kishy's 1991 Grand Marquis

[DerekTheGreat]

Damn.. That looks like ~$1,000 worth of labor! If I wore a hat, it would be off for you. It's nice when after a bunch of work there's a very noticeable improvement.

So you said "R" on the temp gauge is roughly 210 or 220F? I never knew that, but will try and keep it handy amidst the bowl of soggy Cheerios that is my brain. However, I wouldn't expect the average person to know that. For me, numbers are important as a frame of reference. They let a person know just how serious the temperature situation is and if they need to react. For all I knew, the red portion of the temp gauge could've been 220.

[kishy]

The only gauge I am likely to have when this batch of work is done is the oil pressure gauge. The tach is dead and I'm not particularly interested in replacing it. Not a fan of pillar pods, and unless I also do the warning light, the gauge must be directly in front of me, so up above the mirror or down below the dash are both options I don't really like. Since I'll only have one gauge, I think the column pod is a good choice. Or, just keep the gauge where it is. All it blocks is the odometer which I don't need to see constantly. There are no major mileage milestones coming soon.

Tonight, I put the hood ornament back on and took the car around the block. Did a little one-wheel-peel rather successfully. TV is way too low on this for my preferences, but it was set by a transmission shop with a gauge to specs. I'll probably bump it up at some point. I've gotten way too used to AODs that hold gears the way I want, and this isn't doing it.

The steering, on the other hand, feels absolutely incredible. It's just about silent, it's pinky-finger-light, and it feels about as tight as it should be.

The weak looking passenger headlight burned out minutes after the photo was taken.

[gadget73]

if the whole later shaft will swap that would make doing a late model steering gear swap a little less annoying.

[VicCrownVic]

I'm a little late to the party. +1, the 90+ steering shaft is different from the pre-'90 shafts. The one on The Ice Car will collapse like it should which made changing the steering gear box easier compared to changing the steering gear box on The Scab. The Scab's steering shaft is seized. I can actually feel the steering column/wheel move toward me during hard breaking. (Apparently there must be enough body movement relative to the frame?)

I would also expect at least an aero steering shaft to be a direct swap, and honestly wouldn't be surprised if a whale shaft would also swap in.

I have a gauge pod that mounts above the rearview mirror in the '98, Autometer Gauge Works 18018 (4 spots for 2 1/16" gauges) http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/forum/te...94#post1217894. It is designed for some model year range of Super Duty that I can't recall and can be had in 2-4 gauge configuration. The original person I got the idea from used a 3 gauge pod in a box wagon. Not sure how awful a 2" to 2 1/16" adapter would be (Autometer P12467). Could a potential solution if you find you don't like the current setup you have but want to keep the same gauge(s).

[Mainemantom]

The gauge pods I have are not the police type. Just the aftermarket One or three gauge pod. Don't think I have a two gauge pod. It seems you found one to use.

[kishy]

Tonight, I installed the reman steering gear. I used a TRW pitman arm that I had hanging around.





I used 5/16"-18 hardware to reassemble the coupler/guibo thingy. I used 1-3/4" long bolts because I had them; 1-1/2" would have likely been fine, but since I had the extra I chose to double-nut them. These fasteners backing out would cause complete disconnection of the steering column from the gear, so they are fairly important.



However, this choice causes the factory-installed plastic shield to keep grease off the coupler to no longer fit, so I may re-evaluate this. On the other hand, with a dry steering pump and gear, it's possible it won't really get all that nasty particularly fast.



Also, located and mocked up the gauge pods. Given that I have a police speedometer, and only the left half of it is useful, I'm inclined to go with the variant that puts the gauge on the right side. Not a perfect solution but one that works.





As for the steering stuff:
I ran the engine and kept topping up the fluid until all the air seems to have gotten out.
It sounded miserable until the air all bubbled out, but we're back to very very quiet, with good assist, and no apparent leaks now, which is fantastic.

Since the hoses were new just before I last drove the car, I'm leaving those alone.

"Might as well" also change the idler arm since I'm here and I have one, and it'll be the last piece of the front end that's still original, but it's not clear to me there's any benefit if it isn't obviously flopping all over the place, which it isn't.

[kishy]

hm, I think thats a little different than the older steering shafts then. I definitely do not remember an external band looking thing on mine.

I would expect the 90-91 part to be whatever the aeros use, or closer to it than the boxy-box part.
Looking at the 88 in the junkyard earlier, I saw that this shaft is significantly different on the pre-90 cars.

[gadget73]

hm, I think thats a little different than the older steering shafts then. I definitely do not remember an external band looking thing on mine.

[kishy]

I've freed up the steering shaft. It is definitely crimped in a way that is designed to keep the two pieces together, with a specific range of travel. But you can bypass that and drive it out with a hammer and an old sway bar end link bolt to use as a punch.











Got them apart, which did involve removing the coupler - which appears to be a legitimate German guibo. Filed and sanded extensively. Hammered them back together, verified smooth and full range of travel. Hammered it back apart again, stuffed it full of wheel bearing grease, hammered it back together, and found it to be buttery smooth. Put the boot back on and now it's ready for the guibo reassembly. The Dorman 31000 universal kit does not fit, so I'm going to take a quick look at the internet for possible options and if none surface, it's going back together with the original. Absolutely nothing wrong with it except a little superficial cracking.

If you need the gauge pod housings, I have a few new ones still in their packages. Black in color.

The Ford police ones? Got a photo handy?

This is what I have (there are two versions of it, gauge offset to the left or right, I have both somewhere): https://www.amazon.ca/Auto-Meter-150.../dp/B000CMF8XA

I would probably consider the police setup. I'm sort of partial to the bar gauge style but as long as it's a 2" opening, no problem mixing and matching parts.

[Mainemantom]

If you need the gauge pod housings, I have a few new ones still in their packages. Black in color.

[kishy]

Switching gears for a moment over to the interior:
I popped by my storage garage and took a look in the tote that I have noted as containing door pulls.
None are exactly the correct colour, but one is pretty close, so that'll do.







I also grabbed the SHO steering wheel and clockspring, and black column trim off a different vehicle that should be roughly compatible. I think I took it off an E-series van.



I love the red interior but the steering wheel being red has always been a bit intense. Plus the leather under that steering wheel cover is destroyed, and now the cover fits poorly and slides freely, so something's gotta happen here.

The airbag will be strictly cosmetic, as is the current one. The current clockspring is damaged and to mitigate the blinking light (and later, beeping module), I removed the module and capacitor, and unplugged the airbag.

Somewhere, I have one of those molded gauge pod things that attach to the top of the column trim on this era of Ford, so the oil pressure gauge can move somewhere neater-looking.

if I recall the crimp is not so much to fix the length, it serves as a place for the tail end of the leaf spring that lives in there to push against so it can't fall out. The shafts rust together. I had a bitch of a time getting mine apart when I changed the box. Heat will do it, but it also takes the temper out of the spring if you use too much. Best I can suggest is soak it extensively in penetrating oil. I don't remember if there is a hole at the rag joint end or not that you can fill it from but you can definitely get some in there from the other way.

Ah, alright. If you say it should be able to telescope by hand, I will fight with it until it does. I do believe it's rusted together, it just looked minor enough that a good whack with a hammer would have freed it, but it did not. I'll give it some more whacks.

The flexible coupling/rag joint at the bottom end is in reasonable condition so I'm not particularly inclined to replace it yet, but the "might as wells" are creeping up on me. It'll be a pain to service it in the future unless I at least replace the riveted studs with bolts while it's apart now. And somewhere, I have a universal rebuild kit for this type of joint.

[gadget73]

if I recall the crimp is not so much to fix the length, it serves as a place for the tail end of the leaf spring that lives in there to push against so it can't fall out. The shafts rust together. I had a bitch of a time getting mine apart when I changed the box. Heat will do it, but it also takes the temper out of the spring if you use too much. Best I can suggest is soak it extensively in penetrating oil. I don't remember if there is a hole at the rag joint end or not that you can fill it from but you can definitely get some in there from the other way.

[kishy]

Tonight, I determined that the steering gear does leak an unacceptable amount, from the output/sector shaft. While I did not clean off the steering gear itself prior to parking it last night, the puddle beneath it was entirely too large to have just been from a few drips off the outside, in my opinion. I might have been more scientific about this determination if it weren't for the complete pond of power steering fluid this car has left everywhere it has ever been parked. And at its mileage, it isn't unreasonable to think the gear could be leaking.



In 2019, I bought a Motorcraft STG-40RM reman steering gear which fits the boxes. There was no specific need for it at the time other than the knowledge I would eventually probably need one. I do plan to take apart and try to re-seal the one I'm taking off the car, but in the interest of freeing up the garage quicker for another car to move in, I think the reman is going on the car and the original can get done later.

Getting this thing out of the car wasn't particularly hard, but did have some challenges. I had been hoping to telescope the steering shaft to get the coupler off the steering gear input shaft, but the shaft absolutely would not slide. I came to find out that the shaft is crimped, seemingly to keep it firmly locked at its set length, and presumably it only collapses in response to a really strong impact. Reinstallation is probably going to suck.

Whichever gear goes into the car, I have a new pitman arm to go on it.

[sly]

I've done the bolt in the pipe to plug it trick. I used fatter bolts that I basically self-threaded in. Didn't seal up completely, but was good enough. After a few years, the carbon buildup sealed it up. Then after the welds into the cats broke, we cut the pipes off, folded them over and welded them shut and welded them back on. Sold it that way.

[Arquemann]

Good to see someone else who uses the oil filter box as the oil change reminder card.

First time I've seen that when I unexpectedly got a whole bunch of them fall on me from the manual pouch of my Caprice. Found it kinda odd, though even more odd was that most of them were pieces of Caterpillar filter boxes.