Fox Fox Body Frame Rust-- Scrap or Save?

90sickfox · Oct 19, 2019

That inner strut tower looks about as clean as you would expect. The rust in the pictures looks like surface rust. It's something that could be cleaned up with a cookie on a drill and coated with por15.

In my opinion it's not bad for a 3k car....that is if it runs and drives.

In the spring there will be a bunch of other people searching for mustangs too....and tax returns to fight with. Most things sell for more in the spring and people will hold out on a price knowing people will soon have tax return money to play with.

I say....get it if its decent and plan to put 2k in the car in the spring....still a grand below where you would've been.

Alldegree · Oct 20, 2019

Here’s every picture I took that isn’t a blur or my finger over the lens. What’s going on with the third to last photo in the other post? Is that ragged strip metal?

Edit: there’s more of the exterior, but it’s not letting me attach any more files. I’ll try again tomorrow. Thanks for looking at all of this, guys. I know it doesn’t look bad to you but the seller just gives me some bad vibes. The no caller ID or voicemail thing is strange, and the fact that he pulled out of our meeting at the last minute sort of irks me. I know I didn’t see his text, but he had all morning before that to let me know that he had something going on, and he knew I would be coming from Chicago, so it’s not like he didn’t have an idea of when I’d be leaving.

Alldegree · Oct 20, 2019

Alldegree · Oct 20, 2019

Mstng93SSP · Oct 20, 2019

From what I see here your best bet is to thank him for his time and move on. Those frame rails don't look so good to me..

Gs1987GT · Oct 20, 2019

CarMichael Angelo said:
It doesn't look that bad to me..it looks as I would expect a car to look that hasn't had the benefit of winters spent in the south.
Excepting the frame rail that appears to have some sort of crack in it. It may just be an optical illusion though .

I believe it's an illusion Sir. I thought the same thing and zoomed in on it. That area has a bracket or reinforcement welded to the rail there. I was just under my car last night cleaning, sanding and prepping the undercarriage for paint and went over that exact area.

I think what looks like a crack is paint failure at the seam where the bracket/reinforcement is welded. It should be confirmed though, but I thought the same as you initially.

Gs1987GT · Oct 20, 2019

Mstng93SSP said:
From what I see here your best bet is to thank him for his time and move on. Those frame rails don't look so good to me..

I think that's mostly surface rust. We have to remember this is a 34 yr old car and from this part of the country. Given that it's not too bad. Again you'd have to poke around and check. Some time cleaning and repainting and it'd look totally different.

Exactly what I'm doing with my car.

However, given Alldegree`s stated skill set and planned use of the car, this one may also be to involved for him. Sometimes it's better to spend more money to get a nicer car to start with. It just depends.

I'm currently doing a lot of undercarriage prep and paint work. Over the past few weeks I've cut out rust on the driver's floor pan and made patch panels to install. My car needs a total suspension rebuild and lots of other work. I don't mind, it's a project car and I titled and registered it antique. It's a long term project. I do a little at a time when I feel like it so it's enjoyable for me.

If this was going to be a daily driver, or i didn't have the skill set I do, I'd have spent more upfront for a nicer car/ starting point. Just my .02.

Alldegree · Oct 20, 2019

Gs87GT said:
I think that's mostly surface rust. We have to remember this is a 34 yr old car and from this part of the country. Given that it's not too bad. Again you'd have to poke around and check. Some time cleaning and repainting and it'd look totally different.

Exactly what I'm doing with my car.

However, given Alldegree`s stated skill set and planned use of the car, this one may also be to involved for him. Sometimes it's better to spend more money to get a nicer car to start with. It just depends.

I'm currently doing a lot of undercarriage prep and paint work. Over the past few weeks I've cut out rust on the driver's floor pan and made patch panels to install. My car needs a total suspension rebuild and lots of other work. I don't mind, it's a project car and I titled and registered it antique. It's a long term project. I do a little at a time when I feel like it so it's enjoyable for me.

If this was going to be a daily driver, or i didn't have the skill set I do, I'd have spent more upfront for a nicer car/ starting point. Just my .02.

You’re absolutely right. I’m ok with some work, but without looking more at the car and not being able to see the rails from the top down, I just don’t think it would be a good idea. I’ll ask the seller for some pictures of them again, but he’s been hard to get a hold of.

I think after looking at some other cars and thinking about what I would have to do with this one, I’m probably just going to wait. It seems like 4500-5500 is the threshold for what’s hit or miss and what’s mostly decent, and it won’t take me too long to get there. I know they may be a little more expensive in the spring, but I’ll have a little more money as well and I’ll get a more solid car that I can enjoy right away. I’ll keep an eye out for any good deals like the blue Trick Flow GT, but I’m driving myself crazy trying to figure out whether or not I can fix stuff from a few blurry pictures online or from crawling under a dark car in a gravel parking lot.

I’m still thinking about this t-top, but the rails look a bit soft to me, and every rubber bushing and hose would have to be replaced as well. The most rust repair I’ve ever done is spray some rust-oleum on the fender of my 85 and wipe it off (it did a fantastic job for 5 minutes of work), but this looks deeper than that.

Monkeybutt2000 · Oct 20, 2019

HARD pass. The cowls bent,which means the hood has come up at some point. The drivers fender has made contact with the door. You said it has rust bubbles and the paint is absolute crap. Wait til spring,6k will buy you a nice Fox

DSB88GT · Oct 20, 2019

I agree, this car needs way too much work. Will be a total and complete headache. Save your money and look for a decently sorted 86 -93 fuel injected fox.

Alldegree · Oct 20, 2019

Monkeybutt2000 said:
HARD pass. The cowls bent,which means the hood has come up at some point. The drivers fender has made contact with the door. You said it has rust bubbles and the paint is absolute crap. Wait til spring,6k will buy you a nice Fox

I was wondering how that dent on the cowl had gotten there, I thought it was maybe some kind of oddly shaped tree or a garage door or something.

I contacted the seller and told him I'd pass on this one and wished him luck. There's just too many variables, and I think I'm going to wait and save up until spring. I work at Amazon, so with the holiday season coming up I won't have much time to look anyway and I'll be getting plenty of overtime pay.

As for the fact that cars will be more expensive in the spring, I think I've learned that the best deals mostly come from the south, and those cars are available year-round, so hopefully the price spike won't be as bad there. I could take a long weekend, fly out to the car, take my time driving back and enjoy the experience more than I am now. I'd like to thank everyone for your help here, I've learned a lot about these cars, and hopefully you'll be seeing a search thread from me once the snow starts to melt.

General karthief · Oct 20, 2019

Food for thought: while waiting to get a better car with more money in your pocket is an excellent idea, it also invites picking up something with hidden problems, that nice paint, cool shiny stuff done by an experienced flipper will bite you in the rear, look for a car someone has owned for a while not a few months, look at the title, it will have a date that the present owner purchased it, a flipper may have an open title (signed by owner but no buyer signature) or give you a song and dance about selling it for someone.
Chew on that when you go shopping again.

Potomus Pete · Oct 20, 2019

Amen......Your last pics showed what a real piece of crap that car was.

General karthief · Oct 20, 2019

Potomus Pete said:
Amen......Your last pics showed what a real piece of crap that car was.

i disagree with the 'piece of crap' statement. It just needs a restoration. It is not hacked up, appears to be complete and no holes that don't belong there. There is a layer of what appears to be dirt caked up in places and the brake lines need replacing but a 'poc' it is not.
JMO

Potomus Pete · Oct 20, 2019

Not to keep this thing going but would anybody here who knows these cars would buy that for three grand . I cant imagine putting a socket to those sway bar brackets . That thing is just covered with you name it . The only real good thing is your feet dont go thru the floor. All respect due to you guys who put in new floor pans. The guy here has no $$ or real experience fixing stuff. Just a brake job on that car might need a torch ....... Maybe not a POS , but only cause its a fox . Please forgive me fox lovers.

Alldegree · Oct 20, 2019

General karthief said:
that nice paint, cool shiny stuff done by an experienced flipper will bite you in the rear,

I think the ugly cars (bad paint, smoked headlights, bad tints, etc.) might be a better value just because they're ugly and people shy away from them. That ultra blue GT that I looked at (I'll get over it I promise...) was completely solid in the frame rails and actually ran quite well, but because it had the primered front and botched rear quarter, it didn't sell for a long time.

Monkeybutt2000 · Oct 20, 2019

Take your time,it took me 4 months to find my current Fox. I've only bought one non-original paint Fox in all the ones I've owned. I don't buy rusty ones either. I weeded through alot of crap before I found the "one".

DSB88GT · Oct 21, 2019

Check out "Find a Foxbody" on Facebook. I've seen quite a few decent foxes on there for reasonable prices. Just yesterday, there's a nice looking 91 GT Vert...asking $6,500.

90sickfox · Oct 21, 2019

I would've given 3k for that car. There wasn't the hint of anything major in the pictures. I'm also pretty used to rebuilding these things. That's not a bad car at all from what I see.

I do remember when a car like that would've been 500 bucks at most....whew that was a long time ago.

Mustang5L5 · Oct 21, 2019

The last round of pics would have convinced me to walk. The cowl repair is what turns me away. The car has a ton of surface rust, but I didn't see anything rotted.

Either way....I think that $3K could go to a better starting point. Keep saving

Fox Fox Body Frame Rust-- Scrap or Save?

90sickfox

Wasn't a pretty sight...and I've got big hands

Alldegree

Alldegree

Alldegree

Mstng93SSP

You have a nice rear end there Dave.

Gs1987GT

Active Member

Gs1987GT

Active Member

Alldegree

Monkeybutt2000

Mustang Master

DSB88GT

Active Member

Alldegree

General karthief

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

Potomus Pete

I'm still waiting for the fully nude shots

General karthief

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

Potomus Pete

I'm still waiting for the fully nude shots

Alldegree

Monkeybutt2000

Mustang Master

DSB88GT

Active Member

90sickfox

Wasn't a pretty sight...and I've got big hands

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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Fox Fox Body Frame Rust-- Scrap or Save?

Wasn't a pretty sight...and I've got big hands

You have a nice rear end there Dave.

Active Member

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Mustang Master

Active Member

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

I'm still waiting for the fully nude shots

wonder how much it would cost to ship you a pair

I'm still waiting for the fully nude shots

Mustang Master

Active Member

Wasn't a pretty sight...and I've got big hands

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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