My 89 LX Build Thread!

slow90coupe · Apr 24, 2011

I picked this car up from a buddy today. It should be a fun little project to keep me busy over the summer break! It is a 89 hatch, 4cyl, with no tranny and no wiring. All of the interior is still at his house, but is complete minus the seats. But i have an extra set of seats, so I will have a full interior for it. The car looked really rough when I picked it up, but is already starting to come around. I dont know what im doing motor-wise yet, but it will probably be a stock 5.0l or a GT40P motor. I want to do this car on a budget of $2000 or so. Heres what it looked like when i got it earlier...

after some degreasing underneath...

on the 10 holes and wet!

how the paint is going to come out with some time...

lmk what you think so far and what direction to go in!

skunk21 · Apr 24, 2011

Man that thing is great shape. I think an explorer motor is a great idea, toss in a cam and you will have a nice little cruiser. you going to ditch the 7.5 or find a used 8.8 to go along with the build? best bet would be to find a junk V8 donor since you got some swapping to do. The car looks great though

Mustang5L5 · Apr 24, 2011

Clean little car.

Your other car looks pretty mean with the flat black hood. I like that.

slow90coupe · Apr 24, 2011

Thanks guys! It really is a straight shell. There isnt a single dent in the entire body. All of the paint looks to be original,but it could have had 1 repaint. Regardless, its not bad for $200. Its hard to find one that cheap with a clean title. I am trying to find a wrecked v8 car to transfer everything over. Thats going to be the easiest and cheapest route to go. Heck, I might even get a wrecked 4.6 car if I can find one cheap.

BlownRed5oh · Apr 24, 2011

looks nice! should be a fun project!

newskool · Apr 24, 2011

great starting point for a project. Looking forward to a build thread.

hsean · Apr 24, 2011

clean car!!!!!!!!!!!!! good luck

slow90coupe · Apr 24, 2011

Thanks guys! I have a very long road ahead of me. But its going to be so much fun!!!

Heres todays progress...

I started out by taking out the old,tired 4cyl motor. I have helped on 4 motor pulls, but had never done one by myself before. It took me about 2 hours, but I got it out!

the car looks pretty stripped now. It is very tempting to put a cage in it and make an all-out drag car out of it. But, I think it is too straight of a body to do that to.

I got the carpet out. I think with some time it will be good enough to use. I'm planning on pressure washing it next weekend.

Heres all of the bolts/fasteners that I found in the glove box. I have a lot of bolt turning to do!

The inside. I still need to vacuum/scrub the floors, but there is very little surface rust.

another shot of the fender after 10 mins of polishing. With a few hours this cars old paint is going to come to life!

And a shot of the stable. Its pretty packed!

7upstang91 · Apr 26, 2011

Drag car...

Honestly, you could build a decent weekend car on a budget.

Stever89 · Apr 26, 2011

Nice project. I'm glad you got wheel studs in that left rear before it fell off too

How I'd love to have a shop like that!

GroverDill · Apr 26, 2011

Nice shop.

slow90coupe · Apr 26, 2011

Thanks guys. I love my shop! I've almost outgrown it already though. I need to sell something! I have pretty much decided that I wasnt to just do a stock 5.0 motor in this car. Maybe a GT40p motor, but nothing radical. I just want to be able to have fun driving this car every day while the coupe is sitting getting more mods.

Heres todays progress...

Took the wing off to clean all of the crap out from underneath, and also to make the polishing go a little bit easier.

Now after some cleaning-

I pulled out the dash cover as well as the dash skeleton...

As I was pulling out the quarter windows and the trim on the passenger side, I encountered about 500 Ants that had made a home inside of the trim... That was definately no fun to clean out! But, they are both out now.

I spent another 10 minutes on the top of the fender just for fun. The paint is going to look pretty darn slick considering its the original paint!

I pulled off the bumper cover as well as one of the fenders. The lines were a bit off, so I am going to try to make them better.

Im starting to get some pretty big parts piles!

JamesB88 · Apr 27, 2011

Looks good, I wish I would of started with a rust free car now... I spy a 73-79 Ford also...

slow90coupe · Apr 30, 2011

Thanks man. The 79 F-100 was my grandpa's. He bought it new and recently gave it to me!!! It is 100% original and is in excellent condition considering it was a farm truck!

I finally got me a Porter Cable of my own so I can guit borrowing my buddies. I went to town on the car for about 6 hours today. So far, I have the drivers side buffed out, and still have the passenger side to do. Then, I have to glaze and wax it. I will have a lot of time in the paint, but it will look pretty decent for what it is. Heres the pics. More to come tomorrow...

( I know I need to re-pinstripe the bottom stripe, thats also on the list!)

I love this thing!

I spent some time on the moldings today too. I scrubbed them with a toothbrush and degreaser. I was amazed at how good they look just by doing that.

and the engine bay after a little bit of cleaning...

1991notchbackLX · Apr 30, 2011

That looks awesome, man. Great work! Would you do me a huge favor and post or PM the model # of the porter cable you're using, the size and brand of the pads, and the supplies you're using to buff/polish? I have some old paint that needs to be brought back to life, and I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

LarsD · Apr 30, 2011

Wow that looks great!

Celeb · May 1, 2011

Added to http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/761371-official-progress-threads-thread.html

slow90coupe · May 1, 2011

Thanks! It's really starting to come around now. The Porter Cable is model # 7424. The pads were purchased from a local guy that owned a little detail business so I really don't know what brand they are, but any assortment of pads will work fine as long as they have a cutting pad of some sort with them. So far all I have used is some crappy Turtle Wax rubbing compound to cut through the dead paint, and then Meguiars Ultimate compound for the second pass. I think the paint will really come back to life with a good glaze and wax!

1991notchbackLX · May 2, 2011

Thanks so much!

lilgoober1 · May 4, 2011

I got me a car, it drive fast, and the muffler gas tank is rigged perfectly. can i borrow your coupe for a day of mudding? ;D

My 89 LX Build Thread!

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