1990 Crown Victoria Station Wagon

[GoodSamaritan]

Looking good man.

I'll be curious to see how it sits once the springs are in. Almost looks like the fronts will rub, but it's probably just the camera angle.

[Freshmeat]

I think it will be fine. The wheels are set safely inside the wheel wells and once I do the big brake swap I can ditch the baby spacers, which will set them in another 3/8".

I drove it to work this morning and discovered my heater doesn't work! That must be resolved!

[87gtVIC]

Almost looks like the fronts will rub, but it's probably just the camera angle.

That is something I was concerned about as well. I am really considering dropping my car and that was the only thing I was worried about. I'd hate to rip my fender off while cornering.

[Freshmeat]

In all honesty, I believe these springs have settled a lot. I don't expect much drop with the new coils.

[marquisman]

she looks totaly different from the first pics lol....looking good bro

[85crownHPP]

dude! it looks likes its already lowered! lol... I like it. Id worry about scraping on stuff once its really lowered

[Freshmeat]

Thanks for all the complements, guys. I'm enjoying this whole process.

Today I drove it to work (10 miles from home) and had a glass shop replace the windshield before it started raining. It's a whole new ball game being able to see! Unfortunately, he didn't properly reinstall the wipers and the driver side arm fell off while driving home... in the rain. Luckily, the passenger arm was offset enough that I was able to see through where it was wiping. Even more luckily, the driver arm hooked onto the luggage rack, so I was able to reattach it once I made it to the house. Time for new wipers, though!

I did find, on my way to work, that the heater isn't working. The slider is not moving behind the "face" so I'm going to take it apart soon and see what's going on with it.

[Freshmeat]

I'm already about to change it up a bit. I'll hopefully be able to post some pictures tonight.

[Freshmeat]

Okay. I bought and installed some new take-off 2010 Mustang GT 18" wheels tonight and holy shit they look 10x better than what I had on the car. Unfortunately, the picture came out too dark so you'll have to wait until I get some shots in the sunlight to see just how incredibly the wheels work for the car.

[marquisman]

we are always waiting for pics!


lol

[Freshmeat]

The 2010 Mustang GT wheels REALLY set this car apart. I seriously can't get over how bad ass it looks with these wheels, even though the car has obvious paint issues.

Today I spent all my free time on the car. I repaired the clip attaching the lock rod to the lock cylinder on the driver door (clip was busted and the rod was bent to Hell and back) so no more having to open the passenger door to unlock the driver door. Since that was resolved I was able to put the driver door panel on again for the first time in about five years. I honestly can't believe we still had the door panel and all the screws! Then I found that the driver door speaker wasn't working. I got to tinkering with it and found a short in the connector on the speaker. I had a spare speaker from my old wagon, swapped it on, and it's golden again.

From there I wired up the low fluid sensor and the sprayer pump for the washer fluid reservoir to complete the "factory cold air" install. Now I just need to remember to fill the reservoir!

With all that squared away I finally started on the springs. I did the rear first, which only took me about half an hour for both sides- set both frame rails on jackstands, release pressure from shocks, remove shock from lower stud, let axle sag, remove spring, reverse process with new spring. The fronts were A LOT more work, but by the end of the second one I believe I can do it in pretty good time. Especially considering that the rusty bolts are no longer seized in place. Additionally, when I did the passenger side front spring (first of the front two) I compressed the shock to be able to bolt the bar pin into place and did so hurriedly to "beat" the stud reaching its destination through the frame and pushing downward... then I waited for the stud to emerge through its opening... and waited... and waited... and it never showed up. I unbolted the bar pin to discover that the shock hadn't decompressed at all, so I made a quick run to O'Reilly and grabbed new Monroe Sens-A-Tracs for both front sides. They didn't have the GR-2s in stock, but they said they'll order some in case the SATs don't work out... and I'm going to need the GR-2s, as the SATs are disappointingly bouncy. I just don't think they have the proper rates for springs as strong as what I have up front.

The rear of the car is exactly where I want it. The front... well... it's sitting about an inch higher than I was hoping it would. I drove around on it for about an hour, just kind of enjoying the car with all five windows down and also letting it air out (still has the sat-up-for-half-a-decade smell going on.) The front springs did seem to settle to some degree, but it's still a good bit higher than I want. I figure I'll give it a few more days, but I may get impatient and clip the front springs sooner to bring it down to where I want it.

We've had piles of parts and random crap stacked on top of each other throughout the car for years... it had almost become a storage unit for my dad's random stuff he didn't have anywhere to put... but today that all ended. I peeled rotten old post office envelopes, Gatorade bottles, and candy boxes from the carpet, which was pretty thoroughly soaked from having a leak somewhere in the car but never having the windows down to air it out. As soon as I drove the car to my house I pulled out ALL the parts and stacked them in the garage, then went straight to the car wash and removed, beat, and vacuumed all the floormats. I then "went to town" vacuuming all the carpet as thoroughly as possible to aid in the drying out process. The rear floors were the worst so I put the rear floormats into the cargo area so they didn't hinder the carpet from drying out.

All in all, I had a very full day, but the car made HUGE progress from where it was when I woke up this morning. On the way to the parts store to get the alternator tested I took a back way that has very winding roads and holy crap I couldn't stop grinning the whole time. In my old '89 I'd have been scared to do 40mph, but I was doing a solid 50mph the whole time without feeling even the slightest hint of body roll... and that's without a rear sway bar... and blown bushings on the front sway bar. Once I get the front shocks situated and the rears replaced... as well as getting the sway bars the way they need to be... then install the '99 PI front suspension... I can only imagine how bad ass this car is going to be for spirited driving!!

So, enough talk... on to some pictures...

Here's a shot of the stock rear springs compared to the new springs... I did the same for the front, but my camera didn't save the picture...



Rears swapped, fronts stock...



All finished for the day!



A profile shot to give you an idea how much higher is the front than the rear. I don't mind it being really low... and I honestly kinda dig the slight sag, but it reminds me too much of those ghetto ass POS Town Cars with blown rear air suspension and that doesn't fly for me, so the fronts will need to be trimmed as soon as I feel it's all settled properly.



So, what do you guys think? Am I on the right track here? I think everyone who remembers my old '89 can agree that I'm doing much better with this one than I ever did with that one!

[pantera77]

I was never really a fan of a reverse rake. Those rims look great though.

[Freshmeat]

I definitely prefer for it to rake slightly forward. It will be resolved. I just don't want to cut the front springs too soon, as it's still possible they'll settle to a fair height.

[79lincolnlover]

Looks amazing mang!!

[Freshmeat]

Thanks!