My 1987 Mercury Colony Park

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I like the bottle cap idea.

Nick is the one who introduced me to that little extra.

[gadget73]

hm, that actually should work pretty well if the sealer holds up. Basically forms an umbrella over the whole thing instead of letting water run down the rod

[sly]

I kinda did the same thing with an HEI rubber washer and rtv.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Finally finished up (for now) the radio work. Sadly, I don't think this radio will last the year due to the unreliability. It definitely needs a rebuild to some extent to make it work well. I do want to find another period correct electronic unit though (another 4 button memory type w/ or w/o cassette) or even an analog AM/FM unit.

On the flip side, all the power door locks work! Three were non-functional when I got it in 2017. Also, all the new speakers are in along with the sound deadener. Need to diagnose why the left door speaker isn't going for some reason, but it's likely either meh wiring under the dash or a short. Same goes for the fact the front windows stopped working for some reason. Gotta break out the multimeter probably tomorrow. It's definitely a bit quieter now inside. Still plenty of noise from the roof area, but the doors aren't squeaking and rattling anymore, so that's really nice.

I did swap to '90-'91 door panels with the cloth finish:


My '88-'89 vinyl type are still fine, I just wanted to see how these looked/felt.


Overall, I should have it ready for summertime driving soon...

[87gtVIC]

I like the cloth look. Wish I pulled a set back in 09 when I had the chance. Same color and all for my two door.

Looking great.

Did you have to drill/file out square some holes for the two pegs of the speaker pods on the 90/91 pod to fit into the door?

[Arquemann]

Is the only difference on '90-'91 vs earlier door panels that speaker grille? I want to learn, I want to know it all! All the little things! All the things!
I don't mind my door panels but I've seen those super ornamental ones which are really cool.

[sly]

IIRC... That speaker housing was the premium sound door speaker. 88-91 also had the option of a door pocket when the normal sound system with dash speakers was used.

[VicCrownVic]

Standard sound system '90-'91 had those speaker housing pods. Premium had the same pods with a "Premium Sound" emblem on them in the spot where the standard sound pods had "Stereo" stamped. The optional door pockets were probably not an option starting in '90 because of the new speaker pod design. Dash speakers went away in '90 and you only got the door speakers.

[WagonMan]

Is the only difference on '90-'91 vs earlier door panels that speaker grille? I want to learn, I want to know it all! All the little things! All the things!
I don't mind my door panels but I've seen those super ornamental ones which are really cool.

Another thing to keep in mind is on cars with vent windows, the first 11 inches of the dew wipe is cut off for the vent window assembly. If you find a set of used door panels and they have been cut, they won't work for a car without vent windows. WagonMan

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I like the cloth look. Wish I pulled a set back in 09 when I had the chance. Same color and all for my two door.

Looking great.

Did you have to drill/file out square some holes for the two pegs of the speaker pods on the 90/91 pod to fit into the door?

So one of the two upper holes for the pegs are already present, at least on an early '87 car. I did trim off the other peg though since I wasn't drilling a large hole like that. The little clip end of the peg was kinda tired on both, so I shimmed them with a piece of paper between the tabs, so they latched well. I did have to drill two small holes for the screws at the bottom. Overall, they fit nicely and don't move around/rattle, so I'm good with that.

Another thing to keep in mind is on cars with vent windows, the first 11 inches of the dew wipe is cut off for the vent window assembly. If you find a set of used door panels and they have been cut, they won't work for a car without vent windows. WagonMan

I had to trim these since I don't think vent windows were available after '89. That said, this wasn't a factory vent window car though. The biggest tell is proper vent window cars have some extra bolts on the exterior of the door frame along the A-Pillar, but that wasn't done when these were swapped in (not a fan of having to drill a bunch of extra holes), however I haven't had any issues with them being fitted like that. They fit snugly in the channel and are retained with a single bolt in a factory location within the door itself.


So two things happened today: 1.) The driver's window came back to life along with the speaker. Didn't do anything, it just worked this morning when I left for work, and was still going when I went home. Weird, but okay. Passenger side doesn't go, so still gotta test that; 2.) The radio doesn't like the heat. It'll work for a minute or two, and then it's out. Doesn't matter how much you fiddle with it, it won't go. Shame since it looks kinda neat, but I like my tunes, so I'll have to find a replacement.

[Tiggie]

Door panels look nice. Sad news on the radio. I was hoping it would get ironed out and work. On high mileage vehicles, I have seen the wires break in the door jamb. Sometimes they have enough contact to work, other times not. Might be something to check.

[Mainemantom]

You could have the radio rebuilt. Finding a good used without any problems is getting harder to find. I have allot of radios. I used to be able to test them as I used to have the connectors. Would be nice to get rid of these radios.I just hate to sell something I am not sure works right.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

The wagon has temporarily lost its garage space while I'm working on this '99 CV, so it gave me an excuse to drive it. It started kinda funny in the morning and the engine bogged down before it caught back up, and it did it right as the A/C compressor engaged. Ran fine to work. Fired it up to go home for lunch, and everything was cool until I was turning into the neighborhood and the AMP light came on. I pull into the driveway and break out the multimeter and I catch a whiff of overcharging battery.

Damn alternator is putting out 19.6V! I just installed a brand new one a few months ago. I'm wondering if that voltage was enough to get the AMP light to illuminate since it wasn't as bright as KOEO. Anyway, that's gonna be a warranty swap. Might get a replacement this weekend, so I'm just cruising the '97.


Also, totally unrelated, I checked the ECU for codes a few weeks ago and the EGR and VSS were coding out for no activity. Dumb question, but does a '88+ Mark VII ECU need a VSS+/- feed piped to it to make the EGR work properly? If it does, I'll grab a ECU pin out, get some donor pins, and go tap the VSS feed and get that going to make it happy.

[gadget73]

Yes. I don't know why exactly, but the EGR doesn't work right with no VSS on an 88+ ECM.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Yes. I don't know why exactly, but the EGR doesn't work right with no VSS on an 88+ ECM.

Cool, that's what I need to know. I guess I'll find a harness at the junkyard next time and steal some pins from one unless someone has a EEC-IV connector laying around.

Went to check the alternator situation, and that sumbitch dead. Battery registered 0.13v, so that alternator is definitely shorted out. Guess I'll haul that stuff to work tomorrow and get replacements. If this happens again with the alternator, I'll likely go back to a 3G unit. I only find it surprising that it's not playing nice here, despite the fact I've 6G swapped the '97 from its factory 3G and its been very reliable.