78 Mercury zephyr wagon

Well this finally happened

So this stuff is now safely stored at home, the K member being the most important part.

Likely have the zephyr at a friends garage in 2 weeks to have the one bad rust spot it has fixed. Still casually shopping for a 302/c4 donor.

this little rust spot.

led too this.

3hrs with handtools, im getting slow. Now to let the one man i trust to repair it work. hopefully be putting it back together next week.

rust ended up being worse then expected. resulting in having too patch 2 out of 3 of the layers of metal in the area, and a passenger side patch too.

this

crappy cell phone pictures but that was the exploratory before cleaning up the cuts.

8 dollars for a footboard at a scrap yard and we have the patch. its actually 2 of them stepped. hence the 2 welds.

good enough for me, started putting it back together today. goal is to have it back on the road this weekend since i didnt find a donor for a 302/c4.

I bet it feels good to have that fixed! Do you suppose that driver side rust was caused by brake fluid dripping down from the master cylinder at some point?

ClemSparks wrote: I bet it feels good to have that fixed! Do you suppose that driver side rust was caused by brake fluid dripping down from the master cylinder at some point?

Im sure it helped but it rusted inside out. The way its designed makes it a great place to trap dirt and moisture. As far as we could tell the inner peice is never even coated with primer let alone paint.

drove it today, aside from finding a v8 donor or some wheels i like cheap enough its just time to drive it. going to try and manage over 3k miles on it this summer.

4 bucks later and my annoying exhaust rattle is gone. Universal exhaust hangers are awesome!

Anyone who reads this feel free to offer an opinion, this post is more for me then anything else. Im really tired of the stock 14's.

Do i keep looking for a set of used ten holes or bite the bullet and spend more on wheels then i paid for the car? I have a line on a set of welds but i really dont feel like that fits the look of this car.

I'd run the 14s until you do a v8 swap and then put the widest wheels you can fit under it.

My Brother had one of these cars I think it was a 77, he bought it in the early 80s when he traded it in for a new s10 blazer the sway bar frame mounts had rotted off making for some interesting noises going down the road.

Miller Lake Monster wrote: My Brother had one of these cars I think it was a 77, he bought it in the early 80s when he traded it in for a new s10 blazer the sway bar frame mounts had rotted off making for some interesting noises going down the road.

78 was the first year but yes they rusted bad along the strut towers and forward. All foxbodys have that problem.

It seems 10 holes aren't very desirable around these parts. Every now and then you'll see a good deal advertised. If I were you, I'd post a wanted ad on your medium of choice and see what it gets you. I'm usually not shy about saying "I'm not looking for anything too expensive. If you have a set of these taking up space and can help a guy out, I'd be glad to put them to good use!" I've found that usually helps target the kind of seller I'm looking for.

Even the 16" pony wheels come along pretty cheap sometimes. Really, with folks doing so many 5 lug swaps, the 4 lug wheels should be stacked in corners of garages just about everywhere

Weirdly enough i was talking to a friend of mine about his turbo van and wheels and he told me his brother has a set of pony's for sale. Ive always wanted a set but they were big money still back when i had my capri(03-05). Going to look at them this weekend hopefully.

Nice!

I, too, remember when these were expensive wheels. I hope a deal works out for you! I don't recall having seen a wagon with pony wheels and I expect it will look great.

My birthday present too myself, he was missing a center cap so he threw in 2 tires for the rear. sometime this week ill be picking up front tires and having them all mounted. Will of course add pictures on the car.

My speedway order also came in, hoping this is the final fix for my rear brake issues!

Looking great. I have an unhealthy love for all things Wagon...

My daily is that ubiquitous oversized Wagon known as a Suburban...

Excellent! Those are going to really look good on the wagon, I think.

And fancy brake parts ... What's not to love!?

Love the look but i took a chance on used front tires and there a bit too big. have 2 centercaps on order and likely a set of 205/55r16s for the front. 215/60r16 just dont quite fit!

That looks really good!

Thanks i like it. With ordering plain silver center caps and tires/mounting i have 244.05 invested. Worth it too me.

Got shorter front tires, they dont look as good but they dont rub. Now searching for recomendations on an aluminim polish and tire shine..

Simichrome is an old standby, or Mothers. If there is no coating on the wheels, wet sand 1000 grit. Clean and hit it with a buffing wheel on your drill. Use a cone shaped one for insides. Some people use jewler's rouge.

Mothers seems to be well recomended so ill likely try that.

Updated my budget last night. Total cash outlay not including oil changes and gas is now 2,366 dollars. Rounding up on any change. Not bad for going on year 5 of fun.

best 20 dollars ive spent this year!

working hatch struts are great. Not sure why i waited this long to order a set.

Then just a pair of pictures from a spot i seem to take pictures of all my projects at, even pre digital.

final tire sizes ended up being 205/50/16 front and 225/60/16 rear. Spent alot of time just tackling small things like repacking wheel bearings and cleaning/painting the underside of the car. hatch paint and trim peices are next.

This is the first summer since purchased wear ive needed to change the oil mid summer. so basically just a 2500 mile update... Not alot of progress but i did get the hatch bedlined and the plastics back in (mostly, missing a few screws)

Mostly been using it for daily driver life, doing fun things like this.

was the final game of the season. A bit of this here and there

Yes im immature and enjoy burnouts. With baseball season ending i hope to finally finish the interior, ill certainly be driving less miles.