Prudence, my 87 Town Car

[Giraffe]

The Texas inspection is a safety inspection only. Only certain locales will do emissions equipment inspections. Texas inspections are consequently fairly simple to pass.

You're lucky you had no issues with the plates, though. Texas law on the use of old plates is pretty clear, however, the DMV in Wichita Falls said I couldn't use the 1990-spec plates I got for my 1990 Grand Marquis because the old plates law only applies to the plates that had the year stamped into them. Needless to say, they were wrong, but I PCS'd from there before I had a chance to correct it.

[87gtVIC]

Compact cars lol.

[Lutrova]

Thanks, guys, for the recommendations. I certainly appreciate the Lincoln for what it is and have no desire to turn it into a hot rod or racer. Keeping a smooth ride is definitely a priority. At the same time, I don't want to go through the cost of a rebuild and not grab any low hanging fruit. The 2" overdrive band seems like a no-brainer. But it sounds like a shift kit is more appropriate for performance builds. And to be fair, my AOD has lasted 35 years through a decent amount of abuse. It's probably not as fragile a thing as I'm imagining it to be, even in stock form. That shift improver kit and a properly adjusted TV cable will do the trick, I'm sure.

The Texas inspection is a safety inspection only. Only certain locales will do emissions equipment inspections....

The emissions equipment inspection was most of what I worried about. But I don't think they even opened the hood, let alone looked underneath for cats or exhaust leaks. If that's how it's going to be, I'll probably strip out the rest of the air pump tubing. Even if they do look, it's possible some inspectors won't be familiar with older stuff anyway.

Compact cars lol.

I always get a kick out of putting the Town Car in 'compact' spots. In this case, though, I believe the county fire officials have strict requirements on the clearance for fire lanes. And the lot and apartment buildings being what they are, it must've been easiest to shave a couple feet of depth from some parking spots. Some jurisdictions also have quotas for special parking spots beyond what the ADA asks for, but that's probably not determinative here.

***

The car has continued to serve faithfully since coming to Texas. The sun shade has, in fact, done well to keep the heat out while parked. The rest of the windows have an infrared-blocking tint on them. Not quite as nice - or spendy - as ceramic, but a step above the standard stuff.

I have a small list of projects waiting for cooler weather and a little free time. (Turns out having a kid is a very time consuming endeavor.)
- Swap out the passenger mirror. The junkyard replacement came from a different year TC, so hopefully the connector can be repinned to avoid any splicing.
- Replace alternator regulator. I ordered a new 3G regulator from a company called AMF. It's white, and while it isn't billed as such, I'm hoping it might spool the alternator up slowly on start to get rid of the initial belt squeal.
- Replace left rear window motor.
- Reseat cat pipe to manifold connection until exhaust leak goes away.
- Rekey ignition cylinder so the doors and ignition are on one key.
- Fix whatever else breaks in the time it takes me to get to all of these projects.

[DerekTheGreat]

As for the compact thing, I had a guy who owns a 2002 whale Town Car tell me (without seeing my car) that he didn't like Town Cars of "my year" because they were "too big." Like uh, yours is bloated by comparison to mine but whatever, not going to argue with people I don't care to know beyond casual.

[gadget73]

the square ones somehow seem to look larger than they really are. I find it really funny when someone in a modern multi-door full size pickup says something about how enormous my car is. Like dude, your truck is a couple feet longer and easily half a ton heavier. My roof line is even with the bottom of your windows.

[Lutrova]

My wife refuses to drive the Lincoln because of its size, although she once drove the 01 TC I had in grad school. But she also had major qualms getting behind the wheel of our old Roadmaster Estate, so it wasn't just boxy cars.

As for being perceived as bigger, perhaps the smaller mirrors on the Boxes make the rest of the car seem proportionally larger. We've grown accustomed to oversized mirrors on everything, maybe the older style ones play tricks on our brains. Or maybe not. One of my wife's girlfriends saw the Lincoln for the first time and thought the little mirrors were hilarious.

[DerekTheGreat]

the square ones somehow seem to look larger than they really are. I find it really funny when someone in a modern multi-door full size pickup says something about how enormous my car is. Like dude, your truck is a couple feet longer and easily half a ton heavier. My roof line is even with the bottom of your windows.

This. A co-worker once commented about how "huge" my Town Car was. It was dwarfed when I parked it next to her modern Taurus. Those things are huge.

My wife refuses to drive the Lincoln because of its size, although she once drove the 01 TC I had in grad school. But she also had major qualms getting behind the wheel of our old Roadmaster Estate, so it wasn't just boxy cars.

As for being perceived as bigger, perhaps the smaller mirrors on the Boxes make the rest of the car seem proportionally larger. We've grown accustomed to oversized mirrors on everything, maybe the older style ones play tricks on our brains. Or maybe not. One of my wife's girlfriends saw the Lincoln for the first time and thought the little mirrors were hilarious.

I like oversize mirrors on trucks, but don't need 'em on cars. I think the little mirrors do just fine. I find myself switching to my eyes to fill in what they cannot, if need be. As with most things, there is an adjustment period. I've mostly only driven old cars, so whenever I find myself behind the wheel of a late model, I tend to feel overwhelmed and then disappointed. So I can only imagine how someone else would feel going along for inverse.

[gadget73]

I actually just put bigger mirrors on my truck. The stock ones had good field of view but they didn't cover low enough to actually be able to back the truck up. The tow mirrors give me one to see to the side and a smaller curved mirror that I can actually see down low with. Sort-of wish I'd gotten van mirrors though. Same glass, but they don't stick out as far.

[Lutrova]

It's been a good week for small projects on the Lincoln. I finally got a chance to replace the left rear window motor after the rebuilt Ford motor's untimely demise. The new unit is a Dorman, and while the plugs aren't serviceable - assuming it has them - it was only 30 bucks, so when it bites the dust I can just swap in another. Or perhaps rebuild the Ford one. At any rate, that window is now the speediest of the four.

In keeping with my door theme, I thought I'd tackle the right side mirror next. Matching up wires from one model year to another was a bit of a puzzle, as noted in another thread, but it all came together smoothly enough.

Getting into the right front door was also an opportunity to complete another long running project: swapping the dash and door inserts from an '84. I'm a sucker for fake wood, and the abundance of it in the earlier Boxes strike me as more brougham-esque. Someday I might build real wood panels for the doors, especially if I wanted to mount tweeters in them.

The horn pad came off an '89 and so the wood effect is different, but at a glance it blends in well enough. Other oddities include a hole beside the radio where the donor car had manual mirrors, and mismatched grain on the computer button surround piece. The hole, I figure, can be used to mount some button or switch down the road.

Finally, I swapped the voltage regulator on my 3G alternator with one of the white, load delay response regulators. Bought it from AMF Industrial out of Florida, listed on their site with the number 34-F-795. It seems to work as well as the old Motorcraft regulator, and the belt squeal on ignition is gone.



Before and after at the dashboard, sans the updated horn pad. The '84 wood grain is a nicer color, I think. And while it doesn't show from these photos, there are more bits of silver banding and other detail in the earlier trim that was stripped out as the decade wore on.



The brushed metal effect on the door switch panels makes more sense to me than the idea that you'd use a piece of wood veneer. But I can understand the desire to still have some fake wood beyond the dash once the decision was made to ditch the door inserts for ones that match the upholstery. Also interesting: the Lincoln Town Car badge on the dash has depth in '84 that was flattened by '87.

***

Three small issues are next on the agenda:
- One, a vibration that I think is coming mostly through the steering wheel. I'll get the rotors turned and see if that does anything.
- Two, hunting idle at startup. Sticking IAC maybe?
- Three, sagging doors. The driver's door hinge is actually missing the curved piece of metal that seems to stop the door at different angles of opening. Do Lincolns share hinges with Fords and Mercurys, and what years are compatible with mine?

[DerekTheGreat]

Oh wow, even has the auto dimming rear view mirror. Your car appears to be fully loaded sans the moonroof. Much want for it, wanna swap cars? LoL. What stereo are you running, looks pretty neat.

Idle hunt is pretty much the IAC motor. I got away with taking mine off, separating the stepper motor from the body and the cleaning the bejesus out of the body with the valve thingy. I then lubricated the motor's bits excessively and stuck it back together. Did that seven years ago and it's pretty good up to this year, only slightly woobie when coming down like it originally was. Oh, while you're there, clean up the throttle blade. If too much schmoo is around it that'll cause a restriction which will impact the IAC's operation.

[Arquemann]

Oh you'd feel at home in a well-optioned box Buick...
There's so much "wood"! On the steering wheel, the doors, the armrests, even on the sides of the front seats.

[DerekTheGreat]

Mmm, look at that 3" fuel gauge. That's certainly a bit garish, but I'd rock it. I'd trash the boat anchor 307, if it's one of those variants though. I dunno, maybe they're ok 50mph and below.

[friskyfrankie]

Enough "wood" to make a termite have an orgasm!

[Lutrova]

Oh wow, even has the auto dimming rear view mirror. Your car appears to be fully loaded sans the moonroof. Much want for it, wanna swap cars? LoL. What stereo are you running, looks pretty neat.

Idle hunt is pretty much the IAC motor. I got away with taking mine off, separating the stepper motor from the body and the cleaning the bejesus out of the body with the valve thingy. I then lubricated the motor's bits excessively and stuck it back together. Did that seven years ago and it's pretty good up to this year, only slightly woobie when coming down like it originally was. Oh, while you're there, clean up the throttle blade. If too much schmoo is around it that'll cause a restriction which will impact the IAC's operation.

Sadly, the auto dimming function is kaput. I wouldn't mind fixing it or swapping in a functional mirror, but until you mentioned it I had forgotten it was even a feature. And yes, the car seems about as loaded as they came. Would I have preferred a moonroof or turbine wheels? Sure. But I'm content with what I have. Honestly, this car has been a great project. It was rust free, cheap, and easy to maintain. It's been a great car to learn on. And there's an endless list of bolt on mods you can do to these things. I can only imagine how I might be feeling now had I bought a Cordoba instead of a Box TC.

The stereo is some no-name Amazon unit that's been discontinued. In fact, I can't even find the receipt for it in my purchase history. But it's probably running the same internals as every other sub-$30 head unit currently for sale. I chose it because it had a volume knob and the matte black face plate was as close a match to the stock finish as I could find. Turns out the volume knob feels cheap and flimsy and like every other aftermarket stereo, the other buttons are way too small and unintuitive. For $15 though, I got my money's worth: Bluetooth, aux, SD card, and two USB ports.

I'll have to check out the IAC. Seems a little strange, though, as I cleaned the throttle blade and the valve/air part of the IAC two summers ago. Didn't take the motor apart, so that could certainly be gummed up.

Oh you'd feel at home in a well-optioned box Buick...
There's so much "wood"! On the steering wheel, the doors, the armrests, even on the sides of the front seats.

Of course I'd prefer real wood, but even a nice fake wood grain can break up an otherwise monotonous interior. My folks used to have an '06 VW Touareg which apparently had real wood trim. But with all the lacquer on it you couldn't tell the difference from the fake stuff on a contemporary Town Car. Newer cars now seem to keep the grain open so you can appreciate the wood for what it is.

The dash on that Buick isn't too bad. The doors are a bit much, but in comparison I think the Town Cars have some of the best doors of any land yacht in the '80s. And the early '80s doors are probably the nicest of any year of Town Car.

[kishy]

Although I am not particularly attached to the faux wood in any capacity, I have to agree that the earlier cars (such as my 84) seem to do it better than the later cars (such as my 88).

The choice of putting the wood pattern on the aluminum door card insert and leaving the switch plate as silver is the better arrangement IMHO. The switch plates look very unnatural (moreso than the rest of it) in wood tones and the depth the aluminum piece provides seems to lend itself to the look better.

The carpet in the older cars is also higher pile, including the carpeted sections of the door cards and B-pillar trim, if you find appropriate pieces and feel so inclined.

Nice upgrades.