I guess I’ll take that foot in the mouth… Sorry, Mrs. Relentless. I was thrown by the muscular forearm, which would probably whack me pretty hard upside the head. Am I making things worse now? I should stop typing…
OH YES!!!
The ECI SCORES!!!
The forearms got me too… In my defense, my wife thought they were male forearms as well. She must be in some serious shape! Bravo.
Sorry Bob, you were right. (That kinda hurt to say) 
I’m fighting off a gout attack today so I won’t be making any headway on the car. Here’s a picture of my wife, son, and daughter, who support my car habit.
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Let’s see if anyone can identify the words on the fender protector on the car, and the car in the background.
fender cover is the Buick Motorsports logo.
The car in the background looks like a Porsche 914.
Nice cars, handsome family Ken!
Thanks Robert and Dave is right-on. By the way, those drips under the Cougar are WD-40 from when we were working on cleaning the rug crud out of the trunk.
Today I was able to get back to working on the car. I had a few items show up that helped. One was a handheld thermal no-contact temperature gauge that I will be using to monitor the temperature of parts that I powder coat. It is important to keep the temp close to 400 degrees for 20 minutes when the powdercoat is being baked in an oven. I also received a touch up HVLP gun that I will be using in places like the trunk where the paint needs to be resprayed. Finally, the new springs and spring isolators arrived!
I started by installing the rear spoiler. I admit I was a bit nervous drilling holes in the trunk lid! But I measured several times before I finally drilled pilot holes, then the final holes. I am pleased with the way it turned out. My wife and I like the flat black look of the spoiler as it came. It matches the interior, roof, and tires, and breaks up the Prowler Purple paint, so I won’t be painting it to match the car’s purple, at least for now. I cut a stick down to use to hold up the trunk lid for now.
I then turned my attention to the front suspension and brakes. I removed the front brake rotor and used Navel Jelly and a drill with a brass brush to remove the rust. I then started bolting some of the suspension components back on the car. I had to clean some parts that had turned nasty.
It was a lot easier to put the new shorter spring back on the car than it was to remove the old, much longer incorrect spring the PO had installed.
After some cleaning I touched up some of the black suspension components. Tomorrow I will finish this corner of the car and get it back down on the ground to see how it looks lowered!
I can’t wait to see the new stance. If money is no problem you might get a second spoiler and paint ti body color and have fun with people by swaping it out after each time out. At one time I had a body color hood scoop and a black one I swaped out on Badcatt(some 12 years back).
Yeah, a second spoiler would be a cool thing in Prowler Purple Metallic (and maybe some accents).
Yesterday I cleaned up the right front underside. I found that the 3-M paint removing disc did a good job removing the rust from the (new) brake rotors. Well they were new ten years ago and have not been used. I used plenty of hi-temp grease on the bearings.
Fresh paint really helps it look clean, as my camera seems to show off every little speck of dirt.
The moment of truth, the wheel goes on and the car lowered back onto the ground.
Neeless to say the car now sits crooked!
And now my aggravation. I get to pull the spring and straighten out the spring isolator!
I kept having a problem when I put the isolator on the spring, it kept popping up and wouldn’t lay where it was supposed to be. I was careful when I guided the spring and isolator up into the shock tower, but not careful enough it seems. The spring compressor uses the shock top mount making it very difficult to see what is going on up there when using it.
So today I start out by taking one step backwards… and hopefully come up with a solution that holds the isolator in place until the spring’s pressure captures it.
Yesterday I was able to fix the duffed up spring isolator.
Here’s the difference in the original spring height and the new lowering spring. I can actually compress the new spring a little bit by pressing down on the passenger side of the car!
The wheel moulding lip is now about an inch above the top of the tire.
Hmmm, my entire new post disappeared! Well here are some pix of the progress.
I haven’t posted out here in a bit. But I still try to get at least one small thing done each day. I recently took apart the front latch, cleaned and repainted it. I also took off the front bumper, which had the attachment arms to the frame just floating with no bolts. These parts were taken apart, cleaned and repainted. I treated the rust on the inner part of the bumper with petroleum jelly. Here are a few pictures to show how things look then and now.
I also got the air tank installed in front of the driver’s side tire. It was hard to get the bracket screws on with the wheel and tire still mounted, but my wife was nice enough to hold the heads steady while I put the washers and nuts on.
Next on the agenda is to reassemble the front grille, and install the grille, fascia, and chin shroud. I still have to get headlights and put them in and wire things in front.
Ken,
FWIW, the order to do the front is put the stone guard on first, then the bumper. The grille can be done before or after I believe but I prefer to do it first, then the stone guard, the fender extension rubber fillers, the bumper and then the lower valance last.
Thanks Robert. I had put the stone guard on and tried the grille, but there wasn’t enough clearance. There is a way to twist the stone guard into place with the bumper installed, but not the grille. The bumper is coming off before I try this again.
Today I put the grille, stone guard, and lower fascia back on. I still have some adjustments to do, but the car is looking more complete. Here’s how she’s shaping up.
The past couple days I have been playing around with powdercoating parts, mainly bolts, washers, and nuts, but also some bigger parts.
This brace was cleaned with a wire brush to remove the old paint, then wiped down with a pre-paint prep.
After spraying the part with the powdercoat paint, the part is put into a 400 degree oven and baked (after flow out) for 20 minutes. I use an infrared thermal thermometer to ensure that the temp is correct. Here is the cured part in gloss black.
Here are some old and some new bolts that were powdercoated semi-chrome. The old bolt heads were cleaned up with a wire brush on a drill before being coated.
You can compare the result of the newly coated bolt here installed on the side of the driver’s fender well, compared to the two that haven’t been powdercoated (located below).
Over time I will get all the fasteners powdercoated in the engine bay. I am also going to re-powdercoat the power steering fluid bracket and radiator fan.
How about one with the hood closed? It looks like she is coming along well.
Thanks badcatt. I have to admit, I have most of the pictures with the motor exposed. 
Here’s some with the bonnet down, although I don’t have the hood latched completely.
