My 1989 Crown Victoria.

[slack]

Thanks!

Next up is to get the passenger front door lock working...

[slack]

Front Door Lock Actuators

Ok. Started digging into the front doors today to see what's going on.

First, I took out all the philips screws that hold on the door trim. The panel where controls are mounted to you have to slide forward to get it out. The lock rod pops out by pulling straight down. Most of screw spots where the controls screw in are all cracked. I have a spare floating around with these intact but the top of it is all beaten up. (From my old 91 GM)


To get the arm rest off there are 7mm bolts that need to come out. A few under the control panel and a few underneath the arm rest itself.


Then, I took the panel itself off. I used one of those door trim prybars to pop the christmas trees out. I still managed to leave 3 of them in the door. Thankfully the cardboard on the panel didn't rip and I was able to put them right back in. To take off, I just pull up and out making sure to clear the door handle. As you can see, someone has been in there in the past 25 years and did an awesome job with duct taping the plastic shut... lol


And there's my lock actuator. Ripped boot and completely seized.


I didn't go any further than this because it was getting dark and I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to break anything when I was taking this out. My understanding is I have to drill out the pop rivet to get the lock actuator out? When I put the new one in, can I use a nut and bolt or do I have to make another pop rivet?

Also, looks like the screws that hold on my actual door latch assembly are stripped out... hopefully I won't have to take that off any time soon.

[miamibob]

On my '87 I riveted the two fronts back in but I have heard of them being put back with nuts and bolts.

[87gtVIC]

Nut and bolt will be fine. I even heard of people prying the motor out of the bracket and putting the new one back into the bracket. That way no drilling would be required.

That is good someone took the time to reinstall the vapor barrier. I have fixed the control panel with studs. JB weld them into place and then just use a nut to secure the switches.

I think a number 3 phillips is required to remove the latch assembly. Probably need one of those impact things where your whack it with a hammer to ensure you don't strip it out further if you ever need to take it out.

[tjc78]

I've left the bracket and just replaced the actuator.

[miamibob]

Couldn't get the actuators off the brackets so I just replaced everything!

[L1011tristar17]

Worst case scenario you can drill out the screws for the latch if they become stripped. This will destroy the latch but it won't matter if you're replacing it anyways. I grabbed a handful of spare screws at the junkyard while looking for a latch.

[slack]

Actuator out!

Thanks for the info guys. I decided to drill the rivet out because I was afraid of breaking the bracket trying to pry the actuator out of it. It looks like this side had been replaced before. The driver's side rivet head looks completely different. I think I'm going to nut and bolt it when I put the new ones in.

I still need to pick up the new actuators. I saw a guy on eBay selling a pair of Motorcraft ones for $100. I'll probably pick those up in the next day or so.

Here's a pic of the actuator. The boot was basically nothing left of it. The bottom part fell off while I was taking the actuator out of the door.


And here's the clip it attaches to:


At least in the mean time, I can now finally lock the door with the key if I have to!

[sly]

I use 2 sizes of screwdriver... a small one to wedge open the space between the bracket and the rubber on the pin and then the larger one to pry it out. The other side comes out much easier then. pair of pliers to squeeze the new one in.

[Bobcat]

Interesting that you're taking all the time to make it look like the other year, could've just bought one of those!
What'd you do with all your old front clip parts from the other nose style? I may be looking for some.

[slack]

Haha. I suppose. I already had this car and my friend had the parts laying around for trash from the 87 so it was more a matter of "why not!" Also, trying to find an '87 in decent condition on Long Island, I would be looking at probably decently over $2k + registration + insurance + etc. and then I would be starting fresh all over again. At that price range, I'd rather spend a little more and pick up a nice 70s barge LTD.

The old clip I ended up selling cheap in Feb to a guy who just got into an accident and couldn't find a replacement. He said the light weight front bumper on the 88-91 just folded like it was nothing. The weight of the front bumper I have on now is easily 2x as heavy as the one I took off of it.

[slack]

New lock actuators came in today as well as a new glove box lock. (The old one has been broken since I've owned the car.) I'm hoping I can just swap the scissor clips from the new lock into the old one and be done with it.

I'm also going to swap out the weather stripping dew wipes while I have the door panels off the car for the lock actuators this week. I ordered new dew wipes back like 8 months ago from Jegs. I picked up the ones David used on his tudor. (There was a part number in the stickie post)

Me and my GF are moving into a new apartment this weekend and the next couple of days so I don't plan on having any real updates right now until we're move settled.

In the mean time... one of my larger projects for the tail end of this summer has come in and I'm really excited about it! My A arms are currently making a little "clank" from time to time and need new bushings... Dun dun daaaaa!

[87gtVIC]

Yay for dew wipes.

[slack]

Lock actuator on the passenger side is now installed. I used two lock washers and a nut and bolt. Worked great! I also took apart my glovebox lock and the one I received in the mail and swapped the little scissor arms out of the new one and put them in my old lock. (Mine were completely busted). Glove box lock works again and I can still use my door key to lock it!

I haven't gotten around to reassembling the passenger side door yet because I'm a little confused on how to remove the trim the dew wipe is attached to. So there are three screws that you can get to through the door. I'm having a hard time seeing them but I think I can feel them. Are they straight on through the access holes or are they up a little bit? Also there's fastener or something all the way on the door handle end of the door that looks like it's maybe made of plastic? I'm not sure and I'm not really good at explaining things. (That's why I like taking pics. lol). Any idea how to remove that thing?

I found this pic that shows where it should be. (It's where the hole is in the pic)

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=39130&d=1399036224

[87gtVIC]

My car had no such thing. Three screws (windows have to be down) and pop her up.