My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[Cadillacmob]

Was looking through your build. Amazing job! I want a new top for mine this summer. Any tips? What did it run you ?

Don't make fun of my girly songs Nick. They make me feel good inside. lol


Okay got a new vinyl top on today! Yesterday I pulled out the windows and today the new top was installed. Took two hours to put the vinyl on. Guy working on the car said what a nightmare it would be if I didnt take anything apart and he had to do everything. lol He said it would have been a couple day job. I saved some bucks by removing all of the stuff myself.

At the top place at 7:30am



Some padding filling in the body gaps





A cool looking bike next door at the bike shop



Initial fitting





And all done!













Looks good to me.

Now to begin wet sanding the dam car again.

[87gtVIC]

Thanks.

Brings back memories!

Welp I believe it was $150 TOTAL.

All I had the place do was install the new top. Literally JUST install the top. I removed all of the interior to get all of the trim removed, I removed the old top, I prepped the surface I removed the side windows etc etc. And i reinstalled everything on my own.

It would have cost a boat load more and I would have wound up with tons of broken pieces if I let them do it.

[Cadillacmob]

You have a good point. Did you have to drop the headliner ? To get all the trim off. ? How difficult is it

[87gtVIC]

Yes headliner gets removed.

I do things the safe way (most of the time) so that involves me removed more than normally necessary just to ensure nothing gets damaged in the process.

It is not difficult nor very time consuming. More nerve racking if anything


Pull down trims above doors and front and rear windows.

unscrew visors and visor holders

unscrew coat hanger above quarter windows

Unscrew entire dash pad for removal

unscrew a pillar trims and remove them

unbolt seatbelt just inside doors

remove lower quarter window trim piece (next to rear seats) held in with one screw and some push pins

Remove upper quarter window trim piece. (some screws hidden by panel you just removed, screws in door jamb as well as STIFF push pins behind the main body of the panel) fish the seat belt through it and removed entirely

pop off the dome light lens and unscrew it.

lay passengers side seat all the way back and remove headliner out passengers side door.


For any others reading this some steps only apply for tudors.




Thain, the temp gauge will move if I just stay in park and run the ac. It will go higher then the number I normally see while driving. Its something t look into though.


Odometer was spot on at 288 mile difference between fill ups. only reason I even know this is because I took a pic of the mileage at the last fill up and the most recent one.

I have also been eying an entire set of autometer arctic white gauges. I currently have the autometer arctic white tachometer BUT with a sunpro bezel installed because I am NOT a fan of the thin silver bezel and domed lens the autometer arctic white gauges come with. This would require me to swap the glass and bezel on an oil pressure gauge, water temp gauge, vacuum gauge as well as voltmeter. Seeing as how anal I am about things I probably will punish myself and pick them up. lol

[Chuck Norris]

I like brown cars. I know they aren't the typical "fan favorite" color. But tan, silver and brown are my favorite car colors. I love this car, just looks so nice!

[gadget73]

Thain, the temp gauge will move if I just stay in park and run the ac. It will go higher then the number I normally see while driving. Its something t look into though.

OK, its probably fine then. Just wanted to make sure it would actually read higher in case something went funny.

Make sure the draw line from the rad neck to the overflow bottle is in good shape. If it has any leakage, it will just suck air instead of coolant. Sometimes they get loose right at the fill neck barb. A bad seal right under the cap will do it too, make sure the rad neck isn't wonky and the rubber up inside the cap isn't cracked.

[packman]

Nice! I wonder how much difficulty there would be in just going slick top at that point? My aim is to go slick top at some point as I hate vinyl on cars; but if it's too difficult/costly, I will just replace it.

Packman

[87gtVIC]

OK, its probably fine then. Just wanted to make sure it would actually read higher in case something went funny.

Make sure the draw line from the rad neck to the overflow bottle is in good shape. If it has any leakage, it will just suck air instead of coolant. Sometimes they get loose right at the fill neck barb. A bad seal right under the cap will do it too, make sure the rad neck isn't wonky and the rubber up inside the cap isn't cracked.

Yeah it does move higher.

The draw line appears to be fine no cracks, supple and pliable. It fits extra tight onto the rad neck nipple. Three different rad caps (two brand new) and no difference. Could be the radiator is junk? The things that concerns me the most is that no coolant is pushed out of the rad. The upper rad hose gets nice and firm. Pressure is building but it wont puke any out to the overflow tank. What gives! She don;t over heat at all and I put over 1300 miles on this set up so far. I think its time to race the engine and pull the rad cap and add more coolant and hope not to die in the process. I DID remove the damned heater pipe hard line at least three times to fix coolant leaks at it so the coolant has been removed and added a bunch of times. Im stumped.

I like brown cars. I know they aren't the typical "fan favorite" color. But tan, silver and brown are my favorite car colors. I love this car, just looks so nice!

Thank you. A lot of work went into her over many many years and still more to come. Projects are never ending no matter how big or small they may be. Always something to tinker with and improve upon.

Nice! I wonder how much difficulty there would be in just going slick top at that point? My aim is to go slick top at some point as I hate vinyl on cars; but if it's too difficult/costly, I will just replace it.

Packman

I would personally back each hole with copper and weld the holes shut trying not to warp anything. There are lots and lots of holes to weld shut.

Then you need to grind all the welds down and apply fiberglass filler over all the weld areas, them regular body filler. It is no easy chore.

[jaywish]

Dave,

If the car is cold and you take the cap off is the water all the way up in the radiator neck?
If the Radiator is full then I would say maybe the vent hole on the radiator is clogged, non-existent or the cap is the wrong cap for that radiator.

If the water never flows out of the rad into the bottle when hot and rad is full when cold there really isn't much else. Is the radiator & cap designed for a pressure bottle or for the plain type bottles that originally came on these? IIRC if the rad is for a pressure bottle you need a cap that has no pressure restriction for the bottle.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Regardless of cap type she should push coolant out the rad and into the overflow tank.Provided of course the radiator is full, so as suggested check with engine cold and coolant should be up to the neck for the cap. Easiest to check with the front left corner of the car up in the air so it becomes the highest point in the cooling system, so jack the bitch up by the FL LCA like you're testing the suspension on a 4x4 vehicle and then pump the upper rad hose by hand a few times to make sure all air escapes from it.

[87gtVIC]

Dave,

If the car is cold and you take the cap off is the water all the way up in the radiator neck?
If the Radiator is full then I would say maybe the vent hole on the radiator is clogged, non-existent or the cap is the wrong cap for that radiator.

If the water never flows out of the rad into the bottle when hot and rad is full when cold there really isn't much else. Is the radiator & cap designed for a pressure bottle or for the plain type bottles that originally came on these? IIRC if the rad is for a pressure bottle you need a cap that has no pressure restriction for the bottle.

I added in past to fill it once it was cold up to the top of the radiator. This past weekend I had to add again. Other times before this it was full to top wen cold.

The radiator is a three core replacement for a 1985 CV. Nothing fancy about it.

Regardless of cap type she should push coolant out the rad and into the overflow tank.Provided of course the radiator is full, so as suggested check with engine cold and coolant should be up to the neck for the cap. Easiest to check with the front left corner of the car up in the air so it becomes the highest point in the cooling system, so jack the bitch up by the FL LCA like you're testing the suspension on a 4x4 vehicle and then pump the upper rad hose by hand a few times to make sure all air escapes from it.

Will check it out.

[BigMikeIT]

David,

So for the quarter-glass, did you cover with the cardboard, or did you remove the clamps holding in the glass and the butyl?
My quarter glass trim is held in snug.

[87gtVIC]

I unbolted the window brackets (from inside the car) and then removed the trim.

[jaywish]

So perhaps there was an air bubble that finally burped out, though it seems unlikely given that you have opened it up a few times. (cough cough).

[87gtVIC]

Its a mystery.

After I change out the water pump and thermostat housing gasket I plan to fill the system like my dad and I used to do years ago. open cap and racing engine!

If I still get no coolant puked out of the radiator into the overflow after a drive I am swapping in the radiator I had installed prior to the engine upgrade.