1990 Mercury Grand Marquis Station Wagon
 

*Edited since initial post.*

Behold! An icon of painters, Carpenters, Traveling salesmen, derby drivers and many families. Also known as a land yacht with a large CD. :P A STATION WAGON!

(Edit: I decided to not mod this car much, it's not driven a lot. I'd be satisfied with 25 MPG HWY out if it and the ideas mentioned below would do.)

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ps9097b837.jpg

A 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis Colony Park.

Current Status (Last Updated June 1 2017):

ATF: SuperTech Mercon V
Motor Oil: Castrol Magnatec 5w30
Differential Oil: Amsoil Severe Gear 75w90
Tires: 215/70R15, "35 PSI Max"

Ideas for mods:

Electric Fan Conversion
Engine & Transmission Pre-Heaters
Rear Wheel Skirting
215/75R15 Tires (The car's mostly a HWY traveler.)

I'm working with a nice CD of about 0.51 here along with a curb weight of about 4,000 pounds. The EPA's Combined rating for this car is 18 MPG.

Suggestions? The question is why? What? Erm? :confused:

Upsize the tires on the purchase of your next set.

btw, welcome!!!

you could go to 43-45psi on the tires

I would gut the rear. bet there is a third row seat. lose the full size spare and go w/ a dounut.
reline the rear with carpet to keep the noise down.

They'll chime in with plenty of suggestions...I just wanted to say that for whatever reason, these are personal favourites of mine, and fairly rare in that vintage to find a wagon...nice car :D

you could remove the mud flaps, remove the mercury emblem on the hood, and you could possibly remove the passenger mirror because it looks like with all those windows you can see anywhere and everywhere around you

That thing is sweet. I wouldn't ecomod it. Too rare these days. Drop an EFI 351w in it with a big fat turbo.

I also like the old 2-door vic/GM. You really dont see those much anymore.

Welcome to the Party!!

You could lower it a bit. And honestly, it might help by putting a 5.0 HO from a Cougar/T-Bird/ Mustang in there with a A9 computer. Also, because it's a wagon, it may have the towing package with 3.55 RAR.
I have 2.73s in my 93 and its killer for mileage.... on the highway.

I have a list of door sticker axles codes, but my other forum is experiencing server issues. (GrandMarq.NET - Panther Headquarters) Tons of info on the "Box" style Panthers.


It's nice to see another Panther owner try and tackle some type of ecomodding!


-ryan s.

Griswold body kit
http://bhavens.com/bigheadfred/wp-co.../truckster.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...cf/bsxfnhf.png
My mother in law had one of those when I got married (crown vic, 1990 also), was a boat and drove like it (also had bad shocks). Thing died at 60mph on the highway, so make sure the ignition module is fairly new (think there was a recall).

Oh, Thanks. I mean suggestions for Hypermiling modifications. Sorry. (Original post now changed.)

That may be a while yet, but thanks.

Thanks. It does have two seats in the rear, per the Ford style:

http://stationwagonforums.com/forums...nt.php?id=4479

I'd like to have an idea of what the car gets FE-Wise first, though. And I need a clean storage area for them if I do remove them - The Garage isn't going to work without a little changing stuff around.

Thanks. I read on Wikipedia that 4,450 of these (Mercury Grand Marquis) Wagons were made in 1990 so yeah. Comparably, 1984 saw somewhere between 60k-70k Chevrolet Caprice and/or Caprice Estate Wagons manufactured.

This one's staying off winter roads. The previous and original owner never drove it then and he lives in Pennsylvania too, 55 (give or take) miles from me.

I'll be leaving the mud-flaps to keep the car in the shape it's in. It is easier to pull this into the garage reversing than the Chevy Caprice Sedan. I may at least look up how to take the mirrors off as I drive the Chevy without a passenger-side mirror since it didn't come with one. Thanks.

Hm. Maybe not much for ecomods, though there is hypermiling potential. The previous owner said he was getting 25 MPG HWY with it, going to Florida. Thanks.

I still have stuff to learn since I'm not 100% sure of what you're saying here. Thanks though. And I have been on the forum for a while but is that what you're referring to?

Thanks, I do think I should check out numerous things in the car. I'll be leaving it in the Mercury type look. I did look up recalls for this year of car, there was something with the air-bag which may effect this car and I'm not sure if the previous owner had that replaced or not or if it even was or is an issue.

________________

I should upload a photo of the engine. I'm also thinking of adding engine heaters, I think those can be of great benefit on some trips.

I'd consider a manual transmission and engine swap. Maybe a 4.2L Essex V6 out of an F-150 wouldn't be that bad.

Just an update since I'm going through my other threads on here; I'm not driving this in the winter due to the anti-ice spray. It's a summer car.

I'll also be changing the oil and the transmission fluid. I flushed and changed the coolant; That old fluid was all rusty, it needed changed. I need to stick a new thermostat in; the current one which I put in is a failsafe thermostat that permanently opens just below where the book says the heater opens at. So, I made a boo-boo by not checking. Sometimes, the more expensive option isn't the best one.

EDIT I'm not sure the failsafe thermostat permanently opens at that temperature. I don't actually know what the "Overheating" temperature is!

WINTER IDLING TANKS MAKE F.E. FALL DOWN GO BOOM. Pffhaha, I just got 13.93 MPG. No problem though, And now I've maintained the car: Engine Oil and Filter Change, ATF (2/3 of it) and Filter Change. I drained the torque converter, I have no idea how many miles or how much time was on the older fluids but now I have a starting point. I also flushed out old brake fluid and changed the power steering fluid a few times.

So I took it for a drive - about 166 miles - yesterday. Worked nicely, but I have to say this automatic transmission was not designed to climb hills in Overdrive. I switch it to D for most hill climbing, and sometimes it seems like even that isn't enough so it's good that I have one more gear to work with.

I put the tires to 36, too. I know that's not much above the sidewall. I think I may mostly just use this car for trips, so it's going to have a lot of HWY/Trip miles. So, when I do post MPG figures they should be higher ones unless I've been idling it over the winter like this last tank. I expect to work with 100% gas in it sometimes, as well; This is indeed more costly and the MPG/Cost figure is not equal right now (Ethanol gas: $2.859, 91 grade 100% Gas $3.459) but it's also an older car which may benefit from this more. I read someone with a 1975 Pontiac Wagon had his fuel lines rot out from ethanol gas, I realize this car is 15 years newer but still - there may be other benefits to using it.

Reliability cancels out FE concerns. Suspension bushing replacement, as well as body to frame bushings would be one of my first changes. Best shock absorbers. Springs and steer components are likely in need of replacement. Upgraded anti roll bars. Slightly wider rims and using police spec radial tire size.

I had a few wagons along the way. Hitting 20-mpg would be a chore. As a gear and people mover it's a nice way to travel.

But a 25-yr old vehicle is going to be plagued more by reliability concerns as said. I'd find a good cruise control set speed and otherwise learn how to drive it. Control the number of accel and decel events and keep trip planning as a high priority. When and where to stop on a trip is gold.

First mod

https://40.media.tumblr.com/19a05b27...mw7ho3_500.png

As a rule of thumb, for each 1% ethanol content in gasoline, you shall expect a 0.3% decrease in mileage.

Except that doesn't seem to be the case at lower (<50%) ethanol concentrations.

It applies to every ethanol content beyond 20%.

That's debatable but in any case you didn't mention it originally.

I'm so used to the mandatory ethanol blend back here (it's usually between 20 to 25%, but it's now on 27% for the lower-grade gasolines and 25% for the highest-grade one) that I often forgot it's a Brazilian deal. Anyway, since the gasoline available here is usually at a lower grade than its American counterpart, one might expect that rule of thumb to be also effective there.

Whatever just happened, it looks like the fuel economy went up a bit with use over the last several tanks since the idling tank. It's a combination of that I used up the old "winter tank" gas and that I've just been using the car for long trips, and also (maybe?) that I just stuck some Iso-Heet in the fuel this last tank. I haven't filled up yet, though I can say the fuel economy (unless I now idle it away) is above 20 for this tank unlike the last two fill-ups. I haven't filled it back up yet.

Possible, still considered mods and ideas for future use:

Full Synthetic Fluids - ATF (Mercon V,) Power Steering Fluid (Which is ATF type F,) Engine Oil (0w30; May also use Archoil Friction Modifier) Gear Oil (75w90.)

These full synthetic fluids, I'm told, may indeed necessitate the use of a rebuild of both the engine and transmission which is why I haven't gone with them just yet. Got any suggestions, with 231.5k on the odometer? I think the odometer's a bit off though and reads higher than it is since the speedometer's 4 MPH too high at 55 MPH.

On-Demand Fan
Larger Tires

Also, to inspect and/or fix these:

Fan Shroud
Driver's Window (was acting up a bit though is closed now)
Inspect Suspension Bushings
Rust Bubbling Repairs (which there are a few to have removed and replaced with new metal and finish touch ups)
Speedometer Accuracy (reads +4 MPH too high as is)
Etc, Etc...

I'm going all out in my imagination, WITH a towing hitch. The previous owner did convert the A/C to R134, to speak a bit for his ownership of it.

I read the manual; it says the car can run on 100% Gas, 90% Gas/10% Ethanol and even 5% methanol. Methanol isn't commonly sold here, so what do you think of adding some bottles of this HEET (Yellow Bottle) to each tank?

http://www.goldeagle.com/sites/defau...28201front.jpg

HEET (Yellow Bottle) is 99% Methanol. As I understand it, Methanol burns cleaner than gasoline. My tank is 18 gallons, so 5% is 0.9 gallons. Nine bottles = 108 ounces = 0.84375 Gallons. However, the HEET website doesn't recommend to use more than two bottles per 20 gallon tank of fuel. I can't imagine it takes into consideration my engine is actually designed for 5% methanol though, so now the question is: What else is there in this additive? Or, should I look for another source to get Methanol to put 0.9 gallons in per tank if it's cheaper? One Gallon = About $15.90 if I buy them individually, costs less in larger quantities.

I don't expect to be using 0.9 gallons in to start out, maybe half that. I don't want to knock out unburnt particles too fast and clog something.

What is the goal? :confused:

It's part to make sure the fuel system is cleaned out for MPG increasement. Maybe nine bottles is a bit much, so one or two could do just fine. Just wondering if it's a useful option.

I don't get on here much as my Scion gets 33 MPG almost no matter how I drive.
I am sick of driving it, too much like a tin can, square one. :D I dream of a big quiet comfortable car like yours. In fact I had one and I swear the window sticker claimed 28 MPG? freeway of course. I never really drove it as I bought it for the engine/trans, and ended up using an Explorer engine trans for my project.
Anyway good luck - more power to you! :thumbup:

One or two bottles might be a rather conservative figure, targeted to econoboxes with smaller tanks, or to avoid damages to the fuel hoses when they're not rated for alcohol.

Alright. The manual also states I can use up to 10% Ethanol, so no problem with it.

I may want to have a look at the Caprice though, being that it's a 1984 model I'm not sure it was designed to run on Ethanol without adjustments and the fuel lines being replaced.

Though the small-block Chevy V8 is somewhat tolerant to alternative fuels, it's better to pay some special attention to the carburettor. Depending on which material is the float made out of, it may get degraded by the ethanol.

Today, at 231,668 (approx.) on odometer I changed the differential oil to Amsoil Severe Gear 75w90. The old oil was noticeably thicker when cold than the Amsoil was, and I have no idea what the old oil was. No issues driving on this gear oil 50+ miles today. I should see some improvement.

I'm probably not going to do much to this car; we've only driven it 3-4k miles since purchase in August 2014 and it'll never be a winter car as far as I can see. I'm never removing the roof rack, the most I can see changing (if I'll even bother) are these:

1: Electric Fan;

2: Pre-Heaters;

3: Custom Rear Wheel Skirting, must match the surrounding woodgrain;

4 Air Dam (although it's a stretch and I won't make it cheaply.)

It's too much of a showcar to do much but look pretty and be a pleasure to drive on the rare occasion I do drive it; I've had it in the garage every single day while it isn't driven.

Small update. I don't expect to do much with this car, it's hibernating now (I never use it in winter) but here are my goals:

1: Change the oil from Castrol Magnetec 5w30 to something thinner (Magnetec's a very thick 5w30 and I've mostly been getting 18 MPG in this car partly because of that,)

2: Fix the broken coolant temperature gauge and broken odometer;

3: Replace the recently stuck open thermostat.

Do it ASAP. Some people claim a Ford doesn't need a thermostat, but that's a misconception.

Understood, thanks. The coolant never gets past 130 like this, it needs to be about 60 degrees hotter. The car's just going to sit all winter now aside from an occasional startup, however, so I'm not in a hurry.

Indeed. But anyway, in my homeland I see Ford owners getting rid of the thermostat and running without it even in the winter, claiming the failure rate justifies not replacing it in due time. Well, if I would ever take that risk, I'd try at least an adjustable grille block. BTW I know it's a whole different matter, but Citroën resorted to a removable flap as a way to avoid the bypass valve on the oil cooler of the 2CV.