Nathan's 1989 Ford LTD Crown Victoria P72

[Nathan in MI]

Wha?

[1987cp]

Oh, no reason.

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[Nathan in MI]

And so it begins...



I discovered this over Christmas break when I was crawling around underneath the car. Kinda hard to tell in the picture, but yep, there's a hole in the frame.

[1987cp]

Meh, you call that frame rust? Now that I've got my new floor jack, I'll show you REAL frame rust next time you're down this way! Besides, you have a welder at home. Cut it out and fix it already. :p

[Nathan in MI]

I haven't posted teh pictures of the frame holes on the Lincoln yet...you just wait. :p

[packman]

I just re-read this thread. Damn you've come a long way with your P72 Nate. Though I can see how discouraging body and frame rot can be. When my Malibu started coming apart the first time, I was ready to junk it, but my father welded the tears in the frame (abuse from two BBCs). If I were faced with the same problems again, I'd probably still junk it because I can't quickly do that sort of job on a DD. In your case, if you should decide to stop running your CV, you should pull the engine and mod it for another CV or even a Fox-body Mustang.


Packman

[Nathan in MI]

I certainly appreciate the compliments, mang, though I don't really feel like I've come all that far with it...I certainly have a LONG way to go before it's to the point where I want it to be. When this car is gone, the good parts will certainly be saved for something. Dunno if it'll be a Panther, probably not a Fox, but I'll find some kind of a home for the stuff, even if I just end up selling the parts so I can buy something else.

[packman]

College doesn't last forever, so at some point you'll be able to keep some of the money that you make (tuition used to kill me). You never know what awaits you after graduation; you may find a project worthy of that engine and perhaps some extra dough to throw at it as well.


Packman

[1987cp]

I haven't posted teh pictures of the frame holes on the Lincoln yet...you just wait. :p

Yeppers, you got me there!

[Nathan in MI]

Guess I should finally toss up a few pictures of the stereo installation I did over Christmas vacation.

This was my first installation, and special thanks go to the following people:

Saiyeneye, for recommending the head unit, with which I've been very pleased.
Pete (85CrownHPP) for giving me countless tips on the details of doing this job.
Jim (87_Crown_Vic) for helping me with the physical mounting of the head unit.
Woody (Freshmeat) for giving me such a great deal on the speakers and amp.

Anyone else that helped me on this whom I've forgotten to mention, my sincere apologies.

Anywho, with that out of the way, onto the pictures.

First, the head unit: It works great, and is really pretty conservatively styled, which I like. I didn't really achieve my goal of having it look factory, but it's good enough. I was surprised when even my dad said it looked good in there.


Mounting the dash speakers turned into a bit of a project because the new speakers were too small and too deep to mount in the factory holes. I wanted to mount them right in the dashpad, but the hole in the dashpad was too big as well, so I got a couple pieces of 1/4" plywood, put a finish on them, and mounted the speakers in that. I think they turned out looking really nice.


Door speakers:


6x9s in the rear deck:


Amplifier, which is mounted on the passenger side of the trunk:


Now for the parts I'm unhappy with. I feel like I did a crappy job on the wiring, and it's all run together where it comes into the trunk. I would have run the stuff on opposite sides, but I couldn't for the life of me get the driver's side of the rear seat loose, so I had to run it all together. What a mess.


Also, I've worked and worked at it, but I haven't managed to get the head unit quite high enough--I think I can fix that, but it's just something that's not a priority right now. It's high enough that I can take the faceplate off and on without the buttons catching on the trim, so I guess it isn't all that bad. Just doesn't look that good.

[Tiggie]

I guess you can drive the heck out of it now and not worry about driving it in all that salt up there. If it were me, I'd be tempted to do a 351W swap to an HPP Aero...

[Nathan in MI]

Yep, and that's exactly what I plan to do--just drive it. The body can get as bad as it wants...that just makes it more of a sleeper. I think I'll cut out the little cancer spot on the frame and replace that, though.

[packman]

You forgot to thank me for telling you not to super-glue your fingers together while installing the radio.


Packman

[Nathan in MI]

Sorry, mang! lol

[torquelover]

If it were me, I'd be tempted to do a 351W swap to an HPP Aero...

I like the sound of that...