My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[neums]

I think mine were about $12.99 for a pair plus shipping. I had to buy two pairs though because my car is a 4-door. Can't remember where I got them though. Probably have a reciept around somewhere. I didn't rivet them in though, I used the bolts that came with the set.

[87gtVIC]

The only way I would ever re-rivet the door handles was if I was using a pneumatic rivet gun. Otherwise nylocks and phillips head bolts are the way to go to make sure everything is secured safely without damaging the paint. The ones I purchased just came as is with no hardware, though that doesn't matter because the old handles were already removed from my car for primer and replaced with nuts an bolts.

Car was supposed to get painted tomorrow but with temps expected to be up near 100 degrees one cannot paint a car.

[Jason_GMQ91]

Car was supposed to get painted tomorrow but with temps expected to be up near 100 degrees one cannot paint a car.

yeah that good idea to wait until when the weather become cool down.

[91grandmarquis]

Damn weather.... painting in that kind off heat does keep the runs at bay though

[packman]

I hope it's cooler in NY state today. Can't wait to see your car with fresh paint!


Packman

[Brown_Muscle]

Sorry if i missed this dave but where did you get your door handles from?? I'd like NOS but if there are decent aftermarket ones i wont mind getting 4... I'm definitely getting those NOS mirrors for mine tho! (the manual ones rather lol)

*correction: I just bought them *

[87gtVIC]

Pm'd ya Phil..and Nice grab on some of the mirrors.

[Lincolnmania]

i put new door handles on project 79 with a harbor freight 1/4" hand rivet gun....worked fine, the mustang door handles are the same.....you can get the door handles in black too

[Brown_Muscle]

im concerned with the chrome quality of aftermarket compared to OEM...

[87gtVIC]

Well if it makes you feel any better the handles I purchased are metal.

[87gtVIC]

Painted Halo Headrests

When I first purchased these, many years ago, they were already in poor shape. Numerous cracks and fading throughout the two headrests. Just now I get around to making them look a tad better!

I used Duplicolor Professional Flexible primer to prep the headrests and for its final coat of color I used Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric paint Desert Sand in color.

The multiple coats of primer and paint definitely took cars of some black spots ans numerous cracks and gouges. They definitely look much better than what I started with. I was a little hesitant about painting them for fear of messing something up but I am really glad I did because the difference is great. They are no longer an eyesore.

The products:



I only used about a half can of flex primer and a full can of the color to cover both headrests.

Before shots with the headrests wiped down with wax and grease remover:











First coat of flexible primer:







Second coat of flexible primer:







First coat of color:







And final coat:







The finished product:



Looks better to me!

Next up on my list of things to do is restoring my wheels well trims.

[Brown_Muscle]

Looks better to me!

Next up on my list of things to do is restoring my wheels well trims.

Nice! they look good, it'll be interesting to see how well the vinyl paint holds up.

How do you plan on restoring the wheel well trims? I want to do this at some point but it sounds expensive...

[87gtVIC]

Should hold up fine. I have used this stuff before. I currently have some on my horn pad and that is not cracking at all with all of the use it gets.

These headrests are just for show so everything should be fine for me anyway.

Some of the trims have some dents in it so all I am going to do is tap out the dents, sand out the stress marks caused by the dents (starting with something around 220 grit and ending up around 2000 grit) and then polish everything out. My main concern is to just get the trims flatter and this technique works. Not a true resto per-say, but it will work for me just fine.

[CheeseSteakJim]

Some of the trims have some dents in it so all I am going to do is tap out the dents, sand out the stress marks caused by the dents (starting with something around 220 grit and ending up around 2000 grit) and then polish everything out. My main concern is to just get the trims flatter and this technique works. Not a true resto per-say, but it will work for me just fine.

Whoever showed you this technique must've been an extremely brilliant and handsome person.

[87gtVIC]

whoever showed you this technique must've been an extremely brilliant and handsome person. :d

ha!