My First Post -- General Info Request

[TomO]

Hello,

I just joined and this is my first post. Don't know if this is the correct area to post this question -- if not, I apologize.

I recently acquired a 1989 Grand Marquis LS to replace my totally worn out '86 Mustang GT with 300,000 miles on it. My Merc had about 100k on it when I bought it and I bought it from the original owner.

I don't know very much about the car and have not looked at a lot of these cars, but I have looked at several. I've also looked at several Crown Vics of the same vintage. All of the other cars I have seen have single exhaust.

Mine has dual exhaust that looks factory equipped. The H-pipe looks like the same type of stainless steel as my old Mustang and looks similarly fabricated with mandrel-bends, etc. I'm almost certain that it was not converted to dual by the previous owner as he didn't even know it had dual exhaust (he told me it had single exhaust when I first called him about the car).

My question is -- is the dual exhaust part of some sort of special package like a sport package or something? How common is it on the '88-'91 Grand Marquis? Just sort of curious about it more than anything.

Thanks in advance for any help and info you can provide.

[85crownHPP]

Its not uncommon, probably part of the tow package option - if so you should have a trans cooler and other goodies too.

[gadget73]

The dual exhaust was optional. It may be part of a tow package, or possibly it was simply ordered that way as part of some performance package. The duals were good for 10 hp over the single. Probably not anyone's idea of real performance, but it was all you could get

and

[turbo2256b]

Hello and welcome. Not shure but I think it was ppart of the trailer tow package not something one could just order seperate others will chime in here with coments on this. Bottom line duals came frome the factory on these cars. Headres and x pipes from mustangs will fit also but pipes need to be fabbed to connect the the factory muffs.

[TomO]

Thanks for the info. Yes, my car does have a transmission fluid cooler (fin & tube) that sits in front of the A/C condenser. It had a U-Haul trailer hitch (which I removed).

I suspected that the duals would add about 10 hp to the stock standard 150 hp rating but wasn't sure.

Does anyone know how much (if any) torque the duals add?

My Merc does have a trailer electrical pigtail, which seems to be factory installed. It's a bunch of heavy wires wrapped in some type of glossy black shrink tubing type stuff and it comes through a big grommet in a wall at the back of the trunk behind the rear bumper on the driver's side. It has a round cylindrical plug on the end of it. I tried to get into the side compartment in the trunk from which this pigtail exits because I was planning on unhooking the pigtail since I don't plan on doing any towing with the car. But, I never could figure out how to get into the compartment. So, rather than just cut through the pigtail, I just zip-tied it to the bumper supports.

The car also seems to have a somewhat low-ratio rear end, although I have no idea what it actually is. I know that my Mustang GT had a 3.08 and even with the slightly larger tires on the Merc, the Merc's engine seems to be turning at least as fast as, and maybe faster than, the the GT's at the same road speeds. The Merc seems to have pretty good acceleration for a nearly 4000 lb car with only 160 hp. Nothing like the GT, but all considered -- not bad.

Anyhow, perhaps it's got the towing package (?).

Thanks again for the info.

[85crownHPP]

you may have 3.55 gears - there's an axle code chart here somewhere you can use to read the code on your door sticker. Or, crawl under the car and have a look at the tag - you should see 3L55 if it does.

[mikeroc283]

Welcome to GMN!

[79lincolnlover]

Welcome to the wonderful world of GMN! Post pics someday if you can.

[gabegt90]

welcome to gmn mang you do have 3:55 trac lock. My 89 is a towing package car as well

[Cable Guys FGMQ]

Welcome to GMN mang where Boxes rule......