Hey All,
Long time lurker...figure it was about time to document my journey as I am starting to rebuild my car. Lot of questions are starting to come up and I am sure you all can help me out.
A little background…
Car is a 1989 Mustang GT with a 5 speed. It was purchased in 2011 (I was a freshman in college) for $3500 with ~83k miles on it and was pretty much 100% stock at the time. I recall searching for 6+ months to find this one, I wanted one that was pretty much 100% stock. I bought it from Rick Menard in Chester, NH (if that name rings a bell for anyone). It has served me well since, as it has taken me through my first internships and then jobs. It was with me when I met my now fiance and took us on a lot of our dates and trips together. When I bought it I knew it had been a New England car its whole life so it never looked amazing. The paint was always faded and a lot of the bare metal had surface rust. I knew eventually it would need some work.
[AS PURCHASED]
I paid to have it stored indoors every winter and would drive it spring to fall. In the years since I have done some maintenance but very little performance work to it. It has gotten new struts, shocks, radiator, distributor, water pump, heater core, headers, exhaust, and various other small bits, as needed. When I bought it I knew it had some slight strut tower rust but figured that would be tackled later on.
Well, the time has come. I have my own place with a garage, and am getting married to the girl I met around the time I bought this car. I am hoping to document my journey here, as well as seek advice from everyone on here as to the best way to restore my old friend.
A little clarification on the thread title....I prefer cars that are "almost stock". In my mind, there are enough modded foxes running around that I don't need to add to it. So if I can tastefully mod the car while keeping it stock appearing I will. If I can make modifications for weight/other where no one will see them I will. But overall, I do want to keep it more on the stock side than the modded side of things.
No to quickly get everyone up to speed on where the project currently sits. The patient was prepped for surgery in the middle of January, 2020 with approximately 113k miles. This was the engine bay before any work began.
I made good progress with the intent being to pull the engine and finally tackle the strut tower rust that I knew lurked beneath.
Long time lurker...figure it was about time to document my journey as I am starting to rebuild my car. Lot of questions are starting to come up and I am sure you all can help me out.
A little background…
Car is a 1989 Mustang GT with a 5 speed. It was purchased in 2011 (I was a freshman in college) for $3500 with ~83k miles on it and was pretty much 100% stock at the time. I recall searching for 6+ months to find this one, I wanted one that was pretty much 100% stock. I bought it from Rick Menard in Chester, NH (if that name rings a bell for anyone). It has served me well since, as it has taken me through my first internships and then jobs. It was with me when I met my now fiance and took us on a lot of our dates and trips together. When I bought it I knew it had been a New England car its whole life so it never looked amazing. The paint was always faded and a lot of the bare metal had surface rust. I knew eventually it would need some work.
[AS PURCHASED]
I paid to have it stored indoors every winter and would drive it spring to fall. In the years since I have done some maintenance but very little performance work to it. It has gotten new struts, shocks, radiator, distributor, water pump, heater core, headers, exhaust, and various other small bits, as needed. When I bought it I knew it had some slight strut tower rust but figured that would be tackled later on.
Well, the time has come. I have my own place with a garage, and am getting married to the girl I met around the time I bought this car. I am hoping to document my journey here, as well as seek advice from everyone on here as to the best way to restore my old friend.
A little clarification on the thread title....I prefer cars that are "almost stock". In my mind, there are enough modded foxes running around that I don't need to add to it. So if I can tastefully mod the car while keeping it stock appearing I will. If I can make modifications for weight/other where no one will see them I will. But overall, I do want to keep it more on the stock side than the modded side of things.
No to quickly get everyone up to speed on where the project currently sits. The patient was prepped for surgery in the middle of January, 2020 with approximately 113k miles. This was the engine bay before any work began.
I made good progress with the intent being to pull the engine and finally tackle the strut tower rust that I knew lurked beneath.