Fox Old_blue Finally Getting Some Mods.

Car has basically remained the same for the last 4-5 years since I have owned it. I think the biggest thing I did was put ponies on it.

Well, my old rear end is shot and every time I make a left hand turn I hear the rear making horrific clicking noises. So, I am to assume the clutch assembly is gone. I have a set of 3.55 gears sitting in the garage and I planned upgrading to those when I rebuilt the rear end. As luck would have it I actually found a complete rear end with 2k miles on it for $125. So I picked it up and will swap my new drums on to it. A lot less work and it has 3.73s in it.

I also have a explorer intake and short length headers to toss on there. Still putting together my 5 lug conversion but I have bullit wheels, axles, new edge front calipers and a few other odds and ends. The biggest thing I need are tires and C/C plates for it.

The car was original tan with tan interior. While I like the fact you don't see the color much (I haven't seen another one on the road) I like the regatta blue much better. Body work will follow over the winter (if you can call it winter in southern AZ) and then paint in the summer hopefully.


Photos soon to follow.

'88 stock original paint with the ol' 5.0 and 5 speed. I remember bringing it home for $1500 in 2009. Drove it home with a huge vacuum leak due to all the hoses under the intake being broken. Less than $5 in hoses fixed that and it ran great. Was my daily driver for several years. I guess I never really modded it because it got me to work. I got rid of the 10 holes years ago and put ponies on it. I shaved the rear emblems and filled (weld) the holes in. It has the classic 80's pinstriping on the hood and the fenders. I started stripping those off a few years ago to see how hard they would be to remove..... total PITA. I think the AZ heat baked it into the paint. Aside from a few maintenance issues it is a stock pony.


Here are some photos of how she sits now. Not much appearance will change until the rear end and a few other issues are taken care of.

Enjoy.

madspeed said:

Old Blue?

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When I joined the boards I had a Blue LX hatch. My current is my third mustang since being on the board.

elarm1 said:

Instead of buying a rear end with who knows what history on it.... You already have 355 gears so why don't you put those on? You can use that 125 for a new set of clutches and fluid. My .02

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I had 3.73s in my last hatch and thought they were great but first was a little short. So I bought 3.55s to help out with that but being able to just bolt in a new rear is just plain easier. I can deal with 3.73s and it isnt that big of a difference between them. I bought the rear end from a member of a local mustang board. The gears were put in by another board member who has been doing it for years and even has a dyno in his garage. He took the rear end out after 2k miles because he is rebuilding his mustang which is just a shell in its current state. He is going with a shortened rear and no longer needed this one. I may have to put in a new clutch pack in this one but that is a lot easier that a full gear install (i put in my last ones) and easier since the rear end is out of the car.

I plan on selling my old rear and 3.55s for a few bucks.

photos:
This helps out a lot.




New (to me)


Getting her up.







Steel Braided line. I already had a kit from Russell and the fronts have been done. I have just been waiting for rear end work to put it in. FYI This is not a bolt in application. The fronts were not either. The problem is the where the lines go into the block (as seen in the back ground of the photo) pushes the mounting hole away from the bracket. SOOOOOO
I welded two pieces of 1/8" steel together then welded it to the bracket making it longer.



This made the bracket long enough to catch the mounting point on the block.



Welded a bolt on to the bracket and cinched her down..


This was the mock up and it went back in pretty well. I sprayed the bare metal with black rustoleum and by the time I got the old one out it was all ready to go. Disregard the blue painters tape. It is what I kept the washers in after I installed the fronts.

Out with the old...






I swapped all the brakes from my old rear end into the new rear end as I had just put new rears on there. Sorry no more photos but it got late and cold out here. It is all back together and sitting in the driveway. I just need to bleed the brakes and replace a stripped out stud.

All in all it went pretty straight forward as far as the swap. The only issue was that damn bracketI had to make. Even when bolting the other end into the car the block did not fit like the stocker and was quite snug. No leaks as of yet. I will check the driveway in the morning but it had good pressure when I pulled it out of the garage.

I kept the old control arms. I plan on boxing them in and getting all new bushings put in them. I can honestly say it has been awhile since I have spent this much time in the garage on the fox. I truely miss it but when compared to spending time with my kids it is a sacrafice I will make all day.

Woke up this morning and no leaks. I replaced the stripped wheel stud and took it for a spin. Ran well. No issues aside from the gauge reading 90 at 25mph LOL. I forgot about the gear in the transmission needing to be swapped in order for the speedometer to read right......Oh well.