RyPow's 1987 LTD Crown Victoria LX - the "Sand Box"

[marquisman]

I envy your garage space, no matter how small lol. Oh and I have the exact same charger. Best one I have!

[RyPow]

I envy your garage space, no matter how small lol. Oh and I have the exact same charger. Best one I have!

Yes, I do appreciate the space very much despite its constraints. I'm surprised that a house of that vintage (1961) had such short/narrow bays, although I think only the long side was used for a vehicle and the other was storage/workshop (there is a capped flue in the wall backing onto the chimney, on the passenger side of the car).

That charger was my grandfather's. There is one particular component in those units that is prone to failure; my grandpa had it repaired a few years before he passed. Works great! I only wish it had an engine start mode, it just does straight 0-6A automatic charge. Those old Mastercraft/Motomaster units were decent gear - I wish I could say the same for the newer junk out of Canadian Tire.

[sly]

my 2-car garage is only as deep as that one space... so yeah... barely fitting panthers in with just enough room to walk around them.

[88Vic]

My welding repair on the mufflers has failed, which has given the car a surprisingly pleasant tone - I think I will go with Magnaflows in the stock size when I replace the mufflers along with the H-pipe.

My Town Car sounds pretty cool with stock duals and no mufflers, it was cheap and really not loud, newer trucks you see all the time with catbacks are louder. Get the Walker replacement parts and have a shop angle cut some pipe and weld it in place. One thing I like about it is how it sounds before the cats have warmed up, has a real raw muscle car sound to it, and after they warm up it mellows out a bit but still sounds beefy.

[Toploader]

Well this is what I contend with for the other ride LOL

[marquisman]

My Town Car sounds pretty cool with stock duals and no mufflers, it was cheap and really not loud, newer trucks you see all the time with catbacks are louder. Get the Walker replacement parts and have a shop angle cut some pipe and weld it in place. One thing I like about it is how it sounds before the cats have warmed up, has a real raw muscle car sound to it, and after they warm up it mellows out a bit but still sounds beefy.

Ran this setup on my wagon for a bit. Was actually pretty decent. However, the addition of cherry bomb single chamber mufflers made it just right. No real drone and a nice mellow exhaust note, untill you get right on it.

[RyPow]

The Sand Box went under the knife last night. I was going to do a coolant flush/refill but upon backing the car out of the garage, I discovered a nice big puddle of coolant below the driver's side end of the rad, so out it came. The leak appears to be in the crimped seam between the core and plastic tank, in an area hidden by the lower rad support and lower rubber radiator mount. I'll pressurize and soap it to be sure. Thread regarding the radiator is -->here<--

While I was waiting for the rad to drain, I figured there was no time like the present to get started on the valve cover gasket job - and the HO upper swap. Found a nice stash of maple keys on the lower intake.



Cleanest intake and hardware I've seen from one of these cars. I'm wondering if the lower-to-upper intake gasket has been done before.







Good ol' stock nylon TV grommet. Time to tap my supply of brass replacements.

[miamibob]

Good stuff! Replacing the vac lines under the Intake? They appear ok but since it is all apart I would assume it is going to be done.

[88Vic]

I'm gonna do that, my idle was erratic before I parked it, who knows how many lines were eaten by various wildlife. Not looking forward to doing it, but gonna be glad to get it done. Debating attempting HO upper swap when I do, but with my 3rd grade mechanic skills, swapping throttle linkage brackets scares me.

[RyPow]

Almost three years later....and I'm finally getting my act together and bringing the poor girl back to life. I pulled the valve covers a few days ago, and was amazed by how clean the valvetrain and inside of the covers are. She definitely lived the good life since new, with frequent oil changes. I'll take some pictures before everything goes back together.

Next job will be valve guide seals, hopefully in the next week. She blew the occasional blue smoke on startup, and after 31 years I'd be silly not to replace them while they're accessible. I bashed the insulator and electrode out of an old spark plug and soldered a copper pipe tail to it with air line to make my cylinder pressurization tool. Once the valve covers are painted and back on with Permadrys, I'm replacing all of the vacuum lines and heater hoses under the intake, as well as cleaning up and repainting the steel heater pipe with the tee off to the EGR valve. Then comes the HO upper and TB before the spring comes, so I can drive it out to my shop with hoist and replace the H-pipe and mufflers and throw on Lincoln logs.