kishy's 1985 Country Squire

[VicCrownVic]

I have found 2 complete sets of locks (on the same day even, but only took one set) for my '91 MGM with keys at the JYs. Although for a wagon a complete set with keys will be harder to find at the JY since wagons aren't too common and even if you find a wagon finding the keys with the vehicle is not common either.

[TecNickal]

I wonder if the key Zach has for his tailgate on his wagon he would
Be interested in selling? He has a spare tailgate. I can go get the lock cylinders from the same car. Won't be cheap though - probably $30 for both door lock cylinders, interior etc

[kishy]

This car is so far away from hitting the road that details of that nature are very low priority. I'm first going to see if the tailgate lock cylinder can swap with any others I have hanging around. If it's a normal door lock cylinder, this is easy. It might end up being a 4-key-car, but I could deal with that.

[VicCrownVic]

So plenty of time to wait and see if a wagon with keys pops up at the JY.
The Ice Car is a 3 key car. The door locks are from something else (not sure what) put on by one of the previous owners and don't match the ignition cylinder like they should on a '91. The set of locks and keys that I got from the JY was for The Ice Car, but never got around to swapping them and once I got The Scab which had a worn ignition lock cylinder I installed the whole set on that car instead.

[DerekTheGreat]

Not necessarily. AOD is why mileage matters to me. Not that it matters much, but at least a bit.

AOD at 45k, spring chicken. AOD at 145k (especially when it was used for towing), maybe not as much.

Hmm, I'd say either way it's no good after sitting but my Fury sat for 20 years and it's 727TF is alive and well.

I've never done it, but I presume it's possible. I figured it went the other way, you can get a lock rekeyed to match a key but not a key made to match an existing lock...

Edit: just called a locksmith. $75. Yeah, no. I'll see if I can cobble something together.

See, I told ya it was possible but never said it would be cheap

[GM_Guy]

Oh, that. It's RIV exempt due to age. Transport Canada confirmed on the phone this morning I'm good to take the 13-0132 "Vehicle Import Form - Form 1" to Service Ontario and that'll do to get me an Ontario ownership.

In Section 16, (d) is checked for "Vehicle is fifteen years old or older" and the RIV section is crossed out and has a CBSA stamp on it.

Excellent. I never seen reference that that inspection is not necessary for the over 15 crowd.Good to know. Very good to know.

Crappy Tire is the last place I would go to for an inspection. I hope that's not his only choice for a repair shop.

You and me both, but it is the only place that the RIV has okay'd to perform import vehicle inspections. You can get the vehicle into compliance anywhere you want, but the inspection is pretty well limited to the ct.

Alex.

[kishy]

Oof. Had some fun phone calls with US Customs. But, finally got two officers, one of whom is a supervisor, to confirm this thing doesn't need to go back to them for any reason. Smooth sailing in Canada time.

Ontario ownership is now in my hands, as are a set of plates with a temp sticker, even though it's not driving anywhere any time soon. Reason for getting the temp sticker is that if you do not get one at time of ownership transfer, the ownership is issued as "unfit", which means the next time the car will operate on the road, it must be towed to a shop for a safety inspection. If it fails, tow it back home etc. Doing it this way with the temp, I can do my work at my own pace, drive it to the shop eventually for its safety (on a then-current temp sticker), no tow trucks required.

That is all, of course, working on the assumption I'm not scrapping it. Lots of work here to do. But the bureaucratic nonsense is done, at least.

[DerekTheGreat]

...But the bureaucratic nonsense is done, at least.

"Government sure do take a bite, don't they?"

[kishy]

Today, I cleaned out the massive quantity of garbage and random crap in the car. I found the final active wasp nest, inside the fuel filler door, which I opened for the first time since picking up the car (I found the manual release).

The tailgate does work as expected, I just wasn't doing it right.

Got the glovebox open from the bottom side. Turns out it wasn't locked, but that typical failure of the little metal arm thing in the latch happened. I accidentally sent the spring flying across the driveway so a junkyard latch will be something to keep an eye out for.

Rinsed and scrubbed the exterior a bit with a brush, it looks a lot less like I dragged it out of a swamp. Now, it passes for period-typical beater rather than "OMG what is THAT?!?!"

Yanked the seats. Their bolts, and the seatbelt bolts turned with simple hand tools with minimal coercion, and I didn't break a T50 like I usually do, so that's cool. Pulled the carpet, found an ant infestation. Took care of that. They're still in the car, just dead now. Driver seat is wet, not sure how or why since there's no active source of water into the car anymore. Going to need to study that problem a bit more.

Tailgate window seal has definitely seen better days but water entry even when hosing it down with direct pressure was pretty much nothing. Expected worse.

There is only one inspection-failing rust hole in the passenger area floor pan, and it's around the rubber plug in the floor by the front passenger's right foot. No big deal. I stabbed the floor in many sample spots with a screwdriver and no others went through. The trunk pan, on the other hand, is a really big deal. Lots of air where there should be metal. I knew that part, though.

At this point I'm actively working on the decision of whether to scrap or revive it. The to-do list in the latter case is looking like:
(below in Canadian dollars)

• body rust (any hole allowing exhaust entry to the car), thinking <$100 in materials depending on method/approach taken, some items already on hand
• hard and soft brake lines <$100, some stuff already on hand
• brakes all around, if reusing rotors and drums <$100
• parking brake cables <$50
• windshield <$50 junkyard DIY or in the $300s new installed
• bumper (optional) $60
• hood (optional) $70
• exhaust, only patching as required to eliminate leaks to satisfy inspection <$50
• if engine internally bad, junkyard complete engine (any, could do explorer or just pop a lopo back in) $270
• misc engine pieces like timing set, filters, gaskets <$150
• it needs tires, but at any given time I have a spare set I'm not driving on, so that's sorta taken care of
• fuel tank (it might be ok, but let's say it's not) $170
• fuel pump ("might as well") $80
• window motors, interior switches and stuff like that I have in quantity already

So, it creeps up over $1000 depending on worst case vs better case scenarios. $1500-2000 all-in is not unreasonable for it to be road-ready. Do I want to spend it, though? Decisions decisions. Not happening this summer, I don't think.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Given you could buy a rusty car in such condition, I think fixing it wouldn't be terrible since you'd only be in it that much. Since it doesn't sound like there's serious frame compromising rust, I'd shoot to repair it slowly overtime.

Worst case, just use it like every other out of service wagon and use it as a storage locker on wheels.

[Tiggie]

The engine/trans would be the deciding factor for me. But it's a bit of a problem to check cheaply. Temporary external fuel pump/supply could possibly get you there?

Check those fuel tank straps - your attachment points under the rear floor don't look very healthy.

Also keep an eye on amazon, I was able to get a brand new spectra tank for my 90 for about $50 under amazon warehouse deals.

[kishy]

The engine/trans would be the deciding factor for me. But it's a bit of a problem to check cheaply. Temporary external fuel pump/supply could possibly get you there?

Check those fuel tank straps - your attachment points under the rear floor don't look very healthy.

Also keep an eye on amazon, I was able to get a brand new spectra tank for my 90 for about $50 under amazon warehouse deals.

Well, I think I can probably make it run with everything it has now. But I don't know a) what the state of the remaining fuel in the tank is or b) how much of it there is as the gauge is pegged to the left making me think sunk float. The pump primes and doesn't sound awful but I bet the fuel in there is barely usable now.

The bigger issue in verifying the engine/trans is the lack of any type of operational brakes. So sure, I could go up and down my street but I'd have no way to stop. There's a minimum investment required at this point to move forward to make that call.

Yeah, tank strap mount thing is not really attached on the bottom side. Manageable but annoying.

[VicCrownVic]

Today, I cleaned out the massive quantity of garbage and random crap in the car. I found the final active wasp nest, inside the fuel filler door, which I opened for the first time since picking up the car (I found the manual release).
...

Nice, it comes with a fuel door popper? The one I have on The Scab came off of a 1986 MGM and I used a button from a '90-'94 TC to go wit the new style dash.

[kishy]

Nice, it comes with a fuel door popper? The one I have on The Scab came off of a 1986 MGM and I used a button from a '90-'94 TC to go wit the new style dash.

Yeah, it's a decently optioned car. Tripminder, cornering lights, vent windows, power locks and windows, power fuel door lock. I've seen two junkyard wagons with the fuel door lock too though so maybe it was common on them?

No power mirrors though.

Looking into this fuel tank business, it looks like the wagon tanks are pretty universally over $100 CAD which isn't really a problem, I'll keep an eye on Amazon but .com shipping to Canada is usually very high and the tanks aren't listed on .ca. Not in a rush to buy one of course. I might screwdriver-test the existing tank and decide based on that to keep it, but just based on how flimsy the trunk pan is, I'm not too hopeful. Everything involving the fuel tank gets to be fairly complicated though. Drop tank to clean it out and try to get car running, potentially break off that strap mount...or tear filler neck seal...or break through tank...or find that the tank is actually full.

Those filler neck seals are a bit of a pain to source without paying too much. I guess I really lucked out with the Lincoln that it was reusable and sealed properly.

[VicCrownVic]

Neither of the wagons that were in my family had the fuel door option. Mom's was pretty well optioned with a tripminder, cornering lights, ATC, vent windows, wish I knew what rear as it seemed to be setup for towing, and premium sound, and not the crappy premium sound I have in The Scab. Her premium sound actually sounded good; it was one of the reasons I liked borrowing mom's '87 Country Squire when dad borrowed mine (well he owned it so he wasn't really borrowing it). My '88 was not highly optioned. No tripminder, no cornering lights, standard cassette radio, manual hvac, severe duty seats, but it was a Country Squire with wood grain and rear seats.

When I dropped the tank on The Ice Car I had to siphon all the gas out. Also on both '91s I've never had any issue pulling the fuel filler neck and reinstalling it without bothering the filler neck seal, but I'm not sure how those seals compare to the older seals. They may be identical and I just got lucky.