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My 88 GT Hatch Project

broncojunkie

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
Blown347 said:
Wheel horsepower that's a bit of a stretch. 300fwhp is possible with a stock cam but gt40ps won't cut it for that. Personally I wouldn't get too caught up in the numbers. If its fun and fast then a dyno is irrelevant.


My street car LX is pretty much what you're trying to build. Stock cam, 3bar GT40s, performer manifold, full exhaust, gears, etc etc. it's a blast on the street. Not the fastest thing in the world but it idles and drives like a dream, and has proven to be quite the little bracket car too.
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Agreed. No real goal for it other than being fun to drive! It does already have a 3.55 gear, which helps. It's already fun to drive, but a little extra never hurt, lol!
 
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broncojunkie

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
Haven't updated this in a while because I haven't really done much work to it at all. Been pretty busy with other stuff. I've collected a few parts here and there, but I still don't think I'll get around to installing anything until later. I go back to work in a few days and I'm getting married when I come back in mid Oct. Plus, it's deer season!

Anyway, here's what little bit I've been doing:
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I tore down the original T5 that came out of it and the rebuild parts should be here tomorrow. All of the gears and bearings looked pretty good, but the synchros showed some wear. I went ahead and ordered a new input bearing retainer and some other small parts.

I picked up another used t5 the other day from a '99 V6. It was supposed to be a good one, but I opened it up and 4th gear and reverse were trashed. Coudn't see anything else wrong with it, but I figure there's a good chance some more damage is hidden. The guy pulled a fast on on me, that's for sure. But I was researching it and it appears that this model t5 is a good candidate for a swap/upgrade. These v6 Tremecs were rated a little stronger than the older V8 models, but they need some mods to work in a fox body. They need a new input shaft and retainer...shorter length, just like swapping from the sn95 models, which had a longer shaft and bellhousing to set the shifter back where it needs to be. You can swap bellhousings instead, but the input shaft is pretty easy to swap. It also needs a tailshaft housing from an older t5, since the speedo is electronic on the 99-04. This is also an easy swap, but may be a little more difficult to find. I found the tail housing and input shaft from a guy, ordered a new steel bearing retainer, along with a speedo gear set. Oh, and the swap also requires a small hole to be drilled in the output/main shaft to accept the retainer clip for the speedo drive gear. The whole swap seems pretty simple. I'm going to keep my eye open for another one of these transmissions, since I already have the parts to do it. I started another thread on this, but it's on hold pending another transmission in better shape.
 
broncojunkie

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
Well, the car is supposed to be going to the paint shop next weekend, depending on how busy they are. Could be the following week. The guy says it should be done in about 2 weeks. After that, I'll have to replace a bunch of trim and weatherstripping. When it's all said and done, I figure I'll be out $3-4,000. Can't help but think I could have built a nice motor for that!
 
broncojunkie

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
In the shop as of today. I also ordered a bunch of parts, including the belt trim moulding for both doors, new windshield trim, cowl grill and lower windshield moulding kit, door and hatch weatherstripping, side skirt retaining strips and a couple other things I can't remember at the moment. I will be home before it's finished, so I hope to fix the faded moulding on the used quarter glass I picked up a while back. That way, I can replace it as soon as it's out of the paint shop. The moulding on the car was not salvageable. I'll also need to buy all new window rubber and some other parts for around the door glass. Still quite a bit of work to do, so some of it will have to wait till Spring. All of these reproduction trim parts are crazy expensive!
 
mustanggarage

mustanggarage

Active Member
looks like it's coming along nicely. paint and body that is one area I have never been terribly good at. I have tried a few times in limited areas and been ok but prefer to leave it to the experts. the car looks like it is coming along nicely. and I like the regatta blue paint.
 
broncojunkie

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
mustanggarage said:
looks like it's coming along nicely. paint and body that is one area I have never been terribly good at. I have tried a few times in limited areas and been ok but prefer to leave it to the experts. the car looks like it is coming along nicely. and I like the regatta blue paint.
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Thanks and yes, I agree. I'm not doing the body or paint work on this one...well, I did a little body work to it but not much. I did most of the body work on my 92 f150 and it just isn't much fun. I also don't have a garage, so I figured this would be a good project to sub out for winter.

They found a little rust in the drivers door, so it's getting a good used one. I also had to pick up another new hood. I replaced the hood on it a few months ago because the one that came on it was too beat up. Being parked outside here at the house, though, the new one I put on it got pelted by acorns. I'm hoping my '82 gt is ok, but haven't really had a chance to go look at it. I hope by the time that one gets in the paint shop, we'll have a garage for both of them.
 
mustanggarage

mustanggarage

Active Member
That is first thing I did after we moved into this house is to build my garage. I had just finished framing a garage out in utah where I used to live when we had to move because of work. So I built my "bionic doghouse" lol. it makes it a joy to tinker on stuff.

this is a build thread on the doghouse if you are bored and feel like looking. I spend most of my time out there. just go in the house to eat and sleep essentially.
http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.php?topic=4745.0
 
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broncojunkie

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
mustanggarage said:
That is first thing I did after we moved into this house is to build my garage. I had just finished framing a garage out in utah where I used to live when we had to move because of work. So I built my "bionic doghouse" lol. it makes it a joy to tinker on stuff.

this is a build thread on the doghouse if you are bored and feel like looking. I spend most of my time out there. just go in the house to eat and sleep essentially.
http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.php?topic=4745.0
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I just read the entire thing. That is EXACTLY what I need! (minus the bill, lol!) Seriously, though...that would be a dream. We are house shopping now, but there is little property around here that has room for the type of spread. What little bit of flat land there is mostly has houses right on top of each other. If you are lucky enough to find some decent land (an acre or 2), it costs a small fortune and still might be steep wooded area. We live on half an acre, but it's pretty much straight up and down. I don't even own a lawn mower....can't really mow anything, so we use a weed eater! I was always envious of the folks who live just across the river in Ohio. Nice, flat lots with plenty of room and big driveways!
 
mustanggarage

mustanggarage

Active Member
yeah from the looks of your pics i can see your point. when we moved I picked the job and told my wife to go find us a house. I only had 2 requirements within 20 minutes of work and enough space for the dogs and the shop.
 
broncojunkie

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
Went and visited her in the body shop today. Got to snap a few pics and check out the progress. I had to drop off some trim parts and stuff and the guy wanted to show me all the rust he found. I wasn't aware, but the passenger side has the dreaded lower shock tower rust. It looks like I had my mind made up for me. Motor will be coming out this year. I was planning on doing a top-end rebuild, cam, etc with the motor in the car...but I need to swap in my freshly rebuilt T5 anyway, so I'll just yank out the motor and transmission, have the strut tower fixed and engine bay painted while I'm doing the motor work.

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broncojunkie

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
mustanggarage said:
any new progress? new pics?
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Sorry, no new pics yet. The body guy has put it on hold for the last couple weeks. It's been so cold I don't think they can spray anything. The shop is heated, but won't keep it warm enough with the vent fans running. It's been in the single digits. Supposed to warm up these next few days, so I'm hoping they get it all under primer this weekend. I'll update as soon as I can, though. I'm working... back out on the river for 28 days. Still have a little over 2 weeks to go, but I should be updating more once I get home.
 
broncojunkie

broncojunkie

Well-Known Member
The body guy finally got back to work on my car. It got put on the back burner for a while. I stopped by to see it today and I had started getting a little upset about it not being finished already. But when I got a look at it, I was pretty impressed with the amount of work he's putting into it. Yes, it should have been finished already, but at least he's doing good work on it. That's the main thing. I'd much rather him be slow and do a good job than rush it through just to get paid.

Here's a few pics:

688gt.jpg


488gt.jpg


388gt.jpg


588gt.jpg


288gt.jpg


188gt.jpg


788gt.jpg


He said he ended up fixing some rust around the door hinges on both sides, and that the hail damage on top was much worse than he thought. It really didn't become apparent till he started block sanding it. He should have all of the jambs on the car and doors (including the hatch) painted by tomorrow. He still has to prep the passenger door and one fender, then I think she'll be ready for paint. The color looks amazing compared to the old blue color it had been painted with.
 
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