1987cp's new '81 LTD 2-door

[86GmLsCoupe]

hope you don't plan on painting the car, like ever. once that silicone gets on the paint, you're pretty much done for. it will fisheye like a bitch.

I was lucky with my repaint. I always silicone the tires, bumper moldings, and rub strips, and have made the the mistake of trying to do the vinyl top once or twice over the years. I used silicone and grease remover all over the car, and had the painter finished prepping it and I don't have a single fish eye.

[1987cp]

Ok, so i'm not too sad about the clears.

But what about those cranks for a trade?

Man ... I should NOT have bought a two-door car with you around! And just when I'm looking forward to not having to worry about finicky electronics to keep my windows going up and down ..... :p

[1987cp]

Anyway, rest of the story about last night is that I went over first thing this morning and swapped starters and drove it home.

hope you don't plan on painting the car, like ever. once that silicone gets on the paint, you're pretty much done for. it will fisheye like a bitch.

I was lucky with my repaint. I always silicone the tires, bumper moldings, and rub strips, and have made the the mistake of trying to do the vinyl top once or twice over the years. I used silicone and grease remover all over the car, and had the painter finished prepping it and I don't have a single fish eye.

I'm hoping for a while to get away with just buffing the original paint and touching-up where it's damaged. Lack of fisheyes FTW!

[P72Ford]

hope you don't plan on painting the car, like ever. once that silicone gets on the paint, you're pretty much done for. it will fisheye like a bitch.

How true. I have had that happen way too many times... you'd think I'd learn.

If it starts to fisheye while you are apinting, you can add a product called "Smoothie" to the paint (in the gun). That really helps to eliminate them.

After i repainted the passenger's front fender and door on my car, I had porosity in the paint. I wet sanded it, making the pores really visible, and it looked really bad. After I waxed it like 3 times (ocver the course of a year), I decided I wanted to fix the paint. So, I sanded it down, and got ready to paint. Fisheyes the first pass with the gun. The wax had caked in the pores, and caused that to happen. Smoothie helped, but it would still look better if I color sanded the fender and door.

[1987cp]

Question

How gay would it be to buy this old LTD II trunk emblem, cut off the "II", and put it on the two-door?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1970S-FORD-LTD-II-CHROME-TRUNK-EMBLEM_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247QQcategoryZ33643QQihZ019QQitemZ290104333499QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

[Nathan in MI]

Ummm...what does an emblem have to do with your sexual orientation? :confused:

[1987cp]

Okay, scratch "gay" .... substitute words like "stupid", "randomly destructive to historical artifacts", "detrimental to the appearance of my own car", that sort of thing.

[86VickyLX]

nice day time shots of the 81. mike I didn't know there were no chrome stocks on your 81. Plus that's the first time me seeing that different wiper stock.

What's with the wire?

[Nathan in MI]

Okay, scratch "gay" ....

Done.

substitute words like "stupid",

Slightly.

"randomly destructive to historical artifacts",

Meh.

"detrimental to the appearance of my own car", that sort of thing.

Depends on if you do a good job of cutting it up or not. Or you could just leave the II on there and hope no one notices.


There. That a thorough enough analysis for you? :p

[P72Ford]

Those wheels look awesome on there. I still can't believe you got that car for 500...

As far as the LTD II emblem: Toss that bad boy on the deck lid. I'd leave the II attached, and paint the insert black (around "LTD"). It'll look fine. Besides, how many people know the difference between and LTD and an LTD II? Just say the II means that this is your second LTD. The first was a CS, and this (the second LTD) is a tudor...

[88Vic]

Throw the emblem on and if someone asks, say the "II" is because it's a 2door. Problem solved

[1987cp]

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. The most obvious thing would of course to be the curlicue LTD script like is on the p/s C pillar, but I really don't like it that well. I've found a couple more badges I ought to consider:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FORD-LTD-EMBLEM_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33643QQihZ006QQitemZ160212141436QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1972-FORD-GALAXIE-LTD-CONV-TRUNK-COVER-EMBLEM-NOS_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42606QQihZ016QQitemZ260215142777QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

I also thought about the Fox LTD badge, but I don't think it would look right. Best bet in my mind is to try to match the style of the "F O R D" lettering on the port side of the decklid.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FORD-LTD-II-SCRIPT-EMBLEM-BADGE-METAL-77-79_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ80736QQihZ018QQitemZ280203673182QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Those wheels look awesome on there. I still can't believe you got that car for 500...

Heh.... if you'd been the one trying to convince the dumb thing to stay running whilst pulling into the garage a couple days ago, you'd believe the price a bit better! The old Duraspark module flaked out again after only about 5 minutes' running time, and even after swapping the HEI module back on temporariliy, it still really didn't want to stay running. Methinks this engine has reached about the end of its usefulness!!

[Lincolnmania]

did you get it home from the video store yet?

[1987cp]

What's with the wire?

That's a piece of old speaker wire, presumably leading to the blue-cone Alpine speakers in the dash.

[1987cp]

did you get it home from the video store yet?

Yuppers; that was the first time temporarily rigging the HEI module. Then the starter crapped out after it fired exactly once, so I got to swap the starter in the Family Video parking lot first thing Sunday morning.