My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[packman]

Nice!!! I am curious as to whether a Whale radiator covers will fit a box? Whilst changing the oil in my '05, I found myself staring at the cover. Next time I go to the junkyard, I will try to harvest one off of a Whale. Just running this by you in case you have already pondered this yourself.

[87gtVIC]

You mean the plastic bit over the radiator core support?

Ive pondered it many times. First off they are not wide enough and would have to get two and seam them together in some fashion. Next up is the fact that none of the holes really line up with anything. I do still think about trying to make it work from time to time despite getting the same result each time at the yard. lol

[gadget73]

I always kinda wanted to make a custom fit panel for up there, probably out of something decently stiff, maybe 1/4 aluminum sheet.

[87gtVIC]

Got a quote on porting my goodies...gt40 lower and tubular upper. Porter does not recommend touching the upper but says much work can be done to the lower.

Gotta find a box for the lower and send it out.

I gotta purchase another 5.0 efi car. I have way to many damned NICE efi spare parts around here now. I would totally jump on a nice 1986 Mustang GT convertible. I guess I should have contacted the porter about port work on a tubular intake before purchasing another one. lol

[DerekTheGreat]

Why '86, was it the last of the four eyed Rustangs and/or the early interior?

[87gtVIC]

First year SEFI and last year four eye.

Lower intake is all packaged yo and ready to be shipped out. Just need to get the money order set up and actually ship out the package.

[Mr Bean]

I always kinda wanted to make a custom fit panel for up there, probably out of something decently stiff, maybe 1/4 aluminum sheet.

I have a rubber one on mine right now. I will be switching it to plastic in the near future. Rubber doesn't have quite the same fit.

[gadget73]

Lincolns have like a foot to cover, so I think metal would be the way to go for me. Not quite so bad on the Ford/Merc models.

[87gtVIC]

Laid out the cash for a set of 235 60 16 Yokohama Avid Envigor High Performance All Seasons for the Vics HPP wheels. AKA The winter wheels that only get driven during winter months and in dry weather. After a mail in rebate the total excluding shipping should hover right around 330 for the set.

Also did some more research on wheel refinishing in my area.Found some promising reviews of a place not far at all from me that supposedly powdercoats wheels. Plan to bring the set of wheels to them and see if they can meet my demands. First choice is to have the centers of the HPPS black and then the BIG lips on them be an argent silver. Next option would be entirely argent silver. I basically want the wheels to be sandblasted (as the hub areas are beginning to corrode) and have the lips smoothed over (previous owners wife did a number on a couple curbs) and have them powdercoated. I do not need to have the corroded parts near the hubs smoothed out. As long as the shit is blasted off I will be happy.

[87gtVIC]

Tires came in already. I am quite shocked. I placed the order ahead of time thinking I may be waiting on them. Little did I know they would come next day.

This means when I actually need a tire to come in I will have to wait a week for it. lol

[87gtVIC]

Played painter this morning in the backyard.

Task at hand was prepping the radiator core support and rear rain gutters for paint.

Here is the radiator core support all ready for some etch primer:




A lot of pieces needed to be removed, and even more could have been removed for an even nicer finish.

I removed the wagon fender braces and j-clips, battery hold down and j-clip, radiator hold downs, upper oil cooler mounting bracket, and even the hood bumpers:



I also prepped the rain gutter by removing the trunk weatherstripping, the lower rear window trim and the piece of trim just above the rear bumper.

A while back I picked up some NOS goodies just for this paint job:



New lower rear window trim clips and new hood bumpers. The lower rear window trim clips are brittle plastic and don’t like being removed. I destroyed only two amazingly enough.

Anyways, here is the trunk rain gutter in primer…I just hit up the bare metal areas with some etch:



And here is the radiator core support sporting its coat of self etching primer:



Here is the core support all based and cleared:





And the rear all done in the same manner:



Overall view:



Some of the products used…



I used the adhesion promoter anywhere I did not apply self etching primer. All surfaces were thoroughly prepped with degreasers and a red scotch brite pad. The 2k clear is a BOSS. Mega shine. LOVE IT.

The rear all complete:







And the core support:






Super happy with the end result of today’s work. I think I will paint the entire underside of the trunk lid some time in the future to as it just does not look as good as the rest of things. I kinda dread removing body panels but its just four bolts and it will be really easy to prep and paint while removed from the vehicle…..Hmm..gonna have to paint the arms then too. Ahh the way things just snowball out of control.

[Mainemantom]

I am always amazed at a quality of your work. Excellent job especially with using rattle cans.

[sly]

oooo shiny

[87gtVIC]

I am always amazed at a quality of your work. Excellent job especially with using rattle cans.

Thanks. Aside from the primer, the rest is all real paint just conveniently placed in a spray can.

The base coat is real base coat and the clear coat is a true 2k clear. Can has two separate compartments inside of it. You shake up the can, then puncture the secondary (internal) canister and that releases the hardener and whatever ever other good stuff that makes this paint rock, then shake it up some more.

It has a pot life so better use it within the same day for any other projects you want to clear otherwise it will harden up and be unusable.

oooo shiny

Thanks.


Being that I have the week off and the car is still in the clear (not needing to move) in the backyard, I am allowing the radiator core support to dry THOROUGHLY before I reinstall any of the parts back onto it.


In the mean time I plan to do some work to the drivers side door bottom (cleaning up some crustiness) and replace the dew wipe trim.

Years back the car was struck by a freak hailstorm and the drivers side dew wipe trim took a solid hit. A few months back I found a NOS tudor drivers side dew wipe trim on ebay.

Plan is to remove door panel, do the necessary body work (rust removal to the underside of the drivers side door...rust encapsulate, prime, base and clear), replace the dew wipe trim, swapping the rubbers at the same time as the NOS piece rubber is damaged and my aftermarket piece is perfect, and hose down the interior of the door with oil/equivalent.

Since the door panel will be off I may venture into painting the two silly lines on the door pull strap.

The door pull straps I had purchased from JC Whitney YEARS ago. Unfortunately they do not carry it anymore. They had the perfect size for tudors and four doors to boot and had a variety of colors.

Regardless, the straps have two stripes of decorative chrome trim tape. Over time that tape de-laminated and pitted. I picked up some interior and trim paint in a nice silver metallic finish that I plan to coat the two stripes on the door pulls with. Reference picture below:



Will completely remove the chrome tape (basically did on its own already) and really clean the pieces to be painted. Carefully mask everything off and scuff up the plastic stripes with a gray scotch brite. Clean everything off and apply a couple thin coats of adhesion promoter and then the silver metallic trim paint.

While writing this all out it came to me that I could maybe just use the silver metallic paint pens I have to fill in the stripes....Ill see what comes of this once I cross that bridge.

[packman]

Friggin beautiful!!!

I was just looking at my core support last week and was thinking that I should start cleaning it for paint. The lopo and AOD leaked stuff on it as I was lifting the combo out of the engine bay. Trying not to make a real project out of this, but since I am stuck, I might as well do something.