Progress Thread 1987 GT Convertible / Nonameyet

[BugsOli]

Hello everyone,
I figured I would start a progress thread as I've been on this forum since 2013 (the year I bought the car) and since a lot of you guys have helped me tremendously!

So, first things first: my name is Oliver and I live in Belgium (yep, it's still part of Europe ).
My previous Mustang was a 1968 Coupe bought in 2009 but this was such a money pit that it cost me my marriage and nearly all my money... so I sold it in January 2013 to buy this 1987 GT Convertible out of a guy in Holland for 10000€.

This is all the info this guy told me when I bought the car:
- Car is a 1987
- Car was imported in Holland in 1992
- Car pretty never saw the rain during all these years and was stored during the winter
- Car was modified by the previous owner (I believe the guy who imported it)
- Car is rust-free

Of course, little did I know at that time about all the updates the car received... but that's for the next chapter

 

[General karthief]

Nice, can't wait for the rest of the story

 

[Noobz347]

I need more pics of what an $11K Fox looks like in Holland!

 

[LILCBRA]

Commenting just so I can follow along and watch what you do with your 87! Good luck!!

 

[BugsOli]

Thanks guys, here is more to the story but first a couple of pictures of the car as I bought it:


Pictures don't make it look rust-free but I guarantee it is! The whole chassis has been blasted with a protective coating as soon as the car arrived in Europe, so the whole underside is protected and the paint is all-original!

But back to the story now
So, after driving the car back in the February weather (it was not snowing that day) and sliding sideways in the first motorway ramp due to poor rear tires, I tackled the customs import and the dreaded Belgian inspection to be able to drive the car legally in Belgium and to my surprise, it didn't go so well: even though the customs import went flawless (it's a matter of filling the paperwork and paying 1 euro, yes, 1), the inspection went wrong due to the fact that the car was equipped with stainless steel brake lines up front... and that is forbidden in Belgium (at that time).

And I didn't know it.

And I got a red card, meaning "car does not meet the requirements to be road legal".

And of course I got angry.

And of course the guy went ahead and told me my car was also too low (even though it wasn't but he just wanted to show me "who's the boss here"), just to screw me up (if my coils had been black, he would not have said anything but I didn't know that at that time either).

So I ended up with a car that I could'nt drive on the road with parts I had to buy to make it road legal, great! Hopefully I knew where to buy the parts.

 

[BugsOli]

The story continues...

After ordering new coil springs from NPD (made by Eaton Springs), and buying new front brake lines, I was able to pass inspection, nearly 4 months after I had bought the car! I was just in time for my first road-trip in England with my club

Eventually, during this road-trip, I found out that my battery was dying everyday due to an VVT-1 alarm that had been installed by the previous owner, great.
So, back in Belgium, my first task was to replace the battery and remove this stupid alarm. And replace my original radiator which went KABOOM after nearly 30 years...

And this was the time to check on all the mods that had been installed by a previous owner:
- Koni Sport front & rear shocks (fronts are single adjustable)
- Koni quad shocks
- Bolt-on subframe connectors (don't know the brand)
- Bolt-on strut tower brace (don't know the brand)
- Caster/camber plates (don't know the brand, I believe they were custom made)
- Pro-M 77mm MAF (Car had been converted to MAF)
- A9M ECU
- Thunderbird rear discs setup (along with the proper booster, and MC)
- 3.73 axle gear ratio
- Short-throw shifter (yes, my car is manual)
- Various gauges to monitor oil & fuel pressures along with the oil temperature

 

[Olivethefet]

Nice ride! How many miles are on it? That is a very different looking CC plate! What are your plans for the car?

car was equipped with stainless steel brake lines up front... and that is forbidden in Belgium (at that time).

Whats the deal with stainless steel brake lines?

I know, lots of questions.

 

[BugsOli]

Nice ride! How many miles are on it? That is a very different looking CC plate! What are your plans for the car?


Whats the deal with stainless steel brake lines?

I know, lots of questions.

Thanks mate!
First the brake lines:
Stainless steel brake lines are prohibited on road cars, it's not only in Belgium, it's pretty much everywhere in Europe (it's an European law). But that was in 2013, even on classic cars (my car is falling under the classic car rules, which states that the car has to be more than 25 years old).
Last year the law has changed in Belgium and now stainless steel brake lines are tolerated, but only on classic cars not on "normal" cars!

The mileage of the car when I bought it was 37796 miles but I believe it was 137796, I'm not sure at all

I don't really have plans for the car except for it to be a nice cruiser since our roads are terrible (even the highways have lots of potholes), that's why I'm redoing the whole suspension setup

 

[BugsOli]

Been caught up with work and family so haven't had the time to continue...

Anyway, since I wanted to be able to choose some conventional tire sizes, I bought 17" Cobra-R replica wheels from LMR in 2014 which are one of the best looking wheels on a convertible IMO.
I also put back the lowered coils, which had been sand-blasted and repainted in black
However in the back of my mind, my goal was to go for 5 lugs and get more choices of wheels, especially in 18" so I knew these 17" would not last.

My ultimate plan would be:
- Coil-over suspension front & rear
- 18" wheels with at least a 285 tire in the back (I'm trying to keep the same tire height for speedometer accuracy)
- Bigger brakes front & rear with 5 lugs setup
- Cobra lower & upper intakes with GT40 heads (lower is a TMoss upgraded intake )

 

[Gs1987GT]

Looking good! Nice Car!

 

[BugsOli]

So..... still too much work down here, should win at the lottery, that would allow me to finish the car

During these past years, I wanted to gather parts to make the car better in the years to come, so I bought a new top, new carpet, new interior hardware, new weatherstrip, etc.
First to go was the carpet last year, after 30 years of good old use and abuse, and while I was at it, I figured why not install some thermo-acoustic deadening so in it went (notice the absence of rust on the floor pans? the whole car is like that!



At the moment, the new top is still in its box, I hope to find someone who can install it along with the cables and the new weatherstrip, but it's gonna be for next year

 

[General karthief]

Now that is a nice floor pan!