What have you done to your wagon lately? (Let's keep the thread going!)

In Dad's truck, the self-adjuster pawl wasn't engaged with the star wheel on both sides, as the anchor cables were stretched. New cable/adjuster kits solved it. So look at them, and if you're in doubt, PM me your car info and an email address, and I'll see what info and pics I can send.

 

Sounds like the folks I know who's families are from the Netherlands...

 

I've seen an (overall) junky looking parts car locally and it's a 91 Grand Marquis Sedan in Blue. What do you think? I don't need any of these parts right now but in the back of my mind I'm thinking "what if I get in a head-on" although I'm not in the habit of texting while driving. It seems like I could take these parts off it:

Interior:

Gauge Cluster
Dome Light
Radio
HVAC Cluster

I can't take the steering wheel because it's blue and it wouldn't work in my brown wagon. I can't take interior parts, maybe except a motor for the front seat if it's a power seat.

Exterior/Hardware:

Mirrors
Bumper (Front; maybe rear too?)
Fenders (the rear of the car's rusty but these look halfway decent)
Grille (Maybe but I don't think it's the same as on my Wagon)
Hood
Windshield (Maybe?)
Power Antenna (which is stuck up so I'm not sure if this even works)
Front Door Glass

The sales card in the window says it needs an engine and I think it has a blown head gasket, not like I wanted the engine.

 

Take everything you can that still works or looks good. That's how I ended up with five carryalls of parts. At one time, I also had, at one time, the header panel, hood, fenders and both front doors from the '79 Grand Marq that donated its engine and trans to my Ranchero. All those parts '88-'91 all fit, just like my parts all fit '79-'87 Panthers.

 

My father made two body mounts for the radiator frame out of industrial silicon with same shore hardness as the original ones made of rubber. Let's see if that will work out.

 

Here it is with the new headlight and almost ready for sale



While changing that lamp, I discovered a torn axle bellows. One has already been replaced, a couple years ago, and now it's time to do this one. You could get them where they somehow get glued together, so that you don't have to pull the entire shaft which doesen't look like a pleasant job on that car

 

Well, that fits nicely, i am really surprised. Both old mounts were completely broken and a previous owner "fixed" that loose thing with some silicone...

 

Silicone, it's like Duct Tape. Fixes everything!

The new headlights look nice, they turned out well.
Good luck with the axle bellows repair.

 

Thanks. I'll be lucky when nothing else fails for a while. As soon as it's done, I'm putting it up for sale, pronto. At a popular on-line car lot, no other wagon of that year had so few miles on it as mine does which gets my hopes up.
When I was at the parts store, yesterday, they had both bellows types in their data bank catalog. The clerk recommended that I stay away from the type that you glue the seam together. I'll do further research on it, later, to find out if failures are do to uncleanliness or other sloppy assembly work or if failures are inherently due to the design. If due to the latter, I'll see how far I can access the axle end, before ordering the part. Watching a video of doing it on a similar car makes it look not that hard. I used to do these on the older smaller Rabbits and Foxes. But, they had simple suspensions. Having all tools available and doing it all on a hoist wouldn't have been a problem on this one, either

 

It depends on how the stub shaft goes thru the bearing. Some are easy and some require a special press unless you are going to remove the strut assembly with the shaft. You can get into trouble real easy.

 

Until now, I've had luck with them. All Hondas were a piece of cake. As far as I remember, I never had to sledge out even one from a rusted out Beetle. What I will do, though, is to try disassemble it as far as possible. If I could get that knuckle off, I'll be on Easy Street. I coincidently met an old neighbor, yesterday, while we were in a public office who had one of these cars, though not Diesel (it doesen't matter, since they use the same parts). He advised not to use the bellows which you glue together. So, I'll follow his advice. I don't feel like selling the car and then having the new bellows fly apart shortly after.
A local Shell station has one of these parked for sale, on their lot. Supposedly, it has only about 93,000 Kilometers. It looks like a strip-down, which is fine with me and the price seems reasonable, if everything's alright. It's an ugly dark blue. But, I could live with it, just the same. Taking a look underneath, it seems cheaply-made, having a solid axle. The metal on the tranny case has a cheap metalurgic color like die-cast which doesen't do much for one's confidence:



Those were assembled in Poland, while the more rare Suzuki Wagon R+, which is basically the same vehicle assembled in Hungary, uses Suzuki drivetrains known for their quality. If I could find one of those, that would be my choice. I like the looks of it much better, to begin with:







WHY?!

 

I finally got my door panels. They have been a the upholstery shop for 4 months. Why? I'm glad you asked. The guy is very good and very reasonable. So...he is very busy. I had time on my side, so I could wait. Others bagger him and he'll sat aside jobs for people like me. (patient) But now I'm on the last lap and need to finish my interior. Gonna push him on the cargo panels and headliner. The last step will be the seats...I'm still looking for bucket/reclining seats out of a older model Chevy. I have some Racarro seats, but they are a little narrow. Check the "Garage" for progress pictures

 

Not only are they narrow. They also look out of place, in there. What you need is a pair of pre-Astro buckets

 

I noticed that after a tune-up with new spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor, the car was sputtering and hesitating. I found one plug undone and put it back on...that helped. Thinking about it I thought they had used NA*A parts and not Motorcraft. Sure enough these were commie-chinese knock-offs. I bought a new cap and rotor online new-old-stock and put them on...voila! The car ran perfectly. I bought NOS parts knowing that all of these auto parts originate from the same place and are generally junk (expensive but junque!).

 

I tried loosening that allen bolt holding the axle shaft in place. It looks like, to save sprung weight, they used allen bolts, instead of a nut on the end of an axle stud. It makes sense. But, trying the get one of these off is a nightmare. Here, my Proto 17 mm allen got stuck in the bolt. Either rust is keeping it from further entry or my Proto tool isn't machined down to exactly 17 mm. With still 7 mm to go, I tried turning the bolt anyway. It made a couple of sounds like lugnuts about to loosen do. But, I stopped right there and will try taking a point file to the bolt's surfaces and will go look for a pipe to slide over my breaker bar. This really sucks. I can't wait to get rid of this car