Mah new beater.

[Colt45ws]

Put a spotlight back in it this morning after work.

Figure, if Im gonna have a gaping hole (albeit filled with silicone caulking) in the A pillar and door, I might as well have one there.

 

[Colt45ws]

Added Electrochromatic mirror.

I forgot to mention it earlier, but I fixed the fueling issue. The Canister Vent Valve was stuck closed. Its normally open, PCM commands it shut. I somehow didnt notice this issue the last time I looked at it.

Also, I recently added a relay to the blower motor circuit. This circuit normally comes off the fuse box under the dash, which means power comes through the ignition switch. MASSIVE load. Earlier Panthers (-00?) had an issue with this where during certain periods of low alternator output with the blower fan on high, blinkers would begin fast flashing as if a bulb was out. Even though they were all good. The issue was of course the blower motor was pulling so many amps on that side of the ignition switch, the voltage was low enough that the LCM was reading it as if a bulb was out.
In '01, I think, they moved the feed for the blinkers to a different circuit on the ignition switch, then in '03 they did away with that idea altogether, moved it to the battery junction box and put it on a relay.
I made it like the '03+. Even though since its a '02 and it shouldn't have the blinker issue, I thought especially with the age and miles I could improve it still.
For power I grabbed the factory police constant power wire (50A), which comes off the battery box, and derated it it to 30A. The factory feed only triggers the relay, now.
Easy as cake since it already had that feed coming in to the passenger kick panel. I think it took me all of 10 minutes to do the mod.

 

[Colt45ws]

Fueling issue is back. I tried just cleaning the Vent valve, I supposed Ill have to replace it.

Made the rear doors operable today. As expected, since this was a police cruiser, the rear door handles do not operate. A lot of people think this is due to the child lock switch being enabled. In fact, the door rods connecting the door handle to the latch are not connected, or may not even be present. One of the most obvious signs of this is the hole in the door panel where the manual lock rod would go.
Additionally, at some point, somebody had gotten rowdy in the back seat and broke the passenger rear door handle off.
I also connected the window switches and connected the door ajar wire so the interior lamp comes on when a door is opened.

Yes, I took this picture with a potato.

Upper rod is the manual lock rod which was there but incomplete and the lower is for the interior handle.

New door handle.

This is a complete new manual lock rod.

I opted to install only the missing piece.

I installed it with a 1/4" bolt some washers and a nylock. SUPPOSED to use a rivet, but I dont have the proper size rivet tool for it. Works as expected, which is what matters.

All together.

Then I had to look up the wiring for the rear windows to find out what may be disconnected. When I looked at the wiring for the rear switches, I found an extra wire that was taped back. Its the wire coming from the master lockout switch, so the rear switches act as if locked out no matter the position of the master switch.

Once that wire was installed in pin 3, the window switches began working dependent on the position of the lockout switch.
The other two missing pins on that switch are for the illumination. I would like to add that back in, but Ford actually got so cheap they made a second part number for police cars that has the LEDs deleted..
So, I would have to get the switches from a upmodel panther in order to actually do that.

 

[Falcon_LS]

Good work on the rear doors. I had a crazy time trying to find a driver's door inside handle in Medium Parchment. Glad you were able to find an OEM unit.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
Good work on the rear doors. I had a crazy time trying to find a driver's door inside handle in Medium Parchment. Glad you were able to find an OEM unit.

Yeah, it was on ebay. What luck that it was the correct style, color and side, right?

 

[synthetic_crazy]

Your Crown Vic looks great! You have done an outstanding job with all the items that have been replaced/repaired.

The Crown Vics are excellent cars! I LOVE my '09 Police Interceptor; there is no other car I would rather drive.

Keep up the good work!!

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: synthetic_crazy
Your Crown Vic looks great! You have done an outstanding job with all the items that have been replaced/repaired.

The Crown Vics are excellent cars! I LOVE my '09 Police Interceptor; there is no other car I would rather drive.

Keep up the good work!!


Thanks! I enjoy bringing it up to spec and improving it along the way, where I can.

Recently replaced the rear control arms.
Knew I made the right call when I pull the old ones off and the bushings fall out.

I have a new watts linkage to install, too. Im also going to do a new front end, probably. Both upper ball joints were replaced at some point, but have torn boots so need replacing again. The lower ball joints are original and seem solid, but I still have some of that looseness in the suspension and steering; Taking their age into account, Im just gonna replace them along with bushings on both control arms, or maybe whole control arms.
Also, I replaced the sidemarkers this morning.

 

[Falcon_LS]

Are the side markers OEM or CAPA certified?

 

[ls1mike]

Looks good man!

I wonder how many cars, in general, are rolling around with bushings like that.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
Are the side markers OEM or CAPA certified?


No, and No idea. My original plan was to install the sidemarkers from my '04, since I have the clear corners on it. It took me awhile to find them, and when I did I threw them out because they were full of mouse droppings. So, I was kind of upset and just bought some from ebay.

Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Looks good man!

I wonder how many cars, in general, are rolling around with bushings like that.


Probably a lot.

 

[Colt45ws]

Thread Necromancy? Thread Necromancy.
Have had to do jack to this thing.
Did have the switch in the spotlight go shorted. I believe the glue in the switch had broken down and was conducting. It got caught before the battery drained significantly.
Did install the General Altimax Arctic tires for winter.
Decided one morning I got off work and the temperature was 16F outside I wanted to try synthetic in the PS.

So I exchanged nearly 2 quarts of Castrol (I think) Mercon V that was in it for Schaeffers. Made a big difference. Still does not work well at super cold temps like that, but the difference is noticeable and it comes up into 'normal' feel faster.
Then I ordered an new Magnefine. Got that and replaced the one I put on the PS system 3k miles ago or so. Also put another quart and a half of Schaeffers through the PS system.
I didnt bother taking a pic of old Magnefine. Other than some fluff on the magnet you could take a new magnefine, soak it in ATF and thats what it would look like.
(You can also see the ADTR intake tube I installed. IT does nothing. Just for show.)
Today I decided to pull a spark plug out and inspect.
They had, at some point, installed autolite double platinum plugs. Unfortunately most of them had lost the platinum puck off the tip so they were wearing more like standard nickle plugs.


For replacement plugs, I installed the factory Motorcraft plugs I pulled out of my CVLX Here.
Knew there was a good reason for saving them. I cleaned the threads a little and threw them in. Good as new.
Did discover that some of the oil Im losing is probably leaving the valve cover gasket. Was a couple plug holes with maybe a teaspoon of oil in it along with wet oil all along the top of the head and intake manifold. It was losing 1qt/1500mi with Mobil 5000 but since Ive switched to Maxlife it has slowed and I got 2700mi out of the first quart. I would like to put valve cover gaskets on it, but its just too much of a hassle. The driver side is doable but the passenger side is pushed up against the HVAC box. Ill leave it unless it starts doing something stupid like leaking on the exhaust manifold.

 

[donnyj08]

ive been following this thread for a while without comment.

You've done and excellent job on the Crown Vic! Very impressive

 

[Dave Hess]

How much money did you spend on repairs and upgrades?

 

[Colt45ws]

Rough guesstimate, not including tires and oil?
1000-1100. Somewhere in that ball park.

 

[Dave Hess]

You got a great car for little $$$

 

[Colt45ws]

I mentioned awhile back that the door switches had no backlighting due to cheapness during the '99 model year.
While I was at a junkyard a few weekends ago, I scabbed a complete switch panel out of a '99 CVPI. I didnt know at the time how to tell if they have the backlighting. It was made after the change to no lights, so that was a bust. However, I was already on that project so I found some NOS switches off ebay and installed them. I jumpered Run/Acc power for the window switches to the lighting circuit since the wiring from the dash illumination circuit to the doors was deleted also.
So they run at full brightness whenever the car is running, but it isnt like they are that bright.
I don't forsee doing the other doors. Im happy with just mine being lighted.
Also, I swear the windows work faster with the fresh switch.

In a bit of bad news, this fender keeps shedding more and more paint every week. I keep scraping off any loose pieces I see since I came up to it one day and saw like a 'zit' in the paint. Turned out it was full of water under the paint. I popped it and scraped it off.

 

[Nick1994]

I had a 96' Chevy Silverado that the clear coat was peeling badly. One day after a rainstorm I noticed my fender looked weird and it turns out it had a TON of water underneath the clear coat! I popped that one too.

These white Fords didn't have good paint. The auctioned off police cars here that people still drive are peeling like crazy, and there's still a few that are still in service and their paint is peeling just like that too. I wonder if you could mask off around the peeling paint and sand it off and spray paint it white there, maybe that would prevent more peeling in that spot.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I had a 96' Chevy Silverado that the clear coat was peeling badly. One day after a rainstorm I noticed my fender looked weird and it turns out it had a TON of water underneath the clear coat! I popped that one too.

These white Fords didn't have good paint. The auctioned off police cars here that people still drive are peeling like crazy, and there's still a few that are still in service and their paint is peeling just like that too. I wonder if you could mask off around the peeling paint and sand it off and spray paint it white there, maybe that would prevent more peeling in that spot.

Yeah, the tendency of the white paint to fail in the manner is well known in the Panther community.
Ford Fail White
Yeah, Ive been thinking about trying something. I know it won't look good, but the grey primer looks worse.

 

[michaelluscher]

Out curiosity, did your car come with a remote key fob?

If not, would you like said functionality?

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: michaelluscher
Out curiosity, did your car come with a remote key fob?

If not, would you like said functionality?


No it didnt. I did add a cheapo aftermarket remote to it, but it quit working a couple months ago. Even before a telehandler ran over my keys and smashed the fob.
I do plan on making it work again.
Why?