H0SS302

Hello... Im sure nobody knows me around these parts. Been out of the Mustang world for a while. I used to have a 2v:



But....I got married at 23, we needed furniture and stuff...priorities. I had a 2002 F150 FX4 also, so it was all good.

Well....fast forward a few years. My wife and I both have careers teaching (I teach High school math), and a house and all that jazz. So, I got a project.

Picked up this 88 LX hatch to restore. The skinny on this car was it was a race car. The guy took it to the track and layed down some good times. Popped the motor and put in a longblock and sold it. I picked it up for 2300 bucks.

The car is straight, core support is good. almost zero rust ( a little surface rust in the spare tire area). Mods are round subframe connectors, maximum motorsports upper/lower adjustable control arms, electric fan, full MSD ignition, battery relocation, long tubes and a carb swapped in with an edelbrock torker II.

My plans are to turn this in to a nice cruiser that I can take to autocross and to the track. As far as mods, im going to keep it simple, but make sure the car is fun to drive. The car needs a full interior restoration. because of this, im going to convert it all to black(of course), with a few "custom" touches. My goal with this is to do as much as I can without having to take anything to someone else, up to and including paint. It should be fun.

Engine:

GT40 heads
Weiand Stelth intake
Holley 600 Vac sec
Custom grind cam based off the FMS B302 (no not B303...)

Suspension:

Going to leave the Maximum Motorsports upper/lower
Bilstein Shocks/strusts
Eibach pro-kit
Eichbach sway bars

Brakes:

Want to convert the 8.8 drum brakes to disk
upgrade the fronts to 99-04 disks

Paint:

There are a few dents that need to be worked out, and the car needs some TLC on the exterior. I plan to paint it myself (never done it before), and it will be a color change. Going to paint it performance red.

Stereo:

Head unit
6 speakers
Sub

This project is budgeted around 10k, with the car included... will be TIGHT. Maybe I can get it done. Strap in, enjoy (or dont), and if im ****ing up, let me know. I want to do this restoration RIGHT.

Click for vid, shows condition of car

First pics:

Porno Red interior...


Nasty seats....






Engine:


Last but not least.... Me driving it home from purchase

H0SS302

So here is what I did today:

First off, the car apparently sat for about a year before I bought it. I had some things to sort out. The car idled like a turd. Reeked of gas, and sounded like it was cammed(as you might be able to tell from the vid). It didnt have any vacuum leaks, the carb was just set up for when it was in race trim. I hooked up my vacuum gauge and set the carb up so it was pulling about 18" of mercury. unfortunately the cluster tach isnt working, so I had to ear the idle RPM. To me it sounds like its about 600 or so. The drivability it great now.

Next on the list was the brakes. When I first brought it home, the guy told me the brakes probably need to be bled. I took his word at face value and drove home....stupid. White knuckle ride is an understatement. First off, the car has skinnies on it and no front sway bar...second, there was NO fluid in the master cylinder. My bad for not even checking...i was excited and didnt think about looking. So I assumed there was a leak...

Got the car up on stands, pulled the rears off and checked the wheel cylinders. They looked good. The fronts arnt leaking either.

So I bled the brakes, but the pedal still feels light. So im assuming its either a pinhole somewhere, or the master cylinder/brake booster is bad. The grommet looks good on the brake booster...so IDK WTF.

Last order of business was to strip the interior. I pulled all the panels off and yanked up the carpet. GROSSSSSSSSS

This car is as old as I am, and boy its dusty. Found some interesting crap underneath it also. Luckily, no rust!!! The only place i found some rust was in the spare tire are, which is common. Ill fix that up easily.

Well heres some pics:







Yes, I know the battery box is on the wrong side... the guys nitrous bottle was on the other side. LOL. Im going to move it, I think...but everything is run for it on the left so IDK.

I am thinking about yanking the jute backing off and throwing that away also. Its absolutely disgusting. Immediate plans are to fix the rust, and put sound deadener basically everywhere. I want to make the interior as quiet as possible ( want to make it seem like a new car). Also going to re-route some of the extra wired in stuff so its cleaner under the carpet and yank some of the stuff I dont need.

Any suggestions on cheap sound deadener? Iv heard of the peel and seal, but that stuff is asphalt based, seems like it would stink. Or am I wrong?

88 orangepeel notch

Congrats on the purchase, good deal. You've got some work in front of you but hats off to ya for doing it yourself. No better way of getting to know your car. Good luck and keep the updates coming.

Sorry, never used that sound deadener, its extra weight lol.

H0SS302

Thanks. Iv had some foxbodies in the past(this is my 3rd one), but I always bought them with the intent to sell. I want to keep this one, so I want to make sure to do everything overkill if you will. So im going to sound deaden the hell out of the floor so its more comfortable to drive in without all the drone.

I fell into an opportunity to sell the hood scoop that was on the car... so I got to buy all this:



Got 2 new wheel cylinders, shoes, springs for the rear. Some paint to cover the spare tire area after I fix the surface rust, some carb cleaner, some caliper paint to pretty up the rear drums, and a cheapo tach so I can plug it into my MSD to set the idle right(the stock tach es no bueno. also got a fuel filter to plug the return line that is just venting to air on the gas tank. Hopefully that will help some of the fuel smell I have.

Its going to be a busy weekend for me.

H0SS302

Havnt had a chance to work on the car this week. Just started a new semester so work is busy getting stuff planned.

I did however spend some money today. Got a complete set of GT sideskirts. Snagged em off ebay for 250 shipped. Not bad at all considering all that crap would be about 600 new.

So that saves me quite a bit off my budget. Just need a front bumper, rear bumper and cobra wing. Should be able to snag all that for under 500 if I look closely...then I can paint.

Im hoping by spring break I will be painting. That might be a tall order though.

H0SS302

Today was a great day with the fox. Got my brakes all put on and ready to go. The brakes work great and for the first time I feel safe driving the car LOL. Next order of business as far as road worthiness is getting the carb to run well. Found out its a 4160 carb, but unfortunately its not one that is easy to work with. The fuel bowl is filling to high, but to adjust it I have to take it apart because it doesnt have the adjuster externally. So im just going to get a rebuild kit for it and handle it all at once.

Also, got the rest of the nasty crap out of the car. Took the asbestos looking juke padding off the quarter panel area...never seen so much dust in one spot. gross. Also got the little area of rust cleared up with my grinder and covered with some rust-oleum paint.

I am going to take some wet rags and clean the inside of the car really well. I need to go get a shop vac also to help out. Once I get it nice and clean in there I can order some sound deadening for some key places and im ready for carpet.

BEFORE:




AFTER:



Padding removed, so much dust:





I do realize these updates are kind of boring because there is nothing really happening other than maintenance/ripping stuff out... but it is work that must be done.

88 orangepeel notch

Not boring to those of us who live in a climate where its -18' right now, and all I can do is look at my car sitting in the garage under its cover till spring. Keep up the good work.

H0SS302

Got a package in today! Got my GT ground effects in.



At this point, im WAY under budget. Im picking up a gt rear bumper here in a few days for 60 bucks. Just need the gt front and the bracket kit for the ground effects and the exterior is done(with the exception of all the hard work for paint lol).

I am going to rebuild the carb here pretty soon...hopefully that will cure all the issues with the drivability of the car. Every time I think I get the car running well it acts up. Im sure im going to find some interesting things when I open this thing up.

H0SS302

Picked up a GT rear bumper today. Swapped out the hardware from my LX bumper to the new bumper and slapped it on, as well as the rear ground effects pieces.






Im not digging the 4 color rice look...but it will be painted soon (hopefully). Filed my taxes today, apparently the government owes me 5500...so me and my wife will split that. So ill have about 2750 to put into the car.

So I will be able to finish the interior, exterior parts and paint it im thinking.

GT front bumper (200)
Ground effects brackets (120)
Cobra wing (229)
Carpet (180)
Sound deadener (80)
Paint for interior (100ish)
Door panels (100)

Thats a grand right there......

Then im thinking:

refurb Holley 4160 carb (230)
Seats (try to find some nice black 99-04 seats....300ish?)
........Then I dunno where to go from there.

dawson1112

Better figure a grand for wheels/tires unless your gonna keep those stock LX rims.

Thumbs up to your wife for allowing you to have half lol.