Progress Thread 93 Cobra basket case project, new spectra tank prepped

93FoMoCo

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Aug 9, 2020
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Iowa
I got my hands on a 93 cobra that’s been sitting g under some trees for over 15 years. It ran when it was parked and has under 37,000 miles on it. It definitely needs some work both things known and unknown I’m sure. When it was parked he said it needed struts and there was a vibration in the clutch pedal. The good news is that there’s no rust on it and it doesn’t appear any mice got inside it and it cleaned up pretty good with a pressure washer.

this is how it looked when I got it home. I do have the rim for where the spare tire is.


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A quick clean up and it looks better.

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Now for the bad news.....someone has stolen some parts off of it and it looks they tried to steal the whole car because the ignition switch is messed up. When they couldn’t get that done they pulled (ripped) off some panels under the dash and they cut a bunch of wires leaving pluI’m sure there’s stuff missing under there.


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Also stolen was the distributor cap, rotor and the rubber cover. It looks like the starter relay, ignition coil and cover were taken as well.

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As you can see I’ve got some things to figure out. I’m not a mechanic but I am mechanically inclined and have worked on HVAC equipment for 30 years. I had a friend that was an incredible mechanic and I used to help him a little work on my cars but he passed away suddenly a little more than a year ago. He always wanted me to get this car and get it back on the road and that’s what I aim to do. So it looks like learning how to remove the dash and how to replace the wiring harness Is in my near future, lol.
 

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Looks like a nice project car!

I can't say I understand why people let potentially $20,000 cars sit under trees for 15 years, but his loss can be your gain :)

How much do you know about Fox Bodies in general? There is a lot of information on this site about them, of course, so be sure to post up any questions you have. I can't tell if you will be able to save that right front fender - there are some really good PDR guys out there, but that one looks to be pretty bent up. With that said, if you do have to replace it make sure you get a replacement for a 91-93 model - 79-90 are different and won't work for you.

Also, your ground effects kit is very rare and expensive. The aftermarket ones fit and attach differently, so be careful with them! The same goes for the rear bumper and wing - aftermarkets are available, but they aren't as high of quality as the original Ford pieces and there are visual differences if you know what you are looking at.

Do you have any idea why all the wiring is cut? Some of those bright red, white, and blue pieces look like they go to the HVAC system...

Lastly, http://1993cobra.com/ is a neat site for 93 Cobra owners. It's a bit dead these days, but you can see if this car is on their registry and update the information with yourself as the new owner if you care to do so.

Looking forward to seeing this thing progress!
 
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Got some work ahead of you but it could be well worth it.
Takes a special kind of person to hack up all that wiring, what a shame !
Looks like they got some vacuum lines too.
 
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It doesn't look too bad actually. If the clutch is bumping, put a new clutch in it. Probably needs one anyway. The first "wiring" picture is the vacuum lines that go to the HVAC box. You can deal with that later. It needs a fender obviously. The ground effects will probably bend back out. As for the wiring, I'd just buy a whole new harness and be done with it. Soldering that many wires that close to the connectors is not worth the hassle.

Kurt
 
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There is a guy in my neighborhood that has a black 93 Cobra rotting away in his driveway. Been sitting there for the 12 years I lived there.
 
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Thanks for the replies! I think all that stuff is cut because someone was stealing Parts off of it. And yes I’ve been looking at videos about pulling the dash and replacing the wiring harness, it just seems like the right way to do it. As far as the fender goes if I can get it pulled out a little bit that’ll be fine for now, I just want to get it running for now. I’m thinking about making it an autocross car.
 
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I think changing the entire dash harness is the way to go. Hardest part is finding one as I think 1993 is unique to that year only. Not 100% sure on that for the dash harness.
 
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Looks like a nice project car!

I can't say I understand why people let potentially $20,000 cars sit under trees for 15 years, but his loss can be your gain :)

How much do you know about Fox Bodies in general? There is a lot of information on this site about them, of course, so be sure to post up any questions you have. I can't tell if you will be able to save that right front fender - there are some really good PDR guys out there, but that one looks to be pretty bent up. With that said, if you do have to replace it make sure you get a replacement for a 91-93 model - 79-90 are different and won't work for you.

Also, your ground effects kit is very rare and expensive. The aftermarket ones fit and attach differently, so be careful with them! The same goes for the rear bumper and wing - aftermarkets are available, but they aren't as high of quality as the original Ford pieces and there are visual differences if you know what you are looking at.

Do you have any idea why all the wiring is cut? Some of those bright red, white, and blue pieces look like they go to the HVAC system...

Lastly, http://1993cobra.com/ is a neat site for 93 Cobra owners. It's a bit dead these days, but you can see if this car is on their registry and update the information with yourself as the new owner if you care to do so.

Looking forward to seeing this thing progress!

live been a ford guy since about 1985 and haven’t owned anything but Fords since then. I had a 90 convertible LX back in the early 90s. I think someone cut the wires to steal parts. I’ve known the guy I got this from for a long time and in his defense when it got parked he was on hard times But couldn’t bring himself to sell it. Hes doing much better with his life now but didn’t think he could get it back on the road and didn’t want to see it stripped and deteriorate any more tha it is. He practically gave it to me with the promise that I’d get it running and tearing up pavement once again.
 
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Thanks for the replies! I think all that stuff is cut because someone was stealing Parts off of it. And yes I’ve been looking at videos about pulling the dash and replacing the wiring harness, it just seems like the right way to do it. As far as the fender goes if I can get it pulled out a little bit that’ll be fine for now, I just want to get it running for now. I’m thinking about making it an autocross car.

Fenders are too thin to make it worth straightening them. Fenders are cheap; it's a replacement item. You are going to end up having to do paint work anyway. A competent body shop person will be able to straighten out the fiberglass trim. I commend you on wanting to Autocross the car. Most people would get it cleaned up, and collect their $30k.

Kurt
 
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Fenders are too thin to make it worth straightening them. Fenders are cheap; it's a replacement item. You are going to end up having to do paint work anyway. A competent body shop person will be able to straighten out the fiberglass trim. I commend you on wanting to Autocross the car. Most people would get it cleaned up, and collect their $30k.

Kurt

I’ve know the guy I got it from and he practically gave it to me, I’ll never sell it. I’ve wanted this car for a long time, it’s actually the only car I want because I have to have a truck as a daily driver.
 
I'm gonna chime in here and say this is one of those cars that needs to be rebuilt/restored, autocross? Well I'm gonna leave that alone only because it can be a ton of fun, see, I want to keep rare cars from getting beaten, banged or butchered. But a 93 cobra on an autocross track would be just too much fun (even stock) to not do it.
You have the opportunity to resurrect a fox body hero.
Good luck and keep this thread going with your progress and members, myself included, will help with any bumps you may encounter.
 
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I’ve know the guy I got it from and he practically gave it to me, I’ll never sell it. I’ve wanted this car for a long time, it’s actually the only car I want because I have to have a truck as a daily driver.

That's awesome man. That car will be the talk of the autocross meet. Almost all of those ended up stored away as an investment opportunity. It's great to see someone wanting to fix up a classic for the purpose of enjoying it.

Kurt
 
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My first step is going to be acquiring the dash wiring harness and ECM. From what I’ve been reading the wiriing harness can to be from any V8 mustang from 1990-1993. Does that sound correct? I’ve been looking on eBay and used car parts sites but I wondered if aftermarket harnesses are available. I just want to know my options and I worry a little bit about broken connertors.
 
I believe you are correct for the DASH harness only. ANy 1990-1993 dash harness should work. 1993 would be the best to ensure compatibility. There are some year only harnesses, and the year span for compatible harnesses is very odd. When in doubt, get a same year harness.

Aftermarket harnesses are really more stripped down. I would focus on an OEM harness to ensure the vehicle runs as intended as you'd hate to chase gremlins due to 1 wire not being present in an aftermarket harness because "racecar"


You would think with the age of these cars and the shot wiring that LMR or someone else would create some OEM-correct replacement harnesses.


I recommend getting the 1993 EVTM
 
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Have a friend that's wanted to do a 4 to 8 swap on his '93. As such I started researching the harness differences between the years. One thing I found out was it seems like there's a 100 different answers and none were correct. Certain harnesses in the car ARE 'year specific, the engine harness being one. Here's a link to a video that's most informative thing I've found for the engine harnesses:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=SAL5vmHWqJY


I'd strongly recommend buying a '93 Mustang factory EVTM (wiring manual). They're cheap and plentiful on Ebay and are worth the money.

Good luck with your Cobra. What a great project!
 
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Have a friend that's wanted to do a 4 to 8 swap on his '93. As such I started researching the harness differences between the years. One thing I found out was it seems like there's a 100 different answers and none were correct. Certain harnesses in the car ARE 'year specific, the engine harness being one. Here's a link to a video that's most informative thing I've found for the engine harnesses:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=SAL5vmHWqJY


I'd strongly recommend buying a '93 Mustang factory EVTM (wiring manual). They're cheap and plentiful on Ebay and are worth the money.

Good luck with your Cobra. What a great project!


the first thing I did when I got the car was to order the service manual and the EVTM manual. I’ve got the specifications Manuel on its way and I see there is a wiri g diagrams manual I need to get too. Thanks for the reply.
 
Have a friend that's wanted to do a 4 to 8 swap on his '93. As such I started researching the harness differences between the years. One thing I found out was it seems like there's a 100 different answers and none were correct. Certain harnesses in the car ARE 'year specific, the engine harness being one. Here's a link to a video that's most informative thing I've found for the engine harnesses:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=SAL5vmHWqJY


I'd strongly recommend buying a '93 Mustang factory EVTM (wiring manual). They're cheap and plentiful on Ebay and are worth the money.

Good luck with your Cobra. What a great project!

That's a great resource!
 
I had to replace the wiring harness on my 70 and I have one piece of advice. When you do get the harness, take pictures and video of everything during disassembly. You WILL refer back to it. Also, try to do the whole thing in a short period of time. I had something come up that gave me a several month gap before I could finish it and it was impossible to remember where I was, how things had come a part, and what was next.

This guy restores old Mustang harnesses, but he might know a thing or two if you have questions, need to source connectors, or something like that.

 
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