My 1985 Town Car Sig.

[gadget73]

Same process. Get a good puller and a good air impact gun, otherwise its a total ballbuster.

[87gtVIC]

Painting the roof will not fill in the cracks. You will see everyone of them. Vinyl or w/e repair kits are sold. Never tried one, but all you need to is fill up the cracks make everything even and spray. But after being this old it is just best to replace it.

[Piece-it pete]

Well then the top's on the 2 year plan, shoot. I'll clean and armorall it for the time beling.

Got the idler done (easy) and had a kid lined up to do the grunt work on the pit, and left the puller at home :grr:

Changed the plugs wires cap rotor, all the plugs were worn to over .060 and the car was still running OK. Ford!

Still has that odd almost but not quite miss, I'm assuming you're right and it's the timing belt. Dang it.

The control arm bushings are definately bad particularly on the right. I've been poking around, I know there's a Energy kit out there (4.3150g?). What front springs do you recommend? (you're right about the cargos, I'm complaining to Moog).

Didn't get near as much done this weekend as planned, the PC Cruiser's down and the SO is unhappy (I hate working on that thing, everything so mushed in there). Just the same I'm probably taking a half day tomorrow, I'll (hopefully) get the pit changed tonight and get to the drivers window (among other things) tomorrow.

I've been waiting a complete cleanup in and out before posting more pics, that includes a good polishing and waxing. The interior is slowly getting done. First engine and chassis, then accessories, then appearance

To check the a/c compressor, can I just run a wire from the battery to it and see if it kicks on?

Pete

[johnunit]

DON'T armorall. Mine is all cracked and basically green from that stuff. If your top is close to the edge, Armorall will do more harm than good.

303 Aerospace Protectant or something to that effect (white spray bottle) is better.

[marquisman]

that 303 is good shit, we use it at work for boats.

[gadget73]

Dashboard in my Mark VII is cracked from years of Armor-All usage. It was perfect when I got it, but within a year, it had splits because i wasn't slathering it with goo. It still oozes crap out of it on a sunny day. Horrible stuff.

[Piece-it pete]

Well I'll skip the armourall, thanks!

Got the Pitman arm on finally, it ended up being a snap, much, much, MUCH easier than the 97. And it was the last immediate chassis problem! The car runs and drives nice and tight now, the way it should, and it was responsible for about 2/3 the clunking. Woo hoo.

Just which genius at Ford chose a 33mm nut for it?! I vote we track him down and flog him. Who on earth has a 33mm socket? I ended up using a pipe wrench.

Ach though I've about run out of funds. I was trying to get everything done by the beginning of June for the long trip south. I'll have my Mother-in-law with us (12 hours!), I've GOT to get the a/c running if I want any peace, so I might not have the %*@$ bushings done in time.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Now the belt drive is acting up, is the idler or the tensioner a more common failure?

And I'd really like to see what's up with the a/c. It appears to be holding a charge, but will not kick over. How do I check it?

Hate to be a pest . Hopefully I'll pay forward with many inane posts

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

OK finally found the a/c info - ran a search on 'compressor'. Use a test light on the wire to the compressor - simple.

I'm just going ahead with new belts (I was gonna anyway) and an idler.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Well I finally spoke to Moogs' tech department about the rear variable rate coils.

They said yep, CC837 is the right pair. I complained, so they dug up the specs, said that the tolerance is 12-3/4" to 15-3/4" from the top of the jack slot on the bumpet to the ground.

I measured, and my car looks like it's sagging a bit - 14". Moog won't do a thing.

Of course I could've a) listened to you guys, and b) been less impatient! But that would imply brains

I priced out my needed parts for the new control arm bushings if anyone's interested. New upper and lower ball joints from Rock, $50.00 inc frt, springs, $60 locally inc tax, and Energy 4.3150 from Energys' webite, $75 inc frt, so $185.00 for the job, not bad, not bad at all. Now to get them done before June, aye, that's the rub.

But with the pit idler pins and shocks already done (and the tierod ends look just fine) I'll have a practically new suspension. The way those LCAs are rattling it'll be a relief!

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Cruisin' down the highway, my front drivers tire decides to spontaneously kablooie.

Treads stripped off :grr: Having seen some torn up fenders before I consider myself lucky - it only took out the cornering/parking light assembly, got some black marks on the fender, and (worst of all) put a small but very noticable and probably hard to fix dent in my lower chrome panel.

Allow me a DAMMIT!!

Does anyone know how to pop the bezel off the cornering light assembly?

Pete

[gadget73]

the ditch light or the turn signal light? I think the ditch light has nuts on the back side.

[Piece-it pete]

I'm not sure what a ditch light is? [edit - duh, it lights up the ditch! I see] This is the yellow and clear rectangular light on the bottom of the fender near the front. That spinning tread just destroyed it - I can see that the bezel needs to come off (to pull the good replacements from the 89) because there is little bolts pointing to the inside on the perimeter of the smashed one.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

D'oh!

There's two little screws buried in the upper part of the bezel.

Pete

[marquisman]

yup, two stainless screws hold on the trim part and two bolts hold the lense assembly on the fender