My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[Arquemann]

Unproductive sunday so I tried out some wheels my dad has laying around. 14" Chrome reverses from the 80's.

I like it alot, kinda small and definitely need some wider tires. Maybe 245 front and 275 rear or so on. Those on it are 215/75.
My goal would be to make this car look less like a grandpa car, and more like a street rod or whatever.

As they are reverse steelies, the fitment is alot nicer vs stock steelies, fronts are good and better with a wider tire, rears could use an even wider tire and spacer (which I do have).
Needs lowering springs either way.


Also had to try on the 14" Mercury hubcaps I have.

Yeah that's a hard pass for me

There's also the 18s my dad "temporarily" has on his Tbird, those would have the same bolt pattern as well. I don't think I'll even try them on, dangerously approaching donk territory with those.

[Mainemantom]

That is a sweet 1965 Thunderbird convertible. I had a 1965 TBird coupe. The second car I ever had. Kept it for 40 years.

[Arquemann]

I intend on replacing the window channels and dew wipes, I've read through the few threads on this subject.
Considering on doing the window channels on the front doors and the outer dew wipes on all doors.

- I'd order the stuff from RA, along with a couple other things.
- How deep below the beltline (inside the door) do the window channels go? The 96" piece will do just one window with some extra?
From what I've understood, they are a bit of a chore to install, but not impossible, mostly people had issues with the tight corners.
- The dew wipes do have a nice writeup on them, seems simple enough.
- Door panels, are they installed with just a bunch of plastic clips that shatter to a million pieces? Is there a thread on door panel removal?
- My driver window is a bit wonky, it tilts forwards when it moves up and down. I think it's loose from the mechanism, that'll have to be fixed before it ruins the new channels aswell.

[gadget73]

goes a fair way down. If you pull the door panel you'll see but it ends about the middle of the door.

one piece will easily do one window with extra. Probably will do about a window and a half. I will tell you the section where the wing vent is really should take a smaller material. The stuff that fits into the rest of the channel does not fit well into the wing vent. It can be forced but it sticks out a bit. I don't remember what I used on my car, it was something available from metro molded parts and I worked it out by measuring it. Rockauto probably carries it.

door panels have plastic "christmas tree" clips. The little branches pull off after they get removed 30 years later. Get new ones, they're cheap. Door panels aren't hard to remove but I'm not familiar enough with the Mercury ones to rattle off how to do it without being sure i'm missing something.

sounds like the glass guide bushings. Its a square bushing on the window mechanism where it slides on the guide rod. When they get floppy the glass tilts. Mustang parts work but I don't remember if its the convertible or hardtop ones that you need. Its been posted here someplace but possibly that was for a 2 door model and I don't know if its the same.

[87gtVIC]

Door panel removal:

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?42266-door-panel-removal-85-grand-marquis-CP&highlight=door+panel+removal

Most important thing is being easy with the cardboard backer on the door panel. Dont get too aggressive or the christmas trees will pull right through the slots and make things sloppy.

[Arquemann]

I'll get to that, once I'll order and receive the parts. Nothing done yet, just mapping on what to do and how.

I don't have vent windows on mine, the pro being that the window channel will fit better apparently, but the cons are that the front part of the window channel is really far forward inside the door, and vent windows are cool, even though they arent the flip type in these.

My door bottoms are a bit crusty, mostly the bottom edge and a couple spots on the flat bottom parts. I'm guessing these doors never came with drain holes?

Are the premium sound front door speakers anything special or propietary sized? I might change them out for something new whilst I'm in there. Though I have no idea if it's the speakers or the head unit that's contributing most to the unbelievably flat and toneless sound. And yes some of the speakers are going out and crackling, I'm pretty sure theyre original.

[gadget73]

There are 2 drain holes in each door but they get plugged up. If you lay on the ground and look up at the door bottoms you'll find them. They need to be open or the door rots.

5 1/4" I think, nothing special. The originals get damp and disintegrate. Its just a paper cone and they stick or the surrounds go away.

[Arquemann]

I ended up ordering 2x of the window channels, for both front doors, AC compressor clutch and an upper rad hose as it was cheap and conveniently available from a same location.

Didn't get the dew wipes, they're not that high on the priority list and they are in "ok" condition. Decided against mostly due to the awfully high shipping cost, it being a 48" rigid piece. Also the installation is a bit complicated. This is a summer car anyways, even though the finnish summer is short and wet. I might check if I can find anything like it locally.

What I forgot to mention in the post about trying the chrome wheels: I looked around at the front and rear suspension, this car seems to have Bilstein shocks, which is nice (or atleast they were yellow), brakes and pads looked okay, upper balljoints and spindles have an inch-thick layer of grease and other "rust preventatives". Bushings look pretty gray and have slight cracking, even though the car feels quite solid.

[Arquemann]

Greaaaat...

The window channels were actually out of stock.

[gadget73]

The dew wipes aren't hard exactly, they're just not much fun to actually do. Lots of fussy alignment and then drilling little holes and bending the staples and the retainer clips in the right spots. If you end up buying the kind that are just bulk material and don't get new clips, heat the "ears" on the clips before re-installing them. Have to be careful when bending them straight to pull them out of the old wipe, but if you heat those ears until they glow red before putting them back in it will allow you to bend them over without the metal breaking.

[Arquemann]

My cruise worked like 3 times last summer and now it doesn't. Atleast one problem is obvious.
I've got a floppy shaft.
Looking at an older pic, a sizeable piece is missing from the linkage.

Don't know how much movement the cruise cable should have but here's it in two pics.


I've probably smacked it with the air cleaner or maybe it happened at the shop, I don't know.

Also started cleaning up the paint on the car with Auto Glym SRP. Gets all the old grease and oil stains off quite effortlessly and brings back some of the shine that was probably last seen in Florida in the late 90's

[gadget73]

the block on the throttle cable is supposed to be on the cable from the cruise control unit. There is a clip that holds them together to allow for adjustment. It goes into the ribs on the round bit. Looks like the piece where the round cable end goes is broken off.


this is basically what its supposed to look like, though it might be slightly different on CFI cars. Not 100% sure but I'm guessing the bit that actually clips on to the throttle cable is rotated 90 degrees from how the later EFI ones are.

[Arquemann]

Here's the old pic. The throttle and cruise cables are side by side.


And here's how the throttle cable looks under the broken piece (which is now even more broken as I took it off wrong)


Any idea where can I get one? Or atleast one that'll work?
The newer style, the image you attached, could maybe work, but the cruise cable would go above the throttle.
Maybe dremel out the side of the newer style piece so it could rotate down. It could work unless that pic is mirrored.

In some threads, diagnosing the brake dump valve(?) was mentioned, could someone point out the vacuum line in question? It'd be good to check if I need one of those aswell, if I need obscure parts from the States anyways.
Atleast I can say the cruise worked a couple times last summer, mostly it wouldn't just do anything no matter how many buttons I press. There can't be something catastrophically wrong then?

[gadget73]

not sure of a source but it looks like the connector block thing is E25Y-9C876-A and the clip is E1FZ-9D726-B

dump valve is easiest to check from the engine bay. If you look at the side of the cruise servo you'll see a Y shaped fitting on it. One hose goes from the back to the front side of the servo, the other vanishes someplace else. That "someplace else" is the dump valve. Unhook the hose and see if it holds vacuum. If it does its good. If not, make sure its pushed far enough into the bracket that the button is pushed in by the brake pedal.

[Arquemann]

Google doesn't come up with anything useful. Is the part number for the later style or for the CFI specific one?
I'll post a buy listing for the plastic piece on a Finnish forum, maybe someone has a box up for parts or has lost hope with stock cruise.

I wonder how jerry-rigging it would work out... ie ziptieing it to the throttle shaft, that could even allow for adjustment if done well.
Is the play in the cable just there when the cruise is not active?