SO here is my car. A 1986 Ford Thunderbird V8. Bought it for $700. I purchased it because I started school in September for Automotive collision and refinishing and what a great example to learn on. It was an old man's car. The front was obviously fixed poorly but after starting to work on her, we found more and more. The bondo on the driver's door was almost 2" thick so I opted to get a new door. More bondo was found on the the drivers side wheel arch. It was a good repair so we are going to to fix it. Apparently the old man used it as a bumper car. We think he backed up with the door open and peeled it forward. The plan is to paint it like a 35th Anniversary Edition Tbird. Black, titanium and blue. Let me know what ya think. Updates as I do them
nice project.... Can't wait to see updates. Hmmm... Maybe you can turn it into a convertible while it's there for extra practice. lol
Sounds like it's going to be a nice project. Good luck with it.
Good luck but more importantly have fun :D
Man, Ford sure didnt want these things to rust. They also never intended for the molding to come off, that glue was crazy strong. Except where the old redneck used Dry wall screws to hold it on. We have to remove the rear glass to fix some well rust and some trim clips and pegs but the work is proceeding well
I thought about a convertible but changed my mind and Im def having fun!
I believe that black E coating was only on aftermarket panels. none of the panels I ground down ever had that. They had a redish brown primer coat on them. Was that the door you ground down?
Looks like a great project! Looking forward to the final results!
yeah but most of the body had it. My teacher said it was the corrosion protection. The white door is off a southern 85. But like I said the old man probably hit everything at one point but the passenger side looked all original. The repairs on the drivers side was evident. The inferior paint and clearcoat that was falling off.
Cool, I heard stories about certain cars getting diff. primers for the areas that they were to be shipped and sold. My car doors actually started rusting when the car was only 2 years old. It never had that coating on it.
yeah this Tbird was bought and sold here locally in Georgia. The Thunderbird I got the door, front fender and front clip off of Im not sure. But its funny that the front finder was rusting some. Im still trying to figure out what to paint the grille headlight buckets and trim. I dont want them to distract from the all black paint job (like a 35th Anni Tbird) but the 86's lines arent as clean or slabbed either.
Some more pix of the progress. Had to cut holes at the bottom of the window in back where water collected and rusted em out. My first welding ever, and I did the patch holes. Two valuable lessons were learned, one rear deck speakers that are 24 years old are flammable and always use a welding blanket! lol:flame:
and here she is, almost ready for paint. almost. shes wet sanded with 500 grit
You're getting there!
Shiny Side Up!
Bill
Nice work,keep it up.I like to saa a car come together.I need to take all of my pics and make a big picture album.
Good Work, Now come fix mine! :rollin:
I have rust issues n the same spots, The only major body rust I've encountered so far.. :punchballs:
here are more pix. Have to repaint driver's side (can see through it in strong sunlight) and I messed up on some clearcoat. Heres a shot of the seat theme too
-nice work!
Man...LUCKY! Lol. I've always wanted a silver 86 V8 TBird, with red interior, for a sleeper car build. HO conversion with Ported E7s, Tmoss ported lower, roller rockers, extrude honed exhaust manifolds, true dual exhaust, and a hidden under manifold nitrous kit. Stock interior. Widened stock steelies for the rear. That would be a fun ride.
It would cost more in machine work for the E7's then it would just to pick up a set of GT40's off of a 97 explorer.
There's a lot of car painting going on around here this year.... Good job on the car
You miss the point. GT40s have external features that make them identifiable. E7 vs E6? Almost impossible.
wait 97 Exploders' heads were GT40s???
The three bars on the front of the heads are Coverd by the accessories and if you realy want stelth you could grind the "GT" off of the corner of the head. The plugs are in the same position on GT40 heads.
Most of them .The early 97's if I remember right.After that,GT40-P heads...which,I finally have.The "P" heads are great,and the plug angle is different.More centralized.The BBK shorty headers (unequal length) are working great as well.Mine were ported and etc.
Heres some of the work I did on the Birds tailights which were not bright. I painted them with CHROME (lol) paint and they look pretty good. Its easy to remove the inner reflectors (like on an 87-88 Cougar) so Im thinking about it.
lets try this again
that is exactly my plan for the headlights on my tbird. have everything here except time and motivation.
thanks for the motivation!
That's how I did my tail lights.Made a huge difference.
I did that too with the same paint you used!
Lookin' great!! Any more exterior shots?
Front and rear bumper covers and a door panel
wow looks awesome! can't believe thats my old bumper, real nice work
Those door panels look sweet!
Good job man!
Almost done with reassembly. Have to wait til school starts back on July 12th :( So Ill work on my XR7 some. Theres a nice Turbocoupe for sale near me for $400, needs work, hmmmm:burnout:
I used a polishing kit from Harbour Freight to shine up the old lights in the front bumper. The small wool wheel worked awesome. I used a pint of SEM trim paint on the "chrome" and on all the molding including the front bumper to look more factory then keep it all shiny
oh and the grille is off an 84. I liked the eggcrate more than the original and the oldschool tbird symbol
Well I got the windows back in today. I tinted them (first time ever). Did ok but wow Im going to pay someone to do my Mazdaspeed3's. What a pain in the but and they were out of the car! She should be done soon!
Lookin Good
Im done! Well almost. A few small detail stuff (like fog lights) and shell be 100%
and more
still more
done
Looks good, nice job with it! Even the wheels look nice painted black. I had them on my 85 Bird and thought they where the ugliest things! But they actually look good.
That is a nice looking Thunderbird, sir
thanx! not bad for my second shot at painting
Good work! looks great..
BEAUTIFUL car !!!! Great looking paint. I think it deserves new wheels,though. Like these maybe......
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/17-Black-4-lug-Cobra-style-wheels-rims-fit-Mustang-R-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ220650009776QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
Thats gr8 Vinnie, 2 problems. 1) there are only 3 rims avaiable and 2) I have to sell her :(
Why do you have to sell it after all that work? That really sucks man!
x2 !!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh,and when it shows that there are 3 available,that means 3 sets.
To make room in the garage. It wa only supposed to be a practice car as I learned in school..but she has to be sold to keep my other (cougar) projects safe
ooops@vinnie