Crappy Vic

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
02/11/2020 at 11:59 • Filed to: None

The guy I bought Crappy Vic from has offered to sell me the entire front clip, including any other goodies I need for the rest of the car, for $350. The parts are already all removed from the donor car(s). There’s a guy I met at the junkyard who offered to install the clip for $300. Haven’t decided about that part yet. Some of you panther purists will approve of this plan.

DISCUSSION (20)

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 12:07

Nice! (I secretly love 2V bois)

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 12:31

Yes.

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 13:06

I would go for it ... and then do your crazy paint job.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher
02/11/2020 at 13:24

Would you install the clip yourself or pay a guy $300 to do it for you? I’m inclined toward the latter...

Kinja'd!!!

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 14:03

It depends on how much free time I had. If I needed it to get to work, I’d definitely pay to have it done. For a fun project, I’d like to learn the skill of hanging it myself ... IF I have time to do it.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher
02/11/2020 at 15:30

Truth? I dread that job like the plague. I am strongly inclined to pay that guy to do it for me. I think $300 sounds like a bargain if he can get the parts on their largely straight. I’d rather spend the time learning how to paint the scheme.

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 15:42

Makes sense to me. I think $300 for that job is very reasonable, and money well spent.

NKato > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 15:53

You should get in touch with CVN and ask about how to replace those components. Also you may be looking at a damaged core support, which will make installing the new fender difficult if not impossible.

We have a pretty good tech support community.

NKato > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 15:53

It’s quite literally a handful of bolts.

NKato > shop-teacher
02/11/2020 at 15:54

As someone who's done it, no. It's so stupidly simple. The only difficulty is dealing with the hood since it bolts to the fender.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 16:36

Good plan.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > NKato
02/11/2020 at 17:54

CVN? By core support, do you mean the piece behind the grill that goes all the way across and supports the top of the radiator? If so, that bit is mangled and a replacement is included in the batch of parts I’m receiving for $350, if I understand correctly.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > NKato
02/11/2020 at 17:56

But if replacing the core support is part of it, we’re talking a different order of magnitude, correct?

NKato > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 18:04

It’s just another part held in by a bunch of bolts, it sits on top of a pair of bigass rubber bushings on the frame itself. You’ll want to pay attention to the positioning of the new core support to make sure the body is square and won’t get uneven hood gaps. As it happens, the core support is where the hood latch is bolted to.

The battery tray will be your biggest obstacle in replacing the core support. But once you understand how it all comes together, I won't blame you if you feel a little urge to stockpile the front end body parts... It's literally that easy compared to what I've seen in other cars, and you've got oodles of room to work with.

NKato > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 18:05

CVN = CrownVic.net, they're the ones I mentioned having a Discord chat server. The link is on that page.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > NKato
02/11/2020 at 18:30

Discord. That’s where that was. I went there, but it seemed very linear , like it wasn’t really set up for a full-on board, so I didn’t spend a lot of time.

Guy at the junk yard offered to do the swap for $300. Assuming he knows what he’s doing, sounds like a nice size of money to me. I dread the project, frankly.

NKato > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 18:40

Discord is a chat client, not a forum. The forums on CVN are another option for you.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > NKato
02/11/2020 at 18:54

I must have missed it...

NKato > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 19:33

https://www.crownvic.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=cfrm

MM54 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/11/2020 at 20:19

That seems like a good price, and frankly the $300 to put it on is also a very good deal. Unless you want to do it for the sake of doing it, or are on a very tight budget, I’d say let the guy do it for $300 and save yourself a full weekend’d work of finangling bent parts off the car. At least you won’t break off every bolt due to rust!