1977 Ford LTD

[marquis_82_withneons]

That is fucking slick!!!

I dig the classic "the best never rest" plate, too!

i knew youd dig the fullsize pics haha!...

as for that plate. its been on the car since my dad bought her in 96. but he got stuck in some ice one year and bent it all up. i straightened it back up and fised where some of the raised lettering was bad and im repainting it

[marquis_82_withneons]

Those halos look really good. I like LEDs as well but I have had very bad luck with many different style led bulbs, which style do you use?

I ordered probably 10 led 194 bulbs and only like 3 worked

the 194s im using are just 5 smd led bulbs from ebay.. granted 1 or 2 of the leds burn out pretty quickly in like 6months or so.. you can beat the price of 2-3 bucks a pair for any color.

[fmansfield444]

Those are what I have. My problem was that the flimsy little prongs at the base of the bulb don't make contact with the sockets

[marquis_82_withneons]

ohhhhh yea i know alll about that hahah.. i just bend them out a bit. might try adding a bead of solder along the wire to thicken it up a bit.

im gonna give that a try on a few of mine that are kinda sensitive

[fmansfield444]

Solder is not a bad idea. I had some blue ones I was gonna put in my cluster for backlights and didn't because I didn't want to have to try to get the bulbs out if they wiggled loose because getting the speedo out was a real pain.

[marquis_82_withneons]

i got blue behind me gauges in the Merc.. looks REALLY cool

[SVT98t]

I'm a fan of the green.

-ryan s.

[SVT98t]

Green neons, LEDs and shit.
The stock green clusters are meh.

-ryan s.

[marquis_82_withneons]

Green neons, LEDs and shit.
The stock green clusters are meh.

-ryan s.

i didnt use teh typical green cluster. i took those retarded ass blue thing out of the inside and put legit green LEDs in it. its not that traditional teal color that was in everything. its a BRIGHT green

[marquis_82_withneons]

havent been around in a while, but i got a pop quiz for you guys. im moving relatively soon, i got 3 cars. My Merc you all know so well, my 77 LTD, and newly acquired 1987 Plymouth Horizon i got for free. the original plan was for the girlfriend to daily the horizon as she is more comfy with a smaller car. but thats becoming an issue all within itself. so by the looks of it she will get the smaller of my 2 sleds. that being the Merc. which leaves MY daily to be my beloved LTD. thing is, is that the poor old girl is turning 37 next year and shes tired. so being a daily might be a little too much. so im gonna try to breathe some new life into her. shes not in BAD shape, but definitely not good. got a good bit of engine wear and the trans pan leaks like a mofo. thats an easy fix though.

so. i know shes not a panther but i know some of you guys im sure have worked on a stock 351 Windsor. im planning on doing a top end rebuild. nothing fancy. im talking like the cheapest thing i can as i need her back up and running reliable. i got alot of lifter noise. my dad replaced a few badly worn lifters YEEEAAARRRS back when he bought her but i know they need all done.

now. i know for a fact the cam has seen better days, but that IS NOT an option for replacement right now. my plans now are to get the engine timed, replace all the lifters, all pushrods, rockers and valve springs, hopefully gaining back some functionality in the valves as well. basically what i am trying to do here is replace everything that has any wear on it that could affect the running of the motor without pulling to rebuild it. she lacks a little power and gets pretty bad mileage, im sure from the valves not opening fully, as a result of significant top end wear, but its not as bad as some vehicles can be. now i know it wont be perfect. but by god itll be much better than she is now. and since a rebuild IS in the future. the parts im getting for replacements will not be anything fancy. just enough to freshen her up. my issue is. it seems there are a few options for pushrods and lifters and such.

so my question is how do i go about getting the right ones for a stock 351W smog motor?

and where are my best prices going to be? im sure rockauto is going to be my best friend is it not?

as always. thanks for your help guys

[1987cp]

I think SBF flat hydraulic lifters are all kinda/sorta the same. (someone correct me if I'm wrong)

Occasionally, Autozone or Carquest end up being just fine pricewise. Other times you can get a closeout deal on RockAuto, and sometimes Summit Racing or even eBay end up being the place to go for a good deal.

[marquis_82_withneons]

well i work at Advance Auto Parts, so ill see if we got some lifters and rods. hopefully we got some. but ive noticed we carry a few different lengths of rods

[fmansfield444]

Good luck to both of you guys, me and my girlfriend know what it's like to have 2 vintage vehicles as our daily drivers and it can get 'surprising' at times. So good luck man

[marquis_82_withneons]

thanks man. were gonna see how it goes. hopefully everything holds together for us were pretty serious with each other.

youve helped me previously, do you have any pointers for this top end rebuild? like the rod lengths or valve springs or lifters?

[marquis_82_withneons]

like this..

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...,parttype,5792
i obviously see that there are 2 different sizes, one for intake, the other for exhaust, and then the diference for 351W vs 351M. but theres the last one thats also for the windsor but its slightly taller. what do i do?

and pushrods
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...,parttype,5648
what length do i need? im again seeing different lengths for a windsor.

and lifters
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...,parttype,5548
looks like ill need to grab my engine code for this. and i know i dont have rollers.. hahahah.

i think i got the lifters and rockers arms under control but im still gonna need some direction for the rods and springs