So I drove about two hours to Brockton Mass to get this car. Was advertised for $1500 on CL. Just a shell of an old 2.3L that had already had all the conversion work done for a 5.0 swap. Got there and the towers were a little rusty. Dings and scratches here and there. Ended up putting in on the trailer for $850. Car came with ponys, a full but not yet installed interior, tubular rear control arms, GT front swaybar, line lock, an exhaust already on the car set up for long tube headers, 3.73's. I am sure there is some stuff that I am forgetting. Anyways lets get to it.
These three pics are the ones that were on the ad on CL
$850 later and we pushed it on the trailer and strapped it down for our journey back home.
Horrible pictures I know, but nonetheless we are home. Car arrived at my friends shop until we line some parts up for it.
The first day I got to work on it I focused my attention on cleaning the inside of the car out and accessing what parts I had. Every interior part that came with the car was stuffed into the car somewhat haphazardly. I found MOST of the "essentials" like two front seats, miscellaneous trim pieces, mismatched rear seats. I am going for the "blue on blue" look but I think that for now I am stuck with some grey pieces.
Looking at a bare engine bay for me is a bit overwhelming. I know my stuff when it comes to wrenching on cars don't get me wrong, but whoever had this car before me seemed like they half assed just about everything they touched. Something about that got me kind of anxious. Notice the line lock lol.
Went to breakfast with the guys and came to the shop to realize one of my fellow "foxbodyers" loaded his truck with a 1986 5.0 a T-5 transmission and some other goodies. I forked over some cash and we wrenched for a while.
Was not that excited about the 86 motor because of the different heads than the 87-93 5.0's but I decided that it would have to do until I could get my hands on a 87-93 motor.
Decided to give the poor girl a bath.
Squeaky clean now.
The car had been outside since I got it with the exception of the one morning that I had tinkered on it. It had been raining about a week at this point. Paint surprisingly looked decent from the wash that mother nature had been giving it.
Putting a cheapie Napa clutch and flywheel on before we bolt the T-5 on.
T-5 finally on.
What is this? Flying 5.0?
Almost there!
The eagle has landed!
Remember to put your shifter on before you tighten everything up folks. It is a lot easier with the tranny on the floor than going through the floor with many socket extensions.
A shot of the O/R H pipe by BBK that came with the car.
The list that never ends. All of us are too familiar with this.
The stance is a little different with the motor in the car. I am thinking the kid who had this before me left 4 cyl springs in the front of the car. Mabye the back too.
We then pushed her outside to get rained on until another day.
Decided to go grab wires off of the 500 Caddy motor that was out back. They fit perfect!
Thanks to JEGS I got these for like $20. They fit a little better.
What is this? Lights on the dash? My cluster works? YESSSSS
Had to fasten down the grounds for the headlights. Let there be light!
Getting there.
I am happy that I got a 25 anniversary dash and not the regular 4 cylinder one.
Went to my buddies house. He is the guy that owns the shop. His wife egged him on enough to let me above the garage and thumb through his piles of fox body parts. I got a spare dash, a red arm rest, and a couple of GT rims for drag radials at some point.
I love when the UPS guy is nice to me. My headers are finally in.
New vs. old. I think the new ones will flow a little better.
2 guys and me taking pics made quick work out of putting the headers in.
After putting the headers in I obviously had to try them out. They sound amazing.
Here she sits until next time.
It had been weeks since I worked on the car. My friend who owns the shop that it was at took some pictures to show me how much dust and shit was all over it. She needed some love.
Mine next to the LX that he had at the time.
Looks like the UPS guy was nice to me again and decided to bring me some more goodies from LaterModelRestoration.com
BBK in the fender cold air intake is on. It looks and preforms great but it makes everything else in the engine bay look like shit!
Don't you guys hate the T-5 game? No 4th or 5th. Took it apart and it needed a rebuild. I don't have pics but my other mustang friend Craig had a T-5 out of a Thunderbird Turbo Coupe that had been in his shed under a pile of leaves for 8 years. He said that if I wanted it it was mine. I drove down and got it thinking that I could use some parts from it to rebuild mine. Finally got it to the shop and said screw it and rolled the dice. We ended up tossing it in and to our surprise it worked great. Still using it today.
God heater cores suck.
The job would have been frustrating regardless but the day that I picked to do this was one of the hottest days of the summer. It was about 90-95 out. Make for a fun morning of articulating my 6'5" body taking the dash off and getting to the heater core. Needless to say there were many curse words said that day.
In the end I showed it who was boss.
With the rest of the day ahead of me I decided to take all of my interior parts that I had and put them in. Mix matched interior crew signing in.
About a week after getting all of my interior pieces put in I was able to register and insure the car. The first (legal) drive that I took it on was to work to show everyone the car that they had been hearing about for months. I was almost there and the cooling fan came un****ed and blew a hole in the radiator and dented the hood a little bit. I didn't care and just drove it the rest of the way and parked it. I knew that this motor was temporary and all of this happened about 500 yards from my destination. I was getting some concerned looks from other drivers on the road. Notice the coolant trail to the parking spot.
We trailered it back to the shop where we accessed the damage. It broke my fan shroud, hole in the radiator, dented the hood, and shredded the belt. ****ing A!!
With a downed mustang I was given the excuse to order more parts. Ended up going with a stock replacement fan and clutch assembly as I did not have the means to go electric at this point. I also needed a new belt so I went ahead and ordered a A/C delete kit that came with the A/C delete bracket a new belt and fresh underdrive pulleys.
I had been buying parts for the car here and there but I was mainly saving my pennies for the 97-93 5.0 motor that my heart desired. I finally had enough to go down to Chester NH. We all get most of our shit off this guy, well he is a god in our eyes, Rick Menard. He has a mustang graveyard that many many foxbodies have been laid to rest. This guy is anal. Everything thing is in its own little bin. Hes got 5.0's for miles. We drove in and were greeted by this Capri. He said that it was a total frame off restoration that he got of some guy for half of what he had into it. The pictures that I took with my iPhone do not do the car justice. It was immaculate. We didn't ask him to pop the hood but he told us that it was a procharged 306. This car was amazing!!
This was my first time here. I was shutter happy with the camera on my phone. I could not get over all of the shit this guy had. The guys that I was with said that this was just the tip of the ice berg from what he used to have back in the day. Upwards of 350 cars. All mustangs and Thunderbirds.
AOD's for miles
One of many shelves filled with your choice of 5.0 engines and AOD transmissions.
This motor on the bottom is the one that I picked. A 92 5.0 with 82k miles for $500? Yes please!
More pics of the compound.
Goodbye sweet prince.
Rick on the left and my friend Dan on the right talking Mustangs. With the engine loaded in the back of Craigs F350 we were ready to head home and drop this thing in.
The guys had been at the shop all morning waiting for us to get back. Prepping the car for the motor and such. We backed up to the bay and hadn't gotten out of the truck yet and chains were already being put onto the motor.
Figured that we would bolt the headers and the shed T-5 that I told you about to the engine so we could just drop it in one shot.
An all to familiar sight.
We were lifting the motor up with the hoist and the piston gave out on us. It shot hydraulic fluid at the ceiling of the shop like a super soaker. We then were out our only hoist and tried to use the lift arm but to our disappointment it did not go high enough to work. Ended up driving to Dan's house to get his hoist. He really saved the day. I can't catch a break!
Finally about 10 hours after we had set out on our journey to NH to get the motor it was finally in the car and running.
It's..........BEAUTIFUL
That weekend I was house sitting and decided that I would take a chance and drive the car about 30 minutes to the house. Ran awesome. I had a hard time wiping the smile off my face that day.
I have now been driving the car on nice days and on the weekends. I am so happy that I got this together. Since its completion I have taken 7 passes at Epping with the fastest time of 14.2 at 97 MPH. This season I hope to get some drag radials and if I am lucky some nitrous or another power adder.
Anyways, here is the car right after I washed it. Looking good from about 5 feet away. The paint is chipping a lot on the front bumper cover. I'll spray it at some point.
Waxed the car one night when I couldn't sleep. The paint was glass for a couple of weeks.
The two GT rims that I got were really dirty and needed some love. I cleaned them and snapped a picture of one of them next to its dirty sibling.
As the car sits now.
Taped off the intake placard and painted it black. Took a whizwheel and ground off the paint and then blew the dust and shit out of it with shop air. Came out OK. It will do until I get something else.
Okay guys, that is all I have for now. Thanks for reading and looking at my little project. I'll leave you with my favorite shot thus far. I'll keep this thread updated with pics and stuff when I do future mods.
These three pics are the ones that were on the ad on CL
$850 later and we pushed it on the trailer and strapped it down for our journey back home.
Horrible pictures I know, but nonetheless we are home. Car arrived at my friends shop until we line some parts up for it.
The first day I got to work on it I focused my attention on cleaning the inside of the car out and accessing what parts I had. Every interior part that came with the car was stuffed into the car somewhat haphazardly. I found MOST of the "essentials" like two front seats, miscellaneous trim pieces, mismatched rear seats. I am going for the "blue on blue" look but I think that for now I am stuck with some grey pieces.
Looking at a bare engine bay for me is a bit overwhelming. I know my stuff when it comes to wrenching on cars don't get me wrong, but whoever had this car before me seemed like they half assed just about everything they touched. Something about that got me kind of anxious. Notice the line lock lol.
Went to breakfast with the guys and came to the shop to realize one of my fellow "foxbodyers" loaded his truck with a 1986 5.0 a T-5 transmission and some other goodies. I forked over some cash and we wrenched for a while.
Was not that excited about the 86 motor because of the different heads than the 87-93 5.0's but I decided that it would have to do until I could get my hands on a 87-93 motor.
Decided to give the poor girl a bath.
Squeaky clean now.
The car had been outside since I got it with the exception of the one morning that I had tinkered on it. It had been raining about a week at this point. Paint surprisingly looked decent from the wash that mother nature had been giving it.
Putting a cheapie Napa clutch and flywheel on before we bolt the T-5 on.
T-5 finally on.
What is this? Flying 5.0?
Almost there!
The eagle has landed!
Remember to put your shifter on before you tighten everything up folks. It is a lot easier with the tranny on the floor than going through the floor with many socket extensions.
A shot of the O/R H pipe by BBK that came with the car.
The list that never ends. All of us are too familiar with this.
The stance is a little different with the motor in the car. I am thinking the kid who had this before me left 4 cyl springs in the front of the car. Mabye the back too.
We then pushed her outside to get rained on until another day.
Decided to go grab wires off of the 500 Caddy motor that was out back. They fit perfect!
Thanks to JEGS I got these for like $20. They fit a little better.
What is this? Lights on the dash? My cluster works? YESSSSS
Had to fasten down the grounds for the headlights. Let there be light!
Getting there.
I am happy that I got a 25 anniversary dash and not the regular 4 cylinder one.
Went to my buddies house. He is the guy that owns the shop. His wife egged him on enough to let me above the garage and thumb through his piles of fox body parts. I got a spare dash, a red arm rest, and a couple of GT rims for drag radials at some point.
I love when the UPS guy is nice to me. My headers are finally in.
New vs. old. I think the new ones will flow a little better.
2 guys and me taking pics made quick work out of putting the headers in.
After putting the headers in I obviously had to try them out. They sound amazing.
Here she sits until next time.
It had been weeks since I worked on the car. My friend who owns the shop that it was at took some pictures to show me how much dust and shit was all over it. She needed some love.
Mine next to the LX that he had at the time.
Looks like the UPS guy was nice to me again and decided to bring me some more goodies from LaterModelRestoration.com
BBK in the fender cold air intake is on. It looks and preforms great but it makes everything else in the engine bay look like shit!
Don't you guys hate the T-5 game? No 4th or 5th. Took it apart and it needed a rebuild. I don't have pics but my other mustang friend Craig had a T-5 out of a Thunderbird Turbo Coupe that had been in his shed under a pile of leaves for 8 years. He said that if I wanted it it was mine. I drove down and got it thinking that I could use some parts from it to rebuild mine. Finally got it to the shop and said screw it and rolled the dice. We ended up tossing it in and to our surprise it worked great. Still using it today.
God heater cores suck.
The job would have been frustrating regardless but the day that I picked to do this was one of the hottest days of the summer. It was about 90-95 out. Make for a fun morning of articulating my 6'5" body taking the dash off and getting to the heater core. Needless to say there were many curse words said that day.
In the end I showed it who was boss.
With the rest of the day ahead of me I decided to take all of my interior parts that I had and put them in. Mix matched interior crew signing in.
About a week after getting all of my interior pieces put in I was able to register and insure the car. The first (legal) drive that I took it on was to work to show everyone the car that they had been hearing about for months. I was almost there and the cooling fan came un****ed and blew a hole in the radiator and dented the hood a little bit. I didn't care and just drove it the rest of the way and parked it. I knew that this motor was temporary and all of this happened about 500 yards from my destination. I was getting some concerned looks from other drivers on the road. Notice the coolant trail to the parking spot.
We trailered it back to the shop where we accessed the damage. It broke my fan shroud, hole in the radiator, dented the hood, and shredded the belt. ****ing A!!
With a downed mustang I was given the excuse to order more parts. Ended up going with a stock replacement fan and clutch assembly as I did not have the means to go electric at this point. I also needed a new belt so I went ahead and ordered a A/C delete kit that came with the A/C delete bracket a new belt and fresh underdrive pulleys.
I had been buying parts for the car here and there but I was mainly saving my pennies for the 97-93 5.0 motor that my heart desired. I finally had enough to go down to Chester NH. We all get most of our shit off this guy, well he is a god in our eyes, Rick Menard. He has a mustang graveyard that many many foxbodies have been laid to rest. This guy is anal. Everything thing is in its own little bin. Hes got 5.0's for miles. We drove in and were greeted by this Capri. He said that it was a total frame off restoration that he got of some guy for half of what he had into it. The pictures that I took with my iPhone do not do the car justice. It was immaculate. We didn't ask him to pop the hood but he told us that it was a procharged 306. This car was amazing!!
This was my first time here. I was shutter happy with the camera on my phone. I could not get over all of the shit this guy had. The guys that I was with said that this was just the tip of the ice berg from what he used to have back in the day. Upwards of 350 cars. All mustangs and Thunderbirds.
AOD's for miles
One of many shelves filled with your choice of 5.0 engines and AOD transmissions.
This motor on the bottom is the one that I picked. A 92 5.0 with 82k miles for $500? Yes please!
More pics of the compound.
Goodbye sweet prince.
Rick on the left and my friend Dan on the right talking Mustangs. With the engine loaded in the back of Craigs F350 we were ready to head home and drop this thing in.
The guys had been at the shop all morning waiting for us to get back. Prepping the car for the motor and such. We backed up to the bay and hadn't gotten out of the truck yet and chains were already being put onto the motor.
Figured that we would bolt the headers and the shed T-5 that I told you about to the engine so we could just drop it in one shot.
An all to familiar sight.
We were lifting the motor up with the hoist and the piston gave out on us. It shot hydraulic fluid at the ceiling of the shop like a super soaker. We then were out our only hoist and tried to use the lift arm but to our disappointment it did not go high enough to work. Ended up driving to Dan's house to get his hoist. He really saved the day. I can't catch a break!
Finally about 10 hours after we had set out on our journey to NH to get the motor it was finally in the car and running.
It's..........BEAUTIFUL
That weekend I was house sitting and decided that I would take a chance and drive the car about 30 minutes to the house. Ran awesome. I had a hard time wiping the smile off my face that day.
I have now been driving the car on nice days and on the weekends. I am so happy that I got this together. Since its completion I have taken 7 passes at Epping with the fastest time of 14.2 at 97 MPH. This season I hope to get some drag radials and if I am lucky some nitrous or another power adder.
Anyways, here is the car right after I washed it. Looking good from about 5 feet away. The paint is chipping a lot on the front bumper cover. I'll spray it at some point.
Waxed the car one night when I couldn't sleep. The paint was glass for a couple of weeks.
The two GT rims that I got were really dirty and needed some love. I cleaned them and snapped a picture of one of them next to its dirty sibling.
As the car sits now.
Taped off the intake placard and painted it black. Took a whizwheel and ground off the paint and then blew the dust and shit out of it with shop air. Came out OK. It will do until I get something else.
Okay guys, that is all I have for now. Thanks for reading and looking at my little project. I'll leave you with my favorite shot thus far. I'll keep this thread updated with pics and stuff when I do future mods.
