My Progress Thread

[DigitalGhost]

So, I wrecked my LX on Jan 25, and it's been in my garage since feb 2, just sitting there. Two nights ago I decided it was time to start tearing into it.

The plan is to tear this one down, pull the engine and interior, rebuild the engine, and put it into a 2.3 (which I don't have yet, but will get within the next month) and then tear the 2.3 down and rebuild it from the ground up with the 5.0 in there. Anyway, here's what I've gotten done in the last two nights.

When it was pushed into my garage, this is how it looked.

And here she is tonight.

After the radiator, airbox, batt, and fan came out

After the seats came out

More to come very soon. Two days in a row of teardown, hopefully the streak will continue.

 

[87foxstang]

Nice, Looks like its coming along. To bad it happened in the first place. Good luck and keep us posted

 

[black87ttop]

The damage doesnt look to bad, why not just fix it, and then clean the interior up a bit, new carpet, maybe some fresh black paint?

 

[91foxbod50]

I was thinkin the same thing,

But if i were in your shoes, i'd still strip everything. and undercoat the hole car with R/L then redo the engine bay etc etc

 

[DigitalGhost]

The damage doesnt look to bad, why not just fix it, and then clean the interior up a bit, new carpet, maybe some fresh black paint?

The frame was bent in the collision because of where I hit. Front passenger headlight is where initial impact was.

Radiator, both front fenders, front bumper cover, hood, and too much other stuff to name was just F'd up. I figure it'll be cheaper to spend $1000 bucks on some fix-er-up-er 2.3 and frankenstine the two together.

 

[Turkey Sammich]

Hopefully you find something, mang. I've seen a coupe for sale for $750, and I believe I saw another add on craigslist for a $1000 lx in teh PDX area. I'll keep my eyes & ears open if you'd like?

 

[DigitalGhost]

I'd like to get an opinion on this one. This is about 2 hours away from me, 4cyl, looks pretty straight and body panels look well enough aligned. The price is too good to pass up if its as good as it looks.
What's everyones opinion?

 

[NKau]

For the price of another car, and the effort of swapping everything over, I'd at least get a quote on what it would cost to get your car straightened out on a frame machine. I'm not expert, but that thing really doesn't look that bad Even here in WI, crash parts for these cars are plentiful and cheap. Used fenders, hoods and doors seem to be everywhere at automotive swap meets around here.

That notch does look nice, and if it's clean, and you really want a notch anyway, may not be a bad way to go.

 

[ryan218]

i like it....get it and have at it.

 

[DigitalGhost]

To those of you who have told me to try and straighten out my old hatch.

The frame is pretty badly bent on the passenger side of the nose. That and a bunch of stuff like radiator, airbox, etc etc is all smashed up.
I've wanted to tear that thing apart and rebuild it from the ground up anyways, but now is kind of like my golden opportunity to do so being as my old hatch is totaled, why not just put the heart into a 2.3 and have a straight body with the chance for a fresh start?
That's the plan anyway.

 

[Turkey Sammich]

The way I see it, is if you can't fix the hatch, and the frame is ****ed up, than get a notch.

That notch doesn't look bad at all from what I can see.

 

[black87ttop]

To those of you who have told me to try and straighten out my old hatch.

The frame is pretty badly bent on the passenger side of the nose. That and a bunch of stuff like radiator, airbox, etc etc is all smashed up.
I've wanted to tear that thing apart and rebuild it from the ground up anyways, but now is kind of like my golden opportunity to do so being as my old hatch is totaled, why not just put the heart into a 2.3 and have a straight body with the chance for a fresh start?
That's the plan anyway.

because if you buy a 2.3 your still replacing the airbox, radiatior and ect. anyway. You cant use a 2.3 radiator in a 5.0. well i mean you can but thats just a hackjob. The airbox is different as well. Here are pics of my buddies t top car we got into a wreck about 2 months ago. Were gonna straiten the frame ourselves, and if we cannot get it close enough, we will have the body shop put it on a frame rack for a few hundred bucks and dial it in. If you take everthing off, and trailer the car to a frame shop, your only looking a few hundred bucks. Here's the pics looks worse than your car.

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the culprit

 

[DigitalGhost]

because if you buy a 2.3 your still replacing the airbox, radiatior and ect. anyway. You cant use a 2.3 radiator in a 5.0. well i mean you can but thats just a hackjob. The airbox is different as well. Here are pics of my buddies t top car we got into a wreck about 2 months ago. Were gonna straiten the frame ourselves, and if we cannot get it close enough, we will have the body shop put it on a frame rack for a few hundred bucks and dial it in. If you take everthing off, and trailer the car to a frame shop, your only looking a few hundred bucks. Here's the pics looks worse than your car.

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the culprit

I know it could probbably be straightened out, but theres a lot of attributing reasons why I'm going to do the 2.3 swap. I know it's a lot of work, but:

After an AT FAULT accident, my insurance will probbably double. 2.3s are cheaper to insure than 5.0s
I've wanted for 2 years to tear mine down to nothing and rebuild it
I've wanted a notch for a while

3 good reasons in my opinion, to start fresh rather than try to fix the broken hatch

 

[88mouse]

That is a lot of stuff to swap.

What year is your car? And what year is the coupe?

 

[DigitalGhost]

Donor car is a 90, the new car I'm thinking of getting is an 88 coupe.

Don't think that should cause any issues.

 

[88mouse]

Donor car is a 90, the new car I'm thinking of getting is an 88 coupe.

Don't think that should cause any issues.

It will when it comes to the wiring.

 

[bbkgt03]

Thats what i did with my 88 coupe, swapped everthing from a wrecked 90 hatch, I swapped EVERYTHING, I swapped the whole harness and there was no problem, just label everything, take your time, and be patient, you will enjoy it, the only problem off my head i could remember was the brake lines in the rear was a little different, and the sterring wheel plates had to be trimmed because 88 comes with tilt, and the dash in the glove box had no hole for trunk release, which none of that was relly that hard, i also painted the whole car and engine bay while i was at it, like i said, take your time and have fun

 

[DigitalGhost]

Thats what i did with my 88 coupe, swapped everthing from a wrecked 90 hatch, I swapped EVERYTHING, I swapped the whole harness and there was no problem, just label everything, take your time, and be patient, you will enjoy it, the only problem off my head i could remember was the brake lines in the rear was a little different, and the sterring wheel plates had to be trimmed because 88 comes with tilt, and the dash in the glove box had no hole for trunk release, which none of that was relly that hard, i also painted the whole car and engine bay while i was at it, like i said, take your time and have fun

Definately will. I bought 2 books from 50 resto. (Building high-performance fox bodies on a budget) and (How to rebuild the ford small block)
Hopefully these will help me.
I have already begun disconnecting the wiring harness, and neglected to label anything, but on veryuseful.com/mustang there is an entire wiring harness diagram with labels and all. Thank God for internet.