynnerstroem said, they were everywhere and as a result, were subconsciously injected into my brain.

          ..where do you keep all these things? I'm imagining a huge pole barn with lots of Ford memorabilia all over the walls.

          Makes me think of a car where the battery sucks and was running off of the alternator. So yeah, it was fine while driving but dead upon the next key cycle. However, you verified the battery and connections are OK. So something fried or popped, you sure you checked everything?
          1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
          1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

          Comment


            #6
            Make sure the ground wire for the PCM isn't dangling.

            by no lights you mean no instrument lights or no headlights/dome light/etc?

            Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
            rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)

            Originally posted by gadget73
            ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.

            Originally posted by dmccaig
            Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

            Comment


              #7
              I have no lights or power anywhere. No crank, just dead. What I did today was to put the battery on the trickle charger. Cleaned the battery cables including one that goes to the under hood fuse box.. Cleaned ground wire connections at four locations under the hood.. I looked for any loose wires under the hood. When the battery gets off the charger, I will re- install and hopefully it will start. Will check the PCM ground. I also replaced the right front turn signal assembly with a nos part. The old one, though new ,has been getting water inside.
              I put five cars away for the winter. Nov-April or May. In the back 2 car garage, I have three cars in there. In the attached garage, I have two cars there. I do my best to keep them up. I was meticulous when I was in Ca as I had access to very good paint, upholstery, mechanic shops. Here it is one frustration after another. The just good enough to get by attitude while demanding lots of money is frustrating. Yes there are a few Fold, Lincoln Mercury signs and a lighted Ford clock. I may take some pictures later.
              .

              Comment


                #8
                Today I took the battery off the trickle charger and reinstalled the battery into the CV. The under the hood light came on, which was good. Initially when I turned on the ignition switch, there was nothing on inside the car. After turning off the switch, waiting maybe three minutes, I tried starting the car. It started right up. I started the car up repeatedly, with no issues.
                I did a test on the battery. 12.5 not running, 14.2 running.. Hopefully by cleaning off the grounds, and the thought that the computer reset itself, I will have no more issues.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Should probably check the ignition switch to make sure it's not falling apart.

                  Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
                  rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)

                  Originally posted by gadget73
                  ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.

                  Originally posted by dmccaig
                  Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

                  Comment

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