LTDMan's '87 Ford LTD Crown Victoria LX (The Blue Beast) *DUW*

[packman]

I don't remember what color you had planned for this car, but you should go with a darker color to show off the smoothness of that car.



Packman

[ÆJackacks]

so is there like a proper method for measuring the straightness or do you just stare at it from alot of different angles until it looks good?


-kev

[p71towny]

A paint stir stick is approx the right gap spacing.

[LTDMan83]

I don't remember what color you had planned for this car, but you should go with a darker color to show off the smoothness of that car.



Packman

Going with a repaint of the stock color, which is Midnight Blue Metallic. Also known as Deep Wedgewood Blue. It's the same color that Ford uses for the background of their logo.

so is there like a proper method for measuring the straightness or do you just stare at it from alot of different angles until it looks good?


-kev

Yea, there is a proper method, but I'm too poor to afford any of the equipment. The shop I work for has the entire deal, though it's mainly just to save time when working a a customers car, as no one is gonna have the time to stand there and stare at it for hours. I'm more old school anyway, and I also have the Eye of the Cynic, (which means that I can spots flaws very easily) so I prefer the tried and true method of just standing back and staring at it from different angles, and then tweaking it some more, until I'm happy with it. I bet my neighbors wonder what the hell I am doing sometimes, when they see me walking around from place to place in my yard, just staring at the car the whole time, lol.

[LTDMan83]

140mph Speedo Install

Couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd post an update...


140mph Speedo bought off eBay for $10. Turned out to be in really nice condition.




I swapped over the Printed Circuit, and the Gear Shift Indicator Plate and Needle assembly, from the civilian 85pmh speedo.




Working on the speedo. I couldn't get the pin that holds the odometer gears to press out, and I would have been really pissed if I had broke it, so I left it alone. I will just keep track of the mileage difference separately on my own. By the time I'm done with this car, the original mileage isn't going to mean much anyway.




Fully Re-assembled. I also installed some Spark Blue LED's into the clusters 4 back-lighting areas, and took the time to polish the Lens of the speedo, removing all of it's light scratches in the process.




Almost perfect condition Speedo dash trim, that I found on eBay, to replace the original piece (which also had an 88-89 vent).




Both the Speedo and Trim, installed in the Car.






Nightime Shots of the speedo. My camera sucks at night shots, so these are the best I could manage. I love the soft glow of Blue LED's.










Now, the Interior restoration begins. I have to pull the entire steering column out next, AGAIN, so that I can fix the rust that has recently formed inside the lip of its cut-out through the firewall. UGHA!

Stay Tuned...

[Jason_GMQ91]

wow looks almost brand new!

[87gtVIC]

You could have just swapped the entire backing (actual plastic and printed circuit) from the civi model right on to the police model, but it looks like you made out fine. I was afraid to ruin my printed circuit so i didnt even bother removing mine. And i get so excited everytime i see a 140 speedo. They look so good.

Looking great man.

[p71towny]

Cool! I wished Ida swapped in LEDs when I did mine. Only thing I did different was colored my speedo needle orange with a sharpie marker.

[LTDMan83]

You could have just swapped the entire backing (actual plastic and printed circuit) from the civi model right on to the police model, but it looks like you made out fine. I was afraid to ruin my printed circuit so i didnt even bother removing mine. And i get so excited everytime i see a 140 speedo. They look so good.

Looking great man.

Yea, I found out afterward that they were the same, and I ended up using my original housing anyway, after I noticed that the PI one only had 2 cutouts for the speedo lighting.

Cool! I wished Ida swapped in LEDs when I did mine. Only thing I did different was colored my speedo needle orange with a sharpie marker.

I would like to have a Custom 140mph faceplate made, which would have 88mph highlighted and circled, like the 55mph mark is. I'm gonna need it for teh future Flux Capacitor install.

[ÆJackacks]

I found that brown dash piece from under the steering colum with the ant switch , it's in a tiny junk yard near my house, with a volkswagon sitting on top of it, interior is mint . I can pick it up for you, i probably will go get it next time i am there anyway


I was also looking at the pic with all the hardware restored from the front end. What is that beige stuff on the threads? or is that a relfection. . ..

[packman]

Looking good mang!!! The devil is in the details and that car has plenty little devils in and around it.



Packman

[LTDMan83]

I found that brown dash piece from under the steering colum with the ant switch , it's in a tiny junk yard near my house, with a volkswagon sitting on top of it, interior is mint . I can pick it up for you, i probably will go get it next time i am there anyway


I was also looking at the pic with all the hardware restored from the front end. What is that beige stuff on the threads? or is that a relfection. . ..

Oh man!, does it have a Velour Interior, with a Mint/Near Mint PS Front door panel? Or maybe a 85-87 Radio Trim Bezel, which still has all the silver pin striping intact? That is what I really need for my interior.

I decided awhile back to delete the Power Antenna and switch from the car, so now I am back using the original brown piece, without the cutout for the antenna switch, but thanks anyway man!

The threads on the Front Clip Hardware were dipped in a special type of self-etching primer, to keep them from rusting in place after being installed.

Looking good mang!!! The devil is in the details and that car has plenty little devils in and around it.


Packman

Thanks Mang! I'm all about attention to detail.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


On a side note, I found some documentation papers stuffed under the carpet when I was disassembling the interior of the car awhile back, which state that the car was originally shipped by the factory to Salem, VA and was turned over to Magic City Ford in late 1987.

[ÆJackacks]

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...665#post434665

There is a few phone pics of it there, not sure what a Velor interior is but it is a LTD CV i don't remember what the radio bezel thing looked like but i remember everything looking in good cond. I will go to the yard again on Saturday, need to make a list of everything i need cause i always forget to get shit out of cars i have seen there b4 lol.

[LTDMan83]

Update:

Plans have changed slightly.

I met a guy at work today that has a nice '69 Lincoln Continental Mark III for sale, in damn near immaculate condition. This is one of my all-time dream cars, and I just about shit after he showed me the pictures, and told me how cheap he is selling it for. It was his grandpas car, so he's not in a hurry to sell it to anyone, and just wants it to go to a good home first and foremost., which is why he thought to come and show me. I'm gonna try and work something out with him over the next few months, to buy the car off of him.

So, it looks like as of now, that this project is gonna be put on hold until sometime next year.

I would also be willing to sell the car as-is, to anyone on GMN that wanted to come and get it, along with the extremely mint Brown Velour Interior, and all the parts that I have collected for the car. It is now in good enough mechanical condition that it could make a 200-300mi trip no prob.

Regardless of what happens with the Mark III, If no one buys this car between now and then, I will be starting back on it again sometime in early-mid 2010. My Merc has stolen all of my Box Love, for now.

[87gtVIC]

that cool man never pass up a great deal.