Progress Thread 1993 LX-Cobra Conversion Project

Got a chance to get something done! My plan is to put the interior back in the car soon - I think I can have it all in and back together in one or two working days depending on how well I remember everything. Today I finished painting the last few gray pieces that hadn’t need done - armrest plugs, vents, and other odds and ends, but also importantly cleaned the seatbelts and repainted the plastics.
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Every year or two I get a chance to work on my car. So, a big hold up for this project has been the paint damage on the rear bumper. Today, after spending Thursday sanding and prepping, I got a chance to repaint it. This Thursday I’ll sand out the orange peel, then Sunday I’ll reinstall and buff it out.

Once that’s done, I’m putting the interior back in it and I’m going to just drive it for a little while before I start sourcing stuff for my Turbo motor swap. It’d be nice to do some mechanical stuff for a while.
 
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Paint is finally completed.

Sanded the bumper out to 5000 grit.. View attachment 684993 View attachment 684994
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Then got the buffer out. I use System 51 car polish. I know some like the different steps and stages with a system like Meguiars, but I really like the ease of the one step system, and it’s less bottles to keep track of.

Anyway, wool, yellow foam, then black foam pad to finish it off.
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Then a ceramic wax coat for a quick photo op (Not the rear bumper, though, it’s still a bit too fresh for that)
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So, finally going to work on interior again next week, and hopefully have a few finished shots of that soon!
 

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So, the time finally has come to finish this project. It's been delayed for quite a few reasons, but since it was basically at the finish line I really didn't have a lot else to do with it as far as the cosmetics. So, I took the full day yesterday and was able to get it about 90% back together on the interior.

The meme above is no joke - While I've taken a Foxbody down to the bones in the past, and I generally kind of know where things go, and I took the time to bag and document the screws as best as I could... 12 years is a long time and there was some trial and error to figure out not just where things went, but the order of operations. For instance, I was going to put the black metal knee panel cover into place, but realized that I needed to have the center console in first. So, I did that, then put the knee panel in... only to have to take it back off because the dash bezel also needs to be in place first!

The rear seat was definitely the biggest challenge because I just truly didn't remember how that went together at all. Naturally I installed the brackets on the wrong side first before figuring out that they were in the wrong place and had to flip them around.

But, overall, it's mostly together.



A big pile of parts. Kind of a puzzle.
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More parts. I need to put a little oil in the seatbelt receptacles since they have gotten a little tight from years of sitting.
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The carpet went in fairly easily since I had pre-installed it before and it was largely trimmed to fit. I still had to make a few cuts and widen a few things, but overall it wasn't too bad.
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Center console and dash bezel in place. To add a little aggravation, I had to remove the bezel after initially putting it in place because the knee panel was in the way. One of the wire connectors on the right side somehow slid into a spot on the bezel and wouldn't come out. A five minute fight ensued for me to try and free it :O_o:
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Shifter and center console stuff in place. I still need to put the radio in, but I forgot that I need a lower bucket and bracket from a donor car still. I'll just have to deal with it later.
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Got the headliner in. I thought this would be more of a pain than it ended up being, it actually went fairly smoothly which was nice! Getting the sunvisors to line up correctly for the first time was a little harder, but once I got them the screws went nice and easy. Incidentally, getting the LRS screw kit was a big help because this car was missing quite a few of them.
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Finalyl got the rear seats and quarter trim back into place. The quarter trim was a bit of a battle because of the new weatherstripping I think. It was pretty tough to get them to line up where I needed, but I finally got them. The rear seats were a battle to just figure out what I was doing.
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Put in the front seats, mostly without issue.
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Final pic of the night with the headrests in place.
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You should consider filling and sanding those holes in the center console now while you can.

I assume you are installing the radio delete plate?
Yeah, I will do that eventually. I'm actually not doing the delete plate, I bought a while back a CD player out of a 1995 F-150 (so it's got the correct faceplate and such - thanks for doing that CD player write up way back when :) ) but I don't have the coin tray and bracket yet to install it. It's also been years since I bought the CD player and I am sort of toying with having it modified for blue tooth if I am able since I've really got no interest in carrying around CD. Maybe I could put in an Aux port more easily than bluetooth, I'm not sure... but I want to keep the original aesthetics instead of an aftermarket unit.
 
@Mustang5L5 - Incidentally, I know you made a panel for the hatch that was a full size piece for the hatch carpet to go over instead of the dinky Ford one that collapses over time. Did you happen to document those dimensions somewhere? I don't remember the name of the thread to try and find it, but I wanted to do something similar since I don't have anything in the back at the moment.
 
@Mustang5L5 - Incidentally, I know you made a panel for the hatch that was a full size piece for the hatch carpet to go over instead of the dinky Ford one that collapses over time. Did you happen to document those dimensions somewhere? I don't remember the name of the thread to try and find it, but I wanted to do something similar since I don't have anything in the back at the moment.


I don't think that was me. I still have the ford cardboard with a spare in my hatch.
 
This is something more like what I was thinking of...

 
I would use 1/8" hardboard as it will be lighter and much easier to work with. Lowe's usually has 4' x 8' sheet for under $15. I use it for trim panels and it works well.
 
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That sounds like a good idea, I will check it out. I really don't plan on putting anything heavy in the back of this thing honestly, so it just needs to be strong enough to not sag when I put groceries in it for instance.

I think I can use cardboard to create the template to get a really nice fit, then perhaps a jute padding or something on the bottom so it helps sound deaden. Ideally it also gets a pull string to help pull it up if I need to access the spare tire well. If I really get fancy I'll put a hinge on it so it can tilt up. Just some ideas for now though.
 
Part 15: 04/27/2013 Wall of text...




Well, I can't say I never expected the question to come up, and it is a good one.

Basically, I don't really have a use for a real '93 Cobra. I have a '91 GT that I spent a lot of years doing a similar rebuild on, and have no plans to ever get rid of it. I don't have any need for a second V8 Mustang, I have no place to garage one, and I wanted something that I could drive every day and not worry about. A real '93 Cobra is a great car, but I wouldn't want to drive it every day.

I could replace the GT with a Cobra, but Cobra values are generally more in their originality than a restoration. I spent over five years of my life working on my GT - it simply has more value to me than a mint Cobra that I had no hand in making.

Also, the money spent may make for a more valuable car, but the buy in on a Cobra is substantially more than the $750 I spent to acquire this car. Even if I managed to snag a rough one for 6-8K, it would still have needed a lot of the same kind of repairs as this LX has needed. If I needed to replace parts on the car, they would be a lot more expensive because genuine '93 Cobra parts are hard to find and costly. A set of OEM '93 Cobra side skirts will run about the cost of the entire Cervini kit. Granted, they are nicer, but again this car will see the weather and sit outside, it will get plenty of wear and tear.

I will almost certainly never get my money back out of this car if I chose to sell it. It is something that I accepted up front - this is a hobby, not a career. If I could make enough money doing this stuff, then I would open a business. Factoring in the labor involved, I wouldn't make money on a real '93 Cobra either. Truth be told, based on some life changing events over the last few years, if I could go back in time I probably wouldn't have started the project. I am beyond the point of no return now, though, and it has to be finished. Building a car is not a good investment, unless someone is paying you to do it.

Time and money permitting (this project is already 2 years in the making) I would eventually like to go the 2.3L turbo route. It would make for a fun car that is a little different, and I can enjoy it every day.

Thanks to you and Papa Cosmos for the interest in the build, it is a great motivator!
Man... this didn't age well. If you had gotten even a rough one at that time and did nothing it'd be worth 15-20k now I'm sure. Just insane what those cars have done value wise.