So, I did a thing. '85 Marquis LTS

[massacre]

Those are the perfect wheel choice for that car with the grey trim.

What is that brake tool? I'll take anything to make brake line work easier. I hate it. I get leaks probably half the time.

I was wondering the same thing, i have a hydraulic brake line flare tool that looks similar to the one in the pics except the one in the pics is mechanical
Sweet looking brake flarer, never seen one of those before.

Nice work on the drums and those wheel look great on that car! Looking forward to seeing more of your progress, you are inspiring me to keep plugging away on mine lmao

[Chuck W]

The clamping force on it is really nice, compared to the other multi-sized type. Those always wanted to slip on me when I was trying to work under at the car with it. Especially with the steel lines.

This went super smooth with the tool, both under the car and on the bench.

Ran into a small hold-up on the rear brakes. They wheel cylinders are both kinda toasted, so I need to wait until those show up for me to finish the brake system and bleed everything.

Cleaning up the diff cover before I put that back on and refill the rear end.

Need a couple hangers before moving forward with the exhaust build.

[ZephyrEFI]

It's a secret tool...

[Chuck W]

It's a secret tool...

I posted the link in post #49

[Chuck W]

Yesterday was spent wrestling with reminding myself how much I hate drum brakes, as I was putting the rear brakes back together. I also started to piece together the exhaust. More pics of that when I get more done.

I also wasted too much time trying to get the smog pump removed. It's still in there, hung up by the main bolt. Steel bolt, inserted through a fully enclosed mounting ear on the pump means it's still stuck in the pump, even after it's unthreaded out of the bracket. I'm very close to just cutting it our of there.

Today it rained all day, but I did have about an hour before dinner to get started bleeding the brakes. I mainly just let it gravity bleed for a bit to get fluid back to all 4 corners. I'll do a final bleed later this week.

While I was letting gravity do it's thing, I tightened down the diff cover, so that just needs fluid, and we're all wrapped up there.

Also, since folks wanted to see more of the NOS stuff, I mounted the grill today. I picked up some stainless screws for some of the various bits to install.



I promise I'll have more weatherstrip pictures when I get to working on the doors.

[ZephyrEFI]

Eye candy!!!

[Chuck W]

Brakes are bled.

Now let's see if I have time to do anything tomorrow---

[Chuck W]

Got the diff filled and one of the two plugs installed for filling the holes left in the heads by removing the smog pump stuff yesterday.

Today's weather left little time for wrenching outside, so I started with another little project inside.

Making some custom center caps for the Bullitt wheels.



Going to cover these up with some clearcoat to finish them.

[mcb82gt]

Caps look factoree... Nice job!!

[Chuck W]

Before the rain started again, I got the other air injection plug in the head, so that is all wrapped up.

I also finished up the center caps with a couple coats of clear.

[massacre]

Nice job those look cool

[Patrick Olsen]

So how did you make those caps? They came out looking great!

[Chuck W]

Nice job those look cool

So how did you make those caps? They came out looking great!

Thanks!

I searched for generic black caps that would fit the wheels. Took a little bit of searching and measuring. I had 1 original cap, which helped out quite a bit to get all of the dims.

I couldn't find a good image of an "LTS" logo online, and my Google-fu wasn't good enough to find the proper font (Mainly for the "S"), so I scanned the new "LTS" emblem I had and fixed the image so I could use my wife's Cricut machine to cut out the vinyl transfers. Got those on the caps and then sealed it all up with a few layers of clearcoat.

I think I have $20 into the center caps, so not an overly expensive proposition.

[Patrick Olsen]

Solid creativity.

[87gtVIC]

I like the caps. Nice idea.

[mcb82gt]

Thanks!



I couldn't find a good image of an "LTS" logo online, and my Google-fu wasn't good enough to find the proper font (Mainly for the "S").

https://www.coolcats.net/media/font.html

[Chuck W]

https://www.coolcats.net/media/font.html

Dude.

Thanks

(Guess I haven't dug deeply into Eric's site for a while)

[Chuck W]

Messed a bit with the Fox Mustang fuel filler neck. It looks like it's going to work, but I discovered I have NO hardware to install it...so yet another delay.

[Chuck W]

Well, I'm working slow due to a cracked rib (Took a tumble during a cyclocross race last Sun and landed on a rock on my back), but things are progressing. The weather is too nice this weekend to NOT get something done.

Got the last of the smog junk out of the way and yeeted it into the trash.


Got the exhaust completed and installed. Single 2-1/2" for now.




The tailpipe tip is a piece of stainless tubing, so it'll at least stay nicer looking. Didn't go fancy, as future plans are unsure and the current primary goal is to get it together and running.

Popped the centercaps into the wheels.

I may do a deeper dive to try and fine some that are a bit thicker on the top, but these will do for now. No one else has them, anyway.

Got my wheel spacers for the rear on order, as well as a bunch of hardware bits for the filler neck.

Speaking of, my plan for tomorrow is to drop the tank down and check the PO's "fix" when he rehabbed the tank. He was having an issue locating one I guess, so he cut the top off, cleaned/sealed the inside and welded it back together. I just want to make sure that's all solid.

I dropped in a new battery after finishing the exhaust, but there just isn't enough gas in the tank to feed the system. I had *maybe* a 1/2 gallon in my gas can, which wasn't enough. It fired and ran when I dumped some into the throttle body though. It did fire on it's own before I had finished the exhaust, but sputtered to a stop when it drained the tank (there wasn't much in there). I'm grabbing some gas a bit later, so once I check the tank, I'll add the extra and see if things fire up.

The final major undercar project I have on the schedule is the steering rack hardware replacement and then aligning the thing.

I do plan on draining the AOD and replacing the filter and punctured pan, but I kind of want to get it rolling first before I handle that messy bit. I know the new pan I install is going to have a drain plug, that's for sure.

Now to go rest my back for a bit.

[machinedoc]

Nice progress !
Hopefully the Rib heals bro! The older we get!

[massacre]

Messed a bit with the Fox Mustang fuel filler neck. It looks like it's going to work, but I discovered I have NO hardware to install it...so yet another delay.

Glad to hear that!

[Chuck W]

So, today was a so-so day. The weather was nice, so at least that helped.

I first started with checking out the PO's tank repair. I dropped the tank a bit and saw that he did a decent job of sealing everything up. He did leave the vent off, so there was a nice big hole in the top of it...



Wasn't too worried about that, so I poked a light inside to see the sealing job. That's where things go south. Shining a light in the filler hole, I can see some of the sealer was actually separated from the metal surface. That means at some point it's all going to wind up loose and floating around in the tank. Obviously less than ideal. I did notice, however, that there was a bit more gas in there than I thought, so I figured I'd try and get it fired up.

For a bit it would start when I dumped gas into the throttle body, but then die eventually. I did a check and had pressure at the injectors and checked that they were firing, so I just stayed at it (No idea how old that gas he had put in the tank was). Eventually it got running. VIDEO

It was idling high (2000rpm) and didn't want to drop. Digging around I found a couple more vacuum lines that were broken/disconnected, so I fixed those, but it was still hanging up. I let it run for a bit to get up to temp and burn off some crud, seeing as it hasn't really run for a while. Eventually, I was pumping the brakes a bit to check the booster for a leak. That actually brought the idle down. I disconnected the booster and plugged the port at the vac tree, and was left with a car that didn't want to idle all that well (I'd been messing with the dashpot settings, etc, so I wasn't concerned). Looks like the booster is pooched. Probably from age.
It did run for a good 15 minutes or so, and eventually stopped smoking. Still was burning old oil off of the exhaust manifolds though.

A couple other things I noticed after the run-in were that the TPS connector wiring was loose. One of the wires wasn't staying in the plug, and I could get the TB to sputter by messing with it. Secondly, I noticed light green water dripping from the evap drain...so it looks like the heater core is leaking. Awesome.

The other thing I noticed was that the new serp belt was fraying on one side.

Looking down, it looks like the water-pump is out of alignment with everything else. You can't really see it in the pic, but someone has replaced the water pump at some point, and did a really sloppy job of it. Almost looks like they used a fat gasket on it or something. Whatever it was done has pushed the pump out enough to cause the belt to ride on the rear lip and get frayed. Awesome, again.

While it was running, I checked the alternator output. It was 14V at the 2000rpm, so I think it's good for now, until I upgrade to a 3G.
I also did a quick check of the trans engagement. It popped right into gear, so that was a plus. Now if I can just get it on the ground---

I did get the new poly bushings and missing rack bolt on the steering rack, which proved to be relatively painless, so that was nice.
(Another bonus shot of the exhaust)


So now I need to figure out a new tank (I have a post in the "tech" section of this sub-forum) and it looks like I should address the water pump AND heater core. Oh, and probably replace that brake booster---

[mcb82gt]

water pump, heater core, booster........ 3 jobs I dislike. awkward under dash, breaking bolts. You know the deal.

[Chuck W]

Yeah, the heater core deal is not something I'm looking forward to. Gotta have heat in this thing though. Wish you didn't have to dissect the interior to do it.

[Chuck W]

While I'm messing with the fuel system stuff, I'm also working on prepping the taillights for the "new" lenses.



Factory fresh!


I have a shiny new gas tank for it now, but I kind of want to coat the outside before I install it. To give it an added layer of protection. (And to make it not shiny and silver!)