My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[87gtVIC]

I tried that and it worked for a while but I think his MAF is dead. He called me earlier in the week saying the car is back to its old self. Is not throwing codes though so he could be having other issues. Expects me to have a solution but I'm not that good, I keep telling him to take it to a dealership lol.

I get this from people at work. "Hey you are Mr. Car Guy, so can you help me out on this?" or "I need your opinion on this" and "I have this problem, can you take a look at it for me?"

I am indeed my cars "Mr. Car Guy." I'll help you out with as much as I know but I don't know everything about your vehicle are your particular situation so take it with a grain of salt.

[packman]

It's different in NJ. Most people just bring their vehicles to the dealership. Even my own family with older cars don't see that I am running 20+ year old cars for many miles before they get trashed (by other drivers), fall apart, or in the case of my current Ranger semi-fail. So they bring their cars to a hack mechanic who ends up taking a bit of time and money to find the problem.

I just watched your 1st drive vid. Wow, that car runs great!!! Worth all the effort. Have those Magnaflows been on there this whole time (before the engine swap)? If they were, they probably were much more quiet with the old engine. BTW, your Dad sounds like my Dad; almost like they're both reading from the same script. LOL

Packman

[Chuck Norris]

The car looks and sounds great mang! I am super jelly.

[knucklehead0202]

Lookin' good mang, except as the others mentioned the blatty exhaust at part throttle. Cats would surely settle it down or just different mufflers. Are you running race resonators? Anyhow, thumbs up, you're way ahead of a lot of us, lol.

[mitymerc]

Sweet!!!!!

[Hearsesrock427]

Alright! I knew you'd sort out the poor running and non-starting. I'd be pretty tempted to pull an Elvis and put a bullet through the engine block after all that crap, but you stuck with it. LOVE that clearcoat shine on that maroon, reminds me a 2 door Grand Marquis I saw whilst driving back from Buffalo months ago. And welcome to the straight pipe club! Where louder is always better.

[DerekTheGreat]

Mass air sensors are fairly easy to troubleshoot. If it runs better with it unhooked, its probably dicked.

I'll try that. I read about that somewhere on here before, don't know why I didn't think to try it then.

I get this from people at work. "Hey you are Mr. Car Guy, so can you help me out on this?" or "I need your opinion on this" and "I have this problem, can you take a look at it for me?"

I am indeed my cars "Mr. Car Guy." I'll help you out with as much as I know but I don't know everything about your vehicle are your particular situation so take it with a grain of salt.

"I am my own cars' Mr. Car Guy." This is me exactly. I got sucked into doing work on Ashley's sister's car this past weekend and that was akin to a sweaty, cheesy, hairy ball sack hanging two inches from my nose. Not to mention that whenever I get into someone else's car it seems like nothing works the way the factory intended and someone was already there before and dicked it all up just for me.

[87gtVIC]

I just watched your 1st drive vid. Wow, that car runs great!!! Worth all the effort. Have those Magnaflows been on there this whole time (before the engine swap)? If they were, they probably were much more quiet with the old engine. BTW, your Dad sounds like my Dad; almost like they're both reading from the same script. LOL

Packman

The magnaflows have been on with the old engine as well.

The car looks and sounds great mang! I am super jelly.

Thanks!

Lookin' good mang, except as the others mentioned the blatty exhaust at part throttle. Cats would surely settle it down or just different mufflers. Are you running race resonators? Anyhow, thumbs up, you're way ahead of a lot of us, lol.

No race resonators. Just some 2.5" offset/offset magnaflows.

Sweet!!!!!

Thanks Jim.

Alright! I knew you'd sort out the poor running and non-starting. I'd be pretty tempted to pull an Elvis and put a bullet through the engine block after all that crap, but you stuck with it. LOVE that clearcoat shine on that maroon, reminds me a 2 door Grand Marquis I saw whilst driving back from Buffalo months ago. And welcome to the straight pipe club! Where louder is always better.

It was frustrating to say the least. Funny how I knew right away what the issue was (first video of getting the car started I state it sounds like a massive vacuum leak). I also have fuel pressure regulator leaks and heater pipe leaks. With it all sorted life is good.

My car is BROWN! 2010 BMW A88 Hot Chocolate Metallic to be exact.

Yesterday I finally found a belt that fits and gives me some adjustment with the alternator, installed the clean K&N air filter as well as plumbed in the oil catch can from the PCV valve location.

Here is a picture of the belt:



It measures 50 ½ inches in length. This is ½” shorter than the belt that was on there. The 51” belt worked but squealed and prevented me from putting any more tension on it. The 50 ½” JUST and I mean JUST fit over the alternator pully (I have not ground down my alternator bracket to allow FULL travel of the alternator tension). The belt was not that tight on its own, I was able/ was necessary to put more tension on it so all things are good!



I then popped in my freshly “re-charged” air filter:




Finally was the oil catch can installation. This is the kit I used:





And here it is installed inline with the PCV vacuum lines:



I have since purchased brass barbs to replace the SHITTY plastic ones that were provided.

Otherwise it is working great as it is already doing its job!


I also took the car for a spin again:

This one has music under it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FAvCizbdK0

[Jason_GMQ91]

Awesome David! Cool video! Thumb up!

[gadget73]

I'm glad someone documents their stuff. I sure don't, and more than once I've used this or other threads you've posted to make up for my lack of picture taking.

Is the AFR meter on the wideband or narrow band?

[86VickyLX]

WOT fuel seems a little too rich for my liking 11.1:1. I'd be looking for a 12.9:1 ratio. Sounds healthy. When you gonna take it balls to the walls?

[Bobcat]

That intake plaque is a LIE, ITS ONLY A LITTLE 302.

Those things go for pretty good change on the mustang forums. I got offered 100$ for my broken one.

But y'know at least my engine is a 351..

Looks good, sounds good, we're still waiting on if it lays good peels.

[87gtVIC]

Awesome David! Cool video! Thumb up!

Thanks.

I'm glad someone documents their stuff. I sure don't, and more than once I've used this or other threads you've posted to make up for my lack of picture taking.

Is the AFR meter on the wideband or narrow band?

It is a wideband AFR gauge. It also has the leds that move around and tell you where you. Wideband 02 sensor is installed.

WOT fuel seems a little too rich for my liking 11.1:1. I'd be looking for a 12.9:1 ratio. Sounds healthy. When you gonna take it balls to the walls?

I am no expert on the afr stuff but that was my thought too. Want to get the idle down good first then I will work on all of that. Running rich wont hurt me, only my wallet.

Taking it easy until I get around 500 miles on her and hope there is nothing metallic in there. Then its fun time.

That intake plaque is a LIE, ITS ONLY A LITTLE 302.

Those things go for pretty good change on the mustang forums. I got offered 100$ for my broken one.

But y'know at least my engine is a 351..

Looks good, sounds good, we're still waiting on if it lays good peels.

Yeah I had it for sale but wanted to keep it for myself.

[Bobcat]

There will be a little metallic flakes in the first oil change. Obviously no chunks, but a little shine. I would then change the oil, run the engine and change the oil again. Then you're set.


That's why I bought a case of oil when it was on sale.

[87gtVIC]

Today was a very productive day.

Back when I went for the first drive with the new engine the car came down with an alternator charge issue. Poked around a bit to discover that the red and green wire at the voltage regulator was not receiving 12v power when in run/start. Poo. That is a problem.

My car no longer has the in-dash battery light so years back when I did all of this I just grabbed an unused 12v in run/start that I found underneath the hood. My 12vdc alternator turn on wire now originates at fuse 18 protected by a 10amper.

Opened up the EVTM and look and try to find what the hell is going on. Every time we put a new fuse in and turn the key it immediately blows the fuse. DEAD SHORT. But where.

Dad and I pull seatbelt warning and other things on the circuit. Dad being dad also tried a bigger fuse 15amp. It blew too!

Anyways after awhile we put a 10amp fuse in and turn the key and all is well. No issues. So I button everything up and go on my way with other things just chalking it up to something underneath the dash shorting out while driving from bouncing around and such. NOT a comfortable feeling so I was going to make a wire handy to provide the "turn on" wire 12v incase the primary one died again.

Go out for drive number two with the new combo and notice my fog lamps are not working.

Mid-drive of drive one I turned the fog lamps on but never looked if they were actually on, or if the indicator for them illuminated. At the end of drive two I add “fix fog lamps” to the list of things to get done.

Now today I got to dig into everything. I pull the fuse panel cover and find the source of the fog lamps power and find it jammed into some female spade next to fuse 18 mentioned above. I then pull the fog lamp switch and find that the 15amp fuse is blown for it. I replace it and turn on the fog lamps. IMMEDIATELY fuse 18 blows its 10amp fuse.

BINGO. Now I now what is going on.

Appears as if the fog lamps are getting power from the same circuit somehow!

I start digging under the hood and find the fog lamps power wire. There is a male and female spade connector in the path. I break it and see if I can power the fog lamps up locally with my power probe. I go to do so and the power probes CB trips and says “internal CB resetting.” Perfect.

Continue following the fog lamps power wire to find it completely pinched and dead shorted to ground underneath the 8mm bolt that holds the inner fender to the fender from the wheel well. This must have happened when I removed the inner fender over winter to replace the computer and install the new brake booster.

Fix that shorted wire and button up the fuse panel with a new 10amp fuse in slot 18 and screw the fog lamp switch back in. Fixed.

So the female spade next to fuse 18 is C301. Somehow that ties into the low fuel warning light which also was not working when fuse 18 blew.

I plan to relay the fog lights as I don’t like its full power originating from this location.


Just happy I don’t need to worry about the alternator quitting on my and leaving me stranded anywhere.





In other news I looked under the hood and the catch can is working like a boss.






Now another thing that has been bothering me is the front addco sway bar. It is the 1 ¼ bar that was made too long so your tires rub when almost at full lock. I think Zach mentioned how this was an issue for many people including himself.

So to remedy this I took to the junkyards in search of a big bar from a 1998-2002 Panther since I have the 1998-2002 spindles to accommodate this style of sway bar. I ended up not only getting a 28.5mm bar which equates to 1 1/8” (just an 1/8” smaller than the addco at 1 1/4") but also figured that I will just take the frame mounts and adapt them to my own frame because its' holes are stripped out in the frame already.

So I made a template with my list and dirty hands and then set it in stone with the sharpie:



Back home I cut it out and transferred it to a piece of aluminum to make a template and give myself an idea as to what will be involved in making this happen.





(this was a piece of road sign I took from Cleveland back in 2012 I believe)



Was easy to fab up and will be mega easy to remove and the install sway bar in the future!

Now I just have to order endlinks, bushings and make the frame accept this style of fastener.