Resuscitating Doris

[81Notch]

I took my first drive in the '81 today, brought her home from the shop a little over 20 miles away. My big goals were to make a stop at the spray wash, get some gas, and then cruise on home. I was so excited I forgot about the gas, but I did make it and now I can maybe relax since this car is finally here and I can do more than look at pictures of it. I'm glad I did not have my mechanic change anything from the stock configuration because, my goodness, she can only get faster from here! This fox isn't making much power, I can tell you that much.

The car hadn't been driven since 2014 and just received: all fluids changed (except transmission, the filter wasn't quickly available), brake hoses, rear diff grease, fuel tank cleaned, reman. carburetor and new fuel filter, plus some tires (General Altimax RT45 in 205/70/R14). I ordered two different gas tanks, neither was correct, but the old tank just needed a good cleaning so that's two tanks being returned. The tires that came on it only had a thousand miles on them, but had developed some cracks in the sidewalls from sitting. These Generals sit a little wider and look much better. This evening I had enough beers to thoroughly clean all the glass and unclog a drain by the fuel cap that had filled with crap at the spray wash.

The black sealant around both the windshield and rear glass is messy, and extremely sticky. Seems like it has seeped out over the years, I'm not sure. I don't believe the glass has been replaced, so I'm curious how common this may be.

I really don't ever name vehicles, but in honor of the first owner who is now gone I'm calling her Doris. I still intend to keep as much originality as is practical, but some things will change and I'm not going to stress about it, I'll just enjoy it. The wire wheel covers won't fit back on with the wheel weights, which is fine because I wasn't thrilled about them anyway, so I'll do something about that. Next up will be a whole lot of cleaning, inside and out.

 

[Erkenbrand]

Congratulations! I remember when I drove my 1980 for the first time after it'd been sitting for 20+ years. What a great feeling.

I haven't seen a glass seal do that before. It might just be from sun.

There are ways to make the slightly more modern gas tanks fit. I'm still running the original in mine, but I'm thinking of moving to something newer. You'll get increased capacity. I think it's mostly about getting the matching straps to fit the larger tank, and a bit of finagling with the fuel lines.

Good luck!

 

[81Notch]

Congratulations! I remember when I drove my 1980 for the first time after it'd been sitting for 20+ years. What a great feeling.

I haven't seen a glass seal do that before. It might just be from sun.

There are ways to make the slightly more modern gas tanks fit. I'm still running the original in mine, but I'm thinking of moving to something newer. You'll get increased capacity. I think it's mostly about getting the matching straps to fit the larger tank, and a bit of finagling with the fuel lines.

Good luck!

Thanks for the well-wishes. I read through the thread on your 1980 a few days ago, you've done quite a bit of work, good on 'ya. I'm looking at my car as a way to learn some of the things that I never did when I had my 1965 in high school, such as proper tuning and focusing on the basics. Case in point, tomorrow I plan to clear out the moonroof drains so the interior stays dry the next time it rains!

 

[81Notch]

The moonroof drain issue has been resolved. I ran a coated wire cable down all the drains and blew them out with air, but when tested water continued to drip from the headliner where the visors attach, so I figured the front drain tubes had likely become detached and sure enough, they had. Simple fix with a hose clamp on each one. Fortunately, the rear drains appear to be operating just fine. The gasket behind the plastic thingies that the metal moonroof clips slide in to are toast, so I'm planning to fix those with some gasket maker and stainless hardware since one fastener was so rusted it broke right off.

In the course of degreasing the engine bay I found one broken vacuum line and then shortly thereafter managed to break another one. These are attached to what I believe may be called a vacuum control valve/distributor, looks kinda like a manifold or something (blue thing in the pic). Either way, I'd like to replace the lines if I can find them or an aftermarket solution. Super glue is getting me by for now. Sooner than later I want to rid the engine bay of everything that is not necessary, including the smog pump since here in VA it's not required for vehicles 25 years or older regardless of whether you're running antique plates or not.

I had intended to really detail the engine bay, but it turns out Super Clean degreaser is pretty decent at removing paint so after my wife, who was doing the hard work, informed me that the paint was suffering we decided to scale back until another day. Also, the black goo around the windshield and black glass I was asking about, I'm thinking that someone tried to seal everything with a non-hardening gasket maker. Possibly, they thought water was coming in around the glass instead of due to the moonroof drains not functioning. Just a theory. At any rate, I will say that Goo Gone is some incredible stuff.

 

[Erkenbrand]

Super Clean works wonders at removing just about everything. I'd recommend just some good old Dawn dish detergent for the engine bay degreasing. That's what I usually use. It isn't as strong, but it also doesn't remove paint or destroy gaskets.

Those old vacuum lines are a pain. LMR has replacement vacuum trees and lines that might work to fix you up. Of course a lot of those will go away if you remove the emissions control equipment.

 

[One Owner 1982]

LMR sells the inner seal for the back window that will help stop the sealant from coming out. ORillyes Auto Parts has the OEM gas tank for our early Fox bodies. I replaced mine in January.

 

[81Notch]

LMR sells the inner seal for the back window that will help stop the sealant from coming out. ORillyes Auto Parts has the OEM gas tank for our early Fox bodies. I replaced mine in January.

Thanks. The black sealant around the rear window is definitely a mess and I'll need to deal with it at some point. Good to know about the gas tank, mine is OK as my mechanic was able to clean it out but it's got a big dent in the bottom and eventually I'll probably want to replace it.

 

[347HO]

Super Clean works wonders at removing just about everything. I'd recommend just some good old Dawn dish detergent for the engine bay degreasing. That's what I usually use. It isn't as strong, but it also doesn't remove paint or destroy gaskets.

Those old vacuum lines are a pain. LMR has replacement vacuum trees and lines that might work to fix you up. Of course a lot of those will go away if you remove the emissions control equipment.

I've used a mix of Dawn, gasoline and water since 1980, to degrease the nastiest of engine areas and even chain grease. Does not attack factory paints.

 

[81Notch]

I've been slowly plugging away at cleaning and repairs, most recently I installed LMR's sunroof hardware kit because the clips that slide into the yellow plastic thingies were rusty. I sanded and painted the black trim ring around the sunroof with SEM trim black- good stuff. I also replaced both the glass and body weather strip and now the sunroof rides pretty high but is not allowing water in. I'm hoping it will settle down, but this is as tight a fit as I could get and I still need to make some additional adjustments to the retainer clips because the whole thing wants to slide backward a bit when I open the sunroof, I believe that's mostly because the weather strip is pushing it out. I had a failure trying to install the glass weather strip from Rock Auto, Fairchild brand I believe, it was terrible so I re-ordered that piece from LMR and it did much better though still not great. At any rate, I spent a great deal of time trying to "restore" the sunroof and it's still not to my satisfaction, but at least it kept the water out when I gave her a bath yesterday.

I do have a question about interior colors, my door code sticker says AZC and I know the Z means Vaquero which was one of the options in 1981 but I cannot figure out if the plastic trim pieces, and the dash etc. would have been a standard red color or also some kind of specific Vaquero trim color. "A" would have been black, though the only black pieces are the seat belts, and there is no match that I can find for the "C" in that code. The A pillar trim and headliner trim pieces, door scuff plates, front & rear quarter plastic trim pieces all seem to be more red than the door panels and dash, which have a distinct orange hue which I think would have been specific to the Vaquero trim- possibly. LMR sells new Daniel Carpenter door scuff plates in a "scarlet red" and that color look a lot like my plastics but I just can't find any specific information about what color trim pieces were used in 1981. Ford had a dark red, medium red, some other reds, and it's confusing. I would like to paint all my plastics, probably with the SEM color coat, but want to match the original color as much as possible.

I have a can of SEM color coat in Napa Red coming, I'm going to try it on the carpet after I shampoo everything to see if I can bring it back. In other news, I also replaced the firewall, door to body, and trunk weather strip, all of that was pretty easy. Next up will be the window run channel which I am dreading, along with the inner and outer door belt strips which I don't think will be too bad.

 

[broncojunkie]

I love how this car is coming along! I remember back in the 90's, dad ran a small used car lot. There was a vendor that would stop by occasionally selling detailing/cleaning supplies, fasteners, air fresheners, and typical car-dealer stuff. I got a can of red interior dye (aerosol) and brought an old fox back to life. The faded red carpet looked brand new. I believe NPD sells correct matching interior dye for these cars. I have a couple cans for a 79 (red) but I've had it a couple yrs. Pretty sure they still carry it.
The windshield and back glass in these cars were originally installed with a butyl-type product. Even my 88gt had it. On a hot day, I was able to remove the windshield by pushing out from the inside. It was pretty messy. If the glass has been replaced, it most likely would have been replaced with urethane, which sets up like rubber. I replaced one in the early 90s using butyl tape from NAPA. The parts stores kept it on the shelves back then. Not sure if they still do.

 

[81Notch]

I love how this car is coming along! I remember back in the 90's, dad ran a small used car lot. There was a vendor that would stop by occasionally selling detailing/cleaning supplies, fasteners, air fresheners, and typical car-dealer stuff. I got a can of red interior dye (aerosol) and brought an old fox back to life. The faded red carpet looked brand new. I believe NPD sells correct matching interior dye for these cars. I have a couple cans for a 79 (red) but I've had it a couple yrs. Pretty sure they still carry it.
The windshield and back glass in these cars were originally installed with a butyl-type product. Even my 88gt had it. On a hot day, I was able to remove the windshield by pushing out from the inside. It was pretty messy. If the glass has been replaced, it most likely would have been replaced with urethane, which sets up like rubber. I replaced one in the early 90s using butyl tape from NAPA. The parts stores kept it on the shelves back then. Not sure if they still do.

You're correct, NPD does carry the SEM Color Coat I need, which I believe is "Medium Vaquero". I have pretty well convinced myself that is the color for the interior trim pieces, not some kind of standard red. I have not ordered any yet, but will pull the trigger soon I hope and for the cost of shipping you are better off buying more than a single can so I'm looking at two to three cans along with the recommended plastic prep and adhesion spray. NPD also carries an aftermarket carpet in the Vaquero color, but my carpet is in good shape it just needs to be cleaned and then I'm going to see what this SEM Napa Red looks like, I think it will be close. I have been extremely busy, and not had as much time as I would like to work on Doris but I do as much as I can every week.

I believe all the glass in this car is original, every piece has the "Carlite" logo and yeah that adhesive is a freaking mess but Goo Gone eats it up. I may have the windshield and rear glass removed and resealed eventually, that black goo will probably just keep oozing out otherwise.

She's been in the shop for a couple days, I'm going to pick her up tomorrow. New shocks and struts (Monroe OEM Spectrum up front, KYB Gas-A-Just in the rear), transmission service, negative battery cable (Daniel Carpenter repro), new thermostat and housing (was stuck open and not warming up properly). I have an LMR order arriving tomorrow, new door striker bushings (there are pieces of hydraulic hose on there now), window run channel weatherstrip, front seat belt sleeves (my wife requested those), and a new rear view mirror. I already have a new battery tray from LMR but have been avoiding that job because I know the rusted fasteners are going to be a PITA.

As a side note, I do not intend to order parts from Rock Auto again. I love the convenience of searching parts on their site, and they ship very fast BUT their packaging is shockingly bad. Every order I have received from them seemed to be packed by someone who took too much Ambien the night before and showed up to work sleepwalking. I had to send one of the Monroe struts back because it arrived with the top collar piece (don't know what else to call it) broken off. When I went to the FedEx shipping store to drop it off, I saw a box on their shelf with Rock Auto tape on it and asked the clerk about it. She said oh yeah, we see some really beat up packages from them and receive 3-4 returns EVERY DAY! She called it a "trend". 3-4 Rock Auto returns, every day, from a single FedEx store in Southwest Virginia.

I will update with some pics soon.

 

[Erkenbrand]

You're correct, NPD does carry the SEM Color Coat I need, which I believe is "Medium Vaquero". I have pretty well convinced myself that is the color for the interior trim pieces, not some kind of standard red. I have not ordered any yet, but will pull the trigger soon I hope and for the cost of shipping you are better off buying more than a single can so I'm looking at two to three cans along with the recommended plastic prep and adhesion spray. NPD also carries an aftermarket carpet in the Vaquero color, but my carpet is in good shape it just needs to be cleaned and then I'm going to see what this SEM Napa Red looks like, I think it will be close. I have been extremely busy, and not had as much time as I would like to work on Doris but I do as much as I can every week.

I believe all the glass in this car is original, every piece has the "Carlite" logo and yeah that adhesive is a freaking mess but Goo Gone eats it up. I may have the windshield and rear glass removed and resealed eventually, that black goo will probably just keep oozing out otherwise.

She's been in the shop for a couple days, I'm going to pick her up tomorrow. New shocks and struts (Monroe OEM Spectrum up front, KYB Gas-A-Just in the rear), transmission service, negative battery cable (Daniel Carpenter repro), new thermostat and housing (was stuck open and not warming up properly). I have an LMR order arriving tomorrow, new door striker bushings (there are pieces of hydraulic hose on there now), window run channel weatherstrip, front seat belt sleeves (my wife requested those), and a new rear view mirror. I already have a new battery tray from LMR but have been avoiding that job because I know the rusted fasteners are going to be a PITA.

As a side note, I do not intend to order parts from Rock Auto again. I love the convenience of searching parts on their site, and they ship very fast BUT their packaging is shockingly bad. Every order I have received from them seemed to be packed by someone who took too much Ambien the night before and showed up to work sleepwalking. I had to send one of the Monroe struts back because it arrived with the top collar piece (don't know what else to call it) broken off. When I went to the FedEx shipping store to drop it off, I saw a box on their shelf with Rock Auto tape on it and asked the clerk about it. She said oh yeah, we see some really beat up packages from them and receive 3-4 returns EVERY DAY! She called it a "trend". 3-4 Rock Auto returns, every day, from a single FedEx store in Southwest Virginia.

I will update with some pics soon.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with Rock Auto. I've placed over 100 orders with them (I have a cabinet covered in their magnets), and have never had to ship anything back. But LMR is always fantastic, with the best customer service. I'd caution you against CJ Pony Parts. I've canceled a few orders with them after weeks pass and they still haven't shipped.

 

[81Notch]

I have been slowly but steadily moving along, trying to do as much as I can before the weather gets too cold for me to enjoy my outdoor garage facilities. I found some 83-88 era Thunderbird wheels and spent a whole lotta hours wet sanding and polishing them. Three out of four of the center caps were junk so I have sourced used replacements off eBay and I'm working on getting them cleaned up, smoothed out and painted. The center cap in the picture is a junk one I sprayed with Rustoleum metallic aluminum real quick just to see how it looks.

New battery tray, hood insulator, SEM trim black paint on the cowl vent and some other pieces, refinished the automatic shifter bezel and replaced the seal. The windshield washer pump was toast so I initially replaced it with a $30 pump from LMR but the rubber seal was too small and the pump leaked- it actually blew right out of the reservoir the first time I installed it. After three different install attempts I went to Advance and bought their $18 pump, it fit tight and has not leaked, works just fine. LMR refunded me for their pump and I did not have to send the old one back. Their customer service is very good, and I just placed another order with them today.

About a month ago I took the car to a local rod shop that opened recently, I wanted to inquire about a tune-up and paint options and when I left the motor died at the bottom of their driveway, which seemed appropriate since it was running pretty good prior to me asking about getting some work done. I drove the car home but haven't had her back out on the road since because it is dying under load and the idle is pretty rough too. Vacuum leak, timing, I don't know. I have an appointment at that shop for mid-December, they're going to get the motor running right, clean up and replace wiring as needed, check and replace vacuum lines, and...new carpet! With any luck they can swap the wheels out for me too.

 

[One Owner 1982]

Live the fact that you are going with the 8 hole wheels. My TRX wheels were basically in the same shape. After a lot of stripping and polishing they came out great. What size tires do those wheels require?

 

[81Notch]

Wheel size is 14 x 5.5, I have new General Altimax RT45 tires on the stock steel wheels right now, in 205/70/14 and I'm planning to swap them over.

 

[81Notch]

I'm looking for the speaker mounting hardware missing in the pic, I don't know if it's called a speed nut, tee nut, or what. I have the package tray out now and want to mount some 6x8 speakers from the top, but all the hardware is missing as someone had mounted 6x9's from the bottom with just a couple self-tapping screws. Can someone tell me what kind of hardware should be used here to mount speakers in the stock location, from the top?

 

[81Notch]

I got the rear quarter trim pieces out today after finally freeing the headliner metal trim piece from the black window sealant that has seeped out over four decades. That stuff is a mess, gets on everything. I need to order a couple more cans of SEM, but these are getting prepped for paint along with some other trim. Already painted the kick panels, steering column cover, and new scuff plates from LMR- the originals were looking pretty tired and I'm sprucing the interior because carpet is coming soon.

 

[81Notch]

Progress continues, though you wouldn't know it looking at the interior of the car because I disassemble more of it every day. I've had quite a time trying to get all the interior trim pieces painted. I ran into a problem when I painted on a rainy day and the pieces turned out dull and mottled, I did not understand why and kept spraying more coats before giving up and doing some research. The SEM paint is acrylic and dries quickly unlike enamel paints, when it's too humid some moisture gets trapped in the paint because of this and it's called "blushing". Although it is winter here in the mountains and not at all humid, evidently painting in my shed with the door open while it was raining outside was just too much. I sprayed one additional coat a couple days later and the finish turned out good, I just hope I don't have any problems down the road due to a small amount of moisture possibly still being trapped in the paint layers.

Another painting problem arose today while trying to finish the last piece, one of the rear interior quarter panels. Not sure what the problem was, it wasn't blushing but instead bubbling up a bit and leaving little pinholes in the paint with the primer visible beneath. It was pretty cold today so that's all I can figure. One thing I can say for sure is that the paint is darker on the pieces where I did not use any primer, and lighter/brighter on the pieces where I did use primer so it's a little disappointing that it does not all match but ultimately I'm not going to let it bother me because all the trim looks far better than it did.

Over the weekend I spent about six hours installing 6x9 Kenwood speakers in the rear deck/package shelf, that's maybe a record time for just two speakers. Not easy to get them right when mounting a larger speaker than stock from below, but I'm happy with how the installation turned out. First I made some gaskets to help insulate the speakers and hopefully reduce rattling, especially with the front 3.5" which sit on plastic, and in my case broken plastic.

I also ordered a bare-board package tray from LMR and covered it with knit fabric because I did not want anything too thick, like vinyl or carpet, to cover the speaker holes and muffle the sound. No point in buying good speakers and going through the trouble to install them correctly, only to muffle the sound. I did not realize the tray would have perforations for seat belts and a third brake light, neither of which are pertinent to my car. I originally intended to just paint the tray and slap it in because what came out was just a painted fiberboard tray, but the perforations would have been very visible and that just did not appeal to me so my wife helped me cover it. I am not happy with how it turned out, it looks good on the table but not in the car because this LMR tray is about a half inch less deep than the original and therefore does not meet the back window which helps hold it down again the sheet metal package shelf. As a result, the rear of the board is warped up a bit and just looks like crap. The knit fabric is OK, but not great. I only used it because I found a good color and I knew it would not muffle the speakers at all. So, I ordered a new package tray from NPD this morning after first calling the manufacturer (R.E.M.) in Pennsylvania and speaking with them about my issues with the LMR tray. This new one also has the perforations but it is covered in a black mesh that should hide them. It is also dyeable, and they use the SEM paint for whatever they do in-house and that's what I'm going to use to paint it. Looking at the pictures, it is a little bit different than the LMR piece so I am hopeful it will fit better because that was half the problem.

I also received a replacement rear seat sound deadener from LMR, it arrived in an ACC (the carpet company) box, was damaged, and looked nothing like what LMR advertised. I sent it back and then called them yesterday, they are sending me a replacement which is supposed to be the same as what they have pictured on their site. Their customer service has been great. I did tell them about the package tray not fitting properly but didn't ask for any money back since I sprayed adhesive all over it and covered it with fabric, knowing it was a little smaller than the OEM piece that came out of the car. I'm pretty sure I already have considerably more money invested in Doris than I could sell her for and I'm nowhere done yet. Whatever, I'm enjoying all of this and my wife is very, very understanding...

 

[One Owner 1982]

Doris is looking great buddy! Love see the progress.

 

[Erkenbrand]

Doris looks fantastic. I have the same color interior. Part of mine was missing, but I've found most of the pieces. I'm hoping to do what you're doing next summer to freshen it all up. Although I did replace the seats with a set from a 91 Mustang, and set aside the originals.