85 351 4door Vic **DUW**

[johnunit]

new starter vs. old starter



old stance in the rear vs. new stance









nasty, badly routed lines being yanked



the perfectly clean master cylinder. Yuck



about 2/3 of the old lines that went into the bin





The spots to be repaired on the frame

[87gtVIC]

Slick work with the wheel covers over those monsters.

That is the first hose less air impact gun I have ever seen. lol

[packman]

Man, once you get that back together, that Merc is gonna be a slick sleeper.


Packman

[Brown_Muscle]

nice work! Much better looking with that tire sticking farther out, I always hated the dated 60's look with the tires stuck super far in in the rear. That frame rot is scary...good thing you're fixing it!

[johnunit]

nice work! Much better looking with that tire sticking farther out, I always hated the dated 60's look with the tires stuck super far in in the rear. That frame rot is scary...good thing you're fixing it!

The frame rot on the rail was a shock.


I was worried the tires would look cartoonish, but really it just undid the absurd narrowness and tuck of stock. By today's standards it's pretty normal looking.

[packman]

The frame rot on the rail was a shock.


I was worried the tires would look cartoonish, but really it just undid the absurd narrowness and tuck of stock. By today's standards it's pretty normal looking.

What I like about the wheel tire combo is that from the side (other lane at stop light) it would look stock. It wouldn't be apparent until they're behind your car (too late, they've already lost). Hopefully the frame rot isn't too bad to fix.


Packman

[johnunit]

What I like about the wheel tire combo is that from the side (other lane at stop light) it would look stock. It wouldn't be apparent until they're behind your car (too late, they've already lost). Hopefully the frame rot isn't too bad to fix.


Packman

Yeah that's the idea, total sleeper at a stoplight/Christmas tree, and then it passes you. Even then, these things are so wide it doesn't look like 295s would on a mustang or whatever.

The welder at work has looked at the frame and said it's very fixable.

[Rodentkiller]

Johnunit you are dealing with a Carburator that is REALLY pickey, my Dad on his Lincolin had a VV that was non feedback and he had it rebuilt and after the rebuilt his car never ran good so he bought the Holly replacement and he never had problems with his car.

[johnunit]

Johnunit you are dealing with a Carburator that is REALLY pickey, my Dad on his Lincolin had a VV that was non feedback and he had it rebuilt and after the rebuilt his car never ran good so he bought the Holly replacement and he never had problems with his car.

Yep, I'm putting a 4160 on it.

[Rodentkiller]

Johnunit good for you, you will be happy with the Holly replacement, once it tis done the fun is getting it set up properly so that your car will run good.

[Mr.Blue]

Looks great! Ditto on getting the heads and intake done at the same time.........

[johnunit]

My co-worker has been doing some serious frame repair. It's about halfway done on the rail. I'm a bit nervous but it doesn't look like anything has sagged notably and I trust this guy.

Starting to cut the rot out with a plasma cutter


Here you can see just how much is cut out. It goes right from the bulkhead at the front to well past the trans crossmember. Essentially, I hit it really hard with a pointy hammer and if it bent it was getting replaced. The bottom and outer parts of that frame rail are a bit thin, but no holes.



Here is after we got the bracket/gusset the crossmember bolts to. We supported the crossmember, and then unbolted it before doing any cutting. The bracket will be cleaned up and welded to the new metal after the frame rail itself is finished. You can see the crossmember just sorta floating there. There is a tranny jack under the trans pan to support it.



Here is the plate that's going inside the frame, against the outer wall, tacked in. 1/8" plate.



We are supporting the frame just behind the rear cut line, as the frame seems to want to flex downwards in the middle.

[79lincolnlover]

Are you going to apply some rust treatment products on the frame after the repairs are complete?

[johnunit]

Are you going to apply some rust treatment products on the frame after the repairs are complete?

Current plan is grinding and wire wheel, then rust converter, then asphalt undercoating.

[johnunit]

After a few setbacks I'm in a race to get this thing on the road before it's time to store it for the winter. But I've gotten a lot done.

First off, one of the main setbacks. The engine almost fell out of my other car.

I knew I was pushing my luck with the passenger engine mount on my Mazda3. A bit of wheel-hop in the rain and a sudden awful noise. I cut the engine, pull over, and after calming down start the engine again to a cacophony of noises. Pop the hood and see this:





Look under and see this.... well hello!


The transmission is not supposed to play peekaboo through the undertray.

The passenger side mount can (and did) fail totally without the engine dropping. What happened was the added stress from the passenger side mount doing nothing broke the bracket the driver's side/transmission mount attaches to the engine with. That's the triangular thing with the broken-off top. Then the massive change in position cause the CV shaft to tear apart on the driver's side. That, combined with the engine resting against the strut tower, is the horrible noise I heard at failure. Remarkably, aside from a possible minor vacuum leak somewhere, that's all the damage that was done.



So new mounts, new CV shaft, new summer tires and cross-drilled front rotors, and that car is sorta-kinda out of the way.









As for the crown vic:

Frame repairs are done! Ended up finding a weak spot on the passenger side frame rail too. I can now, if nothing else, say that the entire frame as accessible on a hoist passes the "hit it really hard with a welding hammer" test.


I spent a ton of time screwing around with the brake lines before removing and retightening the fitting where the line to the back goes into the flexhose solved my no-pressure issue. Go figure.

I entirely redid the rear brakes, except for the drums themselves. Wheel cylinders, lines, hardware, backing plate ground down.

Found some nasty grooving of the backing plate and a snapped wire to the self-adjusting mechanism. That'd explain the super-touchy passenger side lockup issues.

Ground the backing plate contact points down as far as I dared and added anti-seize.



Oh and a 1991(?) and newer style starter. Cranks faster, weighs less, draws less, sweet. Big thanks to everyone in the thread below (lots of good links in there) for that.

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?50606-electrical-questions-with-swapping-to-starter-with-the-solenoid-attached&highlight=

Picked up some more parts, not going on this season though
Police spec shocks all around and a 2500RPM lockup torque converter


Then I did some minor crap not worth mentioning, and fitted my 1.25" spacers on the front. This meant I could finally get it on the ground with my new tire and wheel combo. I still haven't whitewalled the front tires. 255/60/15 on 15X8's front. 295/50/15 on 15X10's rear.



Weld Draglites - love the deep dish on the rear. The fronts aren't as nice, but I may ditch them for deeper-dish fronts that won't require a spacer if I can find them. For now they'll hide most of the time though. The tires are Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/T's, think Radial T/A's but modern and not shit. Whitewalled by me as discussed earlier in this thread.



Covered up with the hubcaps, held on with a bolt through the Weld center caps acting like the original locking setup.





As it sits now, I'm just working my way through making the wiring mess below (Variable Venturi MCU removed, all engine wiring looms opened up) workable with both fully functional emissions and a holley 4-barrel. I have 2 relays to wire up and then it's putting the new distributor (still duraspark, but with less mechanical advance since there's no longer a computer to stave off detonation), new carb, and new intake on. And making the wiring look pretty... and making sure that it all fits under the hood... and test driving the brakes... and... gah. Wish me luck.




So it's not all going to plan, but fingers crossed I'll get to drive the piss out of it for at least a couple weeks this year.