Nothing major done this passed weekend. I changed the oil in my Grand Marquis yesterday. I was 1500 miles overdue, but that is attributed to losing my logbook a few months ago. I used to hate changing the oil on small block Fords because of the sideways oil filter mount. But after changing the oil a few times on my Aunt's Saturn Vue; this task is now a breeze. I discovered a trick to not making a mess when changing out the oil filter. With the sideways oil filter; I would get oil all over the steering rack and a wire pigtail (haven't ID'd it yet); and some in the plastic gutter Ford put there to route the oil. Always made a mess if I failed to put down rags or sumtin. Then one day whilst doing the recycling; I took a long look at an empty seltzer bottle and wondered if I could cram it in that space under the oil filter mount flange. Ended up cutting it in half and doing just that. And voila; most of the oil (except a few drops) was rerouted through the half-bottle to in front of the sway bar and into the drain bucket. If we spend a dollar more and get the Vintage brand seltzer; it runs on top of the sway bar so as not to get oil on that.

This was the problem with the Crown Vic as well; until the engine swap. I cleared that area of wiring and have the return line completely rerouted from that side of the car. Now it's just a straight shot into the drain bucket.

 

Since the weather has turned for the worse; and the weather has been crumby the last few weekends. As such, I am rebuilding the front suspension for the Crown Vic. I originally upgraded it with upper control arms from a 1994 Grand Marquis; spindles, and lower control arms from a 2000 Lincoln Town Car. I did this to get 12" rotors and 2-piston calipers. When I pulled the original suspension; I saved it in the basement. When I pulled the engine; I also pulled the front suspension and put the original pieces back on there. That is what I was going to ride on until I mod'd the 2000 spindles to fit 14" GT500 rotors and C5 calipers. Since the car isn't running; I will most likely have the retrofitted 1994/2000 front suspension back together. Waiting for a nice cold and dry night to paint the 1994/2000 suspension pieces. I will get pics when I finish.

As far as the engine goes; I will ID and trace down all of the grounds for that car. I'm thinking that is where my problem is. We'll see when the weather breaks..........

 

Those EBC brakes that I installed on the Grand Marquis paid for themselves last night. On my way home from work; the cars in my lane slammed on their brakes to avoid somebody's bumper. Since both lanes to either side of me were moving I initially tapped on the brakes; then I realized that they weren't just brake checking; and I put a good amount of pressure on the brake pedal. Came to a stop about 10ft away from the Jeep's rear bumper in front of me. Had this been the SP Performance brakes I had on there previously; I would have rear ended that Jeep. When I complete the GT500 upgrade for the Crown Vic; I will look into doing the same for the Grand Marquis. Can't have too much brake for these heavy cars.

 

And I thought all the hype about EBC and other high-end (read: expensive) were just that. Hype.

Finally I have heard a testimonial that I trust. Thank you for sharing.

 

Don't get me wrong; SP Performance was good at one time. I used their stuff on both of my Rangers, my S-10, and the Grand Marquis. When I bought the rotors and pads from SP for the Grand Marquis (2018); they had already undergone a change in ownership (the company). Perhaps they changed manufacturing plants or something; I just know when I first installed them; the brakes were only marginally better than the stock brakes. I couldn't even lock them up to activate the ABS. I'm thinking the material is not working with each other (rotors with the pads); or their QC isn't doing their job. I just know that the EBC brakes made a huge difference on my Grand Marquis and my Mom's Explorer. The first thing I noticed on both vehicles was how much better they grabbed by putting moderate pressure on the brake pedal. Now, how much difference there is between EBC and a properly functioning stock brake system; I couldn't tell you. Maybe I will make that comparison one day. For now, I am more than satisfied.

 

I think I discovered the grinding noise problem when I make left turns with this car. I initially thought it was the thicker sway bar grinding on the wheel when I make hard left-turns. Turns out I had left the coat hanger attached to the driver side front suspension when I hung the caliper up on that side. Thought I took it down. It was wrapped around the strut spring somehow; so I cut if off. When I left for work this morning; I made a hard left out of the driveway and no more noise Yay!!!111!!!!11111

 

Hanger banger.
That's a new one for me.
Oh so many things in life can go wrong
Just when you think you finished the list for your life, The hanger banger comes along. And that's why you always leave extra pages in the book.

Life moves at the speed of time

 

So, whilst the winter season; I am preparing to get back into working on the Crown Vic. I cleaned up, painted, and installed poly bushings on the '94 upper control arms. I am torn between doing the same to the 2002 Lincoln TC lower control arms; or buying new ones from Rock Auto. I'll see about that. I still need to acquire 1998-2002 spindles to complete the big brake upgrade.

Also assembled a Duetsch connector for the ECM ground that looks to be in bad shape. The original ring terminal actually broke on the old battery cables; which is why I am going to check all of the critical grounds on that car; as it's now 36 years old.

 

I attempted to solder on the Deutsch connector earlier. I couldn't find my old spool of silver solder that my Dad gave me; so I used the RadioShack solder I got a 3 decades ago. Truly I tell you, please get decent solder for anything electrical! This RadioShack stuff must be some high-temp solder. Had to heat the crap out of the wire and put the solder next to the heating element in order to get it to melt. IT sort of laid on top of the wire and failed to soak in. I soldered all around the joint to get it solid; but I fear that it's at best, a cold solder joint. I will see how it works when I power the system up. So when I went into the Crown Vic to get the heat gun that I left inside (with my poor GoPro), I found the old silver solder in the box with the heat gun. In the long run; I will get a single-terminal Deutsch connector, splice some 10AWG wire in place of the 14AWG wire that Ford used, and replace that connector. For now, I hope the 2-pin connector works better than the original Ford connector.

Speaking of which; I brought the Ford connector inside to mess with it on my favorite work bench (kitchen table). The pictures below illustrate the inspection process; which wasn't very long as the connector fell apart as I tried separating the ends. My Dad tested it and said that while it still kind of worked; it was borderline sketch. And I think the blue dielectric grease that Ford used on the terminal was acting like glue. Very hard to pull that connector apart; even after the plastic casing fell off.

 

I could not leave well enough alone. I got my single terminal Deutsch connector this morning. So after my meeting this afternoon; I got a window of opportunity after the snow squall to measure out the new cable I would need to make that connection; and assemble the connector. After doing that; I was going to cut off the other Deutsch connector and splice this one in; but the wind really kicked up something fierce; and I had to call it off. I will wait until next weekend or whenever to splice the single terminal connector in its place.