My 79 LTD 2dr - 351W

[Fordman75]

The grill that was on my car is split right down the middle. And the clear lenses are all cracked. So I'm just hoping they will be good on the other header panel.

[Fordman75]

I did some more work on the LTD today. I pulled the windshield wiper system. Boy did it free up room at the rear of the engine!





And I finished pulling the rest of the front clip. The car sure looks a lot smaller without the front clip.

[gadget73]

Yeah that wiper system is big and ugly. I replaced the transmission on mine and it took me like an hour to figure out which direction all the parts sat. Sad, considering there is almost nothing to that wiper tranny but it all flops around and its hard to get in there just right.

[Grand Marquis GT]

Awesome!!

You going to build a stockcar outta this?

[Fordman75]

No not a stock car, more of a drag car that will see a lot of cruising on the street(during nice weather ). My car is going to be a combination of a drag car, a Nextel cup car, and the Mad Max Interceptor. :3gears: Lots of go, a little show(scoop, rear spoiler, rims ) and no comfort! Basically the ultimate el strippo 2dr.

I'm stripping everything I can except the glass. All the interior panels are coming out, all the carpet, sound deadner, headliner, Stock seats(going with a pair of bucket seats out of an Omni , no rear seat ). I'm going to even pull the stock dash and fabricate a dash panel out of sheet aluminum(like a drag car or nextel cup car.

I'm yanking the stock fuel tank and am going with a fuel cell in the trunk. I'm mounting the battery in the trunk.



I didn't want to remove the wiper system but it stuck so far into the engine bay that it was going to make valvecover removal a royal PITA. I'm going to be running the tall aluminum Ford Racing valve covers which would make it even worse. I might have found a street rod wiper setup that will let me remote mount the wiper motor under the dash. If I can't get a wiper setup that will work I'll invest in plenty of RainX.


Next on the removal list is that damn heater/AC unit!

[Paul_]

I can't wait to see it when it's done.

[Fordman75]

It's going to be a while before I'll finish it. I don't have a lot of spare cash to work with. So lack of parts will eventually hold up the project. I need to find some sponsors!!

[Grand Marquis GT]

Rain-X is your friend!

I drove GMGT with it for a month, lol...

[Fordman75]

Maybe I should see if Rain-X wants to sponsor my car!! All black with a big Rain-X logo on each side wouldn't look too bad.

[DuceAnAHalf]

Im running tall valve covers on mine. i had to bust out a lot of the under side of the wiper case. The throttle cable had to run inside of the box to reach the carb.

[Fordman75]

After seeing how much room there is without the wipers there is no way those stock pieces are going back in!!!

My car no longer has any doors on it or any dash in it. Tomorrow I need to get the heater/AC unit pulled along with the steering column and pedal assembly. Then the seats and carpet are coming out.:chainsaw:

[Fordman75]

Here's a pic of my dash area. I pulled just about everything except the heater. I'm letting the coolant drain over night and I'm going to pull the heater/AC assembly tomorrow. The way some of this stuff weighs I think I'll be removing well over 500 pounds out of the car. I bet if I didn't put a roll cage in the car I could get it to weigh less then 3000 pounds.

[Grand Marquis GT]

Wow.

Oh yeah, why dosnt someone sticky this?

[Fordman75]

I was very surprised by the amount of crap they have crammed into and behind the dash!!:nonono:

I've decided to go with an aluminum sheet metal fabricated dash(clean and simple ). I'm going to mount it with some Dzus fasteners. So the whole dash assembly will be easily removeable if I need to add anything to the dash or do wiring work. I'm going to make the area where the gauges mount removeable for easy access. And I'm making an access panel to easily get to the fuse box.

I'm going to use the stock steering column but complete gut it to the bare column. I'm tossing the wiper control switch. I'm chucking the stock multifunction(turn signal ) switch and the ignition switch. I'm moving the ignition and the turnsignals to the dash.

It also looks like the stock brake pedal/hanger assembly will work great for my plans.

Now the bad news I found some pretty severe rust in the ds kick panel area.:cry: I'm really hoping the floor isn't completely rotted.

[83tc]

cool stuff mang, good luck, the mad max interceptor was a kick ass ride