Progress Thread Down For A Decade - Got The Job!

Mustang5L5 said:

Now that's a nice garage too. Plenty of room for car, tools, and parts.

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Thanks. I don't have the power hard wired yet, still using extension cords. But it works for my purposes. Now, if I could just stop taking stuff off and start putting parts on I would have a lot more space!

Fresh update! Look what just got delivered to my work! My current passenger door has damage to the window frame that prevents the window from closing all the way. This door looks super clean! Wish it matched my color, but it will do for now.

Alright, let's keep updating this thread... I completely stripped the car of it's front and rear suspension, fuel system, and wiring so I could clean things up and get some paint in the engine bay and underneath the car. The car is originally from FL and overall it's really clean. There's no rust underneath or in the cowl, just behind the driver door hinge (we'll get to that later). So I degreased and cleaned off all of the years of road grime and evidence of having leaky rear mains and oil pans and scuffed it up to paint. I'm so glad I decided to upgrade the k-member because the bolts were not long from rusting all the way through. That would have been an exciting bolt to break! Here's some before and after pics of the engine bay and underbody.

Living in the heart of NASCAR country gives me access to a ton of amazing automotive and racing companies. I got a great deal on powder coating and gathered up everything I could think of that I wanted to be black. I cleaned up all of the parts and had my friend weld up the axle tubes before powder coating. A couple of the parts that are not in the after pics needed to be redone after the first attempt, the trans crossmember and the alternator bracket, but the company was awesome and redid them for no charge. I also decided not to spend money to powder coat the rear drums since a five lug swap will be done as soon as I can afford new wheels. It was pretty cool seeing them powder coat full tube chassis cars in the same oven as my lowly Fox parts. Here's some pics...

I've been buying and hoarding parts for the past few years and it's finally time for the best part, ASSEMBLY! I'm going with a UPR suspension, K-member, front coil overs and rear control arms. I bought a quick ratio manual rack and will be running Maximum Motorsports caster camber plates and their bumpsteer kit. I decided on Koni adjustable struts and shocks all around and will also run poly bushings and isolators. I'm staying 4 lug for now (wheels are expensive!) so I bought new wheel bearings, rotors, drums, calipers and pads from Napa. I just scored a pair of Eibach Pro Kit springs for the rear on Ebay to drop the back down a little. I'll run the factory sway bars until I feel the need to upgrade. I have a 4cyl front sway bar that I might try for a little more lift in the front (15/16" vs. 1" 5/16).

I started by installing the UPR K-member. I measured twice and everything lined up pretty well. I had to clearance a small portion of the frame on the passenger side (shown in pic) to allow it to sit flush, but it wasn't a big deal. The driver side had a bigger notch from the factory and lined right up. Then I had to wrestle the front control arms into place. I say "wrestle" because as much as I like UPR, the quality and fit is definitely not on par with other companies *cough cough* Maximum Motorsports. I grew up in the same county in Florida as UPR and have been buying their stuff for years, but I was a little disappointed with the amount of effort it took to get these arms into place. I was wishing that I had a spreader or bottle jack to make them line up better. I should have taken a pic of how far they were off, (almost a 1/2"!!!) but I was too busy cursing and sweating and prying them into place. I imagine it could have been the mounts on the K-member that were slightly off, since both sides seemed to be equally difficult. Anyways, they eventually went in I was able to bolt up the rest of the front suspension.

The Maximum Motorsports caster camber plates were installed, along with the steering rack and bump steer kit. I painted the spindles with POR-15 some time ago and they still look new! I took fine emory cloth and cleaned up some of the wear marks on the spindles. I looked around for new bolts for the front struts, (I hate rusty bolts!) but I couldn't find any quick enough and decided they would hardly be seen anyways. I might replace them later if they still bug me. The freshly powder coated dust shield went on next and then the bearings and rotors. After some toe adjustments, I should be able to set the front end back on the ground for the first time in a long while! Slowly but surely...

It's been awhile, but I'm still plugging along... Rebuilding the 8.8 and installing Ford Racing 4.10 gears. Replaced all the bearings and races, installed a cobra carbon fiber clutch pack and upgraded S Spring. I don't know how many times I assembled it just to take it back apart and change shims, but it's finally dialed in. And for the record, the F-150 S spring was a M*&%$#@cker to install! I broke the first one compressing it in a vice and trying to grab it with vise grips. Hose clamps, a 2x4 and a BFH knocked that sucker in.










My cart didn't survive the rebuild though

90sickfox said:

Good thing that whatever caved that cart in didn't destroy those tail lights.

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Yeah, apparently the weight limit of the cart is exactly one 8.8 housing and 2.5 hammer blows to a seat a bearing race They are just junkyard tails, I can't seem to leave a set behind!

Chuckman said:

Don't know how I've missed this, but I'm diggin it

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Thanks man! I'm terrible at updating this, but I guess that's why I fit in here, haha

Black1987 said:

Did you POR15 the engine bay and undercarriage?

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No, It's rattle can. I had planned to use POR but I tried it on the front spindles and realized what a PITA it was. That would suck to lay on your back and apply that stuff! I think it came out pretty well for rattle can though. I'll spray the engine bay the same color as the car when it eventually gets painted. I know it won't last forever underneath, but I sprayed a bunch of coats and can easily touch up in the future.

85ragtop said:

Man that thing is nice.

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Thanks man! Sometimes I just want to light it on fire

I snuck out to the garage in between "Honey-Do" projects this weekend and was able to work on the lower control arm battle boxes. I bought the full kit from Wild Rides and used a new control arm bolt kit from Jegs. I'm only installing the lowers because I'll be switching to a torque arm-panhard bar setup in the future and eliminating the uppers. It went pretty well, but I hate having to drill more holes in my car!!! The worst part was having to take the rear quarter plastic back out after getting ahead of myself and reinstalling it too soon. It was just too close to the plates that needed to be welded and I didn't want to catch it on fire. To take them back out I had to fight with the dreaded headliner trim again. Damn those clips are hard to pop back out! Next steps, have my buddy weld them in and then bolt the rear back in. Here come the pics...

Had to elongate the holes where the control arm bolt goes through

One thing I didn't realize when starting this build was the amount of time it would take to plan. I'm trying to wire up the car right now while also planning for upgrades that I don't even have yet. For example, I had originally planned to slap a carb on when this project started many years ago. But with EFI technology becoming more and more affordable, now I want to run the new Holley Terminator Stealth EFI system. I'm still selling extra parts and hopefully I can afford it soon, but I want to make sure it will be an easy upgrade if I have to swap to it later. Fuel and ignition requirements for carb and EFI are obviously different. That means I will have to use an inline fuel pump that can support 45+ psi, run a return line and switch to an EFI fuel pressure regulator when the time comes. I also have to make sure and run the proper size and length wires that I will need later. The MSD will control ignition timing until I switch to EFI and then I'll have to re-wire the distributor setup from magnetic to a points trigger and use the TFI distributor. I had everything all mapped out for a carb setup, but who really wants to drive a stinky old carb around!? There are so many other cool features built into the Terminator system as well, like fan control, a/c cutoff switch, programmable I/O's and that rad handheld digital display! There is no way in hell I'm putting that stupid old EEC IV back in it either... Back to the drawing board!

Wiring diagram for carb setup(to be modified):

Ok @Davedacarpainter, I just read through your paint thread and I need some of your knowledge, guidance and most importantly I need a new craft beer to try
I kept telling myself I wasn't going to paint the car right now, but this project has completely snowballed. I was swapping passenger doors and I found rust behind the hinge, so I pulled the hood and fenders off and found more rust on the drivers side behind the hinge. With the car this far apart, there is no reason for me not to paint it right now. I was happy with my rattle can engine bay, but now I'm shopping for Scott Rod panels and a welder, what is happening!?! I guess I'm fully committed to making this a show quality Fox now.

Well anyways, I just wanted to drag you in here and ask you a bunch of questions. I won't get into the rust questions now, I still have to take the drivers door off to determine the extent of the rust and figure out my next move on that. But I did want to ask you a few general questions. Let's start with a question that will determine the rest of my questions. Is it possible to paint my car in my 400 sq. ft. detached garage with a harbor freight 17 gallon 2hp air compressor? Or is that just crazy talk?

Here's a couple pics for the pic wh*res

Passenger side behind hinge


Driver side top hinge



Cleaned up Passenger side

Thought this was cool, sticker on the inside of passenger door with the code for my EEC