Nathan's 1989 Ford LTD Crown Victoria P72

[Nathan in MI]

I figured I should make one of these...so here goes. I'll create on for teh Lincoln too, when I'm done with this one.

Exterior Pix first:

Here it is in completely stock form, before any changes at all:


After the blackout...










Mmmm...pretty dog dishes...


This is just a cool night picture:

[Nathan in MI]

Interior Pictures

Next up, interior.

140 speedo...


Police buckets--people like the way they look, but they're darned uncomfortable!


My dad and I made this frame to put my laptop into so that I could have it sitting in there when I'm using the GPS unit.


Rear seats (vinyl):


Driver's Door Panel:


Stewart Warner gauges I installed this summer:

[Dave84]

looks good, looks like you need a little body work tho, got any recent pics of the stuff you been doing?

[Nathan in MI]

Engine

Here's where the magic happens...

Totally stock form...








After removal of the air conditioner and air pump--I was really happy with how much space it opened up on the pass. side of the engine.




Leaky front main seal:


And now for the good stuff!

Parts first:

Heads...


Dual roller timing chain:


Edelbrock Camshaft and Lifters (flat tappet):


Gasket set:


Lokar TV cable:


Professional Products Aluminum intake:


And now for the engine build:

Before I started the disassembly:


Air cleaner removed:


Driver's Side Valve cover off...see how nice and clean it is inside?


Driver's side head and valvetrain:


Stupid driver's side front intake bolt twisted off when I was trying to remove it...


Passenger side valve cover...also nice and clean :


Intake off:


Lifter valley:


Heads off:


These pictures didn't turn out great, but you can kind of see the hone marks. Keep in mind, this engine has 159,000 miles on it!




One of the old lifters:


Old Timing Chain:


Old cam vs. new cam:


Dad installing the new timing set:


New timing set installed:


Front of the engine assembled:


Here's how those HO headers mate to stock downpipes. Not a bad fit, really. They leak a little, but it's manageable. Just have to enlarge the flange holes a little and it goes right on.


Fully installed:




The old starter decided to crap out when I was trying to get it started, so here's the new one:


New oxygen sensor mounted in the downpipe since there's no place for it in the header:



Air lines to the cats rusted off long ago, so we machined up a couple of tapered plugs, pounded 'em into the holes, and welded 'em in place. Took care of some leakage and made the car much nicer to drive.

I don't have any pictures of teh engine totally assembled since I didn't get a chance to paint the valve covers or intake, so it still looks poopy. Hopefully when I pull it back apart next summer to do the 4 bbl swap I'll take care of that.

[Nathan in MI]

3.55 Gears

Unfortunately I didn't do as good of a job documenting the gear install, but here's what I do have:

Ring and pinion set out of an F-150. 50 bucks on eBay.


Installation kit:


Differential main bearing girdle from LPW Racing (for beefing up the rear end when I do the 5 speed):

[Archangel]

Bitch, quit yer bitchin about them seats - some of us would love to have them in our cars! Gee, give a man something everyone else wants, and what's he gonna do with it - bitch about it, of course. I mean, damn, you know what I mean, you lil whiny bitch :p Also that laptop frame needs to go - it places the laptop in the worst possible spot ever, right between you and the half-drunk half-undressed hottie you're taking home (yer home that is) from the bar :evil:

[Nathan in MI]

:lol:

Michael (1987cp) has expressed interest in the seats, so if I ever get around to replacing them, he gets first dibs.

And don't praise 'em till you've sat in 'em for 12.5 hours! Lincoln seats are teh win!

[Mr. Land Yacht]

looking great Nate!
that must be a whole new car from when I saw it last year!

[Nathan in MI]

Not really lol

[Archangel]

Michael (1987cp) has expressed interest in the seats, so if I ever get around to replacing them, he gets first dibs.

Yeehaw, big fuckin deal, he's gonna have stock ford seats in a ford car - gee, what a challenging install :p My seats are like 1500 times cooler, cause they offer lots more side support while totally not even close to fitting in a Panther if left in stock form... Ah, did I mention they got 6-way power, both of them too

And don't praise 'em till you've sat in 'em for 12.5 hours! Lincoln seats are teh win!

No they ain't, the buckets I got in my truck are the shizzle, but hell if I got any clue what the fuck they are from :dunno: As for the length of the trip - well you got some pedals under that dash, the one on the right can shrink them 12.5 hours real well :evil: So yeah, put them 351 cubes to some use, cause now I bet Lynn can blow yer doors off while running on 7 cylinders (1 is cracked) and putting on make up at the same time :p

[Archangel]

Not really lol

Yes, really - just gimme half a weekend and an electrical outlet that can power my 8.5amp angle grinder :evil:

[interceptor1985]

Those seats look like the baby LTD seats if you want them thats the place to look.

[86VickyLX]

Very cool. Your Dad and you did a lot of work on the engine. Enjoy it!

[boXman]

I want them fuckin seats! lol

They cant be worse then my base model seats that have no "cusion" anymore...

[torquelover]

:lol:

Michael (1987cp) has expressed interest in the seats, so if I ever get around to replacing them, he gets first dibs.

And don't praise 'em till you've sat in 'em for 12.5 hours! Lincoln seats are teh win!

I have no problems with my P72 seats, although my seats look different than yours. I can do 12.5 hours easy in my P72 seats. Non-Panther Lincoln seats suck ass. Pretty much lost the use of my legs for about 20 minutes after sitting in my Mark VIII for just 3 hours. 80/94 was closed due to flooding out here yesterday. Too bad we were stuck in the middle of it.

Are those pics of your E7's? Get some vids soon, your car is pretty similar to my setup. Would be nice to hear it and see it go!