Progress Thread Low Mile 89 GT Restomod - Moving toward paint

At the end of June had another few days working on this thing. Started with the rear lower control arm relocation brackets. Again using the drawings from the Mathis book. I made up all the plates and then bolted up each plate and custom fit the parts for alignment and fit. I didn't make the shock relocation tabs as my son's car used a single bolt back into the axle bracket to mount the shock.



Sorry I didn't have a pic of all the individual plates, I thought I had taken a picture of them but can't seem to find it anymore.

One change I made to the Mathis plans was to add an additional set of relocation holes. The second set is 2.5" lower than stock and moved an additional 1/16" forward. I made the same brackets for my 90GT 10 years ago and have the arms positioned in the 2.5" down position and have no issues (aside from the tweak needed for the sway bar).

To align/install the spacer tabs I used a couple bolts to align the holes and then tack weld the spacers in place, remove the bolts and fully weld them in place.



Painted and re-installed.



For now at least, the lower control arms are installed in the 1.75" lowered position. We will see if that is where we keep it.

To not scratch the painted axle housing I used an old rubber floor mat draped over the jack pad. Worked perfect.

Re-seam sealed the doors, primered and painted the backside of the doors.



After a couple days, re-installed back on the car.



Did the same seam seal, primer and paint to the backside of the hatch.

Though not going on my son's car, but I picked this up last summer and decided to clean it up/repair it a bit.



A previous owner had the thought of enlarging the inlet - probably thinking it was needed for a 75 or 80mm TB.




They bored a nice straight hole that fits a 3" piece of exhaust or intercooler tube inside (perfectly), but broke through the cast near the throttle body mount.

I picked up some 2 part epoxy off Amazon and came up with a plan to repair.

I wrapped the 3" tube with kitchen plastic food wrap and inserted it into the bored out hole to use as a backer to support the epoxy while it cured. I then mixed some material up and applied and shaped it the best I could with some popsicle sticks to get the shape as close as I could.



The next day - after it cured - I sanded the epoxy a little to smooth out some of the edges and applied some Tremclad Hammered paint to try and get a texture similar to the factory cast look.

Two coats later...


If you really look you can see some of the edge of the epoxy, but a quick glance under the hood and you will likely not see/notice it.

I think it has come out not bad considering I paid less than half of what most Explorer uppers only are being asked for on eBay right now. It came with a new Cobra decal as well.