Possible new owner poking around

[adam.w.ackerman]

If the bank comes through today I will be picking up an 89' Grand. One owner Sunday driver with 79k original miles, this car looks brand new and drives like it. A few minor odds and ends to clean up but I bet the total sum of the needed parts is less than $100. I am no stranger to Fords, SBF, or Panther Chassis even; though it has been a long time since I owned a box body. My first was an 84 or 85 Vic back in 2006; I dropped a 351w and a C6 in it, Stuffed some 31x10.5 tires under the back, dumped the exhaust out in front of the tires on each side, and then promptly went out and plowed a deer totaling the car. Total on road time: 15 minutes.

Now I currently have a 88 Bronco (full size) and hopefully this by tonight; I really want a Squire but this is too clean of a car to pass up.


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[VicCrownVic]

Welcome!

If you're looking for mod ideas or just general daily driver repairs I think you'll find that this is the place to be for Box Panther info.

Hopefully the next one sees better luck. My '89 was on the road for about a decade before body rot got to it when I found a slightly less rotted '91 in late 2012. Both the trans and now the engine from my '89 ended up in that '91 which is now my winter DD.

[adam.w.ackerman]

The one thing I never have liked is all the idiot lights in the dash, my first needed a motor because the original 302 had the oil pump lock up and by the time the idiot light came on it was waaaaaay too late. Normally I would just throw a set of undash gauges in and move on but this car is too nice for that, I really want to keep the OEM look and feel. The idea of modifying the clock with a micro processor to scroll time, coolant temp, and oil pressure has come to mind. I wish I could find just a small cluster that would mount up nicely.


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[DerekTheGreat]

I've heard that engine light referred to as "The Replace Engine Light." lol. I bet if you just swap out the sending unit for one that is say more sensitive it will work fine on those. Welcome to the site!

[adam.w.ackerman]

I bought it!




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[VicCrownVic]

Crystal Blue Metallic, nice!
The car looks awesome, congrats.

[gadget73]

Cool. Check / replace the TV bushing if you haven't. Its a very common cause for transmission death and stupid simple to prevent.

Agree about the lack of useful instrumentation, and the difficulty in putting stuff in that doesn't look hacked in. The mods where people have added them to a stock cluster look OK, but its clearly not factory. Swapping the clock for some sort of Arduino magic box to display stuff would be cool, and would be extra cool if it looked like the stock clock or tripminder, using one of the buttons to scroll through the screens.

[adam.w.ackerman]

Cool. Check / replace the TV bushing if you haven't. Its a very common cause for transmission death and stupid simple to prevent.

Agree about the lack of useful instrumentation, and the difficulty in putting stuff in that doesn't look hacked in. The mods where people have added them to a stock cluster look OK, but its clearly not factory. Swapping the clock for some sort of Arduino magic box to display stuff would be cool, and would be extra cool if it looked like the stock clock or tripminder, using one of the buttons to scroll through the screens.

I did some more thinking on this and if I can use a OLED display the same size as the opening I could possibly design a "gauge" layout that mimics the main cluster. That opens up the possibility of a lot more room for information; compass, ambient temperature, clock, pressure, coolant, and even voltage. I like this digital idea as it minimizes the hole I need for wires; and using a stock opening will prevent me from having to cut anything. I am working on a similar idea for the stereo; just use a 8 channel Rockville Bluetooth amp and new speakers in the stock locations. Leave the head and wiring alone.


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[adam.w.ackerman]

Cool. Check / replace the TV bushing if you haven't. Its a very common cause for transmission death and stupid simple to prevent.

Agree about the lack of useful instrumentation, and the difficulty in putting stuff in that doesn't look hacked in. The mods where people have added them to a stock cluster look OK, but its clearly not factory. Swapping the clock for some sort of Arduino magic box to display stuff would be cool, and would be extra cool if it looked like the stock clock or tripminder, using one of the buttons to scroll through the screens.

Will that cause the shift indicator to be off or is that an issue in the dash?


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[adam.w.ackerman]

Will that cause the shift indicator to be off or is that an issue in the dash?


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That question reads stupid.... I saw the bushing and just assumed it was the one in the shift linkage... throttle valve makes far more sense ....I will check it.


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[87gtVIC]

She is a beaut.

[sly]

turbines...

[gadget73]

The indicator on the dash lying is a different but rather less expensive thing to fix. If a zip tie won't get it done, you may still be able to get the part that breaks NOS from Ford for about 30 bucks. It also doesn't cause any problems other than being annoying, and maybe if you live in an overly anal state it might fail you at inspection. Happened to me once.

[adam.w.ackerman]

Kansas don't care.... yet


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[His Royal Ghostliness]

At least that requirement would make more sense than the one mandating having you shift pattern printed on your bolt-action handle...

Car is nice and all, but am I the only one who's more interested in the '67-'72 GM product parked next to it? lol

As for gaugery, look into the digital swap from an aero TownCar. It's not hard once you figure our which connector is which, and you get at least a functional coolant temp gauge, with a tripminder built-in and a few other things like outside temperature readout. It can be made to look darn near factory too.