06.10.09

It's a 1977 Mercury Monarch, 4dr.


It's got a 302 in it, Hooker Headers, Flowmaster Exhaust, and some other minor goodies.



I only have some small pics, from the current owner.


Current plans are very simple. John Deere "Blitz Black" satin paint, some red wheels, and I'll use whitewall tire paint to make my own "wide whites." I'll eventually be copper-leafing a good portion of it. Hoping to have it pinstriped at the Route 66 car show, in July. Will probably go the old-skool route, and use 1.5" lowering blocks in the rear, and some either cut/clamped springs in the front. I have some Cherry Bombs in the garage that I'm considering putting on it to replace the Flowmasters. We'll see.

06.12.09

It's a fun car to drive. Not fun like a sports car, or fun like pretty much any other car... just fun because it floats. It literally just floats over everything. And it's got a little bit of giddy up. Not enough to really get crazy with, but enough to get out of its own way.


The carburetor takes a little getting used to... if it's not warmed up all the way, it falls on its face at stoplights, and stalls out. It'll probably end up getting switched out for a dual-plane intake manifold and a 575cfm 4bbl carb.

But, it sounds good, and everything works on it. Well, kinda. The A/C system needs some work done, and the P/S pump needs tweaking, and the window cranks need new knobs.

06.14.09

Admittedly, I haven't gotten to peek around the inner workings of the car yet.


Today, at Advance Auto, I went to get a new air filter... the old one was literally black. You couldn't tell where the plastic pieces and the element changed.


Got that off, and to my surprise...


A Holley 4bbl carb was underneath!

Here I was thinking it was the anemic 2bbl carb that came from the factory. Ohhhh no no.

Swapped out the entire airbox with a Holley 14" element and chrome lid. It looks a lot better, and pulls a lot more now. Still falls on its face if it's not warmed up, but it's a lot easier to find cheap Holley 4bbl's to swap out, than the 2bbl.


Sweet. One less headache (read: expense) to worry about.


I'm gonna clean the motor bay up today. Maybe even vaccuum out the interior.

06.15.09

I'm gonna do the plugs tomorrow.

I spent 7 hours detailing JUST the interior today! It was absolutely filthy. Literally, if you shook the floor mats, it was a cloud of dirt. I have a Shop-Vac that holds 10 gallons. There was at least a gallon's worth of dirt and filth, at the bottom of it.

Now, it looks damn near new, save for the split in the front bench seat. The old seat cover was disgustingly dirty, too.

I degreased most of the engine, and cleaned it up quite a bit too.

I'll take some pics tomorrow. No light left tonight.

06.16.09
Spent some quality time with the car over the last few days. Been driving it a LOT. Like, half a tank of gas worth. So, like 19 miles.


Changed out the plugs today, with some Autolite Platinums. I think I may have fixed one of the stumbling issues. All of the plugs were trashed, and they were gapped on average around .035. Factory gap level is .050. It runs like a champ now, and starts a lot easier. Still not fast, by any means, but definitely a lot more fluidity and giddy up.

06.27.09

Here's everything I've bought/done since I bought the car 2 weeks ago:

Holley 14" Air Cleaner Assembly.
MSD Distributor Cap and Rotor
Autolite Platinum 2 plugs
Holley Trick Kit / Carb rebuild
Dual 2 1/4" aluminized piping with H-pipe, and 30.75" Cherry Bomb Glasspacks
Advanced timing to 7 degrees at base timing/40 degrees after vacuum advance
Energy Suspension 1" Front Sway Bar Polyurethane Bushing Kit
Energy Suspension Polyurethane End Link Bushing Kit
Sea-Foam Motor Treatment
Detailed the interior with Meguiar's Superior Shine High Gloss Protectant
Vacuumed out 32 years worth of filth
Polished the chrome bumpers with Meguiar's Marine Metal Polish
Painted grille with rattle can version of John Deere Blitz Black
Painted turn signal grilles with gunmetal metallic spray paint
Removed the "granny" wheel covers
New battery
New battery tray, and mounting kit
Alpine CDA-9813 cd player
New headlight switch

And over 1200 miles of driving.


I have 5qts. of John Deere Blitz Black, that will go on as soon as I have time. Been REALLY busy lately with detailing, so my own car has gotten back-burner attention.

06.28.09

Might need to tear into the motor soon.




At autoX today, on my last fun run of the day, it was body-rolling REALLY hard, and I think I got an oil starvation. It's knocking pretty rough.


I added 2qts of oil, and it calmed down a bit, but I think I might need to pop off the valve covers and see if anything is loose. I'm hoping that it's not catastrophic.

07.01.09

Blitz Black paint is ON!!!!



Pictures will follow tomorrow.


A MILLION thank-you's to Nick (SnakeEater900Supra)! Without his compressor, baller HVLP gun, and his overall painting experience, I wouldn't have been able to get the paintjob I did. It looks REALLY evil now. I mean, like dangerously evil. I'll start a seperate thread for that whole project.


I'll fix the engine ticking soon.

07.02.09

First off, MAJOR props to Nick (SnakeEater900Supra). He helped me out SO much with this. His new compressor, and beaucoup expensive paint gun, and actually knowing what to do, made this whole process a thousand percent easier.


1 Gallon of John Deere Blitz Black paint: $31.xx
1 Quart of John Deere Blitz Black paint: $11.xx
(add in tax)
_______

$44.xx


I already had a quart of thinner, and several rolls of blue tape, and a few cans of primer.


We started by masking off almost all of the chrome, removing any extra trim, and, and masking the windows.


After that, I sanded the entire car with a random orbital sander and 220 grit paper.


We wiped down the whole car with alcohol, and a ton of rags, until it was free from any dust, and cleaned off.


Then, we rolled it into the garage, and started the madness. Mixed the paint 8:1 with thinner, filled up the hopper to the gun, and went to town. I had never painted before, so it was a learning process. Luckily, the learning curve on painting is fairly flat. I did all of the vertical panels, and Nick did the roof, hood, and trunk. Lesson learned: wear a respirator. We finished at 11pm last night, and all day today, I've been sneezing black boogers, and my lungs feel like I've smoked a carton of cigarettes.


Total time invested: 12 hours.

I'm SOOOOO happy with how it came out. If you didn't know any better, you'd have NO idea, that I only spent $44 on paint. It self-leveled, and is one of the most durable paints you can buy.

The paint is what they use to coat the fender liners and roofs of cabs on John Deere tractors.


It's not like typical flat paints, that show everything. It's a LOT more durable, since the original intent for the paint is to be resistant to mud, gravel, poo, and agricultural chemicals.


When you see it in person, you'll see how smooth and level the paint is. It REALLY came out well. I couldn't believe it myself, that it was a garage paintjob, and was so cheap.

I'm gonna try to paint the steelies fire engine red tomorrow, and will hopefully have time to whitewall the tires, too.

Probably going to be a 2" copper leaf stripe down the bodyline of the side of the car, one on each side of the "V" on the hood, and around the trunk bodylines.


Decided to simplify it a bit. Plus, it's a lot less time consuming when I can just follow the line with a roll, than having to go back and forth with the copper leaf.

07.03.09

I used Dupli-Color "Metalcast" anodized red spraypaint, and then coated it with Dupli-Color clear ceramic engine enamel on the wheels.

And my failsauce whitewall tire paint, that only lasted 10 miles before all of it came off...