I found my old Fox Mustang after 11 years and bought it back

[the walrus]

Making some progress. After pulling the engine we removed the wiring and dash, pressure washed the engine bay, then removed everything else on the front end. 27 years of oil and grease had to be cleaned up. Welded up some steel plate for the clutch cable entrance that was cracked and partly missing. It's very solid now. Also removed the rear end and fuel tank to get that all cleaned up. Scraped and pressure washed the underside of the car as well. A prior failed pinion seal had made quite a mess back there.

At this point the engine bay is in primer. Need to finish up the rest of the body work (bumpers, block the hood, address some dings) and get the whole car in primer and blocked. Hoping to have it in paint in the next few weeks before the weather cools down too much.

Once it is painted, the rest is just cleaning up/purchasing parts and re-assembly.

Missing bits of the firewall from PO using the wrong bell housing and clutch fork. Way too much pressure here.

Bought the world's smallest welder and got some work done

Not pretty but solid. The rough areas that you can see are seam sealer.

K-member out

Cleaned, primed and slid back under the car

Engine bay primed

Fuel tank and rear end pressure washed

This was nasty before! Hasn't been this clean since 1992.

Garage buddy, one of many helpers in my house.

Won't be long 'til paint. More to come.

 

[the walrus]

I bought all of the paint for the car and got a few more parts in primer (front and rear bumper covers and the spoiler.) The rear bumper cover didn't need much work but the front took some time. It is original to the car, still has the VIN sticker, and as far as I can gather has about 348,000 miles on it. It had several chips, scrapes and gouges, and had been rattle canned black and white at some point. I spent the better part of Saturday cleaning, filling, sanding, trying to repair it as best I could. Still not perfect but looking much better now in primer. Inching closer to paint...

This is from a few months ago before tear down began. Lots of rattle can on the front of the car.

After several hours...

Looking better. Need to address a few things and block it before paint.

 

[the walrus]

We got paint!

I tried my best with what I had. The base went down perfect which I was really happy about. The clear...not so much. Hopefully I will be able to cut and buff out the imperfections. If I really need to I can take it to a real paint booth and have a pro lay down a few coats of clear for me. So I still have some options to get the clear looking better. Anyway, nice to be done with bodywork and to be close on the paint. Will be ordering brakes and suspension soon.

 

[the walrus]

Thank goodness for cut and buff! As stated previously, much of the clear didn't go down so well due mostly to lack of skill, insufficient CFM, spraying in a garage, phase of the moon, etc....

Luckily wetsanding and polishing works and it looks like I will be able to salvage the paint job.

I loosely mounted up the hood and bumpers so they were out of the way and didn't get knocked over in the garage. Nice to have the area cleaned up a bit after being in full body shop mode. I'll deal with panel gaps when I'm ready to bolt things on for good.

So yeah...some of the clear not looking too hot. See list of excuses above... :wacko:

After wetsanding and polishing. Now this I can live with, even if it is a bit wavy in places.

50/50 shot, fender to hood

For those wondering, I am doing 1500 grit wet, 2000 grit wet, 3000 grit wet, then polishing compound on a foam pad with a rotary polisher, followed by swirl remover on a lighter foam pad. At this point the plan is to go panel by panel and try to get the whole car looking good in clear.

Justin

 

[Mantilgh]

Great job! Love the 50/50 shot


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[the walrus]

Still at it. I had a mobile painter come out and do a bit of a re-spray focusing mostly on the top of the car where I had a bunch of fisheyes that I had to sand down. He got that part of it looking better. I then spent about 20 hours over two days wet sanding and polishing to cut down some of the orange peel, etc. Darn near sanded my fingerprints off! Still need to do a final polish but I will likely wait for warmer weather to do that. Painted and attached the side moldings and front spats. Cleaned and painted the rear end, front control arms and spindles.

Starting some re-assembly now. I went with Power Stop 13 inch brakes for a 2003 Cobra since I already had SN95 spindles. I also ordered some Cobra decals from ebay. They're a little cheesy but whatever, the powder coating on the calipers looks great and it's a nice functional upgrade over stock. Using KYB shocks and struts, Eibach springs, and UPR rear control arms. Got a bunch of stuff from Prothane for the front as well. I painted one wheel a gunmetal color as a test. I think we'll run that for a while.

The rear end will get new axle bearings and seals and I installed new Ford bushings as well.

Starting to come together a bit. I am hoping to have the car back on 4 wheels by the end of the week.

 

[the walrus]

Still working on the car and slowly making progress. The garage isn’t quite as inviting during winter but I have a small heater that helps a bit. At this point the suspension is done, wheels are on, fuel tank is in, and much of the engine bay is in place. I will have engine bay wiring done soon and dash wiring soon after that.

I figured out that the engine that came with the car is a 1989 block so it has forged pistons. I will do new bearings, rings, gaskets, and get it cleaned up and painted. Then I‘ll move over the timing cover and accessories from the 93 engine, while adding the 130amp alternator. With a fresh rebuild and the basic HCI upgrades it should be a nice runner.

I found a NOS heater core for sale locally and it sure was easy to install with the HVAC unit on a table. Still need to make some brackets for the G37S seats but now that I know the seats fit in the car, the brackets shouldn’t be too complicated.

My goal is to have the engine done and installed in the next few weeks. I want to be cruising this summer.

I made a couple of quick update videos. Just remember what we started with!

Part 12
YouTube

Part 13
YouTube

 

[isabellamor]

Is it just me who is excited for the outcome?
I feel like there's so much work that is need to be done before this car run smooth again. I can see progress from all the photos that you have attached on every update.

 

[isabellamor]

Is it just me who is excited about the outcome?
I feel like there's so much work that is needed to be done before this car runs smoothly again. I can see progress from all the photos that you have attached to every update.

 

[RichinRidgewood]

Nice work

 

[the walrus]

Engine is done! Will be installing next week.

YouTube

 

[Alpha Autos]

Nice one. This would be like a reunion after so many years. Are you through with fixing it?

I would love to see it.

 

[the walrus]

Guys, she’s done.



The Prodigal Mustang. Took just over a year and now we can finally go cruising. Got a few small adjustments to make and I'll do a full polish once the weather warms up but it's basically done. Nice solid interior, engine sounds good and pulls nicely. It was a project but a worthy one. Just remember what we started with! Thanks for the encouragement along the way. Time to make some more memories with the family.

 

[Ed_C]

Nice work man! Did you change your mind about the G37 seats?

What did you do with the rest of the exhaust? We used to save our customers some money and get the local exhaust guy business by using the exhaust tubing from the Dynomax systems then let the customer choose what muffler. Usually Flowmaster 42443s, which are 2.25" but the same exact muffler as the 2.5" but costs less...the exhaust guy expanded the inlets and outlets as part of the installation.

 

[the walrus]

Nice work man! Did you change your mind about the G37 seats?

What did you do with the rest of the exhaust? We used to save our customers some money and get the local exhaust guy business by using the exhaust tubing from the Dynomax systems then let the customer choose what muffler. Usually Flowmaster 42443s, which are 2.25" but the same exact muffler as the 2.5" but costs less...the exhaust guy expanded the inlets and outlets as part of the installation.

Thanks! I still have the G37 seats and will likely put them in as a project later. I put a ton of hours in the last couple weeks to get this thing done and I'm tired lol.

For exhaust I have the long tube headers, catless H pipe and two chamber Flowmasters. Running turndowns (dumps) right now but I will have the stainless tail pipes welded on this week.

She runs good and makes the right noise.:usa2:

Justin

 

[the walrus]

Finally put together the reveal video for those interested:

5.0 Mustang reveal - YouTube

Justin

 

[RedSled]

Finally put together the reveal video for those interested:

5.0 Mustang reveal - YouTube

Justin

So sweet, you definitely have skills, kudos.