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Greetings from Tampa FL

lyonmt

lyonmt

Active Member
I just bought a project car, it's a 1988 Mustang GT convertible. It has 93k miles and a lot of neglect. I have it stored for a few months, this way I can save up some money from a little side business that takes up most of my garage. So in July I should be starting on it. I am very excited to have another fox! This is my first GT, but my third fox and my fifth Mustang. I had a '68 around 1990, an '88 LX in '92-93, a 2006 new and a second '88 LX in 2008. I plan on keeping this one for a long time though. As I get older, I find it is much harder to buy and sell cars like I did when I was younger. Not to mention, this one ticks all of the boxes for me, V8, 5 spd, convertible. I would have preferred an LX 'vert, but the GT is pretty sweet too. Since the chin spoiler is meesed up, I may even convert it to an LX, but probably not. It's growing on me...

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lyonmt

lyonmt

Active Member
The budget is dynamic. It's whatever I can pull from my little side business that doesn't go towards family things. It is a long term project, so I am not worried about it. Also, since I live in Florida, Fox parts are always on the Craigslist. My first priority is getting it running. The previous owner said that it was sitting for a while, so I'll want to dump the tank and then work on getting it running. After that, the top is probably the next priority. I still have to go through the car and see what it really needs and then make a punch list. What I do know is that it needs is a new top, paint and a new interior. It has a blue and white interior that I really don't like.
 
lyonmt

lyonmt

Active Member
FoxBodyMustangs said:
tell your friends about this site. Is there anything you have in mind that you would like to see?
Click to expand...

You have a pretty good layout. I am surprised that there isn't more activity. A car of the month on the homepage instead of random photos may be nice for those of us who are building up and need ideas. It also gives the home page a little more pop. Additionally, your Google ranking looks pretty high, so I don't know. If I think of anything, I will be sure to share. In the meanwhile, I will try to keep the posts coming so that hopefully others will become interested.
 
broncojunkie

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
I'm already on a few car/truck forums. What I read most are the tech write-ups. I love to see step-by-step threads on how-to do certain repairs. I see a lot of this stuff on other sites, but mostly for mods. I'm normally looking for regular repairs. I like to see what I'm getting into before I tear it up. :D
 
John2002

John2002

Guest
AHHHH..... you want a Crystal Ball...LOL You are gonna learn plenty with this car...plent meaning ...not one idea is wrong....I've gone to YOU TUBE more to find out a few things I thought I didn't need help with...Like the PVC valve.....WTF was that guy thinking when he put that there...I had a buddy with a problem on his 2001 Toyota Echo front bearings. I've done brarings before but it takes a 4 ton press to change these. I went to YT and I found a guy who downloaded 6 parts of "How to's" on it. IF we can't find you an answer....YT can!!!!
 
broncojunkie

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
John2002 said:
AHHHH..... you want a Crystal Ball...LOL You are gonna learn plenty with this car...plent meaning ...not one idea is wrong....I've gone to YOU TUBE more to find out a few things I thought I didn't need help with...Like the PVC valve.....WTF was that guy thinking when he put that there...I had a buddy with a problem on his 2001 Toyota Echo front bearings. I've done brarings before but it takes a 4 ton press to change these. I went to YT and I found a guy who downloaded 6 parts of "How to's" on it. IF we can't find you an answer....YT can!!!!
Click to expand...
Yeah, I can't find the crystal ball thread, hehe!

I finished up the rear brakes today. I've been doing brake shoes since I was sixteen years old. I'm forty, now. Every time I do them, I swear I'll never touch them again. I hate it with a passion. Now, I must admit, I don't do a ton of them. I figure I'll do a set every other year or so. I've watched yt videos to see if maybe I'm missing something. I figure it can't be as difficult as I seem to make it. But the guys on youtube seem to have the same problems.

I figured out something to make them a little easier today, though. I have trouble getting the lower spring in place with all the junk it connects to. It seems like I need about 4 more hands to make it happen. I've always inserted the one end of the spring into the brake shoe, and then twist it around to lock it into place. Then, I use needle nose vise grips to stretch the spring out and connect everything together on the opposite side. I figured out today, that it's possible to do it the opposite way. Connect everything to the "hook" end of the spring and then stretch the spring out. Take a flat head screwdriver and push the other end through the hole where it's supposed to be anchored. I didn't see that on any youtube videos, but it was so much easier. I thought about taking it back off and video it to post, but I need to hire a cameraman for that.
 
lyonmt

lyonmt

Active Member
broncojunkie said:
Yeah, I can't find the crystal ball thread, hehe!

I finished up the rear brakes today. I've been doing brake shoes since I was sixteen years old. I'm forty, now. Every time I do them, I swear I'll never touch them again. I hate it with a passion. Now, I must admit, I don't do a ton of them. I figure I'll do a set every other year or so. I've watched yt videos to see if maybe I'm missing something. I figure it can't be as difficult as I seem to make it. But the guys on youtube seem to have the same problems.

I figured out something to make them a little easier today, though. I have trouble getting the lower spring in place with all the junk it connects to. It seems like I need about 4 more hands to make it happen. I've always inserted the one end of the spring into the brake shoe, and then twist it around to lock it into place. Then, I use needle nose vise grips to stretch the spring out and connect everything together on the opposite side. I figured out today, that it's possible to do it the opposite way. Connect everything to the "hook" end of the spring and then stretch the spring out. Take a flat head screwdriver and push the other end through the hole where it's supposed to be anchored. I didn't see that on any youtube videos, but it was so much easier. I thought about taking it back off and video it to post, but I need to hire a cameraman for that.
Click to expand...
I purchased a set of drum brake tools when I was 19 and although I rarely use them, they make doing drum brakes as easy as doing disc brakes. Well worth the investment. I have a blue point set, but I imagine that this set of Harbor Freight tools will work nearly as good for a fraction of the price.
 

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broncojunkie

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
lyonmt said:
I purchased a set of drum brake tools when I was 19 and although I rarely use them, they make doing drum brakes as easy as doing disc brakes. Well worth the investment. I have a blue point set, but I imagine that this set of Harbor Freight tools will work nearly as good for a fraction of the price.
Click to expand...
I recently bought that set and there was only a couple tools that seemed to make it easier. And those weren't the parts I always had trouble with. You could come over and sshow me how to use them, but I'm never doing drum brakes again! Lol!
 
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