Build Thread 1990 Lx 5.0 Restomod Build

[88LX5.Oh]

Too late. No one said anything but I gave it a really light bath yesterday. By the time I washed it the car had been painted for about 10-12 days; hopefully that's long enough not to cause me any ill will.

You'll be okay. It's pressure washing after painting that is a terrible idea. Top of the paint is dry, but under the dry portion the paint is still wet and if you blast at it with high pressure you'll wash the paint away lol

EDIT: this is if they didn't bake the paint on. If they baked it, it should be 100% dry, or so I would think.

 

[boostfrk]

You'll be okay. It's pressure washing after painting that is a terrible idea. Top of the paint is dry, but under the dry portion the paint is still wet and if you blast at it with high pressure you'll wash the paint away lol

EDIT: this is if they didn't bake the paint on. If they baked it, it should be 100% dry, or so I would think.

Phew!!

I've got some more pictures with the car all put back together. Will get those up later.

 

[xracer22]

I was gonna say something earlier about the wheels but i didn't want to sound like a dick! lol but since u said it first then i don't think they make your car look...... how do i say this.....as good as it could look!!! I really think it's the color of them or maybe its a bad pic or something. Its weird cause I've always liked the way pony's look on fox body's but there's something about them that just doesn't look quite right

 

[boostfrk]

I was gonna say something earlier about the wheels but i didn't want to sound like a ****! lol but since u said it first then i don't think they make your car look...... how do i say this.....as good as it could look!!! I really think it's the color of them or maybe its a bad pic or something. Its weird cause I've always liked the way pony's look on fox body's but there's something about them that just doesn't look quite right

Do they look too dark, or too brown to you? I'm not sure if it's the color of the paint or the clear...

 

[boostfrk]

Here are the pics of the car all cleaned up from last Friday. Going to keep parking it in the garage and then after Christmas give it a good wax before I start leaving it outside for much time at all, especially overnight.

I've got to figure out what to do about these damn wheels. Anyone know of a "brighter" or "lighter" silver wheel paint than the Dupli-Color? Is VHT wheel paint and clear coat any good?

 

[David Pepiton]

VHT is made by duplicolor

 

[boostfrk]

VHT is made by duplicolor

Any other options for wheel paint? Is this just how it's going to look?

Obviously I'm not the only one who thinks the wheels look off since xracer noticed it too.

I'm going to have a hard time convincing my wife I should drop several hundred dollars on new wheels and tires after I just spent the money on paint. Actually, a hard time isn't quite accurate. More like, impossible.

 

[MikeH686]

Why dont you send them out to get powdercoated?

 

[boostfrk]

Why dont you send them out to get powdercoated?

I have strongly considered this. I figure I have the cost of dismounting and remounting the tires + the cost of the powder coating. Depending on the cost I may go this route.

 

[MikeH686]

Where are you located?

 

[boostfrk]

East coast of Florida, near Cocoa Beach.

 

[MikeH686]

Oh nvm i know of a guy in pa. That does good powdercoating work but i think you should do that it would be cheaper and you would be able to get that bright silver color your looking for

 

[xracer22]

Do they look too dark, or too brown to you? I'm not sure if it's the color of the paint or the clear...

OK i don't know but maybe it was the lighting or maybe it was a bad pic or maybe it was the budweiser. But they look better in the pics u just posted of it all cleaned up. However i still think there a little dark but without seeing them in person its hard to say if it' the clear or not.

With that said i think that maybe what MikeH686 said might be worth looking into. Powder-coating does look very nice and the chrome powder coat looks good as well. I do all of my own powder-coating and the startup costs might be alot less than what you think. NOT TRYING TO JACK YOUR THREAD BUT HERES A GOOD PIC OF POWDER COAT IN CHROME.

This is the motor i put in my 95 in my avatar

Now keep in mind that this was three years ago when i did this and this was WITHOUT a coat of clear on everything! Powders have gotten alot better since then and this was when i first started out not knowing what i know now. If you have to break all the tires down and so on so fourth then getting your wheels powder coated might not be a good option for you. But you might be able to find some guys like myself who just do this for themselves and there friends and are willing to make a couple extra bucks in the process. ( i would prolly charge about $20 per wheel if that person was a FORD enthusiast)

Another thing i suggest is that you look into powder coating urself. When i first started out I bought A harbor freight sytem( $60-75 and it comes with some startup colors) A craigslist electric oven ($25) and i had my own air compressor and i wired the oven up myself. So i had about $100 into the intial cost, and later on down the road i added a harbor freight sandblast cabinet and just use my shop vac as a filtration system. The blast cabinet was the best investment by far i have ever made in my garaage! (NEXT TO THE BEER FRIDGE ANYWAYS! LOL) But it comes in real handy and i think it was on sale too like $189 i think and it can fit a 16inch rim in it. So can the oven maybe even a 17 inch.

 

[xracer22]

Btw the car looks super sweet all cleaned up!

 

[boostfrk]

Wrapped up a couple of loose ends today. I had been having issues with my front sway bar.

First it was hitting the oil pan. I had posted up here and someone mentioned to check the brackets that mount to the frame and possible the PO had used the brackets that came with the poly sway bar bushings...sure enough, that was it. Picked up some stock Fox brackets at the junkyard a few weeks ago.

Then, the poly bushings were leaving a gap between the top of the bushing and the bracket. I ended up getting a set of new bushings (stock Moog) and replaced those this morning. Got the sway bar re-installed and have plenty of gap when the bar goes underneath the oil pan.

While I was under here I installed a radiator air deflector I picked up from a local guy here.

And I finally swapped out the cruddy old rearview mirror. The new mirror sure shakes a lot. Something about the mirror must be lighter (ie: cheaper) so it can't handle the vibrations as well.

OLD

NEW (before cleaning it)

 

[boostfrk]

I was considering doing a set of 3.55's for a Christmas present, but after looking around it was much cheaper to just find a solid rear end with the right gearset in it already since I was going to have to pay someone to put the gears in. I ran across a 3.73 rear end locally that was rebuilt about 10,000 miles ago. New FRMS gearset, new FRMS trac-lok and all new bearings for $200. The guy is trying to clear out his storage unit so he can start on a new project. I talked him down to $175 and brought it home yesterday. He's also throwing in the speedo gear for 3.73's at no cost.

I wasn't planning on 3.73's, I was planning on 3.55's. About 13-14 years ago I drove a notch with 3.73's for a couple weeks. While at the time I thought I was the sh**, looking back on it I remember them feeling like really short gears. But, I figured this was a pretty good deal to pass up, and if I decide I don't like them I could probably turn around and sell the rear end pretty easily. All I'm out is my time, but with this being a project car I'm OK with that.

I popped the cover off this morning to verify that pinion gear was 3.73 again and just double check everything again. I'll end up replacing the fluid before I install it in the car along with the axle seals.

I pulled the rear out the garage and got it all cleaned up. You can see all of the dirt on the driveway.

I removed the brake line and now I'm contemplating covering up the ends and pinon flange and putting a couple coats of primer on this following by a flat or satin black paint, just to clean it up a bit more. Thoughts? I know it's under the car and you'll never see it, but while I've got it out I figured I might as well freshen it up, no? Any tips/tricks/etc.?

I been following this guy for awhile in his restoration. He had a post towards the middle/bottom of the page where he painted his.

http://aquary.wordpress.com/

 

[88LX5.Oh]

I just sprayed some flat black implement paint on mine after I got it all cleaned up. Didn't shoot any primer at all. Turned out nice.
But definitely go with implement paint, it's tough as nails.

 

[boostfrk]

I just sprayed some flat black implement paint on mine after I got it all cleaned up. Didn't shoot any primer at all. Turned out nice.
But definitely go with implement paint, it's tough as nails.

Never heard of implement paint...Where do you buy? Does it come in a rattle can?

 

[88LX5.Oh]

Never heard of implement paint...Where do you buy? Does it come in a rattle can?

Yes it comes in rattle cans. It's tractor paint is what it is. Really thick tough stuff and I use it on everything lol. Where I get it locally is at Race Bros and Tractor Supply. I don't know if you have either of those where you live

 

[Vaz88GT]

Yes it comes in rattle cans. It's tractor paint is what it is. Really thick tough stuff and I use it on everything lol. Where I get it locally is at Race Bros and Tractor Supply. I don't know if you have either of those where you live

Just go to TSC and buy some Blitz Black paint it works fine