Introduction to Newly Acquired Project

Hello All,

Below is the car when we bought it. It was on E-Bay twice with a starting bid of 1500 dollars and no one wanted it. So a deal outside of E-Bay was struck and a 600 mile trip with truck and trailer later and it was home with us.

This is the grungy bit.

It has the T-Bird style rear vacuum operated vent of which I think is the neatest thing of all. I didn't even realize T-Birds had this until I dug into its origins.

Normally I'm not a fan of 4 doors, especially pillared ones, although actually I like my '93 Grand Marquis but that's about it. However when I saw this 4 door it just looked so elegant and yet brilliant with the windows down I just had to have it. The key factor really was three things; first the interior was well cared for and in good nick. Secondly it had factory air con, which is a must where we live and third, it has a big block (390) with a C6.

The story that was imparted to us was the car sat in a garage since 1983 and wasn't run since. Which I can believe as all the paperwork since new up to 1983 was in the glove box. Most likely it was an older couple who owned the car as it has all the earmarks.

The two immediate downsides of the car were first it was side swiped a bit on the pass front door and fender, so body work is in order, secondly it didn't run. But I have plans for it

Project Car Assessment and Goals​

Whilst the car seems like it could have been made a driver with conceivably little work. It wasn't mean to be. It actually had much more wrong with it hidden within the depths outside normal inspection.

I did manage to get the engine started and running. With the car sitting for over 3 decades of non-use and filled with fluids, all sorts of things will go awry. The coolant coagulated with corrosion in the lower part of the block and turned to a thick sludge. Corrosion had set in and the heater core was the equivalent of swiss cheese. The lower core plugs in the block were rusting through, the water pump seal and bearings were compromised and thus leaking out the weep hole. Or to be more precise streaming out the weep hole. I think just about every part of the cooling system had a leak. It leaked at the heater core, the heater control valve (ended up bypassing the whole lot), the radiator, lower radiator hose, water pump, intake manifold to head, and lower core plugs.

However that wasn't the worst of it. The fuel tank was 3/4 full, of what I can imagine was once fuel, but transmogrified into something pretty toxic and corrosive as it completely dissolved the sender. It was like something out of a corny movie, I pulled the sender out and it was just a stump left. Float, pipe, pickup, rheostat all gone. The tank itself was paper thin and just touching the lower portion with my finger resulted in a leak.

Long story short it all went in the rubbish bin, there was no saving any portion of it, including the filler neck.

Weirdly before starting of the engine, the hydraulic brakes worked, which after sitting all that time is something of a minor miracle in itself. I used them for unloading it off the trailer. Funny bit is because they are power assisted, when I did get the engine started, I pressed the brake pedal and then pretty much blew out every wheel cylinder. All you could do is just snicker at that point. With the C6 topped off in ATF, it did go into drive and reverse. I had a hunch though it was slipping under load.

The car still had its bias ply tyres on and well I couldn't help myself. Let's just say for a low compression, minute camshaft, single exhaust and a 2 jet it annihilated the right rear scrawny little bias ply. That's right 40 something going on 12 :confused:

So I had relegated the drivetrain would need a complete rebuild.

Now for the goals, since this wasn't going be a simple repair and make a driver, a total tear down was in order and then it occurred to me just what I wanted from the car. I love my older Grand Marquis and since this was an LTD I wanted the same quiet, refined ride, loaded with creature features that makes for a pleasurable ride. But just with one caveat, when I put my foot down you'd better hang on to something.

With that the goal then became to make a reliable daily driver, update the internal engine bits with as modern materials and parts as I could realistically get to increase the efficiency of the engine and aim for 500 horsepower under 6,000 RPM while staying as close as possible to 390 cubic inches.

I now have a finished ideal of what the car should be. Armed with this I set forth on dismantling. Unfortunately I found even more serious structural problems hidden.

Until next post.

Cheers.

Note : The convenience package is a nice feature to have, although the vacuum operated locks are a nightmare, there's loads to be said about a simple electric motor for a lock solenoid.

Four door hardtops were I believe the least produced body style. I come across many pillared 4 door models but hardly any hardtops.