Here’s why the fox body mustang is the perfect first project car. It is a small, high torque, rear wheel drive sports car. DNA for a driver’s car doesn't need to get any more complicated than that. Also, there are hundreds of thousands of them out there, meaning used parts are cheap and plentiful, and what's more, there is continued aftermarket support. The aftermarket is still putting research into improving the design, reliability, and power of the fox body mustang. And lots of Fox Bodies out there also means anything you could possibly think of doing to your fox, has already been done and probably well documented on the internet, or youtube. There are ready made kits for turbo swaps, Coyote Swaps, LS swaps and more. And, fox bodies are going to go up in value! Kids born in the 80s when these cars were shiny and new are just now coming to the age they have disposable income. Get one while you still can!
The car is the best of both worlds, the fox body mustang was originally designed in 1978 to have more of a european sports car feel than the traditional american muscle cars of the time. But it also has that classic pushrod v8 mated to a manual transmission with rear wheel drive and torque in spades. And personally, I find the 80s styling, both inside and outside, to be timeless.
The first thing I do to every new-to-me car is give it a good wash to get to know it a little more personally. Unfortunately, I did not notice until I got this close to the paint, that I realized that the car had been previously repainted, and cheaply. There is overspray on every trim piece and weather stripping, and it appears to be a single stage paint. But this issue will have to wait until later.
The next thing I did was start pulling the interior apart. The window switches don’t work so the door panels will have to come off for that and for cleaning. You’ll need your torx bits for this. After that, the sill, kick panels, and center console. 8mm socket removed the bracket hidden under the arm rest. Unclip electrical connectors as you go, being careful with the old brittle plastic.
I next work to remove the dash pad which is torn and needs to be replaced. I take out the HVAC controls with a 7mm socket. I then took off the instrument cluster bezel because I thought it was in the way. Then once I get out the dash pad for real by removing the 3 nuts behind it as shown with a 9 mm socket, I complete this stage by taking out the gauge bezel and cluster because that also does not work and needs to be replaced.
The four bolts holding down the seat come out with a 15 mm socket and ratcheting wrench. After the seats there is one dash bracket, then the carpet is free to come out!
There was one rust hole identified that will have to be patched before putting the interior back in. I cut the hole out into the shape of a square to easily match a patch panel. I’m welding this in using a cheap flux core welder and cleaning as I go. Flux core is very forgiving, but also dirty. With Flux Core everytime you stop you have to clean away the slag so that it doesn’t contaminate your next bead.
20 year old Body filler is then spread over, sanded, and painted. Black is okay since this is going to be covered.
The rear side trim comes out with lots of phillips heads screws. A magnet tray comes in handy for collecting them. You need to unbolt the seat belt using a T-25 Torx bit. For both the driver’s and the rear passenger.
And here comes the first of many controversial decisions that I will make on this project. I elected to add sound deadening. To the entire floor. I want this car to be my daily driver in the summer months, and that means it needs to be comfortable. This is Kilmat, 50 mils or 0.05 inches thick. This stuff is very forgiving to work with. It stretches to fit contours and you can easily pull it up to reseat it. I covered the big areas first, then went back and snipped pieces to fit in between. After the sound deadening job is complete, the clean carpet can go back in. Installed in the car is the best place to store car parts.
I'm not a fan of the silly spotlight that comes stock. I went ahead and purchased a used map light from an SN95 mustang to install. Installing this will involve drilling new holes into the bracket in the car. There are 4 screws. One is the ground, and one screws through the green power wire, so it doesn't take much to get this to work.
Even though when I bought the car, it did not smell like smoke, the headliner was dirty and had burn holes. I bought bulk headliner material off the internet and applied some 3M super 77 adhesive spray. Cut to fit.
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Six Seasons by Unicorn Heads
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