Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums  

My 1988 Thunderbird LX 5.0.  It's my first car and I'm a senior in high school.  I just got some springs today and I plan on lowering it.  It's too high.  I also have an Explorer upper and lower intake manifold and a set of GT40P heads that I will eventually install.  More pictures later..

 

Very nice. Love the stance. What size tires are those? What offset do you have on the rear rims? Do the tires rub? I was just down at Discount Tire yesterday to ask them about getting wider tires for the rear of mine. Couldn't help me. Said there were too many modifications.

Thanks for the information.
What I am thinking is to have 2in added to the width of the rear rims on the inside. I like the rims I have and the way the car looks. Rims are 5 lug.
I have 245/45/17 Goodyear Eagle F1's on all 4 corners. Car handles great as long as the tires are warm. I would like wider tires on the rear for traction.
How do you "roll" the fender lip without damaging the fender?

Using a heat gun and keep it moving on the outside of the fender, remove the wheel and bolt a fender roller to the wheel studs and roll the fender lip flush.  Have to be careful not to chip the paint.  You can also use a baseball bat using the tire as leverage with the heat gun.

I have a heat gun- I'd be afraid of torching the paint. Where can you get a fender roller? I'm a rookie when it comes to paint and body.

Decided to give a shot at restoring some of my headlight lenses. The outers mainly, but did a half job on the inners too. The headlights I purchased brand new from ford around 10 years ago but the car has hardly been driven so they are still like new.

Thought of some of the quick fixes and different kits, but decided to do the thorough sand and clearcoat process. Spent some decent money for very fine sandpapers and got a UV resistant clearcoat. I am very happy with the results. Like anything, if you put the time into something and don't rush it you will end up with decent results. However my lack of attention to where I left the outers to dry left me running back outside to move them out of direct sunlight.... It was too late and I now have some spider webbing on them. That being said they still turned out awesome, so I will revisit them another day to re-sand and clear.

My process was wetsanding, the rough sand down with 600grit, again with 1200, then finish with 2000 grit. I did a circular motion and before moving to a higher count sandpaper I did finishing horizontal (side to side) passes to help with the clear to stick on the lenses. I used a water bottle to keep wetting the sandpaper and lens to clear the debris. I would do about 1/3 of the lens, soak it all down, keep doing to 2/3, soak it all again, finish the surface and soak it all. Then do the horizontal sanding, then soak that. Cloth dry, and move on to a higher count doing the exact same wetting process. When I sprayed I did very light layers of clear at a time, 4 or 5 times total.. To try and prevent running or beading. I just used aerosol can stuff and was careful to keep an appropriate distance from the lens to apply. I let about 10 minutes to dry before throwing another layer on.


After

Those look great, but so did mine after I did them, now they look like  again. Can you provide the name of the UV resistance clearcoat  that you used?

Yeah! I used Rustoleum Gloss Clear. Says UV Resistant and Non-Yellowing right on the label.