Archetype

Well, i just purchased a 91' grand marquis from florida and I live in the detroit area. There are a few problems with the car, a couple of the windows are off the track, one of the doors is stuck shut and the electronic seat adjusters for the drivers seat don't work. Im gonna get these fixed myself but i just got a few questions about the car itself. Its got the 5.0 liter engine and the odometer broke at about 43000 miles but the lady said its probably got about 85000 on it. It has new shocks, tie rods, ball joints, and tires. Overall the interior is in great condition, can use a carpet cleaning but thats not hard. It also runs almost flawlessly, no problems starting it up and the engine runs perfect as far as i can tell.

Im about to pull a 5 grand loan out of the bank to build this car to the gills and i was wondering if its easy to pull the vinyl off the top of the car or if there is all kinds of adhesive holding on because im gonna get it re-painted with a 4800 dollar paint job for about 1500 bucks (getting the hook up from my friend who works at a custom body shop) I wanted to do all the prep-work for myself, sanding the paint off and priming it and stuff. I was wondering if it would be easy to prep it myself or just pay the extra money to have them do it. There is a little surface rust on spots and a little along the edges of a couple of the doors and along the wheel well.

Another thing is the radio head, I have no idea how to pop it out of the dashboard, Although i'll be buying a new system for it also (probably run me about 500) i wanted to know how you go about popping the stupid thing out of the dash. Also I wanted to buy a good set of rims for it and im guessing that will cost me about 800 for the set. Another one of my friends can get me a real nice tint job for about 200.

So, with the paint job, a sound system, and a set of wheels ive already spent about 3000. So with 2000 what can I do to the engine/exhaust to make it more powerful?

88grandmarq

going into $5K worth of debt for a car thats worth half of that or less, just isnt a smart thing. my suggestion is fix the car up as you can, drive it and enjoy it.

as far as the speedo goes, the odometer is cableless and is driven by a, small, PM motor that gets a signal from the VSS in the trans. the PM motor then drives 2 plastic gears that turn the odometer. normally what happen is the plastic gear get brittle over time and break. its also possible the the VSS is bad or the PM motor has quit.
Check with your local speedometer repair shop about getting it fixed or getting an exchange/repaired cluster.

Archetype

Well, I make a decent amount of money, and i really like the car I dont really care about dropping a lot of money into it. Thats not something im worrying about. Im not worried about the broken odometer either because i know the gas mileage already and there is no point in fixing it if its never going to be accurate. Im looking to make this car awesome for the enjoyment of having a better than average car, im sick of having cars that just get me from point A to B without the style heh.

amo4387622

Well If you want to make the car more powerful I would first replace the rear gears I would go with a 3.55 or 4.10. Then you can do an HO swap and dual exhaust. I would also think about a shift kit or performance valve body.

Archetype

What is an HO? Sorry im a computer builder i only know enough about cars to maintain them but im here to learn. Anyway thanks for the advice I was thinking about dual exhaust but the rear gears I never thought of. Anyone else have any ideas?

amo4387622

An HO converison is taking parts from a mustang or mark 7 and putting them on your engine,
Ho Converstion:
You can swap the following parts from a Mustang engine to your CV engine with no other conversions:
Throttlebody (would require you to have your CV EGR spacer bored to match the throttle body; max bore on a CV EGR spacer is 63mm; anything bigger and you need to modify a Mustang EGR spacer to take your stock throttle linkages
Upper Intake Manifold (need to rotate it 180*, which is fine; flows better than CV)
Lower Intake Manifold (unnecessary- same as Mustang part)
Cylinder Heads (CV are E6s, while the 1987+ Mustang heads are E7s and flow a lot better)
The following parts basically require the other parts in this list to properly function. For a true HO conversion, you need all the parts listed above, too. Many people swap the parts above, then do the following when they are ready to finalize the conversion.
Camshaft (Different firing order than lopo 302)
ECM/Computer (Controls injector order and fuel/timing curves; best to use computer from a 1987-1992 Lincoln Mark VII)
Fuel Injectors (Mustang injectors are 19#, compared to the CV 14# injectors)
You do not need to re-route fuel injector wiring, but you will need to re-arrange the spark plug wires to the HO firing order once you do the cam, computer, and injectors.

Archetype

So how much on average does an HO conversion cost?

amo4387622

Not Sure because it all depends on the prices at different juck yards you go to. But I have heard people say from under a $1000 to $2000. Now I am not 100% sure on the money because it has been a while so my figuares could be way off.