Progress Thread Daily Driver.... 89 GT - Front suspension rebuild

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Looked today there was a small puddle in the usual spot. The hose was wet again at the bottom. Not sure if it is the pump or hose. Hose is original as far as I can tell. I did tighten the clamp some as well as the 3 bolts on that side of the water pump. Might try and replacing the hose. When I take it off I can take a look at the pump and see if that sealant poked out around the nipple. This is frustrating.

 

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So ever since I over tightened that hose clamp I have not smelled coolant nor have I seen any coolant on the pump. So far so good.

Next on the list is to finish the interior. Last major thing is the headliner. Early last week I picked up a headliner board from a guy that was parting a 92 hatch. I need to replace the board on this car because it got water damaged about 8 years ago. I had one already from an 87 that I parted but it has a map light opening. 93-93 have no map light so it is perfect to convert one to a sunroof car.

I stripped the material off the 92 board and saw it had a bunch of mold in the cardboard. I’m not sure what I am going to do now because the where the mold spots are the cardboard is somewhat fragile. Like peels easy. Not sure how well the adhesive is going to adhere long term in those spots.

I’m thinking to go back to the 87 board and fill in the map light opening because of this.

In addition I am torn if I should get cloth material or go back with the original style vinyl. Opinions?

I also am not sure how thick the foam backing material is supposed to be on the sunroof cars. Non-sunroof is 3/16”. Hate to go too thin and there be a gap at the dome light. Too thick may look funky around the sunroof opening.

 

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Been a while since my last update. I was driving the car pretty much daily till Memorial weekend. That Saturday, I wanted take the wife's F150 to my mom's to do yard work and haul some stuff. Her Vert was out of gas so she took the 89. Well she ended up rear ending someone with it. The hood took the impact, right on the nose. Front bumper, fenders, header panel are not damaged. However, the radiator support is pushed back where the latch is a tad. By my rough measurements it is a little less than a 1/4". A bummer to say the least. The insurance paid to get the car fixed, so that is good. Here are some pics. As you can see the hood is kinked.

 

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So my body guy of 30+ years retired about 5 years ago. It took me a while to find someone that wanted to work on the 89. Seems like nobody wants to work on older cars anymore. I ended up going to a mustang show a few weeks ago and there was a guy that had a booth. He worked on some of the club members rides so I went to see him. Since he is going to refinish the front bumper I decided to have him repaint the rest of the ground effects at the same time so all the titanium matches. So the last couple weekends I have been removing the bumpers and ground effects. Looks kind of naked now. I still have to take off the passenger side door molding and clean up some of the skirts.

 

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With all that being said, I have a couple questions for you guys. First is on the condenser. The power steering cooler tube got pushed in the condenser and made a perfect imprint. That is going to bug me so I want to replace it. Has anyone used the rock auto ones? Was it a direct replacement? I plan on going with R12 when I fill it.

Second is on the ground effect brackets. Some of them are rusting slightly. They still seem solid. Should I replace them or just treat them?

 

[manicmechanic007]

No experience with the ones from Rock Auto but they should be the same as any other cheap Chinese condenser
The ones I get from 1 800 Radiator for 125 bucks are fine and yours will be too

 

[AeroCoupe]

I would pull the brackets off and have them nickel plated. You could anodize them but my guess is that finish will scrape off when you reinstall the effects.

 

[Mustang5L5]

The condensers are all about the same these days. I got mine from Amazon. Spectra Premium 7-4453. Been working for me with R12.


Keep in mine, all the new condensers are the improved parallel flow variety, and not the original serpentine tube style. Slightly less interior volume, so you won't charge with 40 oz of refrigerant. I think i used 36 oz.

 

[manicmechanic007]

Parallel or not the replacement condenser should have the same capacity and take the same amount of freon
If it did not, you would see bulletins all over stating that capacity difference
I have never run across any bulletins about that. I believe it is just hearsay

 

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Thanks guys, I ordered the condenser from Rock Auto. I am still waiting for the body shop to have a slot for my car. Still not sure what I will do with the brackets yet

 

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Worked from home today and the VPN died early in the afternoon so I went outside and took the door moldings off. Cleaned off the tape residue off the doors with an eraser wheel. I am having a hard time getting the residue off the moldings. Anyone have a trick? Eraser wheel does not work so well on the moldings.

Next question is on the tu-tone, what sheen came from the factory on the titanium? I took some wax cleaner on the red to clean up some of the residue from the eraser wheel and I hit a little of the silver that was under the molding and it shined right up. Looked like it is a metallic too? The ground effects on this car are dull. I do not know the last time they were waxed of if they ever were? I just want to know what is correct.

My boys and I are taking the Saleen up to Bellevue for the peoples choice show on Sunday. This year is the 40th anniversary for Saleen and Steve is supposedly going to be there (he usually is every year anyway) There is usually a judged class as well. I hope there is a low mileage tu-tone I can look at.

 

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Its been a while since I posted on this thread. Its been a long road to get my car fixed. The guy I had lined up to fix the car basically ghosted me. He had said he would take the car the week of the 4th. I called the body shop a couple days after the holiday and asked if we were still on for me bringing the car in that week and lady says I am not on the schedule. I asked how that can be since I physically went to the shop, talked with the owner, showed him the car and the insurance estimate, discussed the extras I wanted, agreed on a price and a date. She is like I am sorry but you are not on the schedule. So I ask when they can get it in and she says she will have to get back to me. A couple days later, I called back because they did not get back to me and she says August 29th. Needless to say I was not happy about the delay and let her know that. I was not rude or anything but I said ok. So the week before I called to see if we are still on for the 29th. No response. I left messages, send texts and emails and nothing. After trying to contact them multiple times, with no response, I gave up. I do not want to do business with anyone like that so the hunt for another body shop started again. That ended up being quite the chore, especially since the car was no longer drivable. Nobody wanted to work on it. The front bumper was weathered bad but still good. Nobody wanted to fix it. They wanted me to buy a new one. Scuff and shoot new parts is what I came to the conclusion body shops want to do these days. After a month of searching and going to car shows I finally found a shop that was interested in repairing the car. I took the car in the first week of October. They said 2 weeks. They took two months. I did not care because I was in no hurry anymore. Got the car back the beginning of December. They did a decent job for the overall condition of the car. It isn't a show car by any means so I took a few defects here and there. Price was more that we agreed upon at first. We had to resolve that issue and that kind of soured me because I was honest and clear on what my budget was from the beginning. I get the car home about a week later I notice the hood and the front bumper cover has blistered. It took another month and a half to get that fixed and the dude had the balls to ask me for more money when I picked the parts up. Front bumper looks as good as it did the first time. Hood not as nice as the first time but I just wanted to be done with them. Like I said, the car isn't perfect. I won't go back for any new work that is for sure. Car has been back together for 3 weeks or so. Have put about 1000 miles on it so far. Here are some pics of the progress and finished product.

 

[manicmechanic007]

Looks pretty good for all the time and hassle

 

[bird_dog0347]

Looks good as new at least in the pics! That really sucks about the hassle though, it's so hard to find people who actually care about what they do anymore it seems.

 

[mattcrp1]

looks good.

 

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Been driving the car pretty much daily since it has been back together. A couple months ago, the wife signed up both our foxbodies for a car show that was last weekend. The front suspension was tired when I got the car with 212K. Car now has almost 224K. Needless to say the drive quality and handling has been getting worse and worse. Memorial weekend I decided to start cleaning the cars for the show so out came the pressure washer. I cleaned the engine compartment and front suspension in preparation for the front end rebuild even though I did not plan on doing that till later this summer. Well after the cleaning, the front end squeaked after about 5-10 miles of driving which drove me crazy. I had everything to do the rebuild but new front struts so I decided to start on it. Unfortunately, I just could not swing the extra money right now since I just spent $700 for a phaser kit for my wife's truck. So the KYB's, which are still in good shape, will have to do for a while longer.

I couple months ago, I rebuilt the original control arms off my Saleen so I could just swap them when I was ready. Moog ball joints and TRW bushings. I bought a set of MM camber plates a couple years ago but they would not work with the MAC strut tower brace that came with the car. Local guy had a MM that was just used for mock up that I picked up last summer. I also found a set of Saleen racecraft springs locally last summer that were cheap so I picked those up. The sway bar end link bolts were all bent up so I picked up a set of energy suspension ones as well as the D bushings. New rack bushings, inner tie rod ends, and a MM bump steer kit round out the parts list. Oh I also put all new wheel bearings in the front. The original ones looked like they have got hot a time or two.

After lots of hours, working in the evenings, I got the car all back together and aligned early last week so we could go to the show this past weekend. Car is about 1.25" lower now

Here are a couple pics from the show last weekend. The wife was nice enough to wax both cars

 

[Mindseye007]

Nice and Shiney looks nice and clean.

 

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Here are a couple pics of the engine compartment. I had to modify the coil cover and the MAF bracket, The coil cover is JY one I picked up a while back so I could save the original one from being modified.

 

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My intent always was to 5 lug swap this car. Memorial weekend I picked up a set of 94-95 spindles from the local pick n pull. $52 out the door for the pair. I think I have everything else for the swap but wheels and tires. I would like to find some 98 or 99 cobra wheels for the car. I think the grey would look good on the 2-tone.

So shortly after I bought my Saleen 15+ years ago there was a local guy selling a set of 16" Rikens at a decent price so I picked them up for spares. They have been sitting in my Mom's garage since. The centers are white as the guy had them on an 84 anniversary car. I grabbed a pair and put them on the 89 to see how I liked them. I like the look but I think these wheels have a different backspacing than the ones on my Saleen as they seems to stick out.

I went around the block and they rubbed pretty bad in the front but the car was not aligned either. I have not put them on since the alignment but here is a pick with them on. When I have a free moment, I will play with it again and probably pull a couple wheels off the Saleen to test fit and compare

 

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Nice and Shiney looks nice and clean.

Thanks, she did a nice job on both cars.