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Sousa632's 2001 Duratec Sable LS Premium Wagon

100K views 525 replies 45 participants last post by  ice445 
#1 · (Edited)
01 Sable LS Premium Wagon, Duratec. Auto Climate control, Cloth seats, pleather door inserts, column shift.



I bought the wagon to replace my wife's Saturn wagon cause we needed more space. Space we got! I picked it up for $1400 and have done a bunch of work to it since it was in my driveway in June of 2011. So far I have replaced the battery, coil, plugs/wires, UIM/LIM gaskets, a few vacuum lines, PCV/PCV hoses, front/rear brake pads and rotors, 3rd cat, 2 o2 sensors, rear balljoints(YES...... a wagon DOES have rear balljoints and YES....... they are replacable), the heater blend door motor, and typical routine maintenance items.

This is how she looked when she came home, and what she replaced in the background...







Ripping in the engine to replace the UIM/LIM, plugs wires and coil




It was hot this day....




I took the Tbird Sport rims I had on my Tbird and put them on the wagon with 225 60R16's on them










After that I put the stock rims back on it and started tinting the rear windows. I never completed that yet with winter set in and no garage to do it in.....







Finally setteled on getting rid of the black Tbird rims, and painted them silver and I'm sticking with that. I might sand them back out and go gunmetal in the spring but I'm not quite sure yet. This picture I took down the road from my house just after Hurricane Sandy right by the water. This area was under water during the storm......... we lucked out.









She's been put to work many times






Cant do that with a sedan! ^^



I'm in process of fixing the lovely door panels now -_-. You can see how bad they are here.




Once the weather finally gets above a reasonable temp to go out and work on the car I have front struts, balljoints to do to it. I also have to get a replacement heater bled door motor(warranty item). I'm hoping to have them done soon cause it's driving me nuts having parts here, and not having them on the car where they are needed............ :angry:

She's been a trooper! I used her to drive the family to NC for vacation, as well as dropping the seats and loading it up with stuff to take to the recycling center as well as trips to home depot for doors in my house. A true all purpose vehicle without being a gas guzzeling truck or a van. Can't go wrong with a wagon! With a new set of front tires I wouldn't hesitate to drive this car down to FL(which I might to get away from this damn cold, and visit family). :p I need to get some new pics...... all these are old minus the one from Hurricane Sandy but that's still like 3 months old.
 
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#2 ·
Sousa needs some wagon love! Get those struts done! Lemme know how much better they are then the ones on there now.
 
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#6 ·
Nice wagon, good price too!

You might get a slight bump in fuel economy if you removed the crossbars from the roof.
For the amount of highway driving I do with it, it wouldn't really make a difference however it might be a neat look to get rid of the crossbars. I might try that this weekend.


Thanks for the comments guys. I really do like this wagon. I've been a wagon/van kind of guy cause they are so versitile. Use them to tote the family around, then drop the seats and load it up with stuff. It's been reliable, just needed some lovins.


I'll definately let you know, Sam, how those struts work out. Like I said though it's been a COLD one up here and I haven't had a chance to put them in. I'll bet it'll make a difference though cause wat I have are toast.
 
#7 ·
Hopefully you will be getting a sound upgrade pretty soon as well :D

I like how you took the COTY signature. Hopefully it will bug everyone enough that they will actually vote haha!
 
#8 ·
Hopefully you will be getting a sound upgrade pretty soon as well :D

I like how you took the COTY signature. Hopefully it will bug everyone enough that they will actually vote haha!
It seems like all the mods have it in their sigs so I figured, might as well being I'm part of the team. ;)
 
#14 ·
So after getting the mach amp and tweeters I put them in. I had to modify the stock mounting plate for the rcu but it was nothing big.

Stock out...... mach in!




Mach goodness sitting behind there!




And the tweeters to match! I was more than pleasntly suprised to see that the doors were wired up for the tweeters. Plug and play with the appropriate connectors and crossovers.



I must say for this being a 'stock' system it's one of the best stock systems I've ever heard! Even with the original 2001 stock speakers. WELL worth the upgrade for anyone looking to do it.

Here is a link to my wagon MACH rcu writeup and everything I did to make it work. http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/117...isual/175131-wagon-mach-rcu-installation.html
 
#15 ·
Congrats man! The forum thanks you for the writeup! Added to topic finder.

You got a STEAL of a deal on your RCU and tweeters too... if I may say so myself :p

Got lucky that it was pre-wired for the tweeters. That's a PAIN to wire up. At least mine came with tweeters so I didn't have to do anything!

Glad you are enjoying it.
 
#16 ·
LOL. Thanks again Sam. I certianly got a steal on it. I was suprised that Ford put the wiring in eventhough it was not in my car. I think it might even be wired for puddle lamps as well. That might be a future upgrade but I have to take care of a few maintenance items when it gets warmer out ;)
 
#17 · (Edited)
You can see if it is wired for puddles. See how many wires are on the mirror harness in the door panel. just unplug the connector and count the pins. 99% sure all 2001's are not though.

If it isn't wired, simply run a power and ground from the new puddle lamp mirror. Power splices into a wire under the passenger a pillar trim. Ground works on the door pretty well but is more ideal to go back inside the car.

Sent from AutoGuide.com App
 
#19 ·
Are your current mirrors heated? Should be 7 wires for puddle lamps, 5 for non but with heated mirrors. Just check. Not 100% sure if that number is correct. Could look it up but too lazy.
 
#21 ·
Well maybe you are wired up. I thought that wasn't an option until the 2002 MY though. Maybe if yours was a late build 2001 it may have had it wired in for some reason. What month was yours built? 5 wires body side is what mine has. If yours has 7 then you may have it wired. The reason I doubt it is because they changed the GEM/SJB for the 2002MY. It had puddle lamps wired in. Maybe you'll get lucky though.
 
#24 · (Edited)
So after finding the ball joint on the passanger side damn near ready to fall apart I figured it was time to tackle the BJ's and FINALLY put in the struts I got from Sam.

Look ma..... no wheels....(started at ~1:30pm)




Had it tore down to this by 2:15



Here's how I removed the lower BJ.... I stuck the pickle fork in there and gave it a few 'love taps'. Then I took the hammer and hit the threaded part of the BJ up, trying to free it up...... then I took my 4' pipe hooked it into the pickle fork and stood on the end like so.







POP...... BJ came right loose. The second picture was when it was already loose but I had about 2' of leverage to push down.

I then used a pry bar, inserted it in the LCA pushed down while working the knuckle up and out and it came right out..... on the passanger side. The drivers side took a little more 'finess'(cussing all the way) :rolleyes2:



Low and behold the end result...



I then removed the BJ with a loaner from Vato Zone. I didn't use the Ford specific one and it wrked fine for me. The recieving cup was a little large but I was able to make it work no problem.

I had a pair of complete struts I picked up from Sam(Breeves002, thanks again!!) so I put them in while the car was all apart. So far it feels MUCH MUCH better. I've only taken it locally so I can't say buch but the clunking and overall looseness it had is 95% gone. I still have a clunk in the rear I have to find but that didn't concern me as bad as seeing the BJ in the front being as bad as they were..... Here's a vid of how bad the BJ's were.

 
#25 ·
And BTW.... I'm a FIRM believer in the 50-50 ATF/Acetone concoction. I mixed some today and hit everything I was removing. Everything came free very easily. I missed the caliper bracket bolts and they refused to come loose. I hit them with the concotion, 5 minutes later they came right out.
 
#26 ·
Glad you got it all fixed! I hope mine aren't that bad..... I shall have to try that concoction!

No problem on the struts. I hope they don't give you any problems. From one sable to another!


Sent from AutoGuide.com App
 
#27 ·
They are a world of difference from the ones I had in mine. The ATF/Acetone I'm sure helped a LOT. You just have to make sure that before you use it, to mix it because it was seperating if left sitting too long. Maybe it's cause I was using the old Type F I had from decades ago :rolleyes2:

The biggest bitch is the lack of clearence on the drivers side. If you dont drop the subframe 1/2-3/4" you will have to wrestle with it.
 
#29 ·
Wow looks like the ball joints that were on my 97. Way toasted. Good job, congrats getting it done.
 
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