Quick update:
thermostat helped a bunch. Up to ~22mpg on last highway haul. Since then have deleted belt-driven fan, and added an electric fan I had laying in the "warehouse". Actually, a storage room off the garage that my wife is afraid to enter. I don't have it on an automatic switch yet, so the manual switch for the fan is right next to the new temp gauge.
BUT...
I found out today that it has 3.55 gears in it! To quote Frank Barone, HOLY CRAP!!! Yeah, the door tag says it should have 3.08, but obviously a PO thought he was a drag racer. GEEEEZZZZZ!!!!!
A friend has a collection of Crown Vics/Grand Marqs that he uses for demo derby, and he's drooling over the thought of swapping my 3.55 axle for one of his 3.08's, and he's not sure he doesn't have a 2.73! So it'll be free, AND I'll have help to do it! Now, if it'll just get up over freezing...
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'96 Escort LX, now known as "deerslayer"
'84 Merc Grand Marquis, affectionately known as "le barge"
~35,000 mostly 2 lane highway miles a year.
I was born a Rambler man, but with the passing of AMC (sigh), just give me another Ford.
How many kids with A.D.D. does it take to change a light bulb?
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Hey, ya wanna go ride bikes?