bl817

car is looking great. ill never buy a black vehicle again. looks good for about 20 min after wash/wax. what's up with the maverick? haha. let us know what you decide on the doors, mine look the same and its about the only thing that drives me nuts about my GT. I tried getting some cheap black vinyl but quickly realized im not an upholstery person.

JimC

Unbelievable how far that car has come.

austinkli

Thanks!

I'll keep you updated. I'm going to try and get that fixed very soon.

Thanks sir! Much appreciated. You almost wouldn't recognize it anymore.

cruisin5268d

You sure have put a lot of time and effort into restoring her.

Boneman

I would be utterly daunted by using a buffer on a car with clearcoat paint.... Years ago (1986) I purchased a "left over" Company Car from my Employer (1986 LTD) and the company... thinking they were doing every one of us that bought these cars a favor... sent them all out and had them detailed. Unfortunately.... the folks detailing them? Buffed the clearcoat right off the car.

In a year... the paint was utterly dead... a shame for sure.

Of course... this was almost 30 years ago and I'm sure paint formulations have changed... and who knows... the guys running the buffers back then could have been Gorillas for all I know....

Just my experience.

Nice work on the engine bay. I was thinking of using "Scrubbing Bubbles" under my hood. You would be amazed at how well it works on wheels!

tradosaurus

Use some tire dressing and spray down the black plastic areas in your engine bay.

Let sit over night and you will be amazed at the results.

GLOCKer

Don't use Scrubbing Bubbles under the hood of a car! It's very caustic!

I used S100 motorcycle engine cleaner and I am very happy with the results! It's a cleaner that leaves behind a nice mild shine on everything. I've only had to use it once, and I just keep everything touched up with some Meguiare's Ultimate Black that is wiped on.

I'd also avoid spraying tire dressings under the hood. They tend to attract and hold dirt as they tend to be greasy.

Choppertwo

DAMN, you are still working on it, been awhile since I've checked in, good luck man, I hope all that work is going to be worth it

austinkli

It already is. I say that because I finally enjoy driving it. Drives well. Looks pretty good from 10 feet away. Starting to look kinda sporty imho. Kinda fun to drive. Love listening to music on my shaker 1000.

It's also some of the simple things I love. The windows are auto down AND auto up. The dash looks good now that I got it cleaned and the AC vent fixed. Good cold AC too.

It's enjoyable to drive and starting to look nice enough that I've gotten a few compliments on it at the gas station. So to me, having a daily driver that I love to drive, it's completely worth it.


Will be most worth it when I put a pypes mid muffler dual exhaust on it though.

Boneman

Not familiar with the mid-muffler system... but I have the Pypes X-pipe on mine.

Got in and out of my exhaust pretty cheaply... as with the X-pipe all you need from there back is GT take off stuff. There IS a difference between the mufflers on GT's... manual (that's what you want) vs. Auto trans.

I have that... and the VMP CAI with tune and the difference in performance is ... startling. Other little nice things I have done is genuine FORD mud flaps on the back... and a GT Take-off rear stabilizer. Aftermarket grille with fog lamps and Ebay acquired rear window louvers that mitigate the "greenhouse" effect of that awesome fastback window.

Not sure how much... "new" GT Take-Off stuff is still floating around out there... but something to consider.

Meanwhile... yes... You've pulled that car back from the abyss for sure! There's a whole lot of satisfaction that comes with something well accomplished!