Stripping A Good Fox For Parts?

1

19RED90GT

New Member
Jan 31, 2015
18
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3
Clutier, IA
#1
Ok so I been looking at a 1991 GT in San Antonio, TX which is for sale and has the same color interior (red/black) as my 90 GT and from the pictures it appears to be in pretty good condition. Everything on the car is original except for a recent addition of a cold air induction system and MSD ignition. Car has 154,000 miles and has been down south (Houston/San Antonio) its whole life.

Now, the reason I have been looking at this car is solely for a parts car for my 90 GT as most of my interior is shot (and much of the exterior too).

I'm having second thoughts taking a seemingly good survivor and stripping it down for my needs. Any thoughts?

As it stands now, at a minimum, I need a drivers seat, center console, and misc. interior parts. Some of this I can buy new but not all so I have to get parts somewhere. I was planning on replacing virtually everything on my car from headlights to tail lights.

The reason I want to restore my 90 GT is I owned the car in the early 90s and sold it in 1995 to go to college, get married, and start a family. I located the car in December 2014 and bought it back January 1, 2015. Unfortunately the people who owned the car over the last 20 years destroyed about everything. I feel obligated to bring the car back and want to completely restore it.
 

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#2
You've already answered the question of why to restore the '90 GT rather than just replace it with the '91. That being said, you need to decide whether or not the '91 is worth sacrificing to accomplish that goal. How nice is the car?
 
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#3
02 281 GT said:
You've already answered the question of why to restore the '90 GT rather than just replace it with the '91. That being said, you need to decide whether or not the '91 is worth sacrificing to accomplish that goal. How nice is the car?
Click to expand...

I think the 91 is in very good condition. Body wise appears to be solid, strong running original motor and 5-speed. The interior is in very good condition with a small tear on the driver's seat due to wear (probably could be repaired). The paint appears to be original and the car is beginning to show it's age. I would take literally everything from the 91, harnesses, fog lights, tail lights, head lights, interior, all of it.

My other option is to purchase all new interior, which I'm not opposed to, although it's a lot of piecing things together and would require several orders from multiple sources and there would still be some parts I would have to locate from a donor, either eBay or a junk yard.
 
#4
I feel Strippers belong in the junk yard or club scene, not on the road. I hate to think that we are that desperate for parts that sacrificing a good driver is worth it.
Here are just two places that could get what you need without making a new parts car.
http://prestigemustang.com
MPS Auto Salvage - your best resource for Ford Mustang Parts New and Used Ford Mustang parts

The only way I could bring myself to do it is if the stripped car was made into a race car so it still had some life before the junk yard.

Now if it was a rust bucket with a nice interior, that would cause me no hesitation.
Not emotionally invested, I say you are restoring the wrong car. Rebuilding the heart of your old car and transplanting it into the good body would be logical. But I am not sure using 30 to 50 year old technology as opposed to the new 5.0 is logical either.
 
#5
7991LXnSHO said:
I feel Strippers belong in the junk yard or club scene, not on the road. I hate to think that we are that desperate for parts that sacrificing a good driver is worth it.
Here are just two places that could get what you need without making a new parts car.
http://prestigemustang.com
MPS Auto Salvage - your best resource for Ford Mustang Parts New and Used Ford Mustang parts

The only way I could bring myself to do it is if the stripped car was made into a race car so it still had some life before the junk yard.

Now if it was a rust bucket with a nice interior, that would cause me no hesitation.
Not emotionally invested, I say you are restoring the wrong car. Rebuilding the heart of your old car and transplanting it into the good body would be logical. But I am not sure using 30 to 50 year old technology as opposed to the new 5.0 is logical either.
Click to expand...

Plans are to restore from the ground up with the Coyote and TKO trans, 31 splines, reinforced body/frame, new wire harnesses, new/restored interior, etc.

I agree, I do not want to send a car to the scrap yard, including my 90 GT. My car structurally, including body panels, is in pretty good condition (floor pan needs patching/replacement). The folks that owned it during the span between my ownership (18 according to CarFax and AutoCheck) ruined virtually everything else. The original engine and trans are gone, wiring harnesses hacked and connectors and wires melted, and the trim, including the large panels from the doors back have all been destroyed.

I have been looking at MPS Auto salvage for a while, never see the red/black interior that hasn't been in poor shape. I think I'll spare the 91 GT and keep trying to find the interior by some other means.
 
#8
Don't forget to look to Franknstangs for fox parts. He deals with you over the phone or email, I dont think he has a website with a catalog. He's very reasonable, used him several times.
 
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#10
Prestige Mustang is your one stop shop for getting your ass hole enlarged. I bought the SVO turbo 4 cyl from them that turned out to be blown (That they would do nothing in return after contacting them about that fact.) They sold me a set of GT sport seats that were so rusted that there were no springs that weren't crap on the driver side (for 375.00) They sold me a complete AC system for a 5.0 that had blown compressor seals.
I finally learned my lesson. In consideration that I got treated so badly, I can do more to insure that they won't sell anything else as long as my opinion is considered.

An interior for a fox mustang can be COMPLETELY replaced w/ aftermarket stuff. Seats can be recovered, all new soft parts can be bought, the dash pad can be replaced, the carpet, the headliner, the rockers, belt molding, and the weatherstripping, everything, right right down to the screws that hold all that sh it in place can be bought repro.. There is NO REASON to kill a running car if the interior is the reason for doing it.
 
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#11
7991LXnSHO said:
You are looking at some kind of hybrid or custom harness with that plan. BTW, I am not racing you when you get a new 5.0 into a lighter Fox body.
Click to expand...
Actually he isnt. Just needs the body, interior ,a nd headlight harness. The rest comes with the engine and the control pack and is basically plug and play . I have done the swap if anyone has questions.
 
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#12
7991LXnSHO said:
You are looking at some kind of hybrid or custom harness with that plan. BTW, I am not racing you when you get a new 5.0 into a lighter Fox body.
Click to expand...

Yes the control pack for the Coyote with the ECU and harness will need to be patched in but there isn't much to it. The dash harness and body harness remain the same. I'm adding the Coyote to upgrade to modern technology more than for adding horsepower, although that's a nice benefit.
 
#15
madmike1157 said:
Prestige Mustang is your one stop shop for getting your ass hole enlarged. I bought the SVO turbo 4 cyl from them that turned out to be blown (That they would do nothing in return after contacting them about that fact.) They sold me a set of GT sport seats that were so rusted that there were no springs that weren't crap on the driver side (for 375.00) They sold me a complete AC system for a 5.0 that had blown compressor seals.
I finally learned my lesson. In consideration that I got treated so badly, I can do more to insure that they won't sell anything else as long as my opinion is considered.

An interior for a fox mustang can be COMPLETELY replaced w/ aftermarket stuff. Seats can be recovered, all new soft parts can be bought, the dash pad can be replaced, the carpet, the headliner, the rockers, belt molding, and the weatherstripping, everything, right right down to the screws that hold all that sh it in place can be bought repro.. There is NO REASON to kill a running car if the interior is the reason for doing it.
Click to expand...

Never worked with Precision, thanks for the heads up. I'll see if they contact me or not.

Regarding aftermarket, I haven't been able to find the interior quarter trim panels, do you know where I can find these? I originally planned on going the aftermarket route (and may still go there) although I have been considering a parts car where I can get all of the parts at once (although not new).

One other aftermarket issue, I can't find a 90 dash harness. The 90 is different from all other years and I've seen 88-89 and believe I have seen 91-93 as well. Do you know if anyone makes the 90 harness or would this need to be custom made?
 
#17
19RED90GT said:
Regarding aftermarket, I haven't been able to find the interior quarter trim panels, do you know where I can find these? I originally planned on going the aftermarket route (and may still go there) although I have been considering a parts car where I can get all of the parts at once (although not new).
Click to expand...


I haven't seen the interior quarter plastics remanufactured, and I've needed them on two separate occasions for projects. Once I bought them individually,(expensive) and once I bought a wrecked car and parted it out, then sold the shell for scrap. The parts car route actually paid for itself with pieces I sold off of it, and scrap metal money. If you have a place to put it, and time and money to invest, that may be a better option.
 
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#18
Boosted92LX said:
If you have a place to put it, and time and money to invest, that may be a better option.
Click to expand...

I have a place for the car and the money, time I never seem to have much of (too many other projects) but I can figure something out. That may be the way to go as I could sell off all of the parts I don't need and scrap money for the metal as you pointed out. I'll have to see if I can find a parts car with what I need.
 
#20
For used parts I would recommend the following
  • Rick Ruffino- great guy and decent prices
  • Eddyson Enterprises-pricey
  • Local guy in Jupiter Florida named Matt- he has 25 years of parts and advertizes on local CL
  • Corral- always guys parting out cars

I would not buy from MPS or Prestige. Plenty of horror stories there.
 
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