my 89 Mustang "back in the day" street / track day car buildup

[TexasSpeed]

It's cool to have a HAMB where we can talk Fox Mustangs..

-KK

X2. Fox-body Mustangs are my favorite era Mustangs aside from the first generation 'Stangs. I'm really digging this build thread and am learning a lot about these things from listening to you talk about them. My knowledge is pretty limited as at the time I was just a baby.. Born in '88 so by the time they quit doing Fox-bodies I was just 5.

Hoping to see more from you. Keep up the excellent work.

[fast Ed]

Nice job making us feel old!! LOL

I was 21 when I bought my 87 LX 5.0, my first brand new car. A bit scary for me now, knowing that car is eligible for vintage racing.

I was pretty well-versed on the ins and outs of these cars, but some of it I'm having to relearn ... it's been too long. For the most part I'm good to go, and it certainly is handy being a Ford parts guy, giving me access to tons of info.


cheers
Ed N.

[Reverend Bow]

Cool Project.


I am hoping to build my 240SX up similar to this when I get done with my schooling...

[fast Ed]

Been quite a while since I've updated this project obviously. Been picking up a few more pieces here and there, including a Maximum Motorsports panhard bar kit. That's a bit newer than the time period for most of the parts for this build, but I don't want to put on a spindly vintage piece that's going to bend or break, just for the sake of the theme.

Making a bit of progress finally. I had taken the 8.8" rear axle in to the dealership a few weeks ago to get the 3.27 gears and differential installed. The technician got the rear axle finished up a few days ago, I brought it home last night. Just need to bolt on the caliper brackets, and get the panhard bar mounting looked after. Will probably try to redo the lower control arm mount holes as well for a bit of anti-squat.

Also took the engine in to work to get the help of one of the other techs to get it assembled. Camshaft and lifters are in, heads are bolted on, we just need to the external bits now. Next step I think is to get all of the front suspension bits installed, I got the front crossmember cleaned up tonight in preparation.


cheers
Ed

[old5.0]

Thanks for keeping us up to date, Ed. Even though I was always more of a straight-liner, this thread is still bringing back memories.

[fast Ed]

A little bit more progress this week. Got a couple of the Continental Extreme Contact DW rubber that I will be running for street / wet track usage mounted up on some of the 8" Saleen 5-spoke wheels. They are just little 225/55R16 skins, fairly rounded shoulders that shouldn't track around on the truck ruts too badly, and soft sidewalls to hopefully soften the blow of the 1050 lbs./inch front springs for street driving. LOL On the 8" wheels they look pretty good, I was afraid that the sidewalls look "pulled out" too much, but these particular tires have a pretty good section width for a 225. So now I have some 5-lug wheels with tires on them ready to roll on once I have the new brakes and suspension in either end of the car.





Today we moved the car out of the corner of the shop to get some more space around in for working. My landlords aren't back until the end of April, so I have pretty much free reign until then. Took if off the dollies, and up in the air on some sturdy stands. Also started looking at the rearend assembly to check that the aftermarket axles are the correct length for the SN95 brakes, they seem to be good.





Also started looking at the front suspension stuff, with the new crossmember, SN95 control arms with the FMS extended ball joints installed, and SN95 steering rack.



Started the preparations for removing the original front suspension and crossmember out. Since I will not be reusing anything there, I am going to try to take out the crossmember with the control arms, spindles, and struts still together, all as one big chunk. Brake hard line to flex hose nut came undone easily on the left side, the right is being a bit stubborn, but some heat should fix that up. Got the steering shaft unbolted as well, I have a replacement for that.

This week I have to gather up a few more hardware items, get some paint on the crossmember, and give the rearend housing a bit of cleaning before a coat of paint on it as well. The engine is pretty close to being ready to go back in, so I want to get all of the front suspension stuff done and out of the way to prepare for that.

As they say, "To be continued" ...

[TexasSpeed]

Progressing nicely. Keep them coming..

[fast Ed]

A bit more progress this weekend, took advantage of the warm weather here. Spent most of yesterday at Megaspeed World, the local annual indoor car show, manning the booth of the shop where my brother works until some of the other guys made it down. Got a late start today, but by the time I went out to the shop, the temp was nice, especially when I opened up the big bay door, and slid the one open that goes to the attached greenhouse where I had the car put previously.

Used the greenhouse as my paint booth today for the front crossmember, put some Rustoleum epoxy paint on it and let it bake in the sun.



Took the axle assembly out the door using the engine crane, degreased it and gave it a light coat of satin black.



Brought it back in, and started putting the brakes together on it. Realized that I was missing the banjo bolts for the flex hoses, I was hoping to mock up the SN95 brake hoses I have, to measure where I need to cut and reflare the original Fox hard lines to mate up. When I'm back to the dealership tomorrow morning I'll get some banjo bolts ordered up.



A few days ago I had brought home the engine from work. I had one of the techs install the cam, timing chain & gears, and cylinder heads for me. Just makes it a few less things to worry about for me. Looks good with the old FMS 1.72 rockers on it. I'll get the rest of the external bits on, and a coat of paint, it will be ready to go.



My friend Rob Lawson popped by for a short visit to check out my progress today, and make a few suggestions on the upcoming work to be done. He decided that we needed a bit of inspiration for completing the project, so he did a quick mock-up with the pair of mounted tires I have so far:





It's supposed to be warm for the entire week coming, so I wlll try to take advantage of that and make some progress a few evenings this week. Front suspension needs to all come out, hopefully as one big chunk, to make room for the Slot Car K-member, H&R springs, and MM-valved Bilsteins attached to the Global West caster plates.


cheers
Ed

[fast Ed]

Well, a bit more progress this afternoon. I had been putting off tackling the front crossmember and suspension removal, but it had to get done. So this afternoon I felt motivated enough to give it a go. The plan was to undo the steering coupler, disconnect the brake lines, and then undo the eight mounting bolts for the crossmember and three bolts on each side for the strut mounts, and bring the whole unit down as one big chunk.

Here it is with a floor jack under the crossmember for support. I had already managed to zip out the four small rear bolts, and my recently purchased electric impact gun managed to break loose the four main bolts as well, after a bit of Motorcraft penetrating fluid got spray on them. The electric was nice, it allowed me to keep cranking on the stubborn bolts for more than a few seconds, which would have been an issue with the pneumatic gun and the small compressor in the shop here.



Everything undone, down on the floor ... victory is mine!



Dragged out from underneath as one big chunk ... I love it when a plan comes together! And I didn't even manage to injure myself, other than aggravate the sore lower back a bit.



Best part is, I have a buyer lined up for the whole thing who is coming by tomorrow to get it out of my way, and put a bit of cash in my pocket. Works out well since I am going with replacements for the crossmember, control arm, rack & pinion, spindles, and brakes. Clean OEM Fox crossmembers can be hard to come by here in southern Ontario, and a guy from the local Mustang club needs one for the Mustang shell he's purchased.

Tomorrow I will likely just piddle around with getting the external bits bolted on the engine to get it ready, and starting to assemble the new front suspension.


cheers
Ed

[Greezy]

Looking good Ed. I still have a hard time thinking that 89 is old school. It seems not that long ago.