Progress Thread The Hawaii 5-ohfox Official Progress Thread

tamadrummer88

Active Member
Aug 19, 2005
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Aloha State
Its about time i make one of these..Maybe it'll help motivate me to work on it. Anyways, it was a month in the making, so here goes..


Its the Hawaii 5-OHFOX official progress thread!!! :D:D:D:p:p


This thread will take you through the progress of getting my 1993 Mustang LX 5.0 back on the road.

A little background on the car first:

It is a 1993 Mustang LX 5.0, Electric Currant Red Pearl Metallic in color. All power, pony wheels, and an AOD. I got the car in 2007 as a trade through my 98 GT. only two owners and 93k miles at the time. The car was completely bone stock, save for a conical filter and an aftermarket CD deck. Everything worked except the cat back was rusted out. Thats okay, i was gonna change it anyway.

Pics of it stock: (Circa 2007)

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Although it looks clean, it really wasn't. It suffered from all the usual rust areas: Around the antenna, the lower part of the back window, and the edges of the hatch. Other than that, the car was clean.


About a couple years later we started to do body work in preparing it for paint. We were just going to repaint the car the stock electric red.

Some pics from that time:

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So after filling dents, repairing rust, we sanded down the whole car and basically shot a gray primer around it. I also bought a set of 4 lug 2003 chrome cobra replica wheels from a friend.

Then, around 2009 or so, i couldn't drive the car. ( it was my daily driver since 2007) Basically, driving it to work could get me into a lot of trouble (unwanted attention) So i let the car sit and hardly drove it from then on. fast forward about 5 or so years. I let the car sit until the registration and safety inspection expired in 2011. After that, i never drove it, except parking it on the street to make room in the garage.

Well, this year, that all changed.
I wanted to get it back on the road again. I scraped up the money for the back registration, and got it road legal and fully insured. Now, over the years, weather and the elements took its toll on the car. Most of the rust areas on the hatch have come through again, so now that has to be redone. I polished the wheels and reassessed the car.

The interior was still in awesome shape, But there are some worn pieces that could be replaced. All the exterior trim needs to be replaced, as well as the headlights and taillight lenses. The car still ran perfectly. At first it had a hard time starting. We later found it was the fuel pump. 170 bucks later, a new one was in and it started perfectly.

We then removed the front bumper to repair the core support. Apparently, the last owner got the car stuck somewhere, and had the car towed out with a hook. Well, that hook bent the bottom of the support. I thought about getting a new one and just cutting the old one out and welding the new one in place. Now, in hawaii, it is difficult to get stuff shipped here for cheap. My dad decided against that, and repaired it himself using some old jimmy-rigging and old school body shop tricks.

Heres where we stand in its current state:

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As far as paint goes, we decided on a two tone electric red/silver scheme. This scheme is mainly on the GT's, but it would be different to see on an LX. The silver is Lt. Titanium Pearl metallic.

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So there you have it! Basically, its not gonna be a High horsepower, boosted, 9 second drag car. I just want it to look good and drive well. Power mods are gonna be kept to a very minimum- I already have an SVE cold air intake for it, new plug wires, cap and rotor, and new clutch fan. It already has Hooker long tubes, h-pipe, and spin tech mufflers with flow master tailpipes. I may replace the catback later with dumps. :banana:

Wheel wise, i may keep the cobras, but i would like chrome SVE drag wheels with a fox rotor style 5-lug conversion with drums. While in the back ill do 3.73 gears. 130 amp alternator is next.

Suspension wise, i think ill keep it at subframe connectors, good shocks and springs, and maybe all upgraded bushings.

The AOD is still in decent condition, although i may do a trans cooler and that'll be it haha.


This is a very limited budget project, and progress may be slow. I will be ordering more parts come january, and hopefully painted by the end of january. But for now, follow along! It'll be worth it :nice:

Oh, and all criticism and advice is welcome!!!

-John
 
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I may do that. And i don't manual shift it either. I just put it in drive and go. l0l
Good. It should be a very reliable trans for you then. As long as you stay on top of the TV adjustment. Cables stretch over time so periodically check to make sure it has the proper tension. There's also a kit that replaces the plastic grommet on the TB for the cable end with a bronze bushing and cotter pin. That would also be a worthwhile investment.
I had a buddy with an 88 AOD that had blown head gaskets. He'd let it over heat and every time it did it would melt the plastic grommet. AOD with no TV cable input will very quickly burn up the trans since it can't make proper line pressure
 
Best thing you can for that AOD is get a set of 3.73's. It will really wake the car up and make it easier on the trans in town. LMRS sells a good kit with just about everything needed except the axle bearings and seals for about $250.

If they have any junkards around your area, there are some relatively cheap upgrades like a Taurus E fan, 94-95 GT mass air meter, 130 amp alternator, any front seats from a 94-2004 will bolt right in, that will make the car more reliable and fun to drive.

Good luck on the build.
 
Best thing you can for that AOD is get a set of 3.73's. It will really wake the car up and make it easier on the trans in town. LMRS sells a good kit with just about everything needed except the axle bearings and seals for about $250.

If they have any junkards around your area, there are some relatively cheap upgrades like a Taurus E fan, 94-95 GT mass air meter, 130 amp alternator, any front seats from a 94-2004 will bolt right in, that will make the car more reliable and fun to drive.

Good luck on the build.

I plan to do the gears when i do the 5 lug conversion. the axles will be out, so, might as well do it while im down there.

I just bought a new clutch fan because my old one had alot of small cracks and the clutch was no good. Itll stay in there for now. SVE 130 amp alternator with noise supression wire is up next. after that ill just be replacing old sensors and cleaning the engine compartment up.

For now im just focusing on getting the body work done. Front bumper should be painted either tonight or tomorrow so ill have an idea of how the two-tone is gonna look.

Thanks for looking!
 
It's funny how we leave our Foxes sit for years but never get them outta our sight or plans. Looks like you're off to a good start! When you get to the headlights part. I recently purchased the oem style economy kit from late model resto. Easy install, really good quality and great fit. And wow I can see more than the foggy outline of light that were my old ones. I swear they look better than new. Enjoy the build.
 
It's funny how we leave our Foxes sit for years but never get them outta our sight or plans. Looks like you're off to a good start! When you get to the headlights part. I recently purchased the oem style economy kit from late model resto. Easy install, really good quality and great fit. And wow I can see more than the foggy outline of light that were my old ones. I swear they look better than new. Enjoy the build.

Thanks for that! Yeah i had some plans for it back when i was in college. When the economy took that mean downturn in 2009, those plans changed. I wanted a 331 stroker with a procharger P1SC supercharger haha. But now, im just focused on turning it into a nice cruiser. I dont care if it turns 13 second times, i dont care if it has less power than my daily (2011 Taurus) I dont care if it cant handle like its on rails. I just want it to be a good all around cruiser and work with what i got.

Funny thing, the headlights i bought were the economy kit from 50 resto! they do look good! cant wait to put them on the car.

The front bumper should be painted today, ill take some pics when i get home. Itll really give yall an idea on what the color scheme is gonna be like :)
 
Happy New Year everyone! hope it was a good one for yall :)

On a side note, we painted the silver yesterday :) it came out nice. I thought it was gonna be a little darker, but it looks to be the right shade. There are some small imperfections we have to fix before we can paint on another coat, but this one was basically a "test coat" to see where the break is gonna be made on the front bumper between the red and silver. Its not like the GT where its just a solid molding all the way around. We have to figure out some sort of break where the MUSTANG lettering is. Today we should paint on a test coat of the red and then yall will have an idea of the color comb. Ill get some pics up later today after work.

Stay tuned!
 
Happy New Year everyone! hope it was a good one for yall :)

On a side note, we painted the silver yesterday :) it came out nice. I thought it was gonna be a little darker, but it looks to be the right shade. There are some small imperfections we have to fix before we can paint on another coat, but this one was basically a "test coat" to see where the break is gonna be made on the front bumper between the red and silver. Its not like the GT where its just a solid molding all the way around. We have to figure out some sort of break where the MUSTANG lettering is. Today we should paint on a test coat of the red and then yall will have an idea of the color comb. Ill get some pics up later today after work.

Stay tuned!

PICS!!!!!!
 
As requested... Pics :)

Its not much progress, but its something.


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Should have the red on by tomorrow or friday :)

Also, my dad came across this today:

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An E-cam i bought several years ago brand new. I wasn't aware i still had it, i sold some of my fox parts a few years back and the E-cam was supposed to be one of them. Anyhow, its been out in the weather, and it has rust on it. Is there anyway it can be cleaned to be useable? my dad said it could be cleaned but it could damage the cam bearings. I mean, id hate to throw it away, since that thing was almost 200 bucks.. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Thanks!
 
damn those look pretty bad. Take some WD40 and a scotch brite pad or 00 steel wool and see if that cleans it up. Don't get crazy on it.

I cleaned it up a bit. used some brake cleaner and steel wool. most of it was the rust preventive gunk and dirt. There is some slightly deep rust on one end of the cam but some of the lobes are surface rust. after i cleaned it its not as bad as it looks, but that one end though..
 
pics after cleaning with penetrating oil and steel wool:


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Since i got rid of the old rust preventive gunk, i took some 5w30 royal purple oil i had lying around, and put a nice coating on it, then wrapped it in newspaper and stored it in my storeroom out of the elements. i really hope it can be saved, i have part 1 to an HCI swap!
 
pics after cleaning with penetrating oil and steel wool:


DSCN0076.jpg

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Since i got rid of the old rust preventive gunk, i took some 5w30 royal purple oil i had lying around, and put a nice coating on it, then wrapped it in newspaper and stored it in my storeroom out of the elements. i really hope it can be saved, i have part 1 to an HCI swap!

You're not going to like what I am going to say. I wouldn't use that in my car. Those lobes look wasted.
 
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