kishy's 1984 Town Car

[kishy]

I'm trying to figure out what the badge is on the C pillar. Can't tell if its factory or not, most likely not. It is well done but shame there's nothing that can be done about the rear window, would need something to cover it externally or new internal trim not to mention another window with a larger defrost grid.

As for the headlight stuff, I don't think a hoppy thing would be enough for me. I spend hours over multiple days to get that crap right. I love the job I did with my Town Car but the high beams aim too high, need recalibration but hasn't happened since it's no longer a daily.

I really don't think the badge is anything Ford put on anything from the factory. AutoZone stick-on stuff like the fake VentiPorts.

I may or may not have one of my high beams angled directly into the face of oncoming traffic to make "turn your high beams off" flashes extra-effective...

Worth noting that the purpose of high beams is to be angled high acting as floods. It isn't primarily about more brightness, it's about higher angle and throwing light more places. This is the reason why there's literally no acceptable time - anywhere, on any road, in any conditions - to have high beams turned on in the presence of other drivers ahead of your car.

[Hearsesrock427]

Welp, if you wanted to see what a slicktop townie looks like, here ya have it. Rear window does look all funky.

That was originally a frenched rear window car, like kishy's '84. You can tell by the undersized rear windshield. Eva's got the same thing going, once I peeled off the frenched rear window section along with most of the vinyl top, I saw the smaller rear glass piece. This explains why standard rear window cars have slightly better visibility out the back; they have more surface area dedicated to rear glass than the frenched rear window cars. In kishy's case all he'd need is a standard rear window from '80-'89 Town Car (or '80-'83 Mark VI/Continental possibly). Do expect there to be some sort of rust under the top on your '84 if and when you do peel it off, frenched rear window cars trap water under and around tiara bar trim in the middle of the roof. Even cars in relatively dry climates can rust out bad there. My '85 Grand Marq's roof passed the hammer test but there was plenty of surface rust. YMMV.

[DerekTheGreat]

I have yet to see a Town Car with what was called the "Base roof" which was supposedly full vinyl. I've seen them in catalogs but that's it. The French treatment is the best looking IMO. I like the carriage top cars like Ashley's old '89 but they didn't get opera lights, which is now a deal breaker if it's a Townie lol. Kinda one of the reasons I don't like the '90 TC's or later Cadillacs.

Kishy,
That's how my brights are currently, they provide plenty of light and are aimed high & wide, I just think they could come down a smidge. Just a smidge... (4 hours later...)

[kishy]

That was originally a frenched rear window car, like kishy's '84. You can tell by the undersized rear windshield. Eva's got the same thing going, once I peeled off the frenched rear window section along with most of the vinyl top, I saw the smaller rear glass piece. This explains why standard rear window cars have slightly better visibility out the back; they have more surface area dedicated to rear glass than the frenched rear window cars. In kishy's case all he'd need is a standard rear window from '80-'89 Town Car (or '80-'83 Mark VI/Continental possibly). Do expect there to be some sort of rust under the top on your '84 if and when you do peel it off, frenched rear window cars trap water under and around tiara bar trim in the middle of the roof. Even cars in relatively dry climates can rust out bad there. My '85 Grand Marq's roof passed the hammer test but there was plenty of surface rust. YMMV.

Yep, that.

Thing is, it's a lot less common to find the non-frenched-rear-window Lincolns. It only seems to be stripper models that came like that. I have seen them, but not super often.

Does 2dr Mark VI share rear glass with 4dr Town Car? If so, I'm wondering if this might be a suitable donor. I can easily buy the glass and store it, it may not necessarily be so easy to come across when I'll actually need it. Bonus is the interior colour is, I think, the same as mine so the bit around the window could be harvested at the same time...



It's "less frenched" than mine, but "more frenched" than a base model Town Car. Not sure if that means there are actually 3 rear glass designs...

I presume those come out the same as a front windshield.

[TecNickal]

Nice of someone to bend the shit outa a perfectly good trunk so they could look in there and get nothing. Awesome.

[kishy]

Thought of something. RockAuto lists the rear glass.

For a 1984 Town Car:

VARIOUS MFR DB06046N Glass Only; Heated; 4 Door Sedan; Formal; Optional (Green Tint)
Crosses with:
FORD LTD CROWN VICTORIA 1984
LINCOLN CONTINENTAL 1980
LINCOLN TOWN CAR 1981-1988
MERCURY GRAND MARQUIS 1981-1984

VARIOUS MFR DB06188N {#EOLY5442006A} Glass Only; Heated; 4 Door Sedan; Half Roof/Carriage (Green Tint)
Crosses with:
LINCOLN MARK VI 1980-1983
LINCOLN TOWN CAR 1981-1989

VARIOUS MFR DB06189N {#EOLY5442006B} Glass Only; 4 Door Sedan; Half Roof/Carriage (Green Tint)
Crosses with:
LINCOLN MARK VI 1980-1983
LINCOLN TOWN CAR 1981-1985

VARIOUS MFR DB06047N Glass Only; 4 Door Sedan; Formal; Optional (Green Tint)
Crosses with:
FORD LTD CROWN VICTORIA 1984
LINCOLN CONTINENTAL 1980
LINCOLN TOWN CAR 1981-1985
MERCURY GRAND MARQUIS 1981-1984

I then checked a 1982 Mark VI:
DB06188N (included in above), 4 Door Sedan
DB06189N (included in above), 4 Door Sedan
The different one is:
VARIOUS MFR DB06038N {#EOLY6642006A} Glass Only; Heated; 2 Door Sedan (Green Tint)
and it only applies to: LINCOLN MARK VI 1980-1983

So based on that it would appear the 2-door Mark VI glass is not usable for anything except a Mark VI.
What I have to wonder at that point is, is it the same actual glass only differentiated by the defroster grid?

As an aside: "EO" is not a Ford part number prefix, it's "E0" (zero) for 1980. Same goes for FO/F0 (1990). I see this often and it makes me cry inside. Makes searching for parts trickier too.

The yard forklifts the trunklids when they can't unlock them, so that's how that happened.

[gadget73]

I have yet to see a Town Car with what was called the "Base roof" which was supposedly full vinyl. I've seen them in catalogs but that's it.

You've seen pictures of my car. No stupid Euroweenie roof for me. I want the full 'Murica roof.

[DerekTheGreat]

Hahaha, maybe ages ago. You never post any updates. Means I gotta go searching for your thread and post in it just to revive it. Would also like to see this Mark VII. Ashley's just died lol.

[gadget73]

I wouldn't mind seeing my Mark VII either. Its been a couple years.
Pics are proof of things that I might wish to deny later. If I've learned nothing from following politics and idiocy in general is that you don't make your own incriminating evidence for people to use against you.

[kishy]

Pics are proof of things that I might wish to deny later.

I never plan to sell any of my vehicles, so I'm not worried about the potential impact to resale value by showing off my hackjob repairs here n there.

[DerekTheGreat]

I wouldn't mind seeing my Mark VII either. Its been a couple years.
Pics are proof of things that I might wish to deny later. If I've learned nothing from following politics and idiocy in general is that you don't make your own incriminating evidence for people to use against you.

LoL? Where do you keep it hidden? Oh yeah, I never post incriminating photos, well, cars no one really cares about so no worries there. With the experience I've gleaned from selling stuff, that only becomes more and more clear. Comes down to price, shiny paint, visible rust and clean interior.

[kishy]

I was just browsing through the many photos I have of this car and work done on it, and when I stumbled upon the diagram I drew for how I relay-modded the headlights, something immediately "clicked" that didn't before.

The diode installed to allow the low and high beams to both open the headlight doors (recall Mark VI nose swap) melted because that diode provided a path directly to the low beam filaments of the lamps, fed by the "high current" side of the high beam relays. The diode did not melt because it had to oppose too much reverse "flow" (which I originally thought it did), but instead it melted because it had the full current draw of the low beams running through it any time the high beams were on. As I recall I also burned through a couple high beam relays prior to adjusting that setup, which makes a whole lot more sense with this context.

Forgive me for how ugly this is: https://i.imgur.com/kkact7O.jpg

To-do list to get the car ready for its on-season (which should begin in April) is looking like:
-Fix that headlight wiring once and for all
-Exhaust (band-aid solution of muffler and tailpipe, or the full deal after the manifolds, which I have most required parts for already)

I suddenly find myself unsure of whether I put fuel stabilizer in it, but I doubt there'll be much of an issue.

[GM_Guy]

I've seen a lot worse diagrams.
First off, your diagram shows each light going to a seperate "pin" on its respective relay. I assume you've got each lamp going to the same relay pin in reality. (as it is shown, one light will be on, the other off, and then flip flop whenever you turn the headlight switch on or off).

Whats the "box" supposed to be? And why do you have it connected to your highbeam feed? If the purpose of the "box" is to turn on the high beams and low beams (I wouldn't good way to overheat the bulb), then you need to take the output from the "box", put a diode in series with it, and connect it to the same wire that triggers the highbeam relay and another diode from the same trigger and feed it to the low beam relay.

Alex.

[gadget73]

depending what you need to do here, a diode from each relay into the box will probably sort it out. Join the cathodes together at the trigger input, each anode to the respective relay.


The upper set of things is the switch, lower set is the lamp outputs. Its represented as one circle per pair of lamps methinks. No coil is drawn inside the relay box so it makes it a little less clear.

[kishy]

I've seen a lot worse diagrams.
First off, your diagram shows each light going to a seperate "pin" on its respective relay. I assume you've got each lamp going to the same relay pin in reality. (as it is shown, one light will be on, the other off, and then flip flop whenever you turn the headlight switch on or off).

Whats the "box" supposed to be? And why do you have it connected to your highbeam feed? If the purpose of the "box" is to turn on the high beams and low beams (I wouldn't good way to overheat the bulb), then you need to take the output from the "box", put a diode in series with it, and connect it to the same wire that triggers the highbeam relay and another diode from the same trigger and feed it to the low beam relay.

Alex.

Gadget pointed out the thing about upper set vs lower set of park/low/high...not individual lamps. Top set is the 12V from the switch, bottom set is the wire running to the pair of lamps each. Parking lamps are an exception, the relay is powering only the front ones. The rears are still direct off the switch, to be fixed at some point in the future.

"Box" is the Mark VI vacuum solenoid box that flips the doors open based on the lamp circuits being energized. Since doors must be open for high and low, but undesirable to be open for park only, that's why it was done that way.

It was not a plug-n-play retrofit, for various reasons, which I promise were good ones at the time.

depending what you need to do here, a diode from each relay into the box will probably sort it out. Join the cathodes together at the trigger input, each anode to the respective relay.


The upper set of things is the switch, lower set is the lamp outputs. Its represented as one circle per pair of lamps methinks. No coil is drawn inside the relay box so it makes it a little less clear.

Yes, my relay artwork skills could use some improvements. I recall that I drew this on the windshield outside though, so...whatever.

For some reason when I had done two diodes, both "pointing towards" the box, one on high beam and one on low beam wire, I could not get the box to flip the doors open under any conditions until removing one of the two diodes. I never worked out why that happened, but what I did as a quick fix at the time was populating the second diode socket (on the high beam wire) with a 30A fuse (just so happened to be the fuse I had closest at that instant).

Thus my original design "should not" have melted anything, but my "quick fix" when I couldn't figure the bugs out introduced the diode-destruction.

There was some discussion of a better way to do it (I think sly posted it), tapping into something inside the dash (off the top of my head, I think the wire between the main light switch and the high beam switch), which is what I'll do.