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Thread: 1978 GF progress

  1. Top Of Page | #1
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    1978 GF progress

    So I didn't want to just overload the last thread with all the pics; so this one will be dedicated to what all I've done with my '78 GF. The photos will be chronological as best as I can...some of my memory is fuzzy as to what was done when.



    Day one...and 500 bucks later, the '78 is mine. It looks kind of trashy on the block, but believe me what's what saved the underbody and kept it off the ground. 0 rust on this car.



    Left side.



    Got 'er home in Concord. This was taken a month or so later, when I finally got a spot in the garage (3 car garage, 2 roommates with 4 cars each :P do the math) I just like the trunk badge on these cars.



    Grille was off, and the whole front clip was covered in pretty thick surface rust all the way around....which I knew was going to take a LOT of time to get off...but I was saving that for later.



    the trim that hangs above the front bumper, also eaten with rust. I've painted this...I really need to put pictures up because it looks new again. I even surprised myself on that one...



    The engine, sans intake...this is how it came when I bought it...except for the Sam Adams. That's mine



    My roomie, a fellow Ford man (I have a '72 Gran Torino, he a 68 Mercury Colony park), taking off wires, burned parts, engine bolts, and whatever he could get his hands on.



    And the 1600 is out. Ben and I lifted it out ourselves. "Hoist? We don't need no stinking hoist!"



    Here's the empty bay, with the 3-speed auto still hooked up. ALL the black in the engine bay is nothing but burned plastic and char from the engine fire. The silver paint was still underneath, but not all the way around. This is the best picture for seeing how rusted the front clip is.



    Aaaaaaand here's the automatic Trans. Lifted out from the top.



    Pushed it out for a pressure wash...which did nothing. I ended up having to scrape ALL the char off by hand. Razor blades, screwdrivers, whatever that was there I had to use. My workhorse has been a 1/4" drill with a wire brush, or a paint stripper on the end. Hell, you can even see where the spare was pressed up against the firewall and the paint underneath...sort of.



    Some grinding with the wire brush.





    Sigh...almost 2 weeks and many late nights later, 99%-ish of the char and buildup is gone.



    Removing the wiring harness...which took all of 10 minutes actually.



    Primer'd up and ready for paint.



    And here's my finished product, several hours and a good 3 or 4 coats of engine paint later.

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    Is this how it sits today?

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    Ahhh awesome, can't wait to see the finished product!

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    Yeah this is how it sits, except for this morning I got the 5 Speed hoisted into it and bolted up the crossmember. I may have to improvise though. The transmission mount for the 5 speed is too far forward to mount up to the holes in the crossmember...I might have to find another crossmember to go in place of the original.

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    Good deal; I appreciate that. What'cha got lyin' around? I might be interested in some stuff for my '88 GL as well

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