1990 Mercury Grand Marquis Station Wagon

[101Volts]

*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.)



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.

[Frank Lee]

Suggestions? The question is why? What? Erm?

[mcrews]

Upsize the tires on the purchase of your next set.

[mcrews]

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.

[jcp123]

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

[tvbd56]

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

[bhazard]

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.

[svt98t]

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.

[Superfuelgero]

Griswold body kit


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).

[101Volts]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Suggestions? The question is why? What? Erm?

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

Originally Posted by mcrews

Upsize the tires on the purchase of your next set.

That may be a while yet, but thanks.

Originally Posted by mcrews

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.

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



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.

Originally Posted by jcp123

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

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.

Originally Posted by tvbd56

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

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.

Originally Posted by bhazard

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.

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.

Originally Posted by svt98t

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.

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?

Originally Posted by xntrx

Griswold body kit


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).

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.