My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[87gtVIC]

Warmed up some today after a couple inches of wet and heavy snow fell down so I hopped out to the garage and began working on my transmission pan project.

Here is the pan in stock form:



Notice the rough texture over the entire pan including the lettering.

My plans are to paint the raised lettering aluminum and the rest of the pan wrinkle black to match my already painted engine oil pan.

In order to get a clean finish I deemed it necessary to block out the rough casting of the "Trick Flow" text. Nothing a couple passes with a block and some sand papers cannot handle. Finial finish is with 220.

Below you can see the pan all prepped for paint and ready to go. I rigorously went over the entire pan with a red scotch brite to give the pan some tooth for the primer to come.



Now remember my plan of just painting the script aluminum and the rest of the pan wrinkle black? So in order to accomplish that I needed to mask off all of the raised lettering. I decided on making up the template before I painted anything because I did not want to risk messing up the aluminum finish after I painted it.

So here is the pan with the template all made up. Remember... the template will go on over the aluminum paint to protect it from the wrinkle black.



Here she is finally awaiting primer and some paint.....



Updates to come tomorrow.

[sly]

[johnunit]

Looks sweet.

And someday, someone will peak underneath and go 'damn'.

Plus half the guys into this stuff will have already read the thread and know to check in person.

[87gtVIC]

Progress:

Rustoleum engine primer over the entire pan:



Rustoleum engine aluminum over the "Trick Flow" text:



And the text cleared:




Will let this bake for a week in the boiler room at work. Ungodly hot! Then apply the template to cover up the lettering and scuff everything with a gray scotch brite, wax and grease remove everything blow it off and tac rag it then apply the VHT wrinkle black engine paint. Looking forward to the final product. That lettering is really going to POP.

[87gtVIC]

After letting the paint cure for over a week I went back and masked off the lettering and scuffed up the entire piece really well with a gray scotch brite



Took her to work this morning and wax and grease removed it then tac ragged it and got to spraying.

Three HEAVY coats of the wrinkle black VHT paint. One coat vertical, one horizontal and lastly one coat diagonally.



This paint takes REALLY LONG to dry. I painted the piece at 3am. Two in the afternoon I came back to peel off the tape over the lettering's and the paint is all wrinkly as it should but still wet. But boy does that finish become durable after its full cure. completed pics to come next week. Letting it bake in the boiler room at work over the weekend.

[87gtVIC]

Ordered up a set of oil pan reinforcement rail stiffeners and prepped all of the 22 bolts and washers for paint.

I recently picked up a set of dremel mounted scotch brite scuffing balls. You can see a green one attached to the rotary tool. This is an in progress pic of the 22 washers and nuts I have to prep.



They made the prep process of the bolts and washers super easy.

I used to scuff everything by hand with a scotch brite. My fingers approve of the new items. Here they are all cleaned up and ready for paint on Monday.



When the rails arrive they will be prepped and painted engine aluminum and clear coated.

The oil pan bolts will be painted low gloss black.

[gadget73]

grade 8 hardware to bolt an aluminum pan into aluminum threads. Overkill much?

[87gtVIC]

As Ivan would say "overkill is underrated."

[gadget73]

Just don't over-do the bolt torque. You'll rip the threads out of the transmission case long before those bolts give up.

[86VickyLX]

For anyone following this I have seemed to fix the minor clunk/knock the steering had when ever so slightly rocking the wheel back and forth. It must have been in the modified rag joint because after my last once over of it where I trimmed some of the heat shield and tacking the washer onto the lower shaft all is nice and solid. Happy to have found the issue. Amazing how one can feel some slight metal to metal contact through a rubber rag joint all the way up the steering column and into the steering wheel!

Ah, so I wasn't the only one who felt that!

[87gtVIC]

Just don't over-do the bolt torque. You'll rip the threads out of the transmission case long before those bolts give up.

The grade 8's are for the oil pan. I had the grade 8's on hand so I am using them. The 12 points with the lock washers on the previous page are for the tranny pan. I don't intend on stripping any threads.

Ah, so I wasn't the only one who felt that!

You have that slight clunk to eh? You pursue it yet? Wonder if you have the same problem as me with some metal to metal contact through the modified rag joint.

[87gtVIC]

Next round of bits for paint. Any keen engine guys notice these nuts and bolts?

Before prepped:



After prepped....the two nuts are getting painted black so they are in another pile...



All of the above are getting sprayed engine aluminum and clearcoated.

[HiFiMerc]

Let's see. EGR valve nuts, TPS screws, Can't think what the other ones are right off hand.

[gadget73]

IAC bolts are the two smaller hex head ones.

2 phillips screws are probably TPS

mismatched nuts are EGR valve

can't think of what the 4 larger bolts with lock washers are for, though it seems like I ought to know what they do. Too short and not enough for lower intake, and I don't think they are long enough for the short upper manifold bolts either. Too many for thermostat housing.

[87gtVIC]

You guys are good! Seriously.

I'll let some others chime in before I say what the 4 bolts with lockwashers are for. I will give a hint though. I believe they hold on two pieces to the front of the engine simultaneously. They both spin together.