Build Thread 1990 Lx 5.0 Restomod Build

[madspeed]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but a few years back I did away with my map pockets and covered it in black vinyl, as well as the inserts above the armrest. I'm still going to replace the speaker grill and armrest pad with black pieces also, just haven't done it yet.

Looks great, might try coloring the speaker covers black.

 

[bigvino]

you used filler primer on the windows? on my windows i have grooves on the moldings.

 

[boostfrk]

you used filler primer on the windows? on my windows i have grooves on the moldings.

Correct. Duplicolor grey filler primer.

As I think I mentioned before the passenger side window was in bad shape. A decent amount of the rubber had peeled off on the "front" of the window (the edge that faces the front of the car). I taped off the line where this rubber should extend to, and started shooting coats of filler primer. I'm still nervous how it's going to hold up but it's better than what was there before. Paint, sand, paint, sand, paint, sand, paint, sand, etc. nearly all day yesterday.

I've finally got this portion of the molding built back up to look like it should be. The primer was getting so heavy that I couldn't see the tape line anymore, so I removed the tape, cleaned up the edge, and then laid down new strips of tape in order to finish off the remaining coats of primer. You can see a blemish at the bottom and the top I'm still trying to get perfect. Hopefully I'll be painting these windows over the weekend.

Before I cleaned the edge up.

 

[boostfrk]

So I went to the junkyard the other day to find an electric fan from the early 90's 3.8L Taurus. Plenty of Taurus' there, but none with the 3.8L engine. I rememberd hearing something that people have said the fan from a Mercury Village or Nissan Quest was a near perfect fit. Took me 5 minutes to locate one and another 5 to pull the fan out. I paid a whopping $15 for the fan and brought it home. I've just finished getting this installed and setting it up. The fan fits inside the OEM shroud nearly perfectly.

I disassembled the fan; took the blades off as well as the motor so all I had left was the protective cover/shroud of the Mercury fan (referred to from here on out as the fan). I stacked the fan on 3 rolls of tape (scientific I know) so that the top of the fan (leaving edge) was level with the leaving edge of the Mustang shroud.

I decided I wanted 6 bolts holding the fan in place, but I didn't want the bolts very visible from the top of the shroud when looking down into the engine bay. I picked the place for the highest bolt locations to be at approximately 2 and 10 o'clock, and then measured around the circumference of the bottom of the fan. With 6 bolt holes the spacing of my bolt locations was 8-3/16". I marked these spaces and then drilled a small hole in each location. You can see some of the holes in the shroud in this picture.

Then I held the fan in place (still on my 3 rolls of stacked tape) so it lined up with the Mustang shroud, then drilled a hole into the fan using the holes in the Mustang shroud as a guide.

Then I used (6) #10-32 x 1-1/2" screws along with locking nuts with a nylon insert to prevent the nuts from backing off. There is roughly a 1 - 1-1/4" gap around the perimeter of the fan between the edge of the fan and the Mustang shroud. I was surprised how sturdy this thing is after it's all installed, but it's held in there pretty tight

I'm out of town for work all next week and the car should be done with paint sometime next week, so hopefully I'll be able to pick it up next weekend after I get back in town. I can't put the fan in until I get the car back obviously, but I also need to decide if I want to splurge for the DC controller. I'm having trouble finding information about the amp draw for this fan, especially when it first kicks on.

 

[morethrottle88]

Rite on man. That looks really good. I love seeing people use production parts from other vehicles rather that just run out to a store with their credit card. Keep up the good work.

 

[Vaz88GT]

Great build and instructions on the interior, bookmarked for sure!

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Maybe you can answer a question about SEM dye...do you know if the same stuff you use for plastic will work to dye fabric/vinyl seats? I got a back seat out of another car and it needs to be black. I don't wanna fool with liquid fabric dyes. I know the SEM is good for the vinyl part but what about the fabric?

In other news i'm following your prep/dye directions so you better not suck at this lol. So far i have the glove box door and passenger side dash panel (it's a 4 eye dash) sprayed and they look awesome, and i have the first coat on the rest of the dash done.

 

[madspeed]

No it will not, but they do make the same stuff in a flexible version which is what you'll need

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

No it will not, but they do make the same stuff in a flexible version which is what you'll need

The SEM spray can i bought actually says "FLEXIBLE COATING" and "changes or renews color on most flexible & rigid plastics, carpet, vinyl & velour" but doesn't mention fabric specifically. If it works on carpet i don't see why seat fabric wouldn't.

 

[boostfrk]

The SEM spray can i bought actually says "FLEXIBLE COATING" and "changes or renews color on most flexible & rigid plastics, carpet, vinyl & velour" but doesn't mention fabric specifically. If it works on carpet i don't see why seat fabric wouldn't.

I thought they had a different dye/paint for plastics and vinyl, but looking at their website again color coat is supposed to be good for most vinyl, flexible plastics, carpet and velour. I would think you would be ok.

As far as my process sucking...it's held up great so far for the past few months. I've received several compliments on how good the interior looks, including from my wife.

 

[boostfrk]

In other news, the car is supposed to be out of paint tomorrow or Saturday. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up Sunday.

I ordered some 3M molding tape tonight so I can stick the belt moldings back on first, the I will start putting everything else back together.

Next week I also need to order a bunch of other stuff...

Drip molding, outer door window belt molding, door handles, emblems, headlights with weatherstrip kit, etc.

Trying to decide if I want to put the "Ford" and "LX" emblems back on the trunk lid or leave them off. I'm pretty convinced to leave the LX off, but I'm not sure about the Ford emblem.

Thoughts?

 

[88LX5.Oh]

I left the Ford emblem off the hatch of my car and had the paint and body guy fill the holes. I just think these cars look excellent de-badged.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I thought they had a different dye/paint for plastics and vinyl, but looking at their website again color coat is supposed to be good for most vinyl, flexible plastics, carpet and velour. I would think you would be ok.

As far as my process sucking...it's held up great so far for the past few months. I've received several compliments on how good the interior looks, including from my wife.

You're at a definite advantage having dyed over factory black. I have a few black pieces but most of what i'm dying is gray or blue. I'm gonna pick out black pieces as i find them for cheap and spray them and replace what i have. I tried to scratch this stuff in a hidden spot to see how easily it scratches and i couldn't scratch it with a finger nail so it's pretty tough stuff. I find it funny that Ford also dyes their dashes, because you can clearly see on my gray dash that it was sprayed because you can see the gray overspray over a lighter gray color. Makes you wonder what kind of spray they use.

 

[xracer22]

For anybody wondering (and to stand behind boostfrk!) I started the black interior swap in my gt and like boostfrk I used the same techniques and the sem landau black dye. Getting the parts CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN is very important! Also from previous experience if you dont use adhesion promoter it's not going to last very long!!

My first plastic experiences was painting my wifes saleen urethane bodykit! And once you do that doing interior is a walk in the park!

Also as a reminder to any stangnet member who has not bookmarked this thread will be punched in the berries immediately

 

[gearheadboy]

So while I wait for an update... (it IS Sunday)..I was wondering what is black on your rear floor? Is that black paint or undercoat? Someone had it apart before?

 

[boostfrk]

It's an undercoat material. I thought I mentioned spraying that on there somewhere in the first couple pages of this thread. I was just trying to get a little bit of sound deadening and trying to add a bit of weight to the metal back there.

Car is still at paint. Was supposed to get it back this weekend but it didn't happen. When I talked to him on Saturday they had jut painted the bumpers and were waiting for them to dry before they reinstalled them.

 

[90silverstang]

So I went to the junkyard the other day to find an electric fan from the early 90's 3.8L Taurus. Plenty of Taurus' there, but none with the 3.8L engine. I rememberd hearing something that people have said the fan from a Mercury Village or Nissan Quest was a near perfect fit. Took me 5 minutes to locate one and another 5 to pull the fan out. I paid a whopping $15 for the fan and brought it home. I've just finished getting this installed and setting it up. The fan fits inside the OEM shroud nearly perfectly.

I disassembled the fan; took the blades off as well as the motor so all I had left was the protective cover/shroud of the Mercury fan (referred to from here on out as the fan). I stacked the fan on 3 rolls of tape (scientific I know) so that the top of the fan (leaving edge) was level with the leaving edge of the Mustang shroud.

I decided I wanted 6 bolts holding the fan in place, but I didn't want the bolts very visible from the top of the shroud when looking down into the engine bay. I picked the place for the highest bolt locations to be at approximately 2 and 10 o'clock, and then measured around the circumference of the bottom of the fan. With 6 bolt holes the spacing of my bolt locations was 8-3/16". I marked these spaces and then drilled a small hole in each location. You can see some of the holes in the shroud in this picture.

Then I held the fan in place (still on my 3 rolls of stacked tape) so it lined up with the Mustang shroud, then drilled a hole into the fan using the holes in the Mustang shroud as a guide.

Then I used (6) #10-32 x 1-1/2" screws along with locking nuts with a nylon insert to prevent the nuts from backing off. There is roughly a 1 - 1-1/4" gap around the perimeter of the fan between the edge of the fan and the Mustang shroud. I was surprised how sturdy this thing is after it's all installed, but it's held in there pretty tight

I'm out of town for work all next week and the car should be done with paint sometime next week, so hopefully I'll be able to pick it up next weekend after I get back in town. I can't put the fan in until I get the car back obviously, but I also need to decide if I want to splurge for the DC controller. I'm having trouble finding information about the amp draw for this fan, especially when it first kicks on.

Nice quality job.
What vehicle did you actually remove the electric fan from? Did you use a spacer insert between the fan and the shroud.

 

[boostfrk]

Nice quality job.
What vehicle did you actually remove the electric fan from? Did you use a spacer insert between the fan and the shroud.

Thanks. It'll all be for naught if it's too deep and doesn't fit in between the radiator and the WP pulley.

The fan came out of a 2002 Mercury Villager.

I didn't use a spacer insert. When I tightened the bolts/nuts down I would tighten one a few turns, then move on to the opposite bolt. I kept doing this so it would keep the fan centered in the shroud. Once the nuts were tight I checked that it was centered.

 

[90silverstang]

Thanks. It'll all be for naught if it's too deep and doesn't fit in between the radiator and the WP pulley.

The fan came out of a 2002 Mercury Villager.

I didn't use a spacer insert. When I tightened the bolts/nuts down I would tighten one a few turns, then move on to the opposite bolt. I kept doing this so it would keep the fan centered in the shroud. Once the nuts were tight I checked that it was centered.

So you used 10-32 screw with 2 nuts on each screw, correct?
I don't think you'll have a problem with the fan clearence to thte WP pully.
I have a 347 with a BeCool radiator, it measures 3" deep and I'm running the stock fan set up. Its tight but it works. I want to utilize the stock shroud with the electric fan as you did. I just don't know if the villager fan has enough flow as I have 430hp at the flywheel.

 

[boostfrk]

I only used 1 nut per screw. If you vizualize it starting from the outside of the shroud...

Bolt goes through shroud, there is approximately 1" gap between the shroud and fan, then the bolt goes through the fan, then the nut is threaded onto the bolt after it passes through the fan surround.

I suppose you could thread on an additional nut, but I didn't see it necessary.