First Fox/First Project - 1988 GT "Zorro Blanco"

[DudeStang]

So it turned out that everything wasn't a failure from my last weekend of work on the Fox Body. A couple of days ago I started the car again, just for the hell of it, and let it run for five minutes or so, then gave it a little bit of gas. The temp gauge slowly started to move up so it appears that the sending unit might have fixed the problem. I guess I just needed to let it run longer.


In the meanwhile, I had no luck in trying to remove the nut from the fender side of the brake MC so I've now removed the driver seat and am trying to take the brake booster out. Lovely experience so far, lol.

 

[broncojunkie]

That brake booster is a pain. Even worse than the outer bolt on the mc! I'd try to get it off before resorting to yanking the booster, but then again, you may be pulling the booster for another reason.

I found a short, cheap wrench that worked, iirc. 1/2" I think it was? Even then, i was only able to get tiny increments of a turn on it. Took some time but it eventually came off. That little wrench has saved my butt many times. No idea where I got it, but I wouldn't take a million bucks for it lol!

 

[DudeStang]

I gave up on the outer nut/bolt and ended up getting the brake booster out. You are right, it was a huge pain. Getting the top two nuts required some seriously creative thinking, lol.

I managed to finally get the POR-15 kit applied to the firewall areas where the hood hinge cups go. I also applied it to the shock tower behind the factory proportioning valve.


The brake booster has seen better days. I went ahead and ordered a reman BB from Auto Zone, which should be here sometime next week. Fingers crossed.


I documented my latest efforts of course. New video is up today.

 

[broncojunkie]

Great video! I did make it through the whole thing. I'm looking forward to the next video when you "bench breed" the master cylinder lol! Anyway, you are really coming along with it! What are your long-term plans? Just keeping it stock-ish? Or are you going full-on race car? Or somewhere in between?

 

[DudeStang]

Great video! I did make it through the whole thing. I'm looking forward to the next video when you "bench breed" the master cylinder lol! Anyway, you are really coming along with it! What are your long-term plans? Just keeping it stock-ish? Or are you going full-on race car? Or somewhere in between?

Thanks for watching the whole thing, haha. I am trying to find ways to keep the videos interesting/entertaining but sometimes it is a challenge depending on what I'm working on.

You're the second person to make a comment about the bench bleeding of the MC...which makes me think I'm in for some struggles.

I'm definitely not going full on race car...but I've basically been leaning towards keeping it very stock-ish 1988 looking in terms of appearance/interior, making sure the engine is running as efficiently as possible, and upgrading the suspension (and eventually the brakes). I would like it to be something I can take for the occasional track day but also just something I can cruise around in during evenings and weekends.

I am fine with mostly keeping the engine as is but I am very tempted to do 3.73s to make it more fun for short, spirited driving.

 

[broncojunkie]

My 88, which I maf swapped, was impressive. It had some 1969 heads which had port work and larger valves...shaved a little. I got them from my cousin. He ran them on a fox years ago. Mediocre, at best, when compared to even a cheap set of aluminum heads. I had a B303 cam I pulled from another project car and used 1.7 roller rockers. Explorer intake, aftermarket throttle body and spacer, 3.73 gears, 24# injectors with matching maf sensor. I gave the car to a buddy but it made great power for what it was. All basic upgrades, but the thing would run. If you did a similar setup on yours, you'd probably be happy with it. Still good for cruising, but it would move when you got into it! And it still got decent mileage, somehow lol!

 

[DudeStang]

My 88, which I maf swapped, was impressive. It had some 1969 heads which had port work and larger valves...shaved a little. I got them from my cousin. He ran them on a fox years ago. Mediocre, at best, when compared to even a cheap set of aluminum heads. I had a B303 cam I pulled from another project car and used 1.7 roller rockers. Explorer intake, aftermarket throttle body and spacer, 3.73 gears, 24# injectors with matching maf sensor. I gave the car to a buddy but it made great power for what it was. All basic upgrades, but the thing would run. If you did a similar setup on yours, you'd probably be happy with it. Still good for cruising, but it would move when you got into it! And it still got decent mileage, somehow lol!

I love the idea of doing some new heads and upgrading the intake (and really want to do some gears, probably 3.73s) but I'm trying to keep my focus on fixing things that need to be fixed sooner than later, and upgrading the suspension so I can eventually get it onto a track for some seat time.

 

[DudeStang]

Part 2 of my brake master cylinder saga is up on my YouTube channel:

After making the video, I managed to replace the front left brake line with the part that came in the MM kit I got a while back:


I got it pretty secure on the brake/wheel side and it seems there's enough flexibility that I should be able to get it lined up with the new MC when I install it. I went ahead and ordered the proportioning valve eliminator kit from LMR. Probably won't be here until the weekend but I'm hoping I can make everything fit/work between that and the new front left brake line. Fingers crossed.

The molding adhesive eraser tool arrived this weekend. I definitely should have picked this thing up sooner.


I used it to remove some more of the adhesive from the body molding stripe area. I had largely ignored the rear bumper, which I assume will eventually need to be replaced but since I don't know if that will happen any time soon, I do at least want to clean it up and do the new red stripe soon, all around the car.

Before:


After (like 2-3 minutes):


My gaskets also arrived (intake manifold, EGR spacer to intake) and I already have the valve cover gaskets but I think I'd like to get the brakes done and drive the car for at least a few days before tackling the gaskets and then working on the rest of the oil leaks.

 

[DudeStang]

I made a video documenting the recent mistakes/foolish assumptions I made, while I patiently wait for the correct brake lines to arrive.

I am also still waiting for my Koni shocks to arrive. In the meanwhile, I am searching for (and saving for) a second set of wheels and tires in the hopes that I can get to at least one track day or autocross event before winter time.

 

[DudeStang]

Haven’t really done anything on the Fox since my last brake bleed failure, but I did install a shock tower brace on my 2014 GT, so that’s something, lol. I also put together a video of my latest saga of failure:

I went ahead and ordered the Motive power bleeder, which arrived this week. Going to visit family for a few days so I’m planning to get back to the fox and get this brake issue fixed early next week.


These arrived this week too and fingers crossed that the Koni parts arrive soon. It would be nice to get the brakes sorted, install all new shocks and struts and drive the car some.

 

[DudeStang]

Recently took time to install the Koni orange struts. It took forever but I got the fronts done. I still need to install the sway bar end links correctly and then install the rear shocks and quad shocks.

The weirdest/most time consuming part of the process was most definitely re-purposing the dust boot upper retainers.

 

[DudeStang]

Suspension upgrades continue....this past weekend I finished up the sway bar end links on the front and installed Koni rear shocks and Gabriel (OEM-ish) quad shocks. Love the improved feel. Car would definitely benefit from some new wheels and tires though. Hopefully coming in the not too distant future.

 

[DudeStang]

Latest update on the Fox Body....I recently installed a Cervini's Ram-Air kit to go with the Cervini's Ram-Air hood (that was on the car when I bought it). It was a bit of a messy process and in retrospect, there are things I could have done smarter/differently, but it seems to be functioning as intended.



I made a somewhat detailed video of the installation process, since I hadn't found a tutorial/instructional video on this.

 

[DudeStang]

Some recent updates - I discovered a small fuel leak the last time I filled up the tank on the Fox Body. I recently dropped the tank and checked the fuel pump, replaced a few parts (filler neck grommet, vapor valve seal, filler pipe to trunk floor seal, filler neck to housing gasket, new tank pads).

Here's how the tank looked when I dropped it:

And after a little bit of cleaning and removal of the old pads:

I didn't get a pic of it with the new pads and a bit more cleaning. While I had the fuel tank out, I went ahead and flushed the differential fluid. I read from multiple accounts how bad the diff fluid smells but I was still pretty surprised. That stuff is nasty.

I documented these processes in my latest video:

And a little preview of some upcoming mods/installs:

 

[DudeStang]

Latest video is up, documenting the installation of the OEM-style upper control arms and getting the fuel tank re-installed.

My latest install, over this past weekend, was the lower control arms...which took a lot longer than I originally anticipated. Video on that coming soon.

 

[DudeStang]

I just finished editing and uploading my video on the lower control arm installation process, which took me the better part of last weekend. My facial expression in the thumbnail photo reflects my naive optimism prior to the installation process.

I've now replaced front lower control arms on my 2014 Mustang, rear LCA relocation brackets on the 2014, rear lower control arms on the Fox, and upper control arms on the Fox. The rear LCAs on the Fox were definitely the worst installation to date. If I ever have to replace the front control arms, I seriously might consider paying someone else to do it, lol.

 

[DudeStang]

Picked up a set of cheap wheels for the Fox over the weekend. 16x8 Pony wheels. Not my first choice but I do prefer a factory-ish look and the deal was too good to pass up. $80 for all four wheels. At first I thought they needed a bit more work but upon closer investigation, they are in pretty good shape. One wheel has a little bit of curb rash but other than that and the center caps, they are fine.



The guy I bought them from was pretty cool and also an owner of his first Fox that he had purchased this year. His black 93 (I think) GT was in excellent shape.


We talked for a bit before he had to take off. He told me the Fox was his daily driver and he had even taken it camping recently. As someone who took my own 2014 GT camping recently, I appreciated that Mustang utilization.


I picked up some tape, primer, and paint to see if I can get the center caps sorted. Worst case, I'll just order a new set of caps for all four wheels.

 

[DudeStang]

A couple of weekends ago, a buddy of mine came to visit and we replaced the power steering pump on the Fox. Plenty of idiocy ensued during the process but I’m happy to be done with that.

I wish I would have learned about hose removal tools before working on this, lol.

While working on the power steering, we found a small leak on the lower radiator hose. Seems like it might be good to replace a few more of the hoses while I’m at it.

 

[DudeStang]

My early Christmas present to myself arrived yesterday. Ordered the SVE short throw shifter. I picked this one over the Steeda because it had better reviews and was slightly cheaper. Plus, I already have the Steeda shifter handle so I figure I can at least try both that one and the handle that came with the SVE, rather than having two Steeda shifter handles. Will probably try to get this installed over the weekend.


Will likely try to do the radiator hoses soon too, since those arrived a couple of days ago:


Uploaded a new video this morning, brainstorming what to do next and in what order, and asking for inputs from the Fox Mustang folks with more experience/expertise than me.

 

[DudeStang]

Started working on getting the SVE short throw shifter installed. Naturally I found a way to make the process for removing the center console as time-consuming as possible. Just waiting for the lower shift boot to arrive so I can get this finished up and test out the different shifter handles.