Progress Thread Getting In Over My Head: '89 Gt Hatch: End Of The Road

[90sickfox]

The problem with these cars is that there are little holes in the corners behind the strut ( where the subframe nuts are ). Dirt and water get into that area and start corroding the metal inside the frame. The edge in the engine bay doesn't help matters at all. If ford put a clean out hole and seam sealer in that area we wouldn't have these issues.

Brake fluid would have run down the master cylinder and onto the front of the booster and down from there.

 

[LiquidStangs]

Food for thought:

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/cto/5744729381.html

Sounds too good to be true. The TKO 600, in particular, would justify the price by itself. "Bodys great". Heck, I might be able to grab the parts I want and still profit off the rest.

Between work deciding to blow up and the kids starting school, though... now is not a good time to be laying out that kind of money on car stuff.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Food for thought:

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/cto/5744729381.html

Sounds too good to be true. The TKO 600, in particular, would justify the price by itself. "Bodys great". Heck, I might be able to grab the parts I want and still profit off the rest.

Between work deciding to blow up and the kids starting school, though... now is not a good time to be laying out that kind of money on car stuff.

That might be worth looking at if it really has what it says. $900 and no title......hummm.....

Go look though, if this is real, you'll make money on the parts. Get the VIN and do a title search. This fella might have got the car for nothing, if you know what I mean.

 

[A5literMan]

That might be worth looking at if it really has what it says. $900 and no title......hummm.....

Go look though, if this is real, you'll make money on the parts. Get the VIN and do a title search. This fella might have got the car for nothing, if you know what I mean.

My thoughts exactly. Sounds "hot". But if it checks out you could make some good money on it. Hmmm...I should follow my own advise on this...I could use a trans upgrade.

 

[Mstng93SSP]

I like the "$25,000 in aftermarket parts", and he's asking $900. Something seems not quite right here.......If it's for real, bargain of the year.

 

[89oem]

Brake fluid would have run down the master cylinder and onto the front of the booster and down from there.

Youre assuming people can pour and that they clean up their messes

 

[LiquidStangs]

Taking a break from drilling the rivets in the door handle to ramble a bit. As per usual, it's probably all old hat to you all.

Late last week, I took the car out for its first real successful highway trip. The first one was the one driving it home from where I bought it, which was an adventure with all the stuff wrong with it. The second was my first appearance with the car at a club outing, in which I learned that there was something seriously wrong with the front suspension. (I was too distracted with the brakes, transmission, etc. on the first trip to notice the suspension.)

This time, nothing of note went wrong. The most noticeable issue was the third gear synchro problem, but I've got double-clutching down well enough that I rarely grind anymore going into it. Dare I say it: it drove pretty much like a normal car.

But I did discover something: the car is a bit slow.

I've taken to calling it "the beast" because it's such a torque monster at low speed, and up to last week I was babying it at higher speed, worrying about this or that. But I found that it certainly doesn't have that crazy uncontrollable feeling at 60+. It wasn't bad, especially compared to the Hondas and Toyotas I've been driving for the last decade or so. But my wife's '05 blows it away.

As it should, certainly; stock '89 vs. stock '05 should be no contest. But I'd like it to be a contest.

It seems like all the Welcome Wagon and build threads get one question right out of the gate: what do you want to do with your car? Street, strip, both? And I answered "street". But there's a whole lot more to that question, I'm learning now. My wishes for the car are changing as I'm learning more about it, especially after seeing some of the pics in the other build threads, and as the car becomes more and more driveable.

I started with the attitude "stock except where really necessary"; now I'm kinda thinking "stock-ish", with the "ish" growing louder as time goes on. Like late Fox GT-style two-tone, split right at the body moldings, but in paint colors Ford never offered. (I think I'm just tired of that gray.) Maybe Explorer heads and intake instead of stock. The Trick Flow kit seems so much easier, but could I live with the big Trick Flow logo up where the "5.0 HO" lives now? The more I think about it, especially after last week's joyride, I think maybe I could. I was committed to staying 4-lug, but it seems like there are more options for 5-lug rear discs, and am I really in love with those turbine wheels that much?

The original point of the car was that the Fox Mustang was a part of my youth, and I'm wanting to recapture that to a degree. A completely custom car top-to-bottom isn't going to do that, but neither will a car that disappoints when I drive it. So maybe the original Ford build spec isn't Holy Writ so much as "a good start".

So far, no change to the plan: get to stock for the serious driveability problems, fix up the structural rust, and only then go nuts with the upgrades. Kinda glad, too; besides keeping the bill down until I'm sure the rust won't be a deal-breaker, I'm finding I would make different choices now than I would have in the spring.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Taking a break from drilling the rivets in the door handle to ramble a bit. As per usual, it's probably all old hat to you all.

Late last week, I took the car out for its first real successful highway trip. The first one was the one driving it home from where I bought it, which was an adventure with all the stuff wrong with it. The second was my first appearance with the car at a club outing, in which I learned that there was something seriously wrong with the front suspension. (I was too distracted with the brakes, transmission, etc. on the first trip to notice the suspension.)

This time, nothing of note went wrong. The most noticeable issue was the third gear synchro problem, but I've got double-clutching down well enough that I rarely grind anymore going into it. Dare I say it: it drove pretty much like a normal car.

But I did discover something: the car is a bit slow.

I've taken to calling it "the beast" because it's such a torque monster at low speed, and up to last week I was babying it at higher speed, worrying about this or that. But I found that it certainly doesn't have that crazy uncontrollable feeling at 60+. It wasn't bad, especially compared to the Hondas and Toyotas I've been driving for the last decade or so. But my wife's '05 blows it away.

As it should, certainly; stock '89 vs. stock '05 should be no contest. But I'd like it to be a contest.

It seems like all the Welcome Wagon and build threads get one question right out of the gate: what do you want to do with your car? Street, strip, both? And I answered "street". But there's a whole lot more to that question, I'm learning now. My wishes for the car are changing as I'm learning more about it, especially after seeing some of the pics in the other build threads, and as the car becomes more and more driveable.

I started with the attitude "stock except where really necessary"; now I'm kinda thinking "stock-ish", with the "ish" growing louder as time goes on. Like late Fox GT-style two-tone, split right at the body moldings, but in paint colors Ford never offered. (I think I'm just tired of that gray.) Maybe Explorer heads and intake instead of stock. The Trick Flow kit seems so much easier, but could I live with the big Trick Flow logo up where the "5.0 HO" lives now? The more I think about it, especially after last week's joyride, I think maybe I could. I was committed to staying 4-lug, but it seems like there are more options for 5-lug rear discs, and am I really in love with those turbine wheels that much?

The original point of the car was that the Fox Mustang was a part of my youth, and I'm wanting to recapture that to a degree. A completely custom car top-to-bottom isn't going to do that, but neither will a car that disappoints when I drive it. So maybe the original Ford build spec isn't Holy Writ so much as "a good start".

So far, no change to the plan: get to stock for the serious driveability problems, fix up the structural rust, and only then go nuts with the upgrades. Kinda glad, too; besides keeping the bill down until I'm sure the rust won't be a deal-breaker, I'm finding I would make different choices now than I would have in the spring.

Bwaahaahaahaahaa!

Welcome to the dark side, my friend!

 

[Jersey Joe]

I'm currently treading in stockish, kinda tough to stay original when you see other cars and what they're doing. Right now it's top end kit and exhaust, but now I'm also thinking of 5 lug swap, rear disc,18" wheels. I suppose it never ends haha

 

[LiquidStangs]

Welcome to the dark side, my friend!

Yeah, yeah. Maybe I should just start saving now for the jack stands I'll need to finish the turbo.

Maybe I could save money by making a certain stop on my way to visit all my Oklahoma relatives.

(The OK relatives bit isn't kidding, BTW. I was actually born in OKC.)

I'm currently treading in stockist, kinda tough to stay original when you see other cars and what they're doing. Right now it's top end kit and exhaust, but now I'm also thinking of 5 lug swap, rear disc,18" wheels. I suppose it never ends haha

Maybe it's the bank's job to tell you when it ends.

Rear disc got on that "absolutely necessary" list pretty early, after my experiences with vintage Fox drums. The rest... well, we'll see how many dark side cookies I end up eating.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Yeah, yeah. Maybe I should just start saving now for the jack stands I'll need to finish the turbo.

Maybe I could save money by making a certain stop on my way to visit all my Oklahoma relatives.

(The OK relatives bit isn't kidding, BTW. I was actually born in OKC.)



Maybe it's the bank's job to tell you when it ends.

Rear disc got on that "absolutely necessary" list pretty early, after my experiences with vintage Fox drums. The rest... well, we'll see how many dark side cookies I end up eating.

Hey, if your coming up the turnpike, stop by. We can spend some time talking about your paint job at least.

And, perhaps, have a beer or possibly two....

 

[LiquidStangs]

Door's back together. And I can actually open it from the outside, and my window doesn't flop back and forth when raising/lowering it. Progress!

The outer door handles don't match anymore; I got the LMR all-metal handle, but just for one side. I don't know if I'm keeping these doors yet, so spending lots of money on them is a bit premature. Each has a big rusty dent in it.

Of course, doing such major work on the car necessitated a test drive. You know, to work out the kinks. Isn't it true that the window doesn't re-seat properly in the track without a road test to at least 60?

 

[LiquidStangs]

Not much to tell recently, largely because my son's Honda decided to flake out again, and we decided to trade Hondas with him. So I have another car to occupy my time, at least until it's sold.

That does mean, however, that my Fox is no longer the least reliable car in our driveway. And it's beating out a car 11 years newer, too. That's my work, right there. It would feel good, if it wasn't accompanied by my son's misfortune.

In fact, I promised my daughter a college visit this weekend, and the '89 will be the most reliable car available to me. So, it looks like it's going to get its first serious road trip. It's only an hour and a half, and the daughter has a much more reliable car, and has promised to bail me out if mine conks out on me. (She had better; my name is still technically on the title of the car she has!)

So, the Fox is in the garage right now, getting plugs, wires, cap, and rotor, as well as a general once-over on the suspension, brakes, and transmission, in preparation for its grand journey.

 

[LiquidStangs]

Serves me right, I guess, for being optimistic!

Running errands with the wife today. We had driven separately, she in her '05 convertible, and me in the Fox. On our way home, I hear a sudden noise that sounds like scraping or rattling. I pull over quickly, and do the thing with the brakes where you take out most of the speed, then let off to control the precise stopping point. Well, she slowed down pretty well, but for the final stop, I pressed down a little, and my foot went straight to the floor--no passing Go, no $200. Up goes the E-brake, and I'm stopped.

So I'm now thinking something pretty catastrophic has happened to create all this drama. I rev the engine in neutral, and it sounds fine. So, cut the power and under the car I go.

Two things immediately become apparent. First, the cover for one of the cats appears to have detached and is now scraping on the road, which explains the initial noise. Most likely, that means the transmission is still intact (which is what I initially thought the noise was). Second, there's a nice big puddle of fluid under the car, with more dripping out as I sit there and watch, with it covering the tire, spring, etc. on the driver's side. No, I didn't taste it to see whether it was brake fluid or not.

It's a few hours later now, and I'm at home, with the Fox tucked into the garage by a tow truck, and I just gave CJ Pony Parts some money for new brake lines. I figured I'd just do all the front lines with stainless steel. I haven't even looked more closely at the cat cover.

What sucks is that I had decided that the aforementioned Honda from my son needed an alternator test, because the battery had gone bad. Since the battery was bad, that meant removing the alternator to test at O'Reilly's. The alternator is OK, and I have a new battery, so the Honda is probably fine--once I get it back together. Which I'll have to do so I have transportation of some kind, since the wife is leaving to visit a friend this weekend. And it'll have to go back together on the driveway, since the garage is now occupied.

OK, enough whining. I'm off to jack up the Fox, get the wheel off, crimp off what's left of the brake line so the master cylinder doesn't bleed out, and hose down everything with brake cleaner to try and prevent yet more rust and corrosion. Yay!

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Serves me right, I guess, for being optimistic!

Running errands with the wife today. We had driven separately, she in her '05 convertible, and me in the Fox. On our way home, I hear a sudden noise that sounds like scraping or rattling. I pull over quickly, and do the thing with the brakes where you take out most of the speed, then let off to control the precise stopping point. Well, she slowed down pretty well, but for the final stop, I pressed down a little, and my foot went straight to the floor--no passing Go, no $200. Up goes the E-brake, and I'm stopped.

So I'm now thinking something pretty catastrophic has happened to create all this drama. I rev the engine in neutral, and it sounds fine. So, cut the power and under the car I go.

Two things immediately become apparent. First, the cover for one of the cats appears to have detached and is now scraping on the road, which explains the initial noise. Most likely, that means the transmission is still intact (which is what I initially thought the noise was). Second, there's a nice big puddle of fluid under the car, with more dripping out as I sit there and watch, with it covering the tire, spring, etc. on the driver's side. No, I didn't taste it to see whether it was brake fluid or not.

It's a few hours later now, and I'm at home, with the Fox tucked into the garage by a tow truck, and I just gave CJ Pony Parts some money for new brake lines. I figured I'd just do all the front lines with stainless steel. I haven't even looked more closely at the cat cover.

What sucks is that I had decided that the aforementioned Honda from my son needed an alternator test, because the battery had gone bad. Since the battery was bad, that meant removing the alternator to test at O'Reilly's. The alternator is OK, and I have a new battery, so the Honda is probably fine--once I get it back together. Which I'll have to do so I have transportation of some kind, since the wife is leaving to visit a friend this weekend. And it'll have to go back together on the driveway, since the garage is now occupied.

OK, enough whining. I'm off to jack up the Fox, get the wheel off, crimp off what's left of the brake line so the master cylinder doesn't bleed out, and hose down everything with brake cleaner to try and prevent yet more rust and corrosion. Yay!

Well that really does suck a lot. Glad you're ok.

 

[A5literMan]

Well...

 

[LiquidStangs]

It's a new day. Hope springs eternal.

Never did manage to get that line crimped; my grip strength or my tools let me down. (No fair speculating which one!) So, I just left it, and resigned myself to a completely empty brake system. I did spray the whole undercarriage, it seeemed, with brake cleaner, to the extent that the garage still had that lingering odor this morning.

It looks like the leak stopped all by itself, somehow. The fluid level looks to be the same as last night, and there are no new drips. So, maybe I'm OK on that front.

I've had one of my bright ideas; please talk me out of it if it's up to its usual level of brightness.

Since the car is down already, and this frame rail business has me nervous, maybe now is the time to act. The thought would be to clear out the engine bay, tow the car to a welder along with the LMR frame rail kits, tow it back once it's done, and re-assemble. This would minimize the cost, and also checks the "do as much as possible myself" box. I don't feel like the frame rails are the right time to learn how to weld; if I screw those welds up...

One downside: the garage is too cluttered as it is, so I'm not sure where I'd stash an engine and associated parts. Maybe rent a car-sized storage locker and do the work there? I've heard of that being done; how well does it work out? Do the storage folks get picky about that sort of thing?

The alternative would be to just call some restoration place and hand the problem off to them. My wife is in favor of this plan; I think she's worried I'm going to get in over my head. (Well, she's right in one respect, but now I think I'll *really* get in over my head, and she'll never get the garage back to park her '05.) Of course, this means money, which we have, but we've been spending too much of it lately on college and coincidental house maintenance "issues", so I'm not a fan. Plus, there's that nagging check box I mentioned above, and my recent experiences with the transmission shop.

So what do you think?

 

[Davedacarpainter]

It's a new day. Hope springs eternal.

Never did manage to get that line crimped; my grip strength or my tools let me down. (No fair speculating which one!) So, I just left it, and resigned myself to a completely empty brake system. I did spray the whole undercarriage, it seeemed, with brake cleaner, to the extent that the garage still had that lingering odor this morning.

It looks like the leak stopped all by itself, somehow. The fluid level looks to be the same as last night, and there are no new drips. So, maybe I'm OK on that front.

I've had one of my bright ideas; please talk me out of it if it's up to its usual level of brightness.

Since the car is down already, and this frame rail business has me nervous, maybe now is the time to act. The thought would be to clear out the engine bay, tow the car to a welder along with the LMR frame rail kits, tow it back once it's done, and re-assemble. This would minimize the cost, and also checks the "do as much as possible myself" box. I don't feel like the frame rails are the right time to learn how to weld; if I screw those welds up...

One downside: the garage is too cluttered as it is, so I'm not sure where I'd stash an engine and associated parts. Maybe rent a car-sized storage locker and do the work there? I've heard of that being done; how well does it work out? Do the storage folks get picky about that sort of thing?

The alternative would be to just call some restoration place and hand the problem off to them. My wife is in favor of this plan; I think she's worried I'm going to get in over my head. (Well, she's right in one respect, but now I think I'll *really* get in over my head, and she'll never get the garage back to park her '05.) Of course, this means money, which we have, but we've been spending too much of it lately on college and coincidental house maintenance "issues", so I'm not a fan. Plus, there's that nagging check box I mentioned above, and my recent experiences with the transmission shop.

So what do you think?

Go ahead and do it yourself.

 

[89oem]

Can the frame shop drop the engine and kmember as part of the rail fix?? If so do that, or I'd fear that pile of broken car here, drive train there scenario. Winters coming ...

 

[LiquidStangs]

Can the frame shop drop the engine and kmember as part of the rail fix?? If so do that, or I'd fear that pile of broken car here, drive train there scenario. Winters coming ...

According to Shop #1, no. I'd have to deliver a roller, just enough front suspension so it rolls. In fairness, they're more of a welding shop than a body shop.

We'll see what the other shops say.

I think the "already down" excuse may not work, though, since this shop seemed keen to see the car before giving an estimate, and that seems like a reasonable request. So she'll be on the road again once those brake lines get installed.