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Aerostar photo contest thread. Submit photos of your vehicles.

Here's my "girl", Sabine. She's a 96 with over 306,000. Just replace most of the dash lights with LED's. Running HID headlights and LED's for all exterior lighting except the reverse lights (soon though as well as putting in "switch back's" in the front turn signals).
I need to get some night shot's to post as well.

306,000 miles! Amazing. It looks brand new. Love the Zombie stuff. Would love to see some night photos of the HID/LED lighting!
 



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Yeah, Fords have always been great to me. As mentioned, I've had a few Aerostars but also a dozen or so Tempos, Taurus', a Festiva, two Escorts, a Windstar (and you see I went back to the Aerostar), and a Sable or two. 95% of them were great cars/vans and served their intended purpose well. I had a '92 Tempo LX V-6 for about 12 years and made a dozen or so cross-country trips in it. It got better mileage than my 4cyl/automatic Tempos and never let me down.

My last Taurus was a '93 which I sold with right at 300,000 miles on it's 3.0L V-6 (love that engine).

Forgot to add, I had two Mercury Zephyrs as well, an '83 GS Sedan and a '78 Z-7 coupe. My '83 met it's untimely death in Arizona thanks to my jackass brother.

Did your brother wreck the ’83? Or did it become a victim of the Arizona summer? Many people try to sell used cars down here with the disclaimer, “needs head gaskets.” It’s not the gaskets -- it’s the warped heads. They live in an area that experiences 100 degree plus temps for 4-5 months out of the year and fail to maintain their cooling systems. I just threw a new water pump on the Aerostar even though the old one wasn’t leaking or singing. I simply didn’t like the way it looked (grin). Next up: Power Steering and Brakes. And that should do it until something breaks. It’s 19 years old, after all. But it’s a RWD truck with a cast iron engine, no lien, and it’s far more functional than a car. Plus, it's a cool ride.

Interesting that you had a first-year and a last-year Zephyr! The Z-7’s are guaranteed to become collectors’ items -- especially those with original 302’s. A very unique model. Sad to see the end of Mercury and all the other brands the Big Three dropped. I’m still shocked that GM kept Buick over Pontiac. Buick’s entries into the SUV market have all been plagued with engine and drivetrain problems. They gave up on the Rendezvous after six years, the Rainier after four, and the Terraza lasted only three. So, what did they name their newest model? “Encore.”
 






No, I loaned the '83 GS to him and he drove it for over a year in Arizona. When I needed the car back, he begged me to let him keep it for a little while longer. A month later, I had bought my '93 Taurus and he decided to abandon the car (still in running/driving condition) in a parking lot near Phoenix. Naturally, it was stolen, used for various illegal activities and then finnaly crashed and ended up in a junk yard.

Both of my Zephyrs had the indestructable 200 Inline 6, an engine that I dearly love. The '83 GS had over 270,000 miles on it at the time it was abandoned, still running and driving well on it's original I-6 and C4. The '78 Z-7 was sold with something like 180,000 miles on it's original powertrain. Some guy in Everett, WA still has it. I found it on cardomain.com one time, and I tried to contact the guy about buying it back but he never responded.

What's going on with your powersteering system? Bad pump? Mine leaks a tremendous amount of fluid and believe it or not, I've been driving it dry for months now. I do plan to replace it pretty soon, hopefully before it siezes up, lol.
 






Found a picture of our old Aerostar, sometimes I still wished we had it. These are old pictures, can't find newer ones.

van.jpg


van 2.jpg


Mural on van.jpg
 












Is this the one that you put a V8 5.0L into? Thanks for posting the pictures. I would like to get this contest going, but I need members to answer their PMs, and post photos in this thread.

No it had a 390 V-8 from the pickup that we used for the chassis.
 












What kind of transmission did you use? Did you do the paint job? It looks like it was an 88 model or similar to that year.

We used the transmission out of the truck, I think it was a C6, & yes we painted it except for the airbrush part.
 












Was it a 1986 model? They had a C5.

The van was an 87, but the pickup we used was for the frame, motor & tranny was a 76 I believe. We built it in 1990 so it's been a long time ago.
 






Aerostar%20w.%20Mags.jpg
Here's my 1994 Aerostar, 3.0l V-6, automatic.
 






306,000 miles! Amazing. It looks brand new. Love the Zombie stuff. Would love to see some night photos of the HID/LED lighting!
She's now a hair under 343k. I've done the "switchbacks" but looking to change them to a type1/A version. I found some Nice CREE 9007 LED plug and play headlights on Ebay which I'm gonna change out when they arrive. After I get the new lights installed and aimed I'll get some pictures taken and posted.
 






Some pictures of my van

Here is some random pictures I have taken while working on my van. The rims are off a 05-10 mustang gt. The transmission is a T5 out of an 07 mustang. I made mounts to hold the mustang crossmember cause the rubber was worn out on the van. For the shifter I used steel bar to tie the hurst shifter to the transmission with needle bearings and 3/8 bolts. As for the driveshaft I learned the hard way about harmonics. Only other things done that i dont have pictures for is headers and 4.10 gear swap in the axle.
 

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Here is some random pictures I have taken while working on my van. The rims are off a 05-10 mustang gt. The transmission is a T5 out of an 07 mustang. I made mounts to hold the mustang crossmember cause the rubber was worn out on the van. For the shifter I used steel bar to tie the hurst shifter to the transmission with needle bearings and 3/8 bolts. As for the driveshaft I learned the hard way about harmonics. Only other things done that i dont have pictures for is headers and 4.10 gear swap in the axle.

Hey Josh, welcome! How were you able to fit those rims on the front? Spacers? I absolutely love those rims, but I have a set of 16" 05 stang rims I got in a trade. The fronts won't clear the center of the rotors, and I've been trying to figure out the best way to get them to work.
 












Adam, the fronts needed 1/4 inch spacer to clear the center. The largest tire that I could get to fit is 245 40R17. The back does not need a spacer and I run 245 45R17. Longer studs are needed if you use spacers in the front. Autozone let me dig through the bins to find what I wanted.
 






'96 Cargo

82000 mi. Runs great. Replaced less than attractive stock hubcaps with trim rings and center caps. Recent new tires livened thing up in appearance, as well
as drive-ability. Swapped factory vinyl seats for nice set from passenger van.
Much improved comfort. Come spring, plan on re-spray and swap sliding door for one with window.
 

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I don't think the ol' $600 :aerostar: has a chance against some of these ;) but for the sake of another entry into the contest, here's my submission, mismatched rims and all! Remember, this is a band van and as such, does not need to/shouldn't look good!!!

279D6DED-1D79-4EC7-B12A-2048D0001328_zpsel0yjgtu.jpg


This was taken in downtown Akron in August of 2015. The building at the corner is a recording studio and we were cutting a few demo tracks.
 






thats true.mine was 1100.00.lol
 



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my 96 shorty

I added the ranger center caps and new tires this week.
Douglas xtracks from Walmart fromor 325 installed balanced and valve stems.
 

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