My 89 LX Build Thread!

Thanks guys!!!

trbkrb said:

Great job! I'm impressed with what you've done so far. When I was your age I was into fixing up bikes & model cars, never even had an idea about real ones, let alone restoring one. I like the 97 wheels also, I wanted them, but settled on a set of 96 painted ones when I did my 5 lug conversion. Ended up changing to the Bullitt ones I have now. I might go back to the polished 97-98 wheels some day if I find a good set cheap.

old pic of mine: http://statefilingsoftware.com/pictures/carw96wheels.JPG

Good luck on the build!

Edit: Oh and for the rear end, you know the 99-04 rear end housings and axles are longer than the Fox housing and axles and won't look right with those wheels. IMO you need a 86-98 8.8 housing and if going disc, 94-98 rear axles and 94-04 brakes & brackets. I have Ranger axles and modified disc brackets right now, but want to move my rear wheels out a bit further.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I love the 97 wheels too. They fit the lines of a hatch really well. They looked pretty awesome on your car too! I'm pretty sure that I bought my front and rear 5 lug stuff from a buddy today. It consists of 95 spindles, PBR 2001 calipers, and a 98 disk brake rear. So, the wheels should sit really nice with the fender lip. I can't wait to get them on!


Heres today's progress...

I got more polishing done on the passenger side. Later on in the day I finished the fender. Heres some pics of the car outside..





And with the 97 wheels mocked up under the car...





and heres the other side completely polished. I still have to go over the whole car with scratch/swirl remover and a nice wax. I think the color is going to pop with some good wax!



And I'm starting on the quarter windows. They are in TERRIBLE shape. So far I have done 4 heavy coats of primer and sanded in between each coat. This was after the first coat. I hope to finish this one tomorrow.

Made a little bit of progress on the car... but not much.

Got my 5 lug stuff. It consists of 95 spindles, 99-up PBR calipers, and a SN95 disk brake rear end.




I cleaned up the rear end a little. I'm going to paint my calipers and stuff silver and black. The rear end cover will be silver as well.


I was planning on swapping out the 3:27s for my 3:55s, but I really don't see a need to. I don't care if this car is fast or not. I just want a good driver.

It looks really good in there. It's only got a few thousand miles on it.


Got one side almost stripped down. The stock struts and all were still on there. None of the bolts have ever been turned. The dang things will NOT come loose!! I ended up having to take out the whole assembly. Springs still scare the piss out of me. They contain a ton of energy!







UMM I think my ball joints are almost done for...



Only one more bolt left on this side. It's wanting to be a pain though.



My parts pile is getting bigger!





And here's the reason I didn't get much accomplished on the car this weekend. I went down to the beach! It was soo nice down there. I also got a good 6 hours of driving experience. I think I may try to drive the coupe or at least the black GT down to MW!!!

I got the rest of the crappy suspenion out today. This was my first time pulling a rear end out. The biggest problem I ran into was getting the E-brake cables out. They were a pain. Other than that, it was pretty easy.







I also pulled the other side of front stuff out.



I then spent some time cleaning up the major mess I made. I love having that lift!





I was saving these for the coupe, but I might end up putting them on this car since all I would have to do is take out 4 more bolts.

Thanks everybody!!! There may be another mistress coming soon... but not sure yet. Mustang5l5, the rear end tag says 01, so I guess its an 01 rear, but you never know. It came out of my buddie's Calypso hatch.

Well heres todays progress...

Just got done taking the control arms out.




I spent most of the day on the rear end. I cleaned all of the parts and painted everything, and put everything back together.

Some of the parts after being painted up...


This caliper gave me hell. It apparently got stuck or something, and didnt want to compress all the way, I spent a few hours trying to get it to work, but I finally got it.



a few shots of the completed rear end...







My coupe looks so sad and neglected sitting outside. :sad1:


Tomorrow I'm going to clean, clean, and clean more on the underside. I want to get it really clean up under there, and then undercoat it really good.


I also may have a really big update tomorrow... We will have to see if it pans out like I hope it will...