Accidental Grand Marquis Project

Looking good.  Those wheels look good on everything.  I even saw some adapted onto a '60s GM truck and it looked great.  Hard to beat!

I was really looking forward to seeing how those Jeep wheels looked.  Too bad that didn't work out.  I like the looks of that wheel, too.  I vote for a little turning on the lathe and see what becomes of it ;)

We have a member having a tough time. Take a minute to think, pray or just send good wishes his way.

This isn't Panther related, sort of, its the shop.

Ever have those accidental projects, this wasn't what I planned to do but it came out good. Yesterday about 2 pm or so I started putting the deadbolt in a "new" door for the barn/shop. I had to get a jig to drill it out. That is all I wanted to do.

I figured out it would be easier if it was mounted. To mount it I had to rip out the old one. And the old framing which was not good enough. So I did.

Crap, now I can't lock the shop.

I needed framing to put the new door in, so I framed it in and set the door. I was dreading this because the last time it was a nightmare to get it right. Well its framed and set, NOW I can start on what I started on about 2 pm...

The really  neat thing (which will get put on our front door shortly) is the lock. Pyro gets tired of getting the key to get into the shop so she got a cipher lock.

I finished about 9 pm last night, I ain't no carpenter, or lock smith, I am however, a GRM'r!

Love where you are taking this thing! I've never driven a Panther but there is clearly quite the following.

Ok, today I just wanted to fiddle with it so I roughly adjusted the front end so it will drive nice when I get tires sometime in the next few weeks.

The chamber / caster adjustment setup is stupid easy on Panthers.

The one on the left is chamber, the right caster. Loosen both smaller nuts on top and adjust the larger offset nut, lock em down. I set them close to zero chamber.

This fender is bent in pretty good. I also roughly set the toe in. I'm going to splurge for a professional alignment with the new tires.

I got pics of before with small tires to compare with after when I goto 235/55r17 tires.

It sets on the upper bumps stops. The rubber is actually deformed on the brand new bump stops where the spring is just that stiff. If it doesn't sag about an inch after road duty for a month or so I am thinking about cutting the (brand new) springs 1/2 to 1 coil.  I bounce on the fender to get the bump stop in or out.

Looking good. The small tires are tiny looking on it. 

That's the perfect ride height for rallycross, just saying.

a buddy keeps saying "NO to the boat" referring to autocrossing Gerti.

I have no problem autocrossing Gerti. In fact I'll laugh all the way around the course.

Rally cross, no. Its just doesn't appeal to me.

Take your Probe rally cross?

In reply to Bent-Valve :

The probe would probably get high-centered on an anthill. 

Seriously though, there's something really fun about autocrossing a big floppy grandma car.

In reply to ClemSparks :

I don't know about Missouri but Md requires a check of rotor thickness.

purplepeopleeater said:

In reply to ClemSparks :

I don't know about Missouri but Md requires a check of rotor thickness.

 

Even in states that don’t, it’s good to remember. But rotors I’ve done in the past, had plenty of meat for some turning. ‘Course never turned anything as “new” as a “modern” panther!

It was still good or I would have replaced it. 

I did replace a couple, but then they were toast. 

I haven't driven it anywhere since then so brakes are still good.

I have to change stuff up but I'll part it out if nobody wants it.

Bent-Valve (FS) said:

I have to change stuff up but I'll part it out if nobody wants it.

I miss something... parting what out?

Sorry, I put everything up for sale,  including Gerti.

I need a truck and Pyro needs a new vehicle. And I have no room to add vehicles.

Hidden behind Gerti is the RX-8. And there's one in the shop.

So if in few weeks I don't sell Gerti, I may consider parting it out.

Ah, I thought that was what I was reading! Sorry to here that; y’all seemed like a good fit!

Prolly too far for me to even consider, but I do have the sickness... how much is gerti?

Bent-Valve said:

So with a little warmth in the shop I soldered and heat shrinked (shrunk?) the pump wiring. Camera was charging so just imagine the glorious soldering you missed ...

The solenoid, well, dirt, lots of dirt, then more dirt.

Little nodules of dirt.

A dirty screen.

Clean screen.

Almost a shame to put the clean solenoid back into the pan. I scraped it out. I washed this car before I brought it home. I left about 600 pounds of dirt in the carwash. I missed much.

I thought I had gotten a lot of the dirt out. This shows how much I missed.

Went through all of this so it wouldn't spit back fuel. Today I drove it the shop to get tires, alignment and inspection. It was sucking fumes.

IT WORKED!

So its a few steps closer to the road. 

I really want to autocross it. I think I am going to make a windshield banner,

"Cone Killing Auto Couch"

As long as I'm wheeling a boat around I may as well have fun with it!

In reply to Bent-Valve (FS) :

It'll be a hoot to autocross. I guarantee it. And you've got enough ground clearance that if you hit any cones, they probably won't get stuck! 

Got it aligned and new shoes. 235 55 17s don't look as big as you think when it has a seriously tall stance.

AND I got a list of things to fix from the mechanic. Unfortunately Slinky decided he was going to the vet for an emergency visit, so I will be waiting a few days before I can continue on Gerti.

I will say with all the suspension work she handles nice and goes exactly where you point her. In fact I had to pay attention because there is ZERO slack in the steering. I went with Hankook Ventus all seasons and they ride pretty good!

In reply to Bent-Valve (FS) :

I got a buddy who swears by those ventus. He thinks they are the best all seasons 

Today I started by washing the sap and bug juice off. I am going to devote this week to finishing and getting this "Accidental" project on the road.

I took in to get it inspected, tires, alignment, and check I hadn't missed anything on the suspension. I like the mechanic but the new front desk person lost them a customer. If sh would listen to what I wanted, we wouldn't be here. I digress.

Got the alignment, a "multipoint" inspection, tires, and now its home, without a state inspection.

On the way home I felt a miss under part throttle, while ClemSparks was here he said what I was thinking, new coils and plugs. With the right scanner you can find out which one is missing, I decided to replace all of them. Ordered them RA Saturday and they got here while I was cleaning.

Since I will be working under the hood, I decided to scrub the engine bay a bit.

Then I thought about Roadkill and lessons I learned from them so I cleaned the radiator and condenser too.

I unbolted it leaned it back and used soapy water and the jet spray, a bit of dirt came out.

I didn't get all of the soap out however and turned Gerti into a wanna be bubble machine.

Later this afternoon I will put the plugs and coils in.

Since someone was concerned about the front rotors, AND the inspection showed they were to thin to resurface, I got new ones. Rock Auto said they should be here Friday, I hope they screw up again and get them here way early like the plugs!

While I was washing I found some rocks, from Louisiana, wedged in bad places. Like under the valve cover stud, it would have eaten into the valve cover as I will be driving this now. Later today I will crawl back under it to see if I can find the chewed wiring leading to the range switch and fix that. I may just bypass that wiring and run all new wires if I can find the other end.

Compressed air is also magical for cleaning radiator fins. 

Its funny you should mention that,

one day I will actually use my leaf blower for leaves, I didn't post this at first but I used a leaf blower to get much of the loose crap out first, then to dry it off before I connected the battery back up. Some of the leaves and little tiny twigs came out of the radiator. It also got a lot of stuff out of the intake valley. I didn't feel like dragging my air compressor out.

A friend said he cleans the bugs off the condenser by spraying etching aluminum wheel cleaner on it, waiting for the bugs to dissolve and the spraying it off.

In reply to Bent-Valve (FS) :

I might try the aluminum wheel cleaner on the black rt, the condenser is FULL of bugs. 

A study in dirt.

Or lost and found, I pulled the coils, lost the plugs under the dirt.

Did a little vacuuming, used a screwdriver, used an air hose, found the plug.

The dirt I keep getting out of this car is astounding.

I figure I dropped enough weight in dirt to gain a full second on a quarter mile....

I have been lax in my duties, I haven't taken proper photos. Here are a couple pics and updates.

Plugs and coils, cleaned dirt out, removed rocks, yes rocks from the ignition system area. The coils are in and so are the plugs, the part throttle miss (es) are gone. I ordered red because they were cheaper than stock or the yellow ones, I cleaned the intake tube, the throttle body, looked at the MAS and it needs it but I'm out of cleaner.

I wire brushed my index finger while removing the rust from the alternator bracket.

I painted it black to stop any new rust. The bracket, not my finger.

At some point I topped off the freon, and after cleaning the condenser the air is nice and cool.

I put a new air filter in, a new fuel filter, I have an oil change waiting and I had to go get the 2 clips to replace the ones on the fuel filter. I got some new wipers and fluids to top off the power steering and rear axle.

To stop any leakage in weird areas I did some welding. I used screws and welded them in if the back wasn't exposed. But I used some nails, held by a magnet to weld up the holes left by the vinyl top, The nail head is smooth and covers the hole from the back

I was going to show you the nail head from behind but the pic is fuzzy. You get the idea. Nobody will snag anything on it.

I did some rough bondo work and then primed it. Mostly to cover the holes / bare metal since I will drive it. The one big section was a pretty good dent. I had already sealed / bondoed the screw holes across the roof. I'll worry about beauty after its road ready.

BTW vinyl tops suck, removing vinyl tops sucks even more.

I also welded up the holes in the doors that is normally covered by the bump strip trim. I'm not going to put the trim back on.

I thought about flat black, but I'm going for a "Charcoal grey" in rustoleum and will try the foam roller paint job. This will not be anywhere as nice as a certain Blue-Purple Neon someone is building, its a cows ear and will never be a silk purse.

I put new front rotors / hardware on, fixed some wiring and its hot so I'll finish up tonight. Soonest I can get it inspected is next Wednesday.

Bent-Valve (FS) said:

BTW vinyl tops suck, removing vinyl tops sucks even more.

I knew the first part and expected the second part.  My Fairmont Futura is going to let me learn this first hand.

The project is coming along nicely!  Getting all the little maintenance items ticked off the list will make driving it that much more enjoyable (in an "I'm pretty confident I'm going to get where I am going and back home" sort of way ;)).