1987 Mercury Colony Park LS

[MercurySailor]

Earlier today, I picked up a 1987 colony park. Previous owner bought it in 1990 with around 15000 miles, now sits at around 175,000. There are some cosmetic issues on the exterior: dings, dents, scratches, etc. The biggest ugly being the busted and taped right tail light. Interior wise, it's in fantastic condition. The only real issues are the A/C isn't cold, and the radio doesn't play tapes. It ran great, drove it back about 50 miles on the freeway, everything seems good on it.



Plans at this point are to give it a good cleaning, and probably see if I can round up a replacement tail light lens. Super pumped that I finally scored my dream car.

[gadget73]

Cool. Check the TV bushing while you're looking at stuff. Cheap insurance to stave off a trans overhaul.

[VicCrownVic]

Nice!
Brown is a great color. That wagon looks great in the pictures, congrats on that find.

[Mainemantom]

Nice Washington State Mercury. I would think there is no rust. Tail light should not be hard to find. Are you going to upgrade the radio or keep the stock one ?

[MercurySailor]

Well, the radio in it right now is an aftermarket cassette player. My original plan was to swap the radio I have in my sedan in, however, the original harness appears to have been mauled quite bad. The wagon is also has premium sound, but I'm not sure how much of it is still hooked up. Gonna have to wait til tomorrow during day light to dig back at it. Honestly I have no idea where or what those wires are going to. And those blue things (capacitors? I really should know, but I don't lol) I'm assuming aren't factory?

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[DerekTheGreat]

Oh gawd, you weren't kidding. They've even got caps wired in there but they don't look to have been done correctly. What's funny is that the original harness is there and then that mess is latched to it like a parasite. I'd cut all that scuzz out and then crimp on the factory harness and use heat shrink tube to make it nice. Then buy an adaptor harness for your next stereo.

Interior looks great for that mileage and aside from the taillight there doesn't really seem to be any body damage along with it. Nice find. Brown is sexy.

[TecNickal]

Another chocolate brown wagon! Nice! I have an 89 LS with similar colors inside and out but it has cloth/velour seats.

[MercurySailor]

Ok, so I manage to purge the radio harness of the parasite that was an aftermarket wiring job, however, there are still some bits I don't understand. First, there are two male ends of the grey plug, emerging from a bundle. One of which plugs right into a female end whose pigtails are wrapped around aforementioned bundle. Is this having to do with premium sound? Where is the premium sound amp on a wagon? My next wondering is where the speaker wires go.. there are five wires, one of which appears to be the ground, and was, in fact, grounded before I took stuff apart. Do those wires go to the amp? Common ground on speakers??
I really have no idea what's going on with this, and I cannot seem to find the information. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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[jaywish]

Yes it was a common ground. Amp is in the spare tire compartment.

[MercurySailor]

Well, after a few more hours of fruitless futzing around, I've decided I'll just run new speaker wires, and probably put new speakers in as well. As far as sound quality/loudness/overall audio experience, will it make a difference if I exclude the dash speakers and simply run the doors and rears? That's how it was done in my sedan, and it seems good enough.

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[VicCrownVic]

If it works for you in your sedan then just the door speakers up front and the rear speakers should do fine for you in the wagon.

I had dash and (front) door speakers in all my pre '90 boxes for more than a decade and when I bought my first '91 I really noticed that the dash speakers were missing. They don't add much to the sound but I think they help bring the sound up off the floor. It's really more of a personal preference I think. That and what speakers, head unit, settings, etc. can play a role in deciding to run dash speakers or not on pre '90 boxes. I have gotten used to the '90+ and their lack of dash speakers now that I've been driving '91s for the past 5 years.

[jaywish]

I used capacitors to keep the dash speakers in the high end compared to the door speakers. I think it worked well.

[gadget73]

No speakers in the dash I find sounds like crap. No highs, the sound comes from your ankles and from way back in the echo chamber.

[MercurySailor]

Quick update: New speaker wires and speakers are in, along with new head unit. First time I've ever had new audio equipment in one of my cars, and I'm pretty happy with it.
Also, according to the sticker in rear pass door frame, this beast has the K code 3.55 trac lock rear. Gonna try some burnouts this weekend lol.
And a question: did these cars come with factory duals? I've got duals with an H pipe to some pretty factory looking mufflers and tailpipes. Not really sure about it other than it's too quiet for my tastes..

[gadget73]

It was an option, or easily converted to dual exhaust. Most cars with duals and a K code were tow package cars. If you've got a couple of extra coolers in front of the radiator, that'll be what you has.