Town Car upgrading to soft close trunk

[Karotte]

Hello,

I wanna upgrade my base 88 Town Car with some extras and I want to start with the soft close trunk. Maybe this isn't a good idea? I read some topics about not working trunk locks?!

Just bought the mechanism on ebay but I think I'm missing a bracket or something else because ich can't mount it on the original mounting points.

Here are two pictures of the parts I got:




And that's my actual trunk latch:




Maybe someone has some picture of the mounted mechanism or got some advise for me?

Is the floor cover part of the lower latch the same or do i need another one because of the motorunit?

Thanks,

Gerald

[Tiggie]

85CrownHPP added one to his Crown Vic a couple years ago. Might PM him to get the details.

[kishy]

There is a bracket missing, yes. It's a bent piece of steel that mounts to the bolt holes on the body and then the motor assembly mounts to that bracket.

I might have one among my various junk. If not, I can find one in a junkyard in the future if nobody else has one available (I do not imagine these parts are easy to find in Austria).

My '84 Town Car has this feature and I'll gladly take any photos that might be able to help you if you can't find the info you need.

Is your car already wired to support this feature? If you need the connectors/wiring out of a junkyard car I may be able to get those.

[gadget73]

I did this years ago, so my memory of the process is a little hazy. It wasn't terribly hard once I got all the parts though.

yeah, its missing the bracket.

You'll need the wire harness that goes on the trunk lid itself too. It has a couple more wires in it for the latch switch. I want to say there is another connector on that harness, but its hanging out on the car somewhere near the hinge. The connector for the motor should be taped into the harness that runs along inside the trunk. Give it a look and you should find a lump covered in tape.
Other details

you'll need the tail on the lock cylinder. Its longer. The cylinder needs to come out, then you can rock the tail out. Its held in with a little retaining clip. Cylinder also has a clip, it goes up from the bottom.

The carpet panel for the bottom of the trunk has a larger cutout for the motor. There is also a plastic cover that goes over the motor.

I don't remember if the trunk lid carpet panel is different. I doubt it, but it'll need to come down to fish the wiring in, install the latch, and deal with the lock cylinder anyway.

I do clearly remember that other than swapping the harness on the trunk lid, I didn't have to modify or add any wiring to the car. It was just a matter of plugging things in.

[Karotte]

Thanks for the fast reply's

@kishy wow that's a nice offer from you, I appreciate that very much.

I've found that motor wiring, so I've to look up for the lid connector!

@gadget73 Thanks for the detailed description for this conversion.

Maybe someone has a picture of the mounted motor unit so i can image how the bracket looks like and to see the cover /panel.

Thanks a lot,

Gerald

[kishy]

I just acquired the entire set of parts for this, bracket included, at a junkyard today. If you want the bracket and associated bolts (and I may have the wiring pigtails, but only a few inches of wire) then PM me and we can figure out what it will cost to get it to you.

[87gtVIC]

Its a neat upgrade. I followed Petes thread and did one myself years back. Wont be hard to wire in at all for you once you acquire the proper pieces.