My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[sly]

Love the mods to the car.
Hate the cancer. Hope it ends up being easy removal and cleanup.

[packman]

Like Mainemantom said, a positive attitude will take you far in the healing process. Also helps to have early detection.

Really like what you did with that intake plaque. Fits better than the Lightning plaque; even though I love that one too.

[87gtVIC]

Thanks guys. I have my second biopsy scheduled for December 2. Hopefully the pathologist can make an official diagnosis so I can start treatment.

Today I installed the panel.

Before:



Old and new:



And after:





Matches my radiator cap lol.

In my previous interior video I installed the seat belt reminder as well as the brake warning indicator. IN the video one may notice the ill fitting fuse panel/knee dash panel. For some reason both the previous panel and this current one stuck out on the most drivers side tab location. It always bother me. I fixed that today. Had to heat the panel and bend the drivers side of it back so it sits more flush against the dash hull. Allowed it to cool while it was held in the bench vice with a piece of green painters tape holding tension. This allowed me to go and do other things while the panel cooled to its new better fitting shape. Luckily it worked and it now sits nice and flush.

Before:





And after some manipulation:





Also I popped in my 32gig USB into the FM transmitter and it works perfectly through that. I do wish there was a shuffle function but it still expands how I can use it and feed music to the radio. In the video below I show how line lock works in my car using all factory switches and wiring trickery. You can hear (if youtube did not copy write the video) music playing from usb through the fm transmitter.

Little tiny fingernail 32gig USB installed into the FM transmitter:

[pantera77]

When did you stick swap it? That's awesome! I miss having a gear jammer panther.

[87gtVIC]

Late March/early April. My job shut down/eased back some and I got two weeks off with pay! Did it then. No better time to do it.

[87gtVIC]

Picked up this Ford Motorsport sun shield a while back. Before purchase I thought it was for the exterior of the vehicle, though upon reading the directions I found out it is meant for the interior windshield. I have a tinted (its in the glass) upper portion windshield so any banner placed on the inside would not be visible from the outside so I sat on it for a couple months. Today I figured "what the hell" what am I holding onto it for? I will just place it on the outside and see what comes of it. Well upon peeling the sun shield off its black paper backer some of it decided to stay with it, which became extremely tedious and annoying to remove. The crease (two) from being stored for longer than I am alive (piece is from the EARLY 80's) wont go away either lol I did the best I could and slapped it on.

Its good from far but far from good when you get your peepers up close to it. lol I dont care. It will be good enough for the time being and if..I mean when it flys off I don't give a .....I love how it matched the pinstripes and complements the brown paint so I am happy with it.


Before:



After:

[87gtVIC]

Got to working on swapping out the p.side dash bezel today.

A couple years back I picked up a much better condition panel and decided I will swap it out today. Not only will it get rid of the oval Ford emblem I adhered ages ago but give me the opportunity to install the more proper "LTD Crown Victoria" badge more commonly found on these vehicles.

Panel looked fine but the Ford emblem had to go as I am after the older style look:



Current one has been abused over the years. A bunch of the mounts have seen their last day years back and I was using a hodgepodge of fasteners to secure the damn thing.

Various pics of bad mounts:



Assortment of fasteners:



The new panel compared to the old before modifying:



Getting thing ready to cut..can also see more bad mounting points:







Things started good. Got the main chunk cut out for the police aux gauge bezel without issue got the bezel fastened and test fitted into car. All was well.

Then it came time to cut away some of the upper most lip so the repositioned ATC sensor can adequately sample the cabin temps. I cut too far.... really put a damper on my day.

I was cutting from the back side and did not realize how far I went.

No pics of the damage but I cut just into the faux wood...So I cut through the silver trim, the dull brown and just into the faux wood.

I am attempting a repair but on the look out for another panel to chop up. lol I am hopeful that it wont be too much of an eye sore. Always something. Nothing is installed as of now because I am in the middle of repairing the wrongs I have done. Hope to have completed pics next week sometime.

[87gtVIC]

Aggressively monsooning outside so I coud not install the dash panel but I did get it all repaired and ready to once things dry up.

This is the panel I just ever so slighly cut too far with a body air saw blade.

The repaired area:



I cleaned the affected area and jwelded the gap. Let that dry a day before painting in the grey jb weld with assorted brown paints I had on hand. Sliver trim was corrected with silver trim paint that I have been using for years on these panels.

A dab of some nice touch up clear coat was placed over the faux wood area then buffed once dry.....accidental over buff directly below the previously damaged area with my finger...oops. It will do. I have a couple extra dash panels coming just in case it bothers me to the point that I have to redo it.

And completed pic...so far....





Cant hardly tell I repaired it from a foot or so back:





One may notice I painted the dash vent registers with the silver paint pen. The older box vics came that way....its the look I was going after.


I may switch out to the Town Car style vent in the future if I get tired of these.




Waiting on one more piece to complete this panel..should be arriving today and if it is in good condition will get slapped right on there.

[tjc78]

I think it looks great and no one would probably ever notice.

[87gtVIC]

I think it looks great and no one would probably ever notice.

Thanks. I agree. Its just one of those things that I know is there.

I was bummed beyond belief when I cut through the damn thing. Instant regret for even doing anything, though it did come out good. If I didnt burn through the finish below the repair area while buffing by hand it would be even less noticeable...or maybe that slight burn helps. Regardless that is behind me and I have two coming in case I ever want to fix this one and another in case I ever want to go back to stock.

[Tiggie]

Looking great. Not that I don’t like the Ford oval, but I like the LTD Crown Victoria callout or bare better.

[87gtVIC]

Looking great. Not that I don’t like the Ford oval, but I like the LTD Crown Victoria callout or bare better.

Oh hell yeah. The LTD Crown Victoria badge looks SO DAMN GOOD.

Installed mine yesterday onto the panel:







I did look for NOS units but according to the Master Parts catalog that part is not sold separately from the dash panel.

When did the go bare anyways? I know for sure 87 were bare. And there were SO many damn variety's of these panels between 79 and 87. The early ones were color matched to the interior...kinda like the 88-89 ones were....



I wanted to install it today but the weather was not allowing for it. I have my second biopsy tomorrow so at least I have something to look forward to doing when I am capable of walking again.......speaking of which...I have the ADTR boxed control arms and upper diff spherical bushings to install. Been afraid to try doing that in my condition...another thing to look forward to accomplishing once I get WAY better.

[packman]

If I find my junkyard panel, I will give it to you if you'd like. I snatched it off of the '86 Country Squire that I pulled apart many years ago. The vents weren't in good shape IIRC, but if you're thinking of swapping them out; then you will have a panel to play with.

[87gtVIC]

If I find my junkyard panel, I will give it to you if you'd like. I snatched it off of the '86 Country Squire that I pulled apart many years ago. The vents weren't in good shape IIRC, but if you're thinking of swapping them out; then you will have a panel to play with.

Thanks Jacob. I think I am okay now. I have two on the way. I cant hoard everyone now can I?

[Brown_Muscle]

I'm sorry to hear what they found in your knee Dave, hopefully you'll find out what type it is soon. Like you said, not knowing is worse than knowing, and having a game plan to fight it.

The plaque and dash panel look great! It's kinda nice to have the availability of the newer wood ones- the color matched older ones are almost impossible to find. When you get those rear control arms in I'm interested to hear how they effect it, especially in harder handling maneuvers