Well, I finally went up to Autozone and bought the aluminum fuel door for the 97-03 F150. I came home, disected it, and went to test-fit it. I thought these things were supposed to fit flush?! The outer diameter of the aluminum ring was wider than the diameter of the hole. I was pissed.
Being the machinist that I am, I put the aluminum ring on the lathe, turned down the outside diameter, and matched the angle of the hole so that it was perfectly recessed. Then, I decided that I didn't like either of the how-to's for the install, so I made slots into the lip and a hole through one of the tabs. With stainless hardware and locking nuts, it just may be the most solid billet aluminum fuel door on any Contour.
Now I just have to go out and buy some stainless flat head bolts with an allen or torex drive. For now, I just used some stainless socket head cap screws.
Now, for the something else: I shaved the lines under the tail lights in the quarterpanels. Excuse the primer, I'm putting finishing touches on before I drop it off at the bodyshop.
And finally, here's a picture of my finished shaved front bumper. I have large expanded metal material to put in the 3 holes. I am in the process of making smoke foglight covers out of lexan. I have also just finished making an aluminum license plate bracket that will position the plate in front of the large opening and angled slightly down.
Input?
-BigC
Ooo, the shaving looks clean!