New member, fellow gear head, first ford.

[87gtVIC]

Welcome. Glad someone did their research before abandoning the car. You should have fun with it. The police issued gauge pack for that car would have looked like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Ltd-Police-factory-gauge-package-1984-85-crown-vic-/200463323278?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item2eac8b908e

and this:



which I changed to this:

[85crownHPP]

If you find the videos of a certain torque-monster black police box, you'll make fast work of the engine and exhaust upgrades, promise

[sly]

hey David... do you actually have a Ford? I can't see enough logos.

Those dog dish wheels look great on that car.

[scottyB724]

Black? And cosmetically perfect? I hate your car. It makes my car look that much more sucky and rust-holey than it actually is! Quick, go drive a bunch in southern Michigan and northern Indiana during the winter so we can have matching rust holes!!!

:banana:


The 15s and dogdishes really do look pretty good. No wonder my car's PO recommended obtaining a set.

hahah thank you. Actually the car is a dark navy blue not black. Sorry for the shitty pictures. And we get plenty of snow here near Chicago, she'll be good and rusted in no time I'm sure.

Agreed on the wheels, they make the car.

[1987cp]

LOL

Well, actually, you should do whatever you can to keep it from rusting any more than it might be. I'm still thinking of spraying the underside of mine with oil in hopes it'll slow down the rate of rusting. Around here the road salt has been stupid enough that last winter I couldn't start the car one day because the aftermarket TV cable was caked with salty ice. Yuk.

[scottyB724]

Well I got some potentially shitty news... Well we took it to a trans shop to see if they could adjust it without buying more aftermarket stuff and to just assess the whole situation. The shop said they drove it around and that 3rd gear is burned up. Now, I'm no trans expert but I am not sure I fully agree with their opinion for the following reasons.

The trans will shift into 3rd and drives in 3rd fine. Also, how can you diagnose and condemn a trans WITHOUT it being properly adjusted (TV rod is most definitely not set up correctly) in the first place? That's like trying to do an alignment on a car with unbalanced wheels and expecting it to drive down the road straight.

Basically the problems with the trans are this: when you first drive the car after it has been sitting overnight it does not like to shift into 2nd, but if you drop it down from drive to 2nd it shifts fine, then put it back into drive and then it will shift the rest of the day from 1st to 2nd normally. The big problem is at higher speeds cruising while in OD. If it's in OD on the gear selector, when it up shifts from 3rd up to OD, you can only very lightly feather the pedal or it will pop out of gear. Because of this, I have just kept it in D and not gone over 40 mph to keep it at a safe operating RPM.

Sooo what do you guys think about all this ?

[1987cp]

Two no-brainer ways to set up your TV linkage are:

- No slack in linkage (TV valve just closed) when the throttle is closed
- Maximum TV pressure (TV valve fully open) at WOT.

If it's adjusted to either of these points or anywhere in between, it should drive reasonably OK if everything's working properly. Too much TV and it'll downshift too easily (can't accelerate in higher gears), too little and it'll slam into higher gears sooner than you like.


I don't have personal experience with them, but Atlas Transmission in Lake Station, IN seems to have a decent reputation and was supposedly keen to work on my car's last transmission for its previous owner (torquelover, isn't on here much these days but might chime in). He seemed to think pretty well of them, and I'm actually still using the valvebody they modified.


Come to think of it, were you the one with the P72 with the supposedly "beefed up" transmission? If so, does it still have the PRNOD2 valvebody? Supposedly installing most any OOTB shift kit with that VB can have "unpredictable results".

[scottyB724]

Well I got the car back about a week ago from a family friend's trans shop. We were able to have the thing rebuilt and setup with a new tv cable setup from summit for $750.

The thing shifts great and drives great now, except for one problem. While coming to a stop and braking, it downshifts and the rpm's drop real low and it almost dies before kicking back up the rpm's. I'm wondering what causes this, one thing I read is that it could potentially be running too lean?

[79lincolnlover]

How old is the alternator?

[sly]

did they install a shift kit? Downshifting should RAISE RPMs now lower them. If it's hanging in gear when it tries to downshift, THEN you'll drop RPMs like crazy. But if it's like my Lincoln... probably a sticky IAC. My Mark will hug low rpm when I stop sometimes and shake the car like it's got a lopey cam. when the IAC kicks, it smooths out real nice.

[scottyB724]

No idea how old the alternator is, looks kind of newer though actually.
Yes there is a shift kit, and it's carb'd so I don't believe there is an IAC.

[sly]

carbed... so no IAC... it would be a choke. makes me wonder if the choke is acting up.

[scottyB724]

That is very possible. I hate the manual choke on this thing, it works but it's just annoying. I think once I get paid I'll cough up the 40 or 50 bucks for an electric choke from summit.