85 351 4door Vic **DUW**

[johnunit]

Aww, you guys ruined the surprise by digging into my photobucket. Oh well, I'll post the more significant ones here later today.


Big thanks to 1987CP, I checked and both my tail lights have a single bulb burnt out. Going to Canadian Tire for a replacement now, would have taken a while to solve that without knowing that both bulbs blinked in there.


87gtVIC, you have a nerdy voice then.

[87gtVIC]

87gtVIC, you have a nerdy voice then.

thanks...i guess.

[marquisman]

i had an '87 jus like that but, was a base interior car...looks good

[johnunit]

So I got the turn signals signalling an impending turn again, w00t.


Here are the pics. The majority of them are "before" pictures. I pretty much just gave it a wash, sos'd the bumpers, and armor all'd the roof. I'll probably post more once I finish the wax job I stupidly started an hour before dark tonight, and do a decent vacuum on the interior and a few other minor things.
born April, 1985 with a 351 and a 2.73 limited slip.
You can see here the highbeams are bad (one out, one all condensation filled)
You can see the flaking rust low on the front bumper, along with the kink in it. Looks nice otherwise though. All the chrome is horrible up close though, and I'm looking for good replacement stuff.looks nice from the rear quarter angles. You can see the bad bodywork above the gas tank that I'll be fixing somewhere down the road
A good view of the bad paint/bodywork on the rear quarter. I'm hoping that with a polish and wax it'll blend better, because right now that paint spot isn't even glossy, and I think that plus the metallic is throwing it off. If not, I'll probably sand it down, do the bondo a bit more carefully than it was done the first time, and maybe see about knocking the metal down a bit, but that's for another post...
as was pointed out, this is probably Sophia's best angle. Other than a missing centrecap, she looks darned near perfect from about the distance between the cafeteria and my normal parking spot at schoolmm... original and straight. It's too bad the bodywork low on the rear door is cracking, because it looks like it was straight as an arrow before it lifted. Otherwise, more of the bad bodywork above the gas cap, missing center cap, cracking vinyl roof, and a bunch of paint coming off of the trim around the vinyl top (how do I fix that?)The bumper was pushed in, and was rusty anyway. You can also see the logo I need to replace, the burnt out highbeam, and the somehow-bent hood, that is waay too high on the driver's side of the grill, but flush to both fenders. Some of the lenses of the turn signals are also cracked You can see some of the bumper rust (here sanded down to metal just to slow down the rust streaks coming down). The silver paint on the lights is pretty much gone. Any tips on re-doing this? Bad pinstriping, but a nice trunk lidIs the side trim on the doors factory? Also, obviously missing center caps. Otherwise, this part is pretty much perfect. other than a few chips, both the right doors are in great condition, right down to original glass. That little badge between the doors is missing the red part on the other side. I dunno whether to paint it or what.. The bad paint job after the bumper (which was pulled out a bit) was hit into the fender. Hopefully some polishing and stuff will blend it in better. Bumper all kinked to hell, and some of the cracked chrome and lenses The paint on the hood is great, other than peeling pin-stripe (non stock?) It's too bad the front edge is so strangecloseup of effed bodywork and the rub-strip
driver's door panel is pretty much perfect. A tiny bit of flaking chrome and that's about it. Dirty dash and totalled dash pad, soon to be replaced. At least the power antenna still works well150,000KMs and a speedo begging to be brought to the extreme right. Everythink seems to work well here, and need nothing. The speedo is noisy though. How big a bitch would it be to get enough stuff off to lube it? Filthy. The stereo has 2 barely working speakers (OEM ones, I think) and will need to be totally re-done. I have a pioneer head unit and 6X9 setup running something like 150W each that's only a couple years old and pulled out of a truck my dad junked. Maybe I'll trade the speakers for stuff that'll fit this car? jammed glovebox (only one side of the latch pushes in) but really nice seatThese seats are so damned comfortable. I drove some guys to a rugby game today and they wouldn't shut up about it. really nice door panel, with the exception of a broken door puller thingy. The lighters in both rear doors have never been used, absolutely perfect. Same, it seems, for the ash trays. I don't think anyone sat back there regularly until the last couple years. I found a few kid-related things (gameboy winnie the pooh game, funny little note some young girl wrote to her boyfriend), but almost zero wear. The notoriously comfortable seats. What a nice change from the Ford Focus I used to have to stuff my friends into. mmm, space. The fabric is falling off, I'll glue it up with a fabric cement type thing unless anyone has a better idea. I love that map light, beautiful design, and it ended up cleaning up almost perfectly more falling-offage of fabric...
for some reason, I can't get the trunk to stop squeeking like a mother, even after plenty of silicone lube. Any ideas? At least the trunk liner is still perfect and clean.how do those speaker sound-deadening things re-attatch? they were just lying below the speakers, so now I'm using them as detailing product holdersWhere the heck do I store the jack? Where could the rest of it be? Rust on the trunk lid, not yet showingClean underbody. Nearly rust-free, and with new exhaust. newer duals, nice rust-free trunk areaMufflers... soon to be replaced with pipingclose-up of jammed glovebox, with gas cap and trunk releases conveniently still reachable. the 351. Rusty, exhaust (manifold?) leak, but runs nice. 1G alternator and cracked intake tubing, both on the replace list. cracks and fading in the vinyl

So I have a lot of questions and a lot of plans, and anyone who has any advice or comments is welcome and encouraged to share. I'll keep updating this regularly, often with pics, so check back.

[87gtVIC]

The sound deadening for the rear speakers are held up with thing metal rods that clip up to the package tray. And Your jack originally is located behind the spare tire.

Car looks overall not bad at all. You can definitely work with it. The paint still looks mint in many places.

[87gtVIC]

you looking for a new wiper switch i think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NOS-1979-90-Crown-Victoria-Marquis-Lincoln-Wiper-Switch_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2em20Q2el1116QQhashZitem587f7abbc6QQitemZ380095871942QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

[johnunit]

not at that price I'm not.

[johnunit]

Got a bunch of minor things done this weekend:
Air filter
highbeams
rear post fabric
slowly doing more paint polishing

I really need new tires and at least one brake needs to be machined. I think those are my priority, probably ahead of the new bumpers and dash pad, and fixing the exhaust leak.


The exhaust on this thing really stinks... I don't think it's running ritch, maybe it needs new cats? It stinks from the tailpipes, not just the exhaust leak (which is somewhere ahead of the passenger cat).

Oh yeah, and I got fuzzy dice.

[johnunit]

A couple annoyances this week:

I went to replace the fuel filter, because I'd been getting stuttering that felt like bad/wet gas. Looked and looked... No fuel filter. Someone did a hack-job replacement of the fuel lines (even left a bit of the old lines in), and it seems safe, but has NO FUEL FILTER. So now I have to figure out how to do that, with no prior experience in working with lines. And I find out that, for some time, it's been running with no fuel filter.

Also, after armor-alling and going through some heavy rain... my vinyl roof is all cracked to hell. It had maybe 20 rips in it before (see pics above), but now it's FULL of cracks, on the top you barely can go an inch between little cracks. Totally un-repairable. Greaaaaaaat.

[cld783]

looks pretty nice..


clean the door jambs you'll thank me someday

[1987cp]

One option I always sort of wanted to try is to get one of those canister-style fuel filters. NPT in/out means it's easy to hook up with regular barb fittings, and it looks like to change the filter you just unbolt the bottom. Weirdly, the $42 Fram HPG1 is rated for 200psi but Summit Racing only has it labeled for carb applications ..... funky.

[87gtVIC]

yea. Armoral is no good for the tops. My top was shot already so went ahead and used it. It looked great but now it is shotter? lol

[P72Ford]

A couple annoyances this week:

I went to replace the fuel filter, because I'd been getting stuttering that felt like bad/wet gas. Looked and looked... No fuel filter. Someone did a hack-job replacement of the fuel lines (even left a bit of the old lines in), and it seems safe, but has NO FUEL FILTER. So now I have to figure out how to do that, with no prior experience in working with lines. And I find out that, for some time, it's been running with no fuel filter.

Also, after armor-alling and going through some heavy rain... my vinyl roof is all cracked to hell. It had maybe 20 rips in it before (see pics above), but now it's FULL of cracks, on the top you barely can go an inch between little cracks. Totally un-repairable. Greaaaaaaat.

This is a Variable Venturi carb (didn't read the whole thread)?

There is a small filter in the carb, right where the fuel line enters. Take out the fitting with the large nut on it (that the line threads into). There is a filter inside. It is spring loaded, so be cautious.

Otherwise, there is no filter on a 351 VV car. You can always put an inline filter though.

[johnunit]

Any tips on what to use instead of armorall?


That fuel filter looks like a nice option. I was also considering just looking at one of the newer ford truck style filters, seemed pretty easy to install and I wouldn't have to worry about the part being obsolete for a while.




Today I found a few neat things in the glovebox (by caaarefully getting in there with tongs and pulling stuff out, since it's stuck barely open, with one side of the latch stuck). The original invoice or something to that effect, not a window sticker but it had all the options, the name of the dealer, final price, etc. etc. Interesting stuff. Also the original owners' manual and an operation manual. Even the original warranty/maintanence stuff from Michelin and the envelope they gave owners to send away for shop manuals and the like.


Weirdly, I've noticed that I hear a rushing/sloshing water sound on startup coming from the centre/passengers side area behind the dash. What the hell could this be? It almost sounds like water splashing through the heating ducts, and goes away within a few seconds. I haven't noticed it affecting anything, it's just weird.

[johnunit]

This is a Variable Venturi carb (didn't read the whole thread)?

There is a small filter in the carb, right where the fuel line enters. Take out the fitting with the large nut on it (that the line threads into). There is a filter inside. It is spring loaded, so be cautious.

Otherwise, there is no filter on a 351 VV car. You can always put an inline filter though.

Thanks, I would have never thought to look on the actual carb otherwise. Yeah it's a VV. I think I'll put an inline filter in anyway though, just because of the age of the fuel tank and my tendency to find myself in the middle of nowhere and have to put cheapass gas in, and the reputation for these carbs to be touchy anyway.

Now I just have to hope the filter I bought is the right kind to fit up.