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  1. #101

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chuck W View Post
    Inching forward.

    The alterative filler neck seal showed up today and it looks like I can make it work with an adapter plate.



    Donor is from a 71-73 Mustang (Cougar, Maverick, etc)
    That is a great idea!
    79 Zephyr, 4.6L 4v/4r70w swap, with team z front and rear suspension, 8.8 and upgraded brakes and coil overs. Running Holley Terminator X Max.

  2. #102

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    Finally got left alone last night and this afternoon and was able to get things done.

    Last night I cut out the filler seal adapter and prepped/painted it so it would be dry for today.



    Not fancy, and I could've stood to modify it a bit, but it'll work well enough. If I need to drop the tank again, I'll look into a refresh.

    With that, I was able to get the fuel system all buttoned up and installed.


    The only other mod that was needed was the retention bracket on the filler neck that bolts to the tank needed to be modified. It was about 5/8" too long, so I cut it down and welded it back together.

    I installed the dew wipes on the passenger doors, since I hadn't done that previously.

    I then went to install the driver side doors. I got the rear door done, with new weatherstrip and striker bushing, and started to get into the front. As I was preparing to unbolt it, I realized that the hinge bushings were all worn, so I opted to order some new ones. I'll swap the door once I have those.

    I spent some time trying to straighten the dent in the PS fender a bit. It's better, but it'll probably end up needing to be replaced. I do need to hunt down a replacement for the front section of the beltline molding that's all smashed.

    After checking a couple more things, I decided to get it down off of the jack-stands.


    Once on the ground, I started it up (fired right up) and let it run for a few. It gave me a chance to test the brakes and the trans engagement. Both worked OK. I didn't move it much, as I didn't have a lot of room on either side. It also needs to be aligned. Once I get that done, I can get it out for a little neighborhood test drive.

    Swapped out rear bulbs for new 1156/7's but still need 194's for the corner lights.

    The heater core and getting the interior cleaned up and the lighting sorted out are really the last *major* tasks before it can eased into being driven.
    Last edited by Chuck W; 12-12-2021 at 09:26 PM.
    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

  3. #103
    FEP Senior Member Patrick Olsen's Avatar
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    Nice progress!

    The Bullitt style wheels really work with that body style.

  4. #104
    FEP Power Member 87gtVIC's Avatar
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    Yes. They look good on there!

  5. #105

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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Olsen View Post
    Nice progress!

    The Bullitt style wheels really work with that body style.
    Quote Originally Posted by 87gtVIC View Post
    Yes. They look good on there!
    I'm glad they came with the car.
    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

  6. #106

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    Since the trunk is not the proper color, but I wanted to have an LTS badge on it, I stuck the original one on there for now. It's a little flakey, but I'll save the NOS one for when it's the proper time for it.

    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

  7. #107

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    I spent some time this week working on getting the driver's power seat base freed up. The fore/aft worked fine, but the tilt/height adjustment wasn't working, because the pivots were seized up from a bit of corrosion.
    After several nights of rust removing, lubrication, and a little application of heat, I was finally able to get the base fully functional again.

    Once that was done, I plopped the replacement seat onto it and got it into the car.


    I also wasn't going to deal with this thing,


    So I swapped it out for the TBird steering wheel I had on the shelf.


    Not my favorite, but it'll work until I figure something else out.

    Hoping tomorrow I'll have time to swap out the DS front door and get a quick alignment on it.
    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

  8. #108

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    As planned, I had about 4-5 hours to myself today. It was chilly, but sunny, so good enough to get outside and turn some wrenches.

    The first task was to swap out the driver's front door.
    As you can see, the hinge pin bushings were pretty shot.


    I got them out and pressed in 4 new bushings from the kit I picked up from LMR.



    The alignment took a bit of doing, as it was WAY off from all of the other doors, but I got it close enough.

    After that, I did a quick alignment on it and then TOOK IT FOR A DRIVE!

    Took it up the road a couple of miles to put some more gas in it. It drove fine. Trans shifted mostly OK (I haven't changed the filter/fluid yet) and the brakes, while a bit soft, stopped the car just fine.
    No door panels, headliner, pass seat in it, so it was a bit noisy, but the suspension/steering felt fine. No rattles. I ran out of time to swap in the new rear shocks I picked up, but that should happen this coming week. I have the strut mounts all of the way inboard, and I still need a bit more adjustment. I'll probably slot the holes on the struts to gain it there, instead of buying CC plates just yet.

    Next major project is to get the heater core in it. Not something that I'm looking forward to, but it needs to be done. I'm also not reassembling the interior until that's complete.






    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

  9. #109
    FEP Senior Member Patrick Olsen's Avatar
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    Nicely done! I'm sure that was a good feeling.

  10. #110

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    Great progress
    79 Zephyr, 4.6L 4v/4r70w swap, with team z front and rear suspension, 8.8 and upgraded brakes and coil overs. Running Holley Terminator X Max.

  11. #111

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    Your car is a great example of how Mercury always had a meaner looking front end than its Ford counterpart. You have done a great job.
    1978 Mercury Zephyr boxtop 5.0 EFI T5Z 8.8
    1999 Ford Contour 2.5 V6 5 speed
    2016 Ford Focus ST 2.0 Ecoboost 6 speed

  12. #112

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    Looking great!
    Brad

    '79 Mercury Zephyr ES 5.0L GT40 EFI, T-5
    '17 Ford Focus ST
    '14 Ford Fusion SE Manual

  13. #113

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    Had a couple more hours today, so I took a couple more tasks off the list.

    The rear shocks were of unknown vintage and a bit soft, so I swapped them out.



    I expected more trouble out of that attachment bolt, but a little heat and it came right out.

    Lathered up the bolt and flange nut with anti-seize and mounted the new shocks.


    I also reinstalled the wiring into the rear doors and took a little time to work on rehabbing the power window motors. I also took care of scraping all of the stickers off of the rear bumper, installed the windshield trim, and swapped out the LTD LX moldings on the doors (red stripe) for the LTS ones (grey stripe).

    I was running out of time, so I decided to give the car another Simple Green bath, to get more of the scuzz off of it.

    The weather is supposed to be colder tomorrow, so I'll decide if I want to mess with getting started on the heater core job or not.
    Last edited by Chuck W; 12-21-2021 at 05:47 PM.
    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

  14. #114
    FEP Power Member mcb82gt's Avatar
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    Front grill looks Darth Vader'ish. I dig it.
    Mike

    Now stang-less.

    88 Cougar 5.0

  15. #115

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    Well, I was supposed to have more time today, but people just wouldn't leave me alone...

    The fact that it was cold and windy today didn't help my motivation, but I did manage to get about an hour and a half to spend getting started on pulling the dash apart to get to the heater core.

    One of the first things I found was this bit of shenanigans.


    Looks like it's spliced into the blower motor wiring (which doesn't currently work), so that should be entertaining.


    Almost everything I'm pulling out needs a good cleaning, which will probably take more time than the actual repairs.

    Wanna see a sad speedometer?

    The numbers, etc are literally peeling/melting off of it.



    The tach's not too bad, but I have another cluster from the LTD LX parts car that I'm just going to install.

    Also yanked the head unit and premium sound amp out of there. Those will not be going back in the car.

    Going to see how far I get tomorrow, but then we have some family stuff for the next few days.
    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

  16. #116
    FEP Senior Member OX1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ukravit View Post
    Your car is a great example of how Mercury always had a meaner looking front end than its Ford counterpart. You have done a great job.
    No kidding, that grill has to be one unique part. Never seen that one before.

    Quote Originally Posted by Chuck W View Post
    Wanna see a sad speedometer?

    The numbers, etc are literally peeling/melting off of it.



    The tach's not too bad, but I have another cluster from the LTD LX parts car that I'm just going to install.
    Going for the 140 police speedo?
    Last edited by OX1; 12-25-2021 at 12:31 AM.
    86 Capri, 5.0, 5Spd, A9L QH/BE, 47 lb Inj PMAS 3" MAF, Single T44 Turbo, Front Mount IC, TW170,
    Stock Cam, Explr Intake/TB, 1.7 Rockers, CF dual friction clutch, 3" DP, 2.5" full Exh, 3.27, 11.932 @ 115.78
    84 LTD, 331-10:1, TW170/Exprl Intake, 47 lbs inj/80 mm LMAF, Full Duals, Quarterhorse, Vortech 7PSI, Lentech AOD, 5 lug Mk VII brakes/rear, Eibach Sway bars, Cobra HB (dads ride, but I fix it )

  17. #117

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    Quote Originally Posted by OX1 View Post
    No kidding, that grill has to be one unique part. Never seen that one before.



    Going for the 140 police speedo?
    Well, they only built 134 with this grille, so probably not too many extra laying about. This one is a NOS part (as well as the tail lights and headlight surrounds), so basically "fresh".
    I'm almost temped to paint up a set of standard ones, so save these, but they also do no good sitting on a shelf.

    If I had a police speedo I'd use it. I just have a "regular" LTD LX one that's going in.
    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

  18. #118

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    I really like how the car is coming along. Truly a unique car. I’m curious how halo headrest would look with those seats…..

  19. #119

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    OK, finally got time to get to this today.

    Dug into getting the dash pulled back. I'm not quite motivated to remove it completely.


    Got the housing loose from the firewall


    Since there was that nonsense green wire attached to the blower motor power, I did a quick check to see if the motor actually worked.
    It did, but sounded like it was full of junk...

    Sure enough---


    Got all of that cleaned up and the motor seems to be OK, but I think I'm going to replace it anyway.

    This is where the little jerks got in.


    I'm either going to patch that up, or try and find a new fan housing.


    Anyone know a source for a recirc door flap? This one is a bit gone. All Foxes the same?


    The ACC unit is out and needs some attention.




    The fan switch looks to be junk, and the vacuum distribution selector unit appears to be falling apart. The switch appears to be a common part, but not sure about the vacuum unit.

    I have window channel liners on the way and once I have those, I'm just going to go ahead an install the power window regulators. I have all of the stuff and just need to put new gear bushings in a couple motors to make it all work.

    I think I'm going to also let a little scope creep happen and replace the carpet while I have things this torn apart. Now is the time to do it, and save the hassle later of having to disassemble everything again.
    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

  20. #120

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    Wow
    Mice are just the worst.
    Fixing all of that stuff will make a huge difference in driving enjoyment.
    I went through the vacuum hvac control module on my explorer, looks similar.
    Great job on all of that, that is the kind of work that everyone puts off because it is a huge pain in the ass lmao
    79 Zephyr, 4.6L 4v/4r70w swap, with team z front and rear suspension, 8.8 and upgraded brakes and coil overs. Running Holley Terminator X Max.

  21. #121

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    Well, having working HVAC in this thing is a priority, so it needs to get done. Just didn't plan on finding even more work to do.

    I went ahead and stuck the heater core in so that's done.

    I decided to try for a "fix" of the vacuum control valve.

    Did a little reinforcement of the cracking case and cleaned the innards out and buttoned it all back up. Had to glue it back together, so if it's not coming apart now.





    Now to try and find that recirc door flap.
    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

  22. #122
    FEP Senior Member Patrick Olsen's Avatar
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    Man, your work ethic on this puts me to shame! It would take me weeks (ok, who am I kidding? MONTHS! ) to take care of these sorts of jobs that you knocks out in a couple/few days.

  23. #123

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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Olsen View Post
    Man, your work ethic on this puts me to shame! It would take me weeks (ok, who am I kidding? MONTHS! ) to take care of these sorts of jobs that you knocks out in a couple/few days.
    Well, I'm not sure about that. I'm just trying to wrap this up so I can get back to other projects I side-lined to get this on the road.

    Now I'm back to waiting on parts to show up (That and dealing with winter weather slowing things down).
    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

  24. #124

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    This FINALLY showed up today.



    It had been listed as a heater box for a "1999-2005 Mustang", but with the "E5SH" PN it's obviously '85 Tbird and the same thing that came out of the LTS.

    I was hoping the blower motor that it came with worked, but it just howls. I was hoping to return the new one I bought, but I guess it's going to get used.

    No rodent chewed holes and a good flapper door.

    Now if the weather would cooperate (when I have time to work on it).

    New carpet is waiting too. Went with the ACC "Dark Grey" with the mass backing. Close enough for my purposes.
    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

  25. #125

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    FINALLY the heater unit is remounted in the car.

    .

    Now I can finally work on getting the interior back together.
    83 TC "Clone"
    85 Marquis LTS
    86 LTD Wagon

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