Here is the most recent and permanent addition to my car collection. Acquired from a local GMN member (87mercman).
a 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis LS, nicknamed "Big Red" by her former owner.
Built at the St.Thomas assembly plant in Canada, and then shipped to Cloverleaf Lincoln-Mercury in Decatur,AL in 1986. Were she was Originally sold to the grandparents of the guy that I bought her from (87mercman). She is allmost fully Loaded, and originally sold for $18,193 according to the window sticker sheet. The car is factory painted Midnight Canyon Red Metallic, with a Canyon Red Velour Interior. Big Red has 205,744 miles on her as of today.
Current Mods: (All these mods were performed by the previous owner(s).
-Engine transplant - 5.0L HO (from a '91 T-Bird)
-Mass Air Conversion using a Mustang A9S ECU & 70mm MAF
-Injectors replaced w/ new Ford Motorsports 19lb'ers
-Stock air-box replaced w/ a WAI & K&N cone filter
-1/2in" intake spacer
-Dual Exhaust w/ stock 2in H-pipe/ Hollowed Cats/ & Imco Turbo mufflers.
-Aftermarket 1.25in" Rear Sway Bar installed
-Coil-Over Towing Shocks installed in the rear
-Voltage, Oil Pressure, Coolant Temp, and Tach Gauges installed
-AOD rebuilt (58,612 miles on it since the rebuild)
Here she is loaded onto the Ford F-350 Roll-back that helped me to save her. Just like last time, a Ford helping to save a Ford. Only cost me $70 in Diesel to get her back to my place.
Big Red's Current Condition. The paint has been sanded off the top of the car, primered, and is now starting to rust in some spots, but as most of you know I'm in autobody work, so doing bodywork/painting a car at anytime is not a problem for me. The body is Straight, with no accident damage whatsoever that I can find. Big Red has been a southern car it's entire life, and is amazingly Solid. Easily 98% Rust-Free on the Rustification scale.
Stock LS Interior, in Red Velour. Was partially disassembled when I first got the car. At this point I have only re-assembled the door panels/dash trim, cleaned out all the trash, and gave it a quick vacuum job. The interior is in decent shape, and something I can definitely work with. I will be fully restoring the stock Interior in this one.
While the DS door panel was off, I went ahead and replaced the dead Power Window motor, with a Fully Rebuilt one. Had to lengthen the wires, as this motor was meant for the PS rear door.
5.0L HO Engine from a '91 T-Bird, has also been MAF Converted, using a Mustang A9S ECU & 70mm MAF. According to the maintenance records the engine had 45K miles on it when it was installed in this car, and the car has been driven 68,789 miles since the engine was installed, so all told this HO engine only has around 113,000 total miles on it. Which means it still has quite abit of life left, before it will need to be rebuilt. Still has the stock lopo Upper Intake/EGR/TB and Exhaust Manifolds, which I will be replacing with an HO Upper Intake/63mm Bored Box EGR/Modified Mustang 60mm TB. I am probibly gonna go with Ceramic Coated shorty headers, instead of the stock mustang HO units.
Nice, Rust-Free Undercarriage and Floorpans, just how I like em. Only a light coating of grease and dust on there.
100% Rust-Free PS A/C Drain Bulkhead, common to southern boxes.
The Dual Exhaust is nice and tucked up against the undercarriage, and can't be seen while looking at the car from the side, which is how I like it. I will be keeping all of this, and adding custom 2 1/4in tailpipes. If someone had just thrown a low-hanging Mustang Exhaust on there, it would be getting cut off right about now. The 4 stock cats are gutted, and I will be keeping at least 2 of them as part of the exhaust system, no matter what upgrades I may do, as this car will be a DD.
Coil-Over Towing Shocks.
Aftermarket 1.25in Rear Sway Bar
Big Red's former owner Chris (87mercman), wanted the car to go to a good home, and didn't really care about the price, so he was nice enough to sell me Big Red for only $50, and with a few extras in the trunk as well. I especially appreciate the (very clean on the inside) HO Upper Intake, and low-mileage Trac-Loc Unit. I will install the 4in Alpine speakers in Big Red's front doors and dash, as well.
Nothing really spectacular will be going on with this one, I will basically just be restoring the car to Nice Condition, doing a few mods, and then Daily Driving it once I'm done.
Things I will be doing to the car:
-Maintenance & Repair
-Complete Interior Restoration
-Replacing the lopo Upper Intake w/ the clean Mustang HO Upper Intake (which came with the car)
-Installing the Trac-Loc Unit (which came with the car) (keeping the stock 3.27 Gears)
-Installing an HO Governer or Shift Kit
-Installing Shorty Headers
-Installing Custom Fit 2 1/4in Tailpipes
-Replacing the Entire A/C System
-Installing a complete Audio System
-Tint Windows (As dark as I can legally get)
-Slicktop Conversion
-Re-aligning all the Body Panels for better fit/closure
-Lots of Bodywork
-Full High End Re-paint, the stock (Midnight Canyon Red Metallic)
-Drive the Hell out of it.
Big Red is currently comatose at the moment, so I will be bringing this car back from the dead, hopefully very soon.
Stay Tuned...
a 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis LS, nicknamed "Big Red" by her former owner.
Built at the St.Thomas assembly plant in Canada, and then shipped to Cloverleaf Lincoln-Mercury in Decatur,AL in 1986. Were she was Originally sold to the grandparents of the guy that I bought her from (87mercman). She is allmost fully Loaded, and originally sold for $18,193 according to the window sticker sheet. The car is factory painted Midnight Canyon Red Metallic, with a Canyon Red Velour Interior. Big Red has 205,744 miles on her as of today.
Current Mods: (All these mods were performed by the previous owner(s).
-Engine transplant - 5.0L HO (from a '91 T-Bird)
-Mass Air Conversion using a Mustang A9S ECU & 70mm MAF
-Injectors replaced w/ new Ford Motorsports 19lb'ers
-Stock air-box replaced w/ a WAI & K&N cone filter
-1/2in" intake spacer
-Dual Exhaust w/ stock 2in H-pipe/ Hollowed Cats/ & Imco Turbo mufflers.
-Aftermarket 1.25in" Rear Sway Bar installed
-Coil-Over Towing Shocks installed in the rear
-Voltage, Oil Pressure, Coolant Temp, and Tach Gauges installed
-AOD rebuilt (58,612 miles on it since the rebuild)
Here she is loaded onto the Ford F-350 Roll-back that helped me to save her. Just like last time, a Ford helping to save a Ford. Only cost me $70 in Diesel to get her back to my place.
Big Red's Current Condition. The paint has been sanded off the top of the car, primered, and is now starting to rust in some spots, but as most of you know I'm in autobody work, so doing bodywork/painting a car at anytime is not a problem for me. The body is Straight, with no accident damage whatsoever that I can find. Big Red has been a southern car it's entire life, and is amazingly Solid. Easily 98% Rust-Free on the Rustification scale.
Stock LS Interior, in Red Velour. Was partially disassembled when I first got the car. At this point I have only re-assembled the door panels/dash trim, cleaned out all the trash, and gave it a quick vacuum job. The interior is in decent shape, and something I can definitely work with. I will be fully restoring the stock Interior in this one.
While the DS door panel was off, I went ahead and replaced the dead Power Window motor, with a Fully Rebuilt one. Had to lengthen the wires, as this motor was meant for the PS rear door.
5.0L HO Engine from a '91 T-Bird, has also been MAF Converted, using a Mustang A9S ECU & 70mm MAF. According to the maintenance records the engine had 45K miles on it when it was installed in this car, and the car has been driven 68,789 miles since the engine was installed, so all told this HO engine only has around 113,000 total miles on it. Which means it still has quite abit of life left, before it will need to be rebuilt. Still has the stock lopo Upper Intake/EGR/TB and Exhaust Manifolds, which I will be replacing with an HO Upper Intake/63mm Bored Box EGR/Modified Mustang 60mm TB. I am probibly gonna go with Ceramic Coated shorty headers, instead of the stock mustang HO units.
Nice, Rust-Free Undercarriage and Floorpans, just how I like em. Only a light coating of grease and dust on there.
100% Rust-Free PS A/C Drain Bulkhead, common to southern boxes.
The Dual Exhaust is nice and tucked up against the undercarriage, and can't be seen while looking at the car from the side, which is how I like it. I will be keeping all of this, and adding custom 2 1/4in tailpipes. If someone had just thrown a low-hanging Mustang Exhaust on there, it would be getting cut off right about now. The 4 stock cats are gutted, and I will be keeping at least 2 of them as part of the exhaust system, no matter what upgrades I may do, as this car will be a DD.
Coil-Over Towing Shocks.
Aftermarket 1.25in Rear Sway Bar
Big Red's former owner Chris (87mercman), wanted the car to go to a good home, and didn't really care about the price, so he was nice enough to sell me Big Red for only $50, and with a few extras in the trunk as well. I especially appreciate the (very clean on the inside) HO Upper Intake, and low-mileage Trac-Loc Unit. I will install the 4in Alpine speakers in Big Red's front doors and dash, as well.
Nothing really spectacular will be going on with this one, I will basically just be restoring the car to Nice Condition, doing a few mods, and then Daily Driving it once I'm done.
Things I will be doing to the car:
-Maintenance & Repair
-Complete Interior Restoration
-Replacing the lopo Upper Intake w/ the clean Mustang HO Upper Intake (which came with the car)
-Installing the Trac-Loc Unit (which came with the car) (keeping the stock 3.27 Gears)
-Installing an HO Governer or Shift Kit
-Installing Shorty Headers
-Installing Custom Fit 2 1/4in Tailpipes
-Replacing the Entire A/C System
-Installing a complete Audio System
-Tint Windows (As dark as I can legally get)
-Slicktop Conversion
-Re-aligning all the Body Panels for better fit/closure
-Lots of Bodywork
-Full High End Re-paint, the stock (Midnight Canyon Red Metallic)
-Drive the Hell out of it.
Big Red is currently comatose at the moment, so I will be bringing this car back from the dead, hopefully very soon.
Stay Tuned...
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