kishy's 1984 Town Car

[kishy]

The dew wipes look good. Did you rivet them on? Never thought of that. I’ve heard other people say the new ones push the window in slightly. Did you notice that on your Lincoln?

As far as the door cards go, I’ve often wondered if someone could make one relatively easily, especially the rears. They’re pretty much particle board with some vinyl and carpeting. Yeah yours probably don’t need to be outright replaced but it would be nice to have that as an option. The last couple I’ve seen on eBay have gone for hundreds of bucks. It’s crazy what people are asking for box parts nowadays. It’s not like they’re old collectors cars lol.

I did rivet them on. This is the second car I'm doing with this method (wagon was first) and it worked OK for that one. The rivet heads are low-profile enough to not risk contact with the glass, and the retaining clips that I don't transfer to the new ones don't seem to cause much of a problem being missing.

I'm not noticing an issue with the window being pushed in much. The Fairchild dew wipe material is fairly flexible.

It would be fairly straightforward to DIY the Ford and Mercury door cards, but the Lincoln ones are a bit more complicated. They are made of a molded hard plastic, which then has various materials molded, stapled, and glued onto them. There is no cardboard-like material in them, unlike the non-Lincolns. I'll take some photos when I try to get the thing reattached.

[gadget73]

Not entirely accurate to say we never identified what to use for the smoker window. I bought something that fit and installed it, I just don't remember what it was and apparently never posted the part number. Ain't I helpful?

but yeah no cardboard, no cardboard derivatives, no cello tape. Its got to have a steering wheel, and a minimum crew of one.

[kishy]

Not entirely accurate to say we never identified what to use for the smoker window. I bought something that fit and installed it, I just don't remember what it was and apparently never posted the part number. Ain't I helpful?

but yeah no cardboard, no cardboard derivatives, no cello tape. Its got to have a steering wheel, and a minimum crew of one.

My apologies - in the thread which discusses the availability of these materials, that one is not identified.

The Ford/Mercury rear side of vent window post is identified, but the Lincoln is not, and for some reason it appears to be narrower, unless I was hallucinating. I'll take another look before I close up the door though.

[87GrandMarq]

I did rivet them on. This is the second car I'm doing with this method (wagon was first) and it worked OK for that one. The rivet heads are low-profile enough to not risk contact with the glass, and the retaining clips that I don't transfer to the new ones don't seem to cause much of a problem being missing.

I'm not noticing an issue with the window being pushed in much. The Fairchild dew wipe material is fairly flexible.

It would be fairly straightforward to DIY the Ford and Mercury door cards, but the Lincoln ones are a bit more complicated. They are made of a molded hard plastic, which then has various materials molded, stapled, and glued onto them. There is no cardboard-like material in them, unlike the non-Lincolns. I'll take some photos when I try to get the thing reattached.

Huh I might go that route too. Both my 87 and 90 need new dew wipes bad. I forgot that about the Lincoln door cards. I noticed that years ago when I pulled the back seat out of one to but in my 87.

[kishy]

I put the driver door back together...4 or 5 times, as I kept forgetting things each time. The most grievous error was forgetting to bolt the mirror back on. That was a total "flared the line without the tube nut" moment.

Sorry gadget, yes, WC15-72 as for Ford/Mercury vent window posts does also work on the Lincoln. I don't know why I thought it didn't.

Photos of the absolutely trashed door card:





















The sum of all the work done in the driver door is as follows:

• Replaced exterior dew wipe (note: I did new window channels on the left side of the car only a few years ago)
• Replaced front edge window channel for main window glass as this piece was omitted when I did the top and back edges.
• Replaced lock actuator
• Randomly pried and bent at things, and shot lots of assorted lubricants into things relating to the lock until it started working smoothly. Keyless entry is once again viable to use!
• Added a rivnut to use a bolt and large washer to help retain the door card
• Attached the door card, where possible with new retainers

Intermission: here, have a Topaz.




I moved on to the left rear door. The sum of all the work done in that door is as follows:

• Replaced exterior dew wipe (as above, window channel was new a while back). Did this with two pieces to avoid creating waste as one piece does not quite do two doors. The two pieces are not actually the exact same profile in all respects, despite both being Fairchild parts purchased around the same time.
• Removed window motor. Disassembled window motor. Cleaned up commutator, brushes, brush holders. Shouldn't get stuck randomly anymore. Reinstalled in the door.
• Disassembled lock rod assembly, put in a couple new bushings/lock rod clips, reinstalled in the door. Works a lot less like old broken junk now.
• Reinstalled door card with new retainers

Next up is the front right, since the door is already open from replacing the speaker. So far all I've done is remove the exterior dew wipe and removed (with great difficulty) all of the window channel for the main window glass. The stuff around the vent window is suspiciously still flexible so I may leave it alone. On the other hand, the new stuff I have isn't getting younger sitting on the shelf, so maybe I should just do it since I'm here anyway.

[Lutrova]

Where do you get bushings and clips for the lock rod assembly? Are those universal parts?

[87gtVIC]

Nice work. Amazing how that window channel stuff just gets brittle over time. I pulled a couple doors from a junkyard car in Alabama (1984 two door Mercury grand marquis) and they were the most crusty and sharp ones I have touched to date. Crazy.

[friskyfrankie]

Where do you get bushings and clips for the lock rod assembly? Are those universal parts?

Dorman and others make them. The clips, anyway. Have seen them on EBAY and other places.

[Tynnerstroem]

Lots of great progress in this thread, love to see it!

[kishy]

The clips came out of an assortment from Dorman. They're fairly brittle and weak compared to the original parts but if you're gentle in assembly, they work. No idea how well they'll last but I guess we'll see.

There were two not-mentioned modifications made in the course of installing those.

• Cut off part of the short rod that goes to the lock knob. This was to turn the "S-shaped" end into a simple "L" instead because it's basically impossible to put the rod into the door with the original "S" end on it. Plus it enabled me to use another style of retaining clip after I broke the correct one.
• Drilled out the rivet that mounts that whole pivot assembly, removed it from the door to put the clips in it, then re-mounted it in the door with an M6 bolt and lock nut. The rivet had wiggled loose over time anyway, so in addition to the rattle-reduction of putting new clips in it, I also got rid of the rattle the whole thing was making against the door sheet metal.

The window channels are so brittle. The only part with any flexibility left at all was deep inside the door.

Indeed, it feels good to chip away at the list of needs on this one. As the weather continues to improve I'll spend more and more evenings working on it. The garage is heated but I vastly prefer to work with the doors open instead.

[gadget73]

The door panels in the Conti were similarly cracked up in many places. The door pull on that pulls on the door panel, not the door skin and it ripped through. I patched some of it with bits of ABS plastic I had from some packaging and acetone for a solvent weld. Worked but took a while. Next time I'll get some ABS plumbing solvent weld stuff and use that.

Fixed the door pulls in a similar way though, rivet nut into the door skin so the handle pulls on the door instead of the brittle plastic.

[kishy]

The right side door priorities have been addressed.

• Front right door
  • window channel all around the main glass, left the vent glass alone
  • installed the long-on-hand vent visor (couldn't install until window channel was replaced)
  • exterior dew wipe
  • lubricated the complicated mess of mechanism for the two window panes, shutting up some incredibly annoying noises it was making
  • new retainers for the door card which seems to be hanging on alright
  • popped in a new power seat switch as the old was falling apart and not working
• Rear right door
  • window channel
  • vent visor
  • exterior dew wipe (as with the left side, did this with two pieces)
  • mirrored same changes as left side for door lock rod clips
  • new retainers for the door card
• Minor tweaks to the front wheel alignment in response to it being visibly completely awful
• Rounded up the hardware to assemble a battery hold-down
• Crimped a new, better end on my headlight relay wiring
• Took it around the block for a little drive.

The tall springs are here to stay. The car looks "about right" and the front being a little high has restored that long hood, "I'm driving a big-ass Lincoln" feeling that sold me on the car when I first checked it out. A slightly meatier tire will fix the cosmetic issue, I think. The brakes seem to be working about right, the radio sounds good, and the car overall feels pretty good. The improvement of the windows not rattling around loosely in the doors is a massive upgrade.

On the dew wipes:
All of the material I'm using was bought years ago. All of the dew wipe material is Fairchild 13694 (e.g. usually sold as 13694X2 in a 2-pack). The first time I bought any was in 2014, the last time was in 2020. So I've had it for a while and there was a fairly wide spread between when I started stocking up for my eventual needs vs when I decided I had enough hanging around to not need any more.

Back to this question:

The dew wipes look good. Did you rivet them on? Never thought of that. I’ve heard other people say the new ones push the window in slightly. Did you notice that on your Lincoln?

There is a pretty distinct difference between what I'll call "old production" and "less-old production" Fairchild 13694. I am not sure which is which, but the exact shape, thickness, and stiffness of the material varies enough, and in a way that would push the glass inwards, that I believe the problem does exist in some cases.





The only spot on this car that I used the thicker+stiffer stuff was the back half of the right rear window. Since the rear glass has that fixed sliding thing, it can't really get pushed in, so it's not showing the issue there.

The interior dew wipes are in one piece but are pretty hard and crispy so at some point I'll have to deal with those. Not right now though.

I think the heater core is next up for this one. It needs it and I have one and I don't feel like crawling around under the car to deal with the Air Lift bags at the moment. And the drum brakes seem to be working exactly as they ought to.

As for that power seat switch, don't ever doubt the depths of my insanity with this stuff:



The switch bezel in the car is super broken but it's a 1984-unique part so I'm just going to glue mine back together and get some more mileage out of it.

[87gtVIC]

I too will have to address the inner dew wipes once as mine are rock hard. Haven’t bothered me enough yet to research what would work.

nice parts hoard. It’s totally worth having.

[87GrandMarq]

Hmm that’s interesting how the dew wipes have changed over time. Perhaps the newer ones will be even more improved, provided the newer stuff is the one that doesn’t push the window out as much. I’ve been holding off doing mine but I might do them sooner than later now. They came out looking really good on the town car.

[kishy]

It's worth noting that my method here deviates from how the factory did it. I use rivets, which are obviously not as low-profile as the original design staples, but stapling through a chunk of steel is not something I have the tools to just do. I omit the retaining clips, because again I have no way to staple them into the steel. Without using the clips, the only things retaining the dew wipes to the door are the screw at one end, the nut at the other, and the tension of the dew wipe pushing against the glass. In certain conditions I suspect the window could try to drag the wipe upwards and make a gap between the trim and the door. But this risk doesn't bother me as I'll just shove it back down into the door again if it happens.

I do think the thinner stuff is the newer variant and it is the stuff that I prefer.

This evening I dug in on the heater core.
This car has always had a faint whiff of coolant from the climate control vents, as well as always had issues with gradual coolant loss (though, it's had a number of leaks on the engine too). With consideration being paid to this car doing the road trip to Deals Gap (if I do that this year), I don't want to be worried about the heater core letting go, and can't just bypass it as it's still chilly enough in the mornings in May to possibly need heat.

Disassembly wasn't too bad. I have done this before on the wagon but I didn't really remember much of it so I just started taking out screws until I got to the places I needed to be.







During reassembly I'd like to install a dashcam hardwire kit. There's already a cam, and the wire has been tucked for forever, but it's just a USB cable going to a cigarette lighter adapter.







The hinges aren't actually broken in this one, but I'm here anyway so I'm replacing them. I have a handful of ones similar to what I used in the wagon, somewhere. Also all the foam insulation on the blend door is disintegrating so I'm just going to scrape that off to prevent it getting blown into the ducts.