My 1987 Mercury Colony Park

[Kodachrome Wolf]

The '87 finally came home under its own power today. It's incredibly filthy from all the time spent sitting and exposure, so it'll get washed down tomorrow.



Transmission shifts fine, but apparently my HO shift governor wasn't installed since it still shifts at 3900 RPM and the NOS unit was sitting on the seat. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It doesn't leak anymore from what I can tell, and the TV pressure is quite firm, so it holds gears just right and gives prompt downshifts on demand. Guess I'll pick a day later on and do that job. I'm just glad to have the car back. Overall, it still runs fine, A/C is cold, and it doesn't do anything weird.

I also got my TorqueFlite back with it nicely refreshed, so things should be looking good going forwards.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Welp, it's finally time to take action on the exhaust...



I took the wagon out about a week or so ago to take my rotors from the '97 to the parts store so I could turn them. When I pulled back into the driveway, the car got surprisingly loud inside. The H-pipe crossover finally checked out entirely; completely rotten apart. When I started taking it apart today, I noticed there's also a hole forming on a seam. Gonna work this out over a few days in my spare time and use the old system to make measurements so I can try and get all the replacement parts landed where the original stuff sits.

Right now I know I've got to get some extensions for the Mustang intermediate pipes, some 90-degree turns for the tailpipes, two hangers, and find where I stuck my O2 sensors I purchased a way back. Otherwise, I've got the shorty headers, Mustang off-road H-pipe, intermediate pipes, mufflers, over the axle sections, and those schwifty band style exhaust clamps. All piping from the headers back are 2.5", so they should be plenty good for this adventure.

[DerekTheGreat]

Love the color scheme on your wagon. Love me some earthtones these days.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

And slowly we ease into this project...





The Lincoln Logs came away today for some cheap shorty headers. Found that I couldn't recreate the stanchion for the oil dipstick due to some clearance issues with the original hardware. I kinda just kludged up a solution by using an old exhaust clamp from the tailpipe and affixed the dipstick to the header tube. Maybe I'll revisit it? Anyway, it's not pretty, but overall I'm sure these aren't gonna look pretty after they get some heat on them anyway.

I'll feel this in my back in the morning, I know it.

Next part will be installing the Mustang H-Pipe and measuring up some stuff with the intermediate pipes.

[87gtVIC]

When I first swapped to stock mustang shorties I cut up a spacer to properly space out the dipstick tube like it was with the factory manifolds. Stock mustang shorties probably had more room for that to happen. When I swapped on my latest set of headers (the now, and for quite some time, discontinued ford racing ceramic coated headers) I just went to a mustang dipstick. That worked well.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Nick came down today and gave me a hand with the major section of getting the exhaust lined up. Arguably it's about 80% finished, but I've got to come up with some creative solutions on the over-the-axle sections, and I'll get into that in a moment.

Photos aren't great since I took them in low light with the flash, but I was focused on trying to get the system tucked up underneath appropriately. The old system honestly hung lower than the current setup does right now.

Downpipes:


Intermediates to Mufflers:


Muffler exit:


Side profile:


The axle dump does cause drone when operating at sub-1500 RPM just because all the rumble is right there. Cruising at speed only offered a light hum, so I figure that having an actual tailpipe should rectify that business up properly. It does have a nice tone otherwise, and when getting on it, the car doesn't look like such noises should come from it. The 2.5" system with even these cheap headers made a noticeable difference, so I'm happy the car can breath a bit better.


So coming around to the over-the-axle sections... It had been mentioned RWD GM A-Body tails were a possible solution since it seems the 2.5" Impala/Caprice tailpipes that were the classic option to improving the exhaust on these cars have generally disappeared. The most notable difference is the over-the-axle section itself, as the sections cross the axle inverted to a Panther when running the pipes out in the correct format. While this is fine on the '98+ cars with a Watts Link, this is actually a problem for the '79-'97 cars as the upper rear control arms will be in contact with the pipe when ran like that. Reversing the pipes to match the over section results in putting the tailpipes very in-board of the vehicle and they hit the floor.

I've concluded the only appropriate routing has resulted in me effectively having just cut the piping down to utilize just the over-the-axle section, however that does leave the pipe just aimed at the ground at a funny angle. I've got to see if any magic could be had with a 45-degree angle adapter and using the chopped piece of pipe to make a side exit happen around where the factory did the original. I do realize that my solution I'm trying to formulate only works for a wagon side exit and not a sedan rear exit setup.

I'll see about looking into that a bit further later this week. Right now I don't have much desire to be down on the concrete for hours again since I know I'll be feeling this in the morning.

[Brown_Muscle]

Have you tried foxbody Mustang tailpipes? I seem to remember someone saying they work as long as you cut the ends off of them and extend them

[JeffBoudah]

A company called Heart Throb Exhaust makes b-body tail pipes still. I also inquired about having panther tail pipes made for us as a group buy type thing, they seemed receptive, but would want all the dimensions provided to them to make it. I only have a set of 04 cvpi stock pipes laying around.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Have you tried foxbody Mustang tailpipes? I seem to remember someone saying they work as long as you cut the ends off of them and extend them

Looking at the Mustang pipes, they appear to have the same issue the A-Body pipes do where the over-the-axle section is canted the wrong direction. That said I've run a query here to see if there's any information, but it seems everything points back to the B-Body tailpipes or a few folks indicating the Mustang tails don't work.

A company called Heart Throb Exhaust makes b-body tail pipes still. I also inquired about having panther tail pipes made for us as a group buy type thing, they seemed receptive, but would want all the dimensions provided to them to make it. I only have a set of 04 cvpi stock pipes laying around.

Properly designed Panther tails would be great all things considered. I only have saved the over axle section from the passenger side to use as a guide, but mine is in very poor shape and has holes in it I wasn't aware of. Also, mine is for single pipe wagons, so the exit point is unlike the sedans or dual exhaust wagons, so that wouldn't be very useful for getting more exact measurements.

[87gtVIC]

A company called Heart Throb Exhaust makes b-body tail pipes still. I also inquired about having panther tail pipes made for us as a group buy type thing, they seemed receptive, but would want all the dimensions provided to them to make it. I only have a set of 04 cvpi stock pipes laying around.

If this ever becomes a thing I will play along just to have a set for when they are needed.

Looking nice under there. Eager to see if what you dreamed up with works for some behind the tire exits.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I did a little more searching for the hell of it, and Summit does show AP Exhaust 12665 and 12666 B-Body tailpipes as being 2.5", however unlike the venerable Dynomax units, they're of the crush bent variety. ��

Obviously mandrel vs crush bent is a no-brainer argument, however to make the existing stuff work I'd like to avoid a thousand clamps holding the tailpipes together along with having reasonable clearances. I'll look at my existing stuff first to see if there is a workable solution, but I know if there is, it'll block the fuel tank if it ever needed to be dropped, so the tailpipes would have to be removed to allow for access.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I still genuinely dislike exhaust work, I'd argue I'm about done though.





I need to adjust the driver's side hanger at the muffler and bring it up a touch since I don't like the angle of the adapter to the tailpipe. Seems that side is roughly a 1/2" to an 1" lower on inspection. Everything otherwise seems to have held up through driving all over town this evening. No drone in the cabin, but it probably helps I used stock style mufflers. With its current setup, it's just a pleasant mellow tone.

Oddly enough, it would seem the car runs a touch smoother when stopped in gear, but I might just be imagining things.

[Tiggie]

Looks good to me. The are the 94/96 Caprice/Impala/Roadmaster pipes?

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Looks good to me. The are the 94/96 Caprice/Impala/Roadmaster pipes?

They are, but they’re not the ones everyone used to use since the Dynomax 2.5” ones have been discontinued. These are AP Exhaust 2.5 units, but they fit the bill. Only downside is you get crush bent versus mandrel bent that reportedly was done with the Dynomax units.

[slack]

I also dislike doing exhaust work.

Looks and sounds good!