Progress Thread Finally got my first Fox Body - 1988 GT

Tonight I worked on some weight reduction, lol


Also, a few more things arrived in the mail


The MSD piece was a few bucks cheaper than the Motorcraft one and it looks kind of cool so I went with it. The current coil appears to only be attached by one cockeyed screw and is looking a little dated.

Some questions for the Mustang mega brains and some updates...

I got these in the mail today (cheapest, quickest thing I could have delivered that seemed to be the right size) but now I'm wondering if I should try to find something that is copper or silver. This would be for the yellow/brown wire that runs from the alternator, to connect at the starter solenoid.


Also, I made some progress on applying the POR-15 kit on the frame underneath the battery tray. I will likely need some more of the POR-15 to get the shock tower done. On the shock tower though, I'm wondering if it would make sense to remove the master cylinder (and how difficult that is) in order to apply the POR-15 better. It's not the easiest space to get into. Any thoughts or suggestions?


Back to the horn issue...I was finally able to get the screw out of the horn bracket, thanks to the torch idea. I found a couple of random screws that actually fit in the holes on the bracket (looks like they are from IKEA) but they fit in the bracket pretty tightly and they are too narrow for any of the holes on the frame. For now, I used some washers and attached both horns to the same hole but with that placement, I can't get the fender protector back in and I'm also wondering if the second horn is too close to where the tire will turn in. I will carefully test it out once I get the alternator and battery hooked back in.



I am thinking I might need to just have someone weld the bracket back in eventually.

Anyways, I documented some of these things in my most recent video. I welcome commentary, lol.
View: https://youtu.be/5laJVZll-J0

Steel1 said:

If the ring/wire size is the correct on those crimp connectors they should be fine, best way is to crimp, solder and shrink tube them.
Although when I did mine I believe I just crimped and shrink tubed them , haven't had any issues.

If removing the master cylinder allows you to treat a rusted area that you wouldn't be able to get to otherwise, then probably necessary.
You'll need to remove the brake lines coming from the distribution block before unbolting from booster, brake fluid will eat through paint so
be careful to wipe up spills quickly. System will also need to be bled when reinstalled , probably not a bad idea since you most likely
don't know the age of the fluid.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I think I've got the ring terminal figured out on the yellow/brown wire. Now I'm just trying to figure out where to place the mega fuse. I looked at your pic from a while back and it looked like yours was on the frame just behind the battery. I'm wondering if this sort of placement will work, once I get the other wires wrapped in loom and taped.


I also tried to simulate other placements. I saw a few pics where people mounted it just behind the battery close to the washer fluid reservoir. This one seemed like it would be hard to secure since there's a ground wire right underneath.


And this placement seemed a little bit too tight...


So going back to the rust question on the shock tower - I think that makes sense to try and remove at least the distribution block/lines to properly address the rust.

On another forum, someone said this in response to the picture that shows the brake lines and I wanted to see what folks think:

"If that is copper tubing being used for brake lines you need to get rid of that right freaking now. Copper is a terribly dangerous choice for brake lines because it can split, work harden, and fail. A restoration shop I am friends with removes copper lines from the vintage cars that come in for restoration for this very reason. They then replace with steel lines that have been copper plated for the correct period look.

There are enough rental tools to make your own steel lines, and junk yards out to provide acceptable replacements for these copper lines.

A failure in the most critical safety component in your car may cost you your life, or the life of someone else exposing you to law suits or jail if you get into a crash. A guy in my area killed a woman and maimed her two children when the bus he was driving had a brake failure after he worked on them. He is now in jail."



Should I be concerned? Is there any way to know if the lines are actually copper (which is apparently really bad for this purpose) rather than copper-nickel or something else?