Progress Thread Low Mile 89 GT Restomod

KRUISR

5 Year Member
Apr 16, 2015
1,558
731
133
Back in spring of '24 my youngest son asked me if we could do a build vehicle so he could learn some automotive stuff and end up with a nice vehicle in the end. We looked around a bit and came up with this build as I still had many extra parts from when I built my 90 GT that could ease the search for what was needed.

So here is the rough low mileage 89 GT we picked up in July as a starting point.

1989 Mustang GT - 3.webp 1989 Mustang GT - 2.webp 1989 Mustang GT - 1.webp 1989 Mustang GT - 8.webp

It came mostly complete minus engine and accessories, trans, PCM, rad and a few trim pieces. Overall pretty solid car other than front shock tower/frame rail rust (that we knew about when purchased). The story we got was the original owner went to jail for a number of years and the car sat outside where leaves and debris blew in and sat unattended at the base of the shock towers.

1989 Mustang GT - 4.webp 1989 Mustang GT - 6.webp 1989 Mustang GT - 7.webp

Other than PCM, the wiring looks complete front to back. The body from firewall back is great other than it needs paint.

It is a factory 5spd A/C car which we will put back in it. The plan (so far) is mostly stock looking with upgraded suspension, wheels, brakes. Paint will not include the silver/gray lower sections and be all one colour. Colour at this point will be a metallic or pearl red - exact colour still to be determined. We will be doing a 5 lug conversion with SN spindles, S197 front rotors and ATS calipers. Rear brakes will be discs - size still to be determined but will be at least a S197 11.81" (we may use my current rear setup from my 90 GT as I swap to 13.6" rear rotors). Not sure if we are going fox or SN length rear axles yet. Wheels at this point are planned as gloss black Bullitt reps, 18x9 with a 24mm offset.
 
Last edited:
  • Sponsors (?)


First thing we did was tackle the shock tower/frame rail rust.

20240802_203803.webp 20240802_203823.webp 20240802_203829.webp

Driver side is the worst as both the shock tower and frame rail top are rotted.

20240802_203845.webp

Passenger side is mainly just shock tower section.


For the driver side I found a good donor part at the u-pull wreckers from a '97. I cut it at the firewall and about 6" back from the rad.

I used the frame rail from the 97 and the lower section of the shock tower. Below are the parts all welded back in and then ground smooth.

20240915_141942.webp 20240915_213612.webp 20240915_231652.webp 20240915_231820.webp
 
For the passenger side, the overall work was easier and here is the shock tower/rail after removing the bad material.

20241020_121856.webp 20241020_121932.webp

Here I made replacements from some 14 gauge sheet metal I have picked up. The bolt tubes were reused and attached to the new metal.

Here the repairs are all finished.

20241201_134812.webp 20241201_134829.webp 20241201_134856.webp

We still need to grind down/clean up the welds on the fender well side of the shock tower, but its good for now.

So that wrapped up the engine bay/front area repairs.

20241201_134936.webp
 
  • Like
Reactions: General karthief
Prior to the front end repairs we gave the car its first wash in years and cleaned out the interior (to not damage anything we wanted to keep).

20240802_203751.webp 20240802_203912.webp 20240802_203923.webp 20240802_203927.webp 20240802_203945.webp

As we dug into the interior, taking everything out we found some more rust issues - floor pans. Rear pans - top and bottom look pretty good.

20240802_231309.webp 20240802_231325.webp 20240802_231435.webp 20240802_231438.webp

Driver side has the usual seat mount forward issues as did the passenger side as well as the foot area for the rear seat. I thought about numerous patches but we decided to replace with two full length side pans instead. Rust was from the inside out. The bottom of the floor pans looked like a 85k km car. Investigating the why, we found the door seals near the rear of the doors was not tight (I could almost put my hand in between), so my guess is all those years parked outside let lots of water in that just sat in/under the carpet and slowly rotted the pans.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Rdub6