Restoring a 1993 MTX
- Thread starter Macgyver
- Start date
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Bob Gervais
Wut?
IMHO, it's a four door family sedan, which means subtle exterior/interior mods like you had on your Turbo Coupe. Nice car!
Mechanically speaking, keep it as stock (and reliable) as you can. Simple things like the y-pipe, cat-back, and getting all the maintenance done, and you'll have a reliable car.
As mentioned, brakes and suspension are where to put the money on these cars, and even that's not ridiculously expensive. With what it sounds like you want to do with this car, I'd install some decent pads on the stock 93 brakes and call it a day.
Mechanically speaking, keep it as stock (and reliable) as you can. Simple things like the y-pipe, cat-back, and getting all the maintenance done, and you'll have a reliable car.
As mentioned, brakes and suspension are where to put the money on these cars, and even that's not ridiculously expensive. With what it sounds like you want to do with this car, I'd install some decent pads on the stock 93 brakes and call it a day.
quikSHOilver
Yamahaized
Fabulous! you are doing great... fixing it up. It sure look good to begin with! Most of 'em in rust belt states wasn't that fortunate to be in good shape to begin with. One thing seem like you haven't shown a pix of rust prone area of inner dogleg section however the outside look ok. How does that inner one look?
To repair that small surface rust on front floor, you can either source a small metal replacement from non rust belt states also perhaps shosource can help u with cutting a piece out, you could weld it in. Then cover it with either Por15 or eastwood rust encapsulator and paint it whatever you want.
Check out my 94 build up link, you can see what I been doing with some rust area.
keep up great work! I will keep my eyes peeled for more progression!
To repair that small surface rust on front floor, you can either source a small metal replacement from non rust belt states also perhaps shosource can help u with cutting a piece out, you could weld it in. Then cover it with either Por15 or eastwood rust encapsulator and paint it whatever you want.
Check out my 94 build up link, you can see what I been doing with some rust area.
keep up great work! I will keep my eyes peeled for more progression!
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Macgyver
Member
I will be getting back to this project shortly. Stay tuned...
K-Dawg
SHO Member
I love following threads like these. Good job.
Macgyver
Member
I was finally able to steal a few hours this weekend to make some progress on the SHO. Vacations, sports practice, work and the V needing motor mounts ate up a months worth of time and funds.
My focus right now is to make all of the panels straight. I plan to put a nice basecoat/clearcoat finish on the car, so taking my time now will pay off when it gets painted. The car is surprisingly straight with minor dings and scratches needing attention. The passenger rear door is the worst and took most of my time. Interestingly, the passenger front door needs almost no work.
The only modification I plan to make to the body is the elimination of the badges. This required filling the holes in the decklid. I don't have any pictures of the disaster, but I attempted to weld one of the holes shut with my stick welder and made a pea size hole. I knew better, but I tried anyway and failed. My solution at this point was to clean up the hole and move forward. I slightly dimpled the holes and filled them with Quicksteel 2 part epoxy. Once it hardened, I ground it flat and put a light amount of evercoat on top of it and blocked it out. I then hit it with a high build primer and blocked it 2 more times. The result is perfect and should look excellent when painted. The beautiful thing about this is that if I decide to put the emblems back on all I have to do is remove the posts and carefully apply them in the stock locations. I think I'm going to like the clean, debadged look though.
Here are some shots of the drivers side progress too:
The Blue Moon was an end-of-the-day treat!
My focus right now is to make all of the panels straight. I plan to put a nice basecoat/clearcoat finish on the car, so taking my time now will pay off when it gets painted. The car is surprisingly straight with minor dings and scratches needing attention. The passenger rear door is the worst and took most of my time. Interestingly, the passenger front door needs almost no work.
The only modification I plan to make to the body is the elimination of the badges. This required filling the holes in the decklid. I don't have any pictures of the disaster, but I attempted to weld one of the holes shut with my stick welder and made a pea size hole. I knew better, but I tried anyway and failed. My solution at this point was to clean up the hole and move forward. I slightly dimpled the holes and filled them with Quicksteel 2 part epoxy. Once it hardened, I ground it flat and put a light amount of evercoat on top of it and blocked it out. I then hit it with a high build primer and blocked it 2 more times. The result is perfect and should look excellent when painted. The beautiful thing about this is that if I decide to put the emblems back on all I have to do is remove the posts and carefully apply them in the stock locations. I think I'm going to like the clean, debadged look though.
Here are some shots of the drivers side progress too:
The Blue Moon was an end-of-the-day treat!
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Macgyver
Member
Just had another setback. My other car took a shot from a school bus yesterday. It was parked and got backed into. I'll need to get this sorted out first.
frosho
WOLFMAN
Poor V. 
kevinspann
Don't take my advice.
Eww. Through the crease, and I'm sure there's a spot welded seam behind that bumper and taillight.
Macgyver
Member
I'm not sure yet how we'll do it. The guy who hit the car with the bus is actually our Lead Tech/Body Shop Manager; the bus was in for a mechanical repair. He was very upset about it and is the one who will be doing the repair. I was never upset about it. Things happen. It's just a car and nobody was hurt.
He originally said he'd like to replace the quarter, but I expressed that I'd prefer to repair what is there. Either way there will be a small amount of filler. It'll either be in the area of the dent, or up on the C pillar and rocker. I'd prefer repairing what is there in order not to cut up the car and compromise the factory corrosion protection. Believe it or not, the bumper cover is hardly damaged. Nothing broke on it. I ordered a new tail lamp and a bumper side bracket, but as far as parts are concerned, that should be it. On a brighter note, there is a ding in the passenger door that happened when the car was days old. It had 900 miles on it when it happened. That will also be fixed as well as a fresh coat of paint on the wheels. The shop is taking care of me in the best possible way.
Macgyver
Member
It's ugly, but completely repairable. Our shop is filled with real craftsmen. I have no worries that it'll be done right and with minimal filler. I'll post pix of the repair, or post a link to them. I may actually get some time on the SHO this weekend.
Macgyver
Member
Progress Update!
It's a beautiful day here, so I thought I'd pull the SHO out and take a few shots of the progress.
The Maxima in the background is the shop "shuttle" that I get to drive while the V is being repaired.
I plan to get out in the garage tonight to remove the quarter windows and finish the passenger rear door. I have a new long sanding block on order. I hope to see it on Tuesday. At that point I hope to be able to prime the whole car with high build primer and block it all out. I did a side job on an very rusty Isuzu Rodeo that will pay for all of the materials to paint the SHO. I plan to use Wanda for the basecoat to save a bit if $, but I'm torn on the clearcoat. I'll let you know what I decide to do.
It's a beautiful day here, so I thought I'd pull the SHO out and take a few shots of the progress.
The Maxima in the background is the shop "shuttle" that I get to drive while the V is being repaired.
I plan to get out in the garage tonight to remove the quarter windows and finish the passenger rear door. I have a new long sanding block on order. I hope to see it on Tuesday. At that point I hope to be able to prime the whole car with high build primer and block it all out. I did a side job on an very rusty Isuzu Rodeo that will pay for all of the materials to paint the SHO. I plan to use Wanda for the basecoat to save a bit if $, but I'm torn on the clearcoat. I'll let you know what I decide to do.
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Macgyver
Member
I got to it sooner that I had hoped to. The quarter windows were simple to remove. I pulled the interior panels, removed the nuts and carefully pushed and pried the windows out.
I was very pleased to see that the quarter windows are held in with 4 bolts each.
Once out the adhesive was easy to peel off the body and windows themselves.
I was left with this blob of window sealer.
Back to the actual body work. As I mentioned before, the passenger rear door was the worst part on the body. It looked like it was hit lightly at one time and someone got inside the door and pushed most of the damage out. Ordinarily when I'm at work I'd try to find a clean replacement door. Since these are getting harder to come by and also since my car is so clean I decided to straighten it. A replacement door would have likely required as much work anyway. This was my second go-around on this door. The first time I primed it, I wasn't happy with the results. I block sanded the door, skimmed a few areas lightly and got it perfect. Here is the result in primer:
I was very pleased to see that the quarter windows are held in with 4 bolts each.
Once out the adhesive was easy to peel off the body and windows themselves.
I was left with this blob of window sealer.
Back to the actual body work. As I mentioned before, the passenger rear door was the worst part on the body. It looked like it was hit lightly at one time and someone got inside the door and pushed most of the damage out. Ordinarily when I'm at work I'd try to find a clean replacement door. Since these are getting harder to come by and also since my car is so clean I decided to straighten it. A replacement door would have likely required as much work anyway. This was my second go-around on this door. The first time I primed it, I wasn't happy with the results. I block sanded the door, skimmed a few areas lightly and got it perfect. Here is the result in primer:
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Bob Gervais
Wut?
Coming along nicely!
platoribs
Live to Drive
There's something about the look of the Taurus with it's nose and tail bobbed like that. Off road SHO, hmmm?
Clearly you enjoy your work and do it well, also nice that your kids want to get involved.
I'm sure the end result will be something to see.
Thanks for sharing...
Clearly you enjoy your work and do it well, also nice that your kids want to get involved.
I'm sure the end result will be something to see.
Thanks for sharing...
Macgyver
Member
I guess I don't feel so bad about my floors anymore...
We happened to have an 07 Taurus in the shop today, so for giggles I put it up on a lift and had a poke around. Here is what I found. I know they all do this, but I was concerned mine was bad. It is not.
Here's a shot of mine:
here is a shot of the 07:
I still plan to get into it to stop any further progress, but I feel better that a much newer car is in nearly the condition mine is.
We happened to have an 07 Taurus in the shop today, so for giggles I put it up on a lift and had a poke around. Here is what I found. I know they all do this, but I was concerned mine was bad. It is not.
Here's a shot of mine:
here is a shot of the 07:
I still plan to get into it to stop any further progress, but I feel better that a much newer car is in nearly the condition mine is.
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Macgyver
Member
Finishing up the Bumper Covers
Since the clear coat was beginning to lift I had to remove it from the covers. I used a DA sander and 220 grit followed by 600 grit and finally scotchbrite to ensure there are no sanding scratches in the final product.
I used scotchbrite to clean and scuff the lettering. I don't want to have any paint adhesion issues in these areas.
You can see how discolored the clear coat got. The car looked purple on many areas.
Since the clear coat was beginning to lift I had to remove it from the covers. I used a DA sander and 220 grit followed by 600 grit and finally scotchbrite to ensure there are no sanding scratches in the final product.
I used scotchbrite to clean and scuff the lettering. I don't want to have any paint adhesion issues in these areas.
You can see how discolored the clear coat got. The car looked purple on many areas.
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