kishy's 1983 Grand Marquis 2dr

[kishy]

Branching off from My Rides (I should have done each car individually from the start...hindsight, 20/20). All updates for this car will go in this thread from now on.

I bought this car in October 2013 for $650, at the time making it my second Panther.

And, the '83!

I saw this car sitting in a parking lot for a repair shop for a couple years, not moving. Over a year after I got the '91 I approached the business owner and asked him about it...registered owner had died, family didn't care much about the car or what happened to it. After months of being annoying I finally convinced them to sell it to me. Yay project!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]39318[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]39315[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]39312[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]39317[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]39313[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]39316[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]39314[/ATTACH]

This is 100% stock, but will eventually be...not stock. Front brakes need some rehab and rather than spend the money on stock stuff I'm going for a "medium brake upgrade" to tackle all the front end bushings at the same time and get the best value out of the effort put into it.

This car is not currently driven and it will likely be a couple years before it really is, but with the body being in the shape it's in, I decided it was right for me and it won't kill it to sit around a little longer if cared for. It was off the road for 10 years according to when the stickers expired.

To date very little has been done to/with this car. It has a police trunk pack from a modern CVPI. In May of this year it got a 1G>3G alternator upgrade:

...1G-to-3G upgrade complete, minus upgraded ground cable, which is needed on all 3 of the Boxes now. Technically optional but I'd prefer the "weakest link" to always be the fuse, not a length of wire.

This was functionally the same as the 84, but I did a couple things differently this time:

• Added a fuse to the stator wire going to the choke cap. I don't know what the effects of ground-shorting the stator wire are but I suspect it's not ideal, so it's peace of mind.
• Incorporated the noise capacitor which is originally mounted beside the external voltage regulator. I moved it to the ignition coil bracket and fused the feed to it, which "Tees" into the 12V sensing wire from the charging stud to the internal regulator connector. Please forgive terminology misuses here...

I am going to write up a thread that specifically explains the 3G swap for a carb/CFI car with a 1G. Most info I've found online recommends a plug-n-play type arrangement but the wiring alterations are simple enough not to justify spending more than a few bucks on this project.















84/83: swapped rear springs between these two. 83 had CC817 cargo coils. This is related to another thread, Box Town Car Spring Options...

Other than that, sequential turn signals, and the aftermarket centre high mount stop lamp installed by the previous owner, it's stock. Odometer reads 60-something thousand kilometres, but being 5 digits it's hard to be sure how accurate that is. I think at most it has 160, certainly not 260. The body is pretty straight and clean and underneath is surface rust only minus the exhaust which is Swiss cheese.

In my ownership it received its first transmission service (I found the dipstick plug in the pan) and general maintenance is all kept up on. It is a factory carb car but I'm planning to either engine swap or do some sort of FI swap.

I had pulled this and my 91 out of my garage to try to clean up the garage before winter. I finally got the garage about 70% cleaned up, so I washed the 83 and put it back away where it will sit for probably about another year:



The turbines on it are currently wearing my snow tires so I'm going to have to switch those out for another set (at last count I have 20 tires in my garage...) so once I can get access to a tire machine I'll get those on my steelies along with a whole bunch of other dismounts/remounts.

This car currently does not have license plates as I figure I won't be driving it for quite a while really. I have enough other projects on the go.

[DerekTheGreat]

I'll trade you my '69 Plymouth for it.

[87gtVIC]

The pinstripe on the hood goes all the way down to the bumper!

Thats rad!

[TecNickal]

Didn't know you had this car. Very cool look forward to seeing progress on it next year

[kishy]

I'll trade you my '69 Plymouth for it.

I like it way too much to get rid of it lol.

The pinstripe on the hood goes all the way down to the bumper!

Thats rad!

Yeah, it's definitely got those "I'm a new 1980s car designed to draw in buyers stuck in the last decade" features to it. They're decent looking at least.

Didn't know you had this car. Very cool look forward to seeing progress on it next year

I've owned it since before I was on this site, but since it's never been a daily driver for me I don't mention it much.

I figured keeping track of each car in its own thread is probably better.

Edit: apparently you did know lol

Wow. Definitely a nice collection! I can only imagine them going up in value with time. They look fantastic.

[DerekTheGreat]

Didn't know you had this car. Very cool look forward to seeing progress on it next year

So much for that progress. There's still time for some though.

[kishy]

So much for that progress. There's still time for some though.

Progress, lmao.
Nobody's going to see much of this car for a looooong time.

[DerekTheGreat]

..Want to sell it????

Interesting how the Canadian cars got 110mph speedometers... Surprised there isn't a thread showing how to create an overlay or something.

[Hearsesrock427]

Ah yeah, I remember reading about this one when I was active on CVN. Seen a maroon two door just like yours on the way through Corfu years ago..... will have to go back and check once Ebyt's back in action! Glad you pounced on her when you had the chance- deadbeat owners plus panther often equals in one less panther in this world. Two-doors be especially rare. You got it for a good price too- from what I can see she's immaculate inside and out. Worthy candidate for big brakes, poly bushings, handling upgrades, etc.

[kishy]

Ah yeah, I remember reading about this one when I was active on CVN. Seen a maroon two door just like yours on the way through Corfu years ago..... will have to go back and check once Ebyt's back in action! Glad you pounced on her when you had the chance- deadbeat owners plus panther often equals in one less panther in this world. Two-doors be especially rare. You got it for a good price too- from what I can see she's immaculate inside and out. Worthy candidate for big brakes, poly bushings, handling upgrades, etc.

Ah, yes, this post and this post.

At the time, I lived in my mom's basement and she was quite irritated by my excessive number of cars (then two). Oh the hilarity.

I paid $650 or 700, I forget now. I am the second owner, I'm fairly sure. I would not sell this car that cheap, not by a long shot. Although far from perfect it's way too clean to give up because I could never replace it. Medium brake swap is in the plans. Not really sure what the plans consist of entirely, but some sort of performance boost (even if just stock Explorer stuff) is in the cards and handling stuff to match, probably. But realistically it's all (a) year(s) away. Wagon needs to get road ready, Ranger needs its engine swapped, 91 needs body work, then assuming nothing breaks on the Lincoln in the meantime, it will be time for the 83 to step into the spotlight. A temporary stop-gap might be a CFI swap since it would be damned simple to do onto a carb car. This car gets an astounding 9MPG city and I really can't be bothered to mess with the carb. Carbs needs to GTFO.

[DerekTheGreat]

Ya know, I had the same feeling about carbs until I actually took the time to understand one. Seems that's the big disconnect between hatred towards anything. Get a rebuild kit and hell, I'll go through it for you. Brown Muscle does really well with his 351 motivated box and that's a carpitator...

[kishy]

Ya know, I had the same feeling about carbs until I actually took the time to understand one. Seems that's the big disconnect between hatred towards anything. Get a rebuild kit and hell, I'll go through it for you. Brown Muscle does really well with his 351 motivated box and that's a carpitator...

I have a rebuild kit for it. Actually I have two. Plus a choke pull off and thermostat and other junk for it.

I've come a long way from where I once was with carbs, and I don't want it in my driveway, garage, or life (though I appreciate your offer). EEC-IV (in any of its incarnations) is light years better than any carb, in every respect. The car runs well and has good power, considering the carb applications were rated for even less than CFI by a significant amount - I think carb configurations were said to be good for 120hp?

In any event, nothing's happening any time soon. Brake system overhaul before the next time it's driven (95-97 front rebuild, and some attention to the drums as they were very lock-happy last time I drove it), alignment to compliment that, and then toss insurance back on it to drive it for a bit (9MPG or otherwise).

[Hearsesrock427]

Free '85 Grand Marquis CFI 302 + AOD next spring?

Hey mang, seeing as how you're the EEC IV CFI guy, I figured you'd have a use for Eva's old powertain. Plan on having Eva's frame & drivetrain swap done in late May/early June of 2019. Eva's body will be mounted onto Cherry's frame, which will grant me SEFI, better AOD ('88+ have hardened case and better internals versus earlier production years from what I've read), functional brakes, and a non rotted out frame in one fell swoop. Eva's 302 didn't have any bad noises when I fired it up in 2016. Obviously took a while to crank because of bad fuel lines, vacuum leaks, wiring issues, etc. but with only ~78,000 miles I doubt there was anything seriously amiss with it anyway. Didn't drive far enough to get beyond first gear with the AOD, but I think it's fine. Just needs the requisite maintenance that non-enthusiasts seldom seem to give them. Would be a nice upgrade for your '83 two door!

Depending on how you want to do things next spring, you could either yank the '85 spec motor and transmission before Eva goes under the knife at the local restoration place, or wait until the body's off the frame/after the swap. If you want to take the frame with you too, I'd have no problem with that. Frame failed the hammer test in the back near the driver side rear wheel so I wouldn't advise putting anything on it until proper patches were made.

Derp, meant to send this as a PM. Oh well, not like anyone's dying to have Eva's chassis and drivetrain around my neck of the woods anyway!

[DerekTheGreat]

I have a rebuild kit for it. Actually I have two. Plus a choke pull off and thermostat and other junk for it.

I've come a long way from where I once was with carbs, and I don't want it in my driveway, garage, or life (though I appreciate your offer). EEC-IV (in any of its incarnations) is light years better than any carb, in every respect. The car runs well and has good power, considering the carb applications were rated for even less than CFI by a significant amount - I think carb configurations were said to be good for 120hp?

In any event, nothing's happening any time soon. Brake system overhaul before the next time it's driven (95-97 front rebuild, and some attention to the drums as they were very lock-happy last time I drove it), alignment to compliment that, and then toss insurance back on it to drive it for a bit (9MPG or otherwise).

Well I don't know for sure that the carb'd cars had the same specs cam, intake flow & cylinder head wise as the CFI stuff did. Don't get me wrong, I love EFI and agree it's better in every way, but have also grown to respect carbs. They do the job and in a pinch, can be fixed on the side of the road with simple handle tools. Let's see a first start video on some early 80's EFI cars like a Chrysler Cordoba, circa 1980 or even a 1981 Cadillac with the 8-6-4 engine. 'Cause everyone knows the carb'd junk sitting since 1974 will start once that's been gone through as well as basic ignition stuff, provided there's no major mechanical damage to the engine. EFI though? Yeaaah.

Anyway, back to topic I think Engine Masters did an episode where they pitted a carb'd and EFI set-up against each other. Engines were built the same way, only difference being the induction. I believe the two were essentially identical result wise. Now that's just power generation of course, says nothing about drivability in all weather situations or durability but just more fuel for the fire which suggests the carb on your '83 might not be the only thing accountable for 120hp vs 150.

[kishy]

Ah, I suppose I missed the above...Hearsesrock, I'm so short on space I doubt I could have taken you up on that offer. Much appreciated of course.

I had plans to go to a local ice cream place tonight, but the wagon was not ready: still no passenger seat and there is now a charging system issue that needs diagnosis. But, since the wagon is operational and out of the garage, and I recently put the insurance back on the 83 to get new plates for it...this gave me an idea.

(Ontario is looking at changing license plate slogans, and the proposed new one is dumb 'AF', so I wanted a set of Yours to Discover while still available)

Tinkered with the tie rod adjusters, as I had put new tie rods on in 2016, but never drove it so never had it aligned. It was very obviously aggressively toe-out, and now it's closer to correct but offset to one side, so turning one direction squeals...but whatever, straight enough to drive.

Moved a bunch of crap as the 83 functions as a shelving unit typically. Checked for presence of fluids and grabbed the battery from the Ranger, tossed it in, fired up with minimal drama. Fuel is well over 3 years old but did have stabilizer added to it.

I put 95km on it tonight. Nothing huge, but it was a good experience. Car drives beautifully. It's truly a spectacular car to drive, I love this thing. The Swiss cheese tailpipe did fall apart during tonight's adventure, though, and the dangling section had to be tied up to the frame rail using a 3.5mm audio cable. Still quiet, though, as it's intact back to the muffler.

I've considered pulling the fuel gauge sender to replace the float, as I believe it has sank, but I'll have to drive it a fair bit more before I can do that without taking a gasoline shower.







The Lincoln lacy spokes work really well on this car, even minus their caps. Much better than turbines or HPPs.