Nick's "lvndpst" Restoration (and Slight Modification) Thread

95BlueStallion

My assy trans to myself
15 Year Member
Feb 22, 2007
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Cedar Rapids, Iowa
As most of you know, I went ahead and bought the twin of the car I had as a senior in high school. My high school car had a prior salvaged title, and some rust on the hatch. This car is rust free with a clean title, but still needs plenty of attention to get back to where I want it. Plans for this car are to keep it mostly stock, with upgrades here and there as I have time and extra cash. I want to get it restored to good clean condition before really doing any modifications. With that being said, I will not restore some factory parts knowing I will be upgrading them.

First thing is first though, here is the car.

20161107_121043_resized_1_zps7lcrqexs.jpg

20161107_120623-1_zpsqn6rneuh.jpg

20161107_120639_resized_1_zpsbtgrw0nl.jpg

20161107_120755_resized_1_zps3t8sphcq.jpg

20161107_120732_zps4e2mfcap.jpg


Next, to explain the title of the thread, the Iowa DOT issued me license plates "EVA 681." To keep random dudes from flying up to check me out thinking I am some chick named Eva, I splurged on personalized plates. But what to get?

20161123_171636%201_zpsmulkrj7u.jpg

The first order of business was to address the humming front wheel bearings and pathetic brakes. This is an area where I am not going to repack the front bearings, and put new pads/rotors on. After hopping out of my SRT8 Charger with giant brembos, it was immediately clear that the stock brakes were not going to work for me on this fox. This car is never going to be anything more than a nice weekend cruiser for my reminiscing though, so PBR calipers and 13" front rotors should be sufficient. For now I am converting to 5 lug drums, and will see how that feels for a bit.

The used spindles came to me painted bright red (just refurbished with new hubs), my PBR calipers were bright silver, and caliper brackets dark gray. I decided to go all black to start with, since my car is two toned on the exterior, and I dont really want my front brakes to stand out since I am keeping the rear drums.

20161125_194449_zpsasoelmlq.jpg

Can you tell this car came from an Iowa farm?

20161126_172514_zpsinz4nh1u.jpg

Since this resto will be on a budget, for now I am cutting one coil off the front springs, and keeping the super high performance Monroe struts. I cleaned and painted the springs, and reused the stock isos believe it or not.

20161126_172408_zps6yssbgmb.jpg

Once the car is rolling, I will hit a car wash and spray the remaining dirt out of the wheels wells before attempting to paint anything else. So for now, here is the driver's side all wrapped up.

20161127_173826%201_zps8wbswnqr.jpg

The passenger side is torn apart, I have the spring cut and painted, but ran out of time to start reassembly. I will update once I have the front wrapped up, and then again once the rear axles and drums are swapped. At that point you will be able to see its new stance and temporary wheel set up.
 
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That is a remarkably clean car for having lived it's life in Iowa. I almost fell over when you posted a picture of the cleaned up wheel well. If you couldn't take the car to a car wash (because it was torn apart) how did you get it that clean in the "after" pic?

**Edit.....just figured that out myself.....You did all of that stuff by hand w/ a brush and rag prior to the pic. Cause you know had you posted that pic of new stuff bolted onto dirty parts....................:nonono:

Hell to pay.
 
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As most of you know, I went ahead and bought the twin of the car I had as a senior in high school. My high school car had a prior salvaged title, and some rust on the hatch. This car is rust free with a clean title, but still needs plenty of attention to get back to where I want it. Plans for this car are to keep it mostly stock, with upgrades here and there as I have time and extra cash. I want to get it restored to good clean condition before really doing any modifications. With that being said, I will not restore some factory parts knowing I will be upgrading them.

First thing is first though, here is the car.

20161107_121043_resized_1_zps7lcrqexs.jpg

20161107_120623-1_zpsqn6rneuh.jpg

20161107_120639_resized_1_zpsbtgrw0nl.jpg

20161107_120755_resized_1_zps3t8sphcq.jpg

20161107_120732_zps4e2mfcap.jpg


Next, to explain the title of the thread, the Iowa DOT issued me license plates "EVA 681." To keep random dudes from flying up to check me out thinking I am some chick named Eva, I splurged on personalized plates. But what to get?

20161123_171636%201_zpsmulkrj7u.jpg

The first order of business was to address the humming front wheel bearings and pathetic brakes. This is an area where I am not going to repack the front bearings, and put new pads/rotors on. After hopping out of my SRT8 Charger with giant brembos, it was immediately clear that the stock brakes were not going to work for me on this fox. This car is never going to be anything more than a nice weekend cruiser for my reminiscing though, so PBR calipers and 13" front rotors should be sufficient. For now I am converting to 5 lug drums, and will see how that feels for a bit.

The used spindles came to me painted bright red (just refurbished with new hubs), my PBR calipers were bright silver, and caliper brackets dark gray. I decided to go all black to start with, since my car is two toned on the exterior, and I dont really want my front brakes to stand out since I am keeping the rear drums.

20161125_194449_zpsasoelmlq.jpg

Can you tell this car came from an Iowa farm?

20161126_172514_zpsinz4nh1u.jpg

Since this resto will be on a budget, for now I am cutting one coil off the front springs, and keeping the super high performance Monroe struts. I cleaned and painted the springs, and reused the stock isos believe it or not.

20161126_172408_zps6yssbgmb.jpg

Once the car is rolling, I will hit a car wash and spray the remaining dirt out of the wheels wells before attempting to paint anything else. So for now, here is the driver's side all wrapped up.

20161127_173826%201_zps8wbswnqr.jpg

The passenger side is torn apart, I have the spring cut and painted, but ran out of time to start reassembly. I will update once I have the front wrapped up, and then again once the rear axles and drums are swapped. At that point you will be able to see its new stance and temporary wheel set up.

That is very good looking car.. Congrats on the find buddy,looking forward to the updates/progress on this one.

Nice look'n car, congrats.
Took me a while to figure out the tag, I'm kinda slow.
Takes me a while to find second gear,
:doh:

I'll admit.. I still haven't figured it out... very slow myself :(
 
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That is very good looking car.. Congrats on the find buddy,looking forward to the updates/progress on this one.



I'll admit.. I still haven't figured it out... very slow myself :(
For real? And I thought, no, I know I'm slow
Liven da past, old high school car, get it? Geeeeze
:doh: have some coffee:stick:
 
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very clean car.. Congrats on being able to relive your youth! Hey is it me or does that ball joint look a little..... ya know

Looks a little... just fine for now. The car handles well with no clunks or squeaks from anything suspension related, so I am rolling on those gals until its time to upgrade to tubular arms or they start acting funny.

C'Mon!!!
Livin in da past (LV-N-D- pst)
lvndpst

SYH

Technically I was going for "living the past," Lvn D Pst, but close enough.

I'm thinkin' CASTR8D

Funny you say this, because since #3 is approaching the 3rd trimest and wifey says even if something were to happen with her she NEVER wants to be preggers again, I have an appointment on Jan 8 for a less drastic version of just that...

Lost track of the other thread - has your wife calmed down any?

Yeah, I kinda just let the other thread go figuring I would start this one once I actually started work on the car. It took the wife all of about a week to chill out, especially since the Explorer sold. Since her and I started dating in 2001, I have owned 12 cars and 7 motorcycles. Swapping two cars in a matter of 2 months isnt that much of a shock to her. But hey, live evolves. Now I have a family hauling hot rod, and the high school prom date I never should have let go (glad the human one went on her way though). Is it too early to have gone through my mid life crisis at age 33? Nah, I will save that excuse for when I buy a 408 stroker in a couple years.

Love the plate. What wheels you gonna run?

Wheels are chrome 2010 GT Premium style. Wanted silver, but couldnt find any and chrome were on sale for CHEAP. I just wrapped up the passenger side front brake swap tonight. Need to bleed them, and get the rear axles/drums swapped over in the next couple nights.
 
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That is a remarkably clean car for having lived it's life in Iowa. I almost fell over when you posted a picture of the cleaned up wheel well. If you couldn't take the car to a car wash (because it was torn apart) how did you get it that clean in the "after" pic?

**Edit.....just figured that out myself.....You did all of that stuff by hand w/ a brush and rag prior to the pic. Cause you know had you posted that pic of new stuff bolted onto dirty parts....................:nonono:

Hell to pay.

Here is the difference between you and me (one of a few?). I am ok with bolting freshly painted stuff to dirty stuff, and dont care what anyone thinks about it. I will likely take a lot of this stuff back off later for future upgrades as money allows. Besides lets face it, we buy these cars because we love tinkering with them. I will be putting fresh drums right onto the dirty rusty old axle housing. This summer I will drop the axle, grind it and paint it, along with adding upper and lower arms. But for now, it was 45 degrees in my garage, and I used a bucket of hot water and rag to wipe away some of the dirt to see how the paint looked under it. A power washer will do a much better job in a much easier manner once its rolling again. The passenger side only got a once over with the shop vac to get loose sh*t, and then parts were swapped over. I bet the car will lose 5 or 10 pounds of dirt when I get a chance to really clean it up well.
 
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Thats some funny sht.
Mine sat me down a long time ago, said there are three rules,
1 don't park my crap in her carport
2 no automotive parts in the house
3 she don't ride in my crap when it go's sideways

Funny story for you. My 1989 Mustang GT is on jack stands in the middle of my 2 stall garage. My 2006 SRT8 Charger which is clean as a whistle with 66,000 miles, and our 2010 Chrysler Town and Country (loaded to the gills Touring edition) are sitting in the driveway this fine November night in Iowa. Two late falls ago, my 1985 Ford Ranger with a 351W was on stands in the garage getting a frankenstein transmission transplant while my 2011 Mustang GT and 2010 Town and Country sat in the driveway. My father in law gives me :poo:, and my wife wants a spot in the garage when snow actually starts flying, but the Charger will remain in the driveway all winter long while old gal stays warm (warmer that outside anyway) with the van in the garage. I am a hot rodder at heart, and my wife knew it when she met me in my 1989 Mustang GT back in 2001 and chose to marry me in 2008.
 
Same here. My fox is sitting inside a 2 car garage all alone, while my loaded 2014 Taurus limited and wife's 2013 accord stay in the driveway. We are probably a few weeks away from snow.

But, when we bought the house, the garage was always going to be dedicated to the mustang only.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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