Burken Boys’ and Girl’s Journey

[wjburken]

I thought I would start a “build thread” to document the things that I will be doing with my sons as I try and teach them and learn somethings myself as we work in their vehicles.

My oldest, Javier, has a 2004 Grand Marquis that has 215,000 miles. We have had this vehicle for just over 3 years. We paid $1800 for this vehicle but it has been a solid ride for him, as well as family and friends who have needed to borrow a vehicle while theirs were down.


My 2nd oldest, Joseph, has a 1997 Chevy K1500 with 170,000 miles. We paid $1500 for the truck this spring and it had been a work horse for some of the various projects we have had this summer hauling rock and sand for our patio/pool project and load upon load of branches after the Derecho came and tore things up in our area.


Both vehicles have some rough edges and I thought what better way to teach them some things and spend some dad/son time than to tackle some projects on these two vehicles.

What follows may only be interesting to me, but here it goes.

 

[wjburken]

Today, we are working in some big spots on the Grand Marquis where the wonderful paint that FoMoCo used has peeled off. Short of doing a full body paint job, Javier wanted to try his hand at doing some paint work, so we are taking advantage of some nice fall weather to see what we can do. First thing is to sand the spots down.

I kind of felt like Mr. Miagi from Karate Kid showing him how to sand the surface.

 

[wjburken]

Next, Javier got to try his hands at spraying some primer. Not bad for a rookie.

 

[wjburken]

Got the two areas painted and clear coat applied. Definitely not on par with a pro paint shop but I don’t think it’s too bad for a first attempt. We will let the paint and clear coat cure for a few days and then wet sand it out and do a good polish on the whole roof. Might try and hit a few spots on the hood and trunk if the weather holds out.

 

[Larryjb]

I love those Mercs. I had a 1992 for 22 years. I only sold it because I need the spot for my 2720 Trailmanor

Wade, that Mercury was the best vehicle I have ever owned. (hush... don't tell anyone... even better the the Tahoe...) The most major things I had to do were valve stem seals after 5 years, and the transmission. To this day, I don't believe the transmission actually needed overhauling, but tranny shops up here don't want to touch anything unless they can rebuild.

 

[Larryjb]

Your boys did a great job on the roof. Not much point in trying to do better unless you can start mixing your own colours and stuff. Besides, with practice their skills will improve and may be inclined to get more professional equipment for painting. At the very least, they will be able to do the basic solid body repair and have a shop do a professional paint job if they choose.

Reminds me of when I helped my dad restore his 1971 Olds 88. We started off just fixing a couple of rust spots, and kept going. We even removed the rear window. We were going to just use paint bombs, but decided to take it for a professional paint job. The shop was quite impressed with our work and gave us a little discount for it. We had riveted metal where the rust holes were, but left one previous shop repair untouched. The previous shop just slapped on bondo and it bubbled out a couple of years later, but our work still looked factory. About 7 years later he finally sold the car because rust had started around the front windshield and he had moved to a new house that didn't have a garage to work in.

NOTE: I just saw what looks like a rust spec along the edge of the roof right behind the front passenger door. This would have been a good time to touch that up.

 

[wjburken]

I love those Mercs. I had a 1992 for 22 years. I only sold it because I need the spot for my 2720 Trailmanor

Wade, that Mercury was the best vehicle I have ever owned. (hush... don't tell anyone... even better the the Tahoe...) The most major things I had to do were valve stem seals after 5 years, and the transmission. To this day, I don't believe the transmission actually needed overhauling, but tranny shops up here don't want to touch anything unless they can rebuild.

View attachment 259718 View attachment 259719

I have had no issues with his Grand Marquis other than the radiator sprung a leak. We’ve had some fun with it as well. My wife entered it into a local auto-cross T&T event just to see what it was like. Nothing like gonna from watching little miatas zip around the course to watching Shamu, as it was lovingly nicknamed by the event staff, lumber around the track. I put Police Interceptor shocks and brakes on it as it needed new brakes and shocks all the way around anyways.

 

[wjburken]

NOTE: I just saw what looks like a rust spec along the edge of the roof right behind the front passenger door. This would have been a good time to touch that up.

Yeah. I am aware. That spot is actually above the rear drivers door, but it is only one of many areas of concern on this vehicle. Like the saying goes, “you can’t boil the ocean, just one pot at a time.”

 

[Larryjb]

Okay, now I see the bigger fish to fry.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Nice. I'd love to do a father and son project. Nice to spend some bonding time with the boys. You could always get a compressor and some cheap spray guns from HF and get some paint mixed up--try doing 1 part at a time, til you get the hang of it. I've always liked the police crown vics. Cheap and dependable. The Mercury Marauder is based on them.