Progress Thread Finally got my first Fox Body - 1988 GT

[DudeStang]

Fuel filter neck kit and tank pads arrived this morning. The fox is down to around half a tank now but I am busy most of the upcoming weekend and likely won’t be able to drop the tank until the weekend after next.



Also, my Cervini’s ram-air kit arrived. Cervini’s told me that I was supposed to visually inspect the package before accepting it...but of course FedEx just left it on my front porch without knocking. Upon opening, it looked like there was a piece missing (block off plate of some sort?) and the air filter was partially crushed.



I called them to see about making sure I have all the parts that are supposed to come with the kit and to see about replacing the filter. I was able to get a hold of someone pretty quickly and he asked for me to send pics via email but said they would try to ship any missing parts and a replacement filter out today. We’ll see if that happens.

I ended up ordering the ram air kit because as someone pointed out early on in the thread, it’s cheaper than buying a hood and having it painted. Also, I couldn’t find any solutions for blocking off the ram air ducts that I was happy with so hopefully this kit will help prevent water from getting where it isn’t supposed to go and maybe give a little bit of a performance boost. After all, everyone knows ram-air is the next best thing to v-tec.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I acxtually like the Cervini's ram air setup. If you have the hood, might as well use it.

 

[General karthief]

I hate fedx. We are fighting about a opened/crushed package with stuff missing, fedex guy looked right at me standing in the garage doorway and just tossed the open/crushed box into the porch
Did I mention I hate fedex?

 

[Mustang5L5]

I ordered a $500 Thule rack for my wife’s car and FedEx literally dumped it in the driveway with the box exploded. Literally pushed it off the back of the truck when the box ripped and left it near the street, about 50 feet from my front door, blocking the driveway when I came home.

Fortunately no damage was done. Box was in pristine shaped considering it's treatment. However the pics and video were damning. FedEx ended up reimbursing me the full cost of the cargo box without too much hassle, and let me keep it.

 

[DudeStang]

My experiences with FedEx have not been positive for the most part. I’ve found their tracking reliability to be non-existent. This time I won’t complain too much though, since I never even received a tracking number or shipping notice for the replacement parts but they arrived on my porch this morning. Filter looks to be in good shape and it included the foam gaskets/seals.


I might have time to install the kit tomorrow morning but I’m not completely confident...given how no installation ever goes as quickly as it should.

I uploaded a new video recently, basically highlighting the new parts that arrived for the hood and the fuel tank.

View: https://youtu.be/dWjXD9qxjvc


In other news...my wife filmed me driving down the street in the Fox a couple of days ago and all you could hear was the power steering pump whine. I am prioritizing the fuel tank fixes but would like to get the power steering pump replaced soon too. After that, I also want to flush the diff fluid since I have no idea if/when that has ever been done.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Don't be surprised if the new pump whines. Once they whine, they all seem to do that.

Try a power steering fluid flush first. Drain out all the fluid. Fill and prime by hand and then start the car with the front wheels off the ground and have someone slowly turn lock to lock while you add fluid as needed. It might quiet it down...it might not.

 

[Willybill32]

My experiences with FedEx have not been positive for the most part. I’ve found their tracking reliability to be non-existent. This time I won’t complain too much though, since I never even received a tracking number or shipping notice for the replacement parts but they arrived on my porch this morning. Filter looks to be in good shape and it included the foam gaskets/seals.


I might have time to install the kit tomorrow morning but I’m not completely confident...given how no installation ever goes as quickly as it should.

I uploaded a new video recently, basically highlighting the new parts that arrived for the hood and the fuel tank.

View: https://youtu.be/dWjXD9qxjvc


In other news...my wife filmed me driving down the street in the Fox a couple of days ago and all you could hear was the power steering pump whine. I am prioritizing the fuel tank fixes but would like to get the power steering pump replaced soon too. After that, I also want to flush the diff fluid since I have no idea if/when that has ever been done.

After getting my engine back in the car and everything hooked up, I filled all the fluids and started the Mustang up. Apparently I forgot about filling the power steering reservoir and my original pump started leaking. I bought the best (most expensive) rebuilt pump I could find, new lines and cooler and got it all back together. The new pump is still whining after 6+ months of use!

 

[Olivethefet]

I dont know how old my pump is, but I rebuilt it myself a couple years ago. It only whines a little when it is at full lock one way or the other.

 

[DudeStang]

RE: the power steering comments - I have a power steering pump that came in a box with parts when I bought the car so I think I will give that a try.

Drove an F150 Raptor across the country this weekend. Pretty fancy but massive truck. Didn’t get a chance to take if off of any sweet jumps though.


I found some time to work on the ram-air intake on the fox body yesterday. The instructions were short on some details and I couldn’t find much online in the way of tutorials or first hand experience so I had to improvise a bit. I filmed most of the process and will have a video up later this week.


Parts for the fuel tank have been slowly trickling in. My fuel tank vent valve, vent valve seal, and strap j-nut kit arrived. Still waiting on the fuel tank lock ring and trying to decide if I want to order a fuel pump now or wait until I drop the tank to see if I actually need to.

 

[Jalapeno4eye]

I don’t know if the horn question has been solved, but a lot of times the horn button on these cars will go bad and stick(horn blows all of the time)... so in result people will either unhook the horn or pull the fuse for the horn.

 

[DudeStang]

I don’t know if the horn question has been solved, but a lot of times the horn button on these cars will go bad and stick(horn blows all of the time)... so in result people will either unhook the horn or pull the fuse for the horn.

Thanks for chiming in. I actually did manage to get the horn fixed a few months ago. I replaced the horn pad and hooked the horns back up. Only issue now is that since they are connected to the frame a little bit lower than they should be, I can’t put the fender protector back in. I need to have the horn bracket welded in on the frame at some point.

 

[QuickFox86]

Let's see under the hood. Is it still speed density?
'88's are a transition year, MAF's were California, only.
Wheels are 15's, stock tire size (225-60x15) will rub the fender skits at full lock.
I still have the original turbine wheels as spares; they are impossible to clean.

Not too many GT's with the red interior, almost all were gray..
'88 seats are fully articulated with lumbar support.
I think they changed the seats in '90 when the air bag was introduced.
Your steering wheels tilts, air bag ones do not.

BTW, I drive my fast car slow, safe in the knowledge it will go incredibly fast when necessary.

Yeah my '86 GT's interior is red but I don't know if that's common for that year or not.

 

[Willybill32]

Yeah my '86 GT's interior is red but I don't know if that's common for that year or not.

My '86 GT has the Canyon Red interior as well, but I think there were more gray ones than red ones, and maybe a few of the tan.

 

[DudeStang]

Just uploaded a new video, documenting the installation process on the Cervini's ram-air kit:

View: https://youtu.be/BoerZuwNYWI


It's not super pretty under the hood but it appears to be functioning as intended.



In other news, I did end up ordering a new fuel pump. It should be here tomorrow but I'll be out of town next week and likely won't be able to drop the fuel tank for a couple of weeks.

In the meanwhile, I'm currently attempting to do a coolant flush/burp on the fox body. The coolant that was in the car is a nasty looking orange color...


I'm hoping to get that done today and then focus on the fuel tank fixes when I can get a full weekend in the garage. I'd also like to change the differential fluid and gasket and tackle the power steering pump before it gets too cold to be spending too much time on the garage floor.

 

[Steel1]

Just watched your vid, I know its' too late but using some type of panel bond adhesive would have saved you some frustration.
It usually comes in a two part syringe type tube or caulking tube and can be applied in a bead.

The thing about body filler is it's meant to be sanded and painted so that's always an option for you to make it less noticeable.
Keep at it , we all learn something every time we work on these cars.

 

[General karthief]

I didn't know body filler could be used for bonding

 

[90sickfox]

I've never seen bondo used in that way either. I guess it could work. I would've used 3m 8115 or a two part epoxy. Whatever works though. Bondo does not pull off easily unless it's on a smooth surface.

 

[DudeStang]

Just watched your vid, I know its' too late but using some type of panel bond adhesive would have saved you some frustration.
It usually comes in a two part syringe type tube or caulking tube and can be applied in a bead.

The thing about body filler is it's meant to be sanded and painted so that's always an option for you to make it less noticeable.
Keep at it , we all learn something every time we work on these cars.

Thanks man. Yeah, in retrospect I wish I would have done a bit more digging into other options for adhering the duct to the hood. A few folks on YouTube commented, suggesting options like bond glue in a caulk gun, panel adhesive or dura mix, and 15 minute epoxy. I'm sure at some point, I will do something like sand it down and try to make the underside of the hood a little bit cleaner looking.

I didn't know body filler could be used for bonding

Neither did I, until this experience, lol.

I've never seen bondo used in that way either. I guess it could work. I would've used 3m 8115 or a two part epoxy. Whatever works though. Bondo does not pull off easily unless it's on a smooth surface.

Will have to look into the epoxy option if I ever do something similar again.

My fuel pump arrived today. 155 LPH. Summit was the only place I could find one in stock at the moment.


The absorbent/freshener thing opened up in the plastic bag that the actual pump was in. I'm assuming it's probably fine since the red caps are still in place(?).

 

[Mustang5L5]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's capped. Take the caps off and shake it off.

 

[DudeStang]

Ok so I just did something dumb...but I’m trying to figure out where my dumbness kicked in. As I mentioned earlier, I’m trying to flush/replace the coolant. Here’s what I did:

-drained coolant from draincock thingy on the radiator
-filled radiator with distilled water, put radiator cap back on (I’m guessing this is at least one thing that I did wrong)
-started car, ran it for approximately ten minutes (turned heat on because I read that this allows heater core tone flushed) until temp got up to 192 (which I understand is the temp for the stock thermostat to kick in)
-turned car off and started draining water from draincock thingy on radiator
-opened radiator cap to help drain the radiator faster...leading to tsunami/explosion of water and coolant blasting out of the radiator

I’m guessing the dumbest thing I did was either putting the radiator cap back on after I added the water or trying to remove it too quickly after turning the car off. No, I wasn’t recording...fortunately and unfortunately. Lol

When you’re done laughing...please let me know if my plans for next steps make sense:

-once water is drained, I’m going to add coolant/antifreeze (I bought a few gallons of the prestone pre-mixed stuff)
-going to start the car with the funnel still in the radiator and run it, adding a bit more of the coolant mix as it goes down/is circulated, and keep an eye on bubbles in the funnel.
-once I stop seeing bubbles and the fluid level is still good, I can put the radiator cap back on

Edit: I did all this stuff...and nothing else exploded or caused any tsunamis.