foxbody wagon 
id cut the bent tow hitch off of it first thing! Guessing i6/auto? Power or manual window car? a/c or non ac?
foxbody wagon id cut the bent tow hitch off of it first thing! Guessing i6/auto? Power or manual window car? a/c or non ac?
The Wagon is a straight 6, auto car with A/C (that still kinda blows cool-ish. I wouldn't say it "works" but the system is intact). Back to the Mustang. It RAN tonight! I've been spending hours on little details. Mostly wiring. Lots of crimping as I make new wires for the engine harness. I need to wire in the electric fan (was on the radiator from previous owner). My fused relay and coolant temperature switch showed up this evening in the brown truck. I need to replace an inner tie rod end, set the timing, bolt on a shift lever (waiting on the ebay seller to return from honeymoon...no joke), air up the tires, and I think it'll be ready for a LOUD backroad romp.
I tried to post a video of it firing up (not very exciting, really) in my previous post, but apparently that's not something that can be intuitively done here. Anyway, I drove it out on the blacktop a few days ago long enough to realize the clutch cable was adjusted too tight/short. The clutch would slip when I got on the throttle. Today I took it for a spin after adjusting the clutch and...oh my. This is going to be entertaining. 
I had to put it away before I got myself in trouble and/or felt bad about my contribution to redneck noise levels in the neighborhood. Time to order an H-pipe and cat-back something-or-other. Next up: Shift lever. I've got one on the way...but I still can't figure out what size bolts this Pro-5.0 shifter needs. If anyone has one and can help me out by checking their bolt(s) it would be appreciated!
I brought home yet another parts car today. This is the third mustang (2nd fox body convertible) parts car I've dragged home. This one has an 8.8 for the Mustang and some bigger brakes for the Fairmont. And other stuff...I'm sure.
Here's what it looks like right now (red hood courtesy of '85 Convertible parts car).
The slicks rub on the inboard side of the fenderwells when there is body roll (pretty much ANY turn). I might see if I can find some good used tires to go on my 10-hole wheels. Hard to want to put new tires on the back of this thing until I get the "Drive sideways for the first time in years" worked out of my system 
In reply to ClemSparks:
Awesome! Good to hear you've been busy making progress...and good to hear from you in general.
Ahh ten holes i cant beleive how crazy prices have went on those wheels. Always a good choice for a street wheel.
And it might just be me but the drive sideways thing is one of my favorite things about country drives
Basically, the most entertaining way to drive a pony car is to drive like a jerk. Sad. True.
I'm (just) mature enough to realize that and try to do it as respectfully as possible. Or at least to go home and hide it in the barn afterward.
ClemSparks wrote: Next up: Shift lever. I've got one on the way...but I still can't figure out what size bolts this Pro-5.0 shifter needs. If anyone has one and can help me out by checking their bolt(s) it would be appreciated!
These turned out to be M8x1.25. I'll put this here for anyone else looking for the answer to this obscure question who has also already bolted the shifter on and doesn't want to take it back off to bring to the hardware store. Instead, I bought a set of thread pitch gauges from the tap-and-die section of a nearby hardware store. At $8 each (metric and standard) these tools will be sure to save me at least $0.50 in the next 18 months (by not buying 6 bolts in an attempt to get the right one. Now I'll only have to buy 3!).
Now I need to find an air cleaner assembly. I have a few wishes:
1. That chrome would GO AWAY as the standard finish for any part that is non-stock and/or a universal fit. Seriously, performance industry (and China, in general)...figure out that chrome is only used for irony or nostalgia these days.
2. That 14" diameter wasn't the default for 90% of the aftermarket chrome air cleaners 
3. That the factory dual snorkel type assembly wasn't ludicrously sought after and thus highly-valued.
I've got a 14 incher, harvested from the interior of this or another project. But it won't clear the plug wires at the distributor.
I haven't found a suitable option yet, but I will eventually.
Anybody know what overall height air cleaner will fit under a fox body hood with an Edelbrock Performer intake and a Holley 4160?
Years ago I had a drop base air cleaner for an Edlebrock that was shaped like a rounded triangle that worked perfectly under the hood of a 260Z. Not sure if they still sell that one but it would be worth a shot.
Here's a Holley with a dropped base that should fit a 4160 (You can always paint it black):
my capri had one of the cheap little parts store 10 inchers on it. same intake and carb combo. Its the only foxbody ive built that didnt require a hole in the hood.
crankwalk wrote: Here's a Holley with a dropped base that should fit a 4160 (You can always paint it black):
Yeah...but...can you, though? Seems anytime I've tried this or seen others try it, the results are pretty terrible. But you're right. If there is a good way to prep chrome for spray paint, I'm all ears! Might be a good application for (and would be my first time to use) plasti-dip? I kinda like this idea.
crankwalk also wrote: http://www.jegs.com/i/Holley/510/120-146/10002/-1?CAWELAID=1710701404&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=15769068431&CATCI=pla-207805350551&gclid=CPaFpIPoj84CFROSfgodE5YOeQ
Whew! If I'm going to pay $75 or more, I'll get something not chrome . Seriously though, I did some checking tonight. I put the 14" chrome air cleaner (that won't clear the plug wires on the distributor) on and put a blob of grease on it. A taller blob of grease than pictured here touched the underside of the hood. But this blob of grease...this one right here:
That blob did NOT get transferred onto the hood. Then I measured the height of that filter. It's about 3 1/2" tall at the outer edge. So I figure anything that's 3 1/2" tall (or shorter) and is also a smaller diameter (to clear the distributor) should be fine. There are a few 9" and 10" options at amasummitjegsspeedwaybay that fit this criteria...so I'll just go that route. Good news on the topic of exhaust: I realized that Magnaflow has a stainless cat back setup for Mustangs. I work for a Magnaflow distributor. So...I'm going to get a great discount on the last exhaust system this car should ever need (and it'll probably end up on several cars).
Ok. A lot of stuff has been slowly happening to this feral Mustang. Well, not a lot of stuff, but I have been working on it "regularly". I'm excited to get it on the road. Here it is waiting for some work:
One picture I found on my phone is of a neat speedometer sender block-off plug I got from a company I hadn't heard of before "Bowler Performance" I think it was. Kind of random...but maybe someone else would like to know of the existence of this dandy doohickey:
Not that I have anything against speedometers. Some of my close friends have speedometers. But this was a quick and clean way to put off dealing with the lack of speedometer cable in the car. Smart phones are great for guys who have cars without speedometers! The T5 (from the Toyota Truck) had a Pro 5.0 shifter on it but no shifter handle/lever. So, I bought a used stock shift lever off E-bay (I ended up with two...yay slow shippers who then refuse to cancel your order and instead drop it in the mail only when you ask to cancel...after you've already purchased another because you're annoyed with their slow shipping). The stock shift lever did need some modification to clear the pro 5.0 base. I got a shifter knob too. Ebay brand plastic.
My exhaust system came in and I actually had the forethought to order some plugs for the H-pipe (where the O2 sensors would go on a car equipped with such witchery). That forethought has been, is being, and will continue to be offset infinitely by lack of forethought on other parts, pieces, systems, etc. Ebay once again provided me with the plugs. They worked out ok:
Here it is installed, looking from the inside. Terrible photo, I know.
I started putting in the h-pipe and hanger bracket at the Transmission mount. Things were looking good...but this silly driveshaft loop looks like it's going to present a problem.
The driveshaft loop was on the car when I got it. The frustrating thing is that I took this thing apart and reinstalled it once already just to get the driveshaft installed. Oh well. Problem solved:
I started bolting up the exhaust and can already tell this is going to be a frustrating experience. I'm also going to fill you in, soon, on how converting the rear brake system to accommodate dual exhaust is not trivial...or fun. But...even a not-fun job on a car is better than a lot of things I could be doing.
Did you fire it up and let it roar out of the h-pipe?
It's been well over a decade since I swapped a 5.0, 5-speed and 4.30 geared 8.8 into a '91 4 cylinder, auto car. I vaguely remember some difficulty with the rear brake lines. I think I wound up transferring the axle hard line from one car to the other since they tied into the chassis lines at different points...though I don't recall for sure.
Are you running into something similar?
8.8 cars had the line on the driver side and earlier and 4 cylinder cars had it on the passenger side. Getting big tail pipes over the axles sucks. Thats why dumps are so popular on foxbodys.
Yeah. For dual exhaust, you have to move the hard line over from the Passenger side to the Driver side. I think there are other ways to do it (and yes, exhaust turn-downs are certainly an option) but I had the parts and pieces and was looking for an excuse to use Copper-nickel hard brake line (I sell auto parts...always helps to have used it when you're trying to sell it). I'm going to apologize in advance for the poor quality photos in this post. It's dark, I'm lying on my back in gravel. Excuses...reasons...whatever. I'm not a photographer. Just a guy with a calculator/speedometer in my pocket. It sends texts also. So, a single exhaust car (even the V6 SN95 parts car was like this) has this configuration for the rear brake flex hose. In this particularly-terrible photo, we're looking from underneath the pinion toward the front right of the car.
Here is a photo of the brake line configuration on the rearend for a single exhaust car (no, it's not bent, it's just the iphone's panorama and a guy being sloppy using it). You can see where the brake flex hose mounts there just right of the right upper control arm on the axle tube. 
The problem is that this conflicts with an over-the-axle tail pipe and is also bolted to the unibody in the same holes that the right side muffler mount bolts to. So, we use a flex hose bracket from a dual exhaust car and rivet it in over on the driver side (behind and above where the left side muffler hanger goes). 
And here you can see what the brake line configuration is like on the 8.8" rearend out of the '93 parts car. 
What's funny is that the '85 parts car has a 7.5" rearend, but it has the dual exhaust brake line configuration. It appears to be factory. I had thought dual exhaust was an '87-up thing. It doesn't really matter...just a curious point. So, here is a shot of the new flex hose bracket and the muffler hanger brackets installed. 
What has really made this a chore is that I'm doing it with the rearend in the car. I can tell you from my experience doing this conversion with the rearend in the car that removing the rearend would be well worth the effort. One thing that was hard because the rearend was in the car was squeezing the rivets that hold the flex hose bracket to the car. I had to remove the left upper control arm and drop the driveshaft to have enough room to operate the rivet tool. Another thing is that it's a lot easier to redo the hard-lines on the rearend with it out of the car. I had the benefit of a rearend on the ground to use as a pattern for the new hard lines. So that helped. 
All these photos were taken tonight. I'm short 1 tube nut to finish up the brake plumbing. Oh...and a few clamps to affix the hard line to the car and rearend. 
The_Jed wrote: Did you fire it up and let it roar out of the h-pipe?
Well...YEAH!
It sounds a lot like it does with just open headers...except less backfiring on idle-down.
After monkeying with the cat-back system for an hour or two (prior to necessary replumbing of the brake lines) last weekend...I'll admit I'm really dreading fitting up the exhaust. But...hopefully I'll have that past me before too long.
I've got the exhaust on. I'm not happy with how the tailpipes line up...but I wrestled with it long enough and it'll probably bother me more than anyone else.
Here's a video of it.
As someone who has to do that line conversion in the near future im not looking forward too it either. Car sounds good!
I'll likely do it on the Fairmont as well. I'll take out the rearend altogether and it will make things go much smoother. I used 1/4" rivets to rivet the brake line bracket on (the same way it was attached to the donor car)...and that's one size bigger than the typical pop-riveter will do. So keep that in mind. The fuel lines were very close on the passenger side as well. That was a surprise to me as I had not seen that mentioned before when reading about peoples' dual exhaust swaps.
i should have done mine when i swapped too the 8.8 but i did the easy route and im just not happy with it. this solution may not be as easy on the fairmont if its like my zephyr the brake line for the rear actually runs inside the car. its a neat feature i havnt really wanted to rip out yet.
Alright, so now I have some questions for folks who know about the rear suspension setup that is on this car. The upper control arms are stock and the lowers are "Southside Machine". As you can see in the photo below, the control arm mounting locations for the lower control arm at the rearend are lower than stock (bracket/extensions have been added, I believe). I'll admit that I'm posting here first and my next step will be to go do some googling of this setup. But what I'm trying to figure out is: Should I keep it or switch back to stock? I know this is a drag setup...meant to help with rear grip. But if it's not detrimental to lateral grip, maybe I should keep it. I'll say that on acceleration this car lifts the front end NOTICEABLY compared to any other vehicle I've driven. I don't know if that's this rear suspension setup or other factors (or a combination). Rear traction is a good thing...but if it affects handling on a twisty road, I won't have much use for it. Anybody have any experience with this setup? 
Yep, those are designed to raise the front end for maximum weight transfer. Depending on what you have for shocks, stock lowers might be better.
Yes, shocks are also a consideration. And something I need. Currently there are some air shocks on the rear. I plan to replace shocks and struts soon (over the winter seems like a good time for it). I will be researching KYBs since I can get a good deal on them through my employer. Most likely the AGX adjustables.
I'm definitely open to discussion on shocks (and suspension in general). I've been thinking I should probably do some springs as well.
you need mono balls in the rear for flex! urethane will not work its to stiff maximum motorsport, J&M REAR LOWER CONTROL ARMS, qa1 or upr with heim joints/mono balls
https://lmr.com/products/79-93-Mustang-Rear-Control-Arms-Components
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