Bringing back to life an 87' GT T-top

FoxMustangLvr

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SN Certified Technician
Oct 14, 2012
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Spokane, Wa
Hey guys. Used to have an 88' LX 5.0 back in the day and some old lady got drunk and side swiped it while it was parallel parked out in front of my work. I thought my co-workers were playing a joke on me until I went outside and saw paramedics putting this 55 year old lady on a stretcher and into an ambulance. My car hooked her head on into a tree. There were Coors light can all over the place in her car. Anyways, my car was totaled and I salvaged some parts from it and said goodbye. This was 1998. So now I'm finally getting back in the game and wanted a project with my son (who is only 4 but in love with mustangs, especially Foxs!)

Anyway, I picked up this 1987 5.0 Mustang with a T-top and 5spd tranny. Crappy condition but only cost me $1,000 and It runs and drives well. It has on it already JBA headers, a crappy K&N intake filter, proflow 75mm MAF (they converted the speed density fortunately), Flowmaster mufflers, offroad h-pipe, unknown lowering springs, I believe Saleen mesh rims, some auto meter gauges and other stuff.

My intentions are to replace carpet, seats (which I already bought), I just ordered new tires and did an A/C delete with the FRPP kit that moves up the PS pump. The car came with a new door (all manual windows and door locks! I love that!), it came with all new GT body kit, new tires that were too small and misc other stuff.

Here are some pix from when I picked it up, dirty and neglected
87fox rear.jpg
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87 fox engine.jpg
87 fox interior.jpg
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87fox rear.jpg




This will be a slow build over a while. Funds are a little limited and so is time since my lovely wife is expecting TWINS due late July. I should have most of the body work done by then but I don't expect paint until summer of 2014. I will be doing all work myself. I was taught by my Father who was an Autobody Tech for Ford in Escondido Ca for 35 years and was a genius with breathing life back into a wrecked vehicle after it was smashed to pieces.

Please post comments or advice/opinions.
 

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Nice find!!! I had an '86 t-top project, and had to sell due to lack of space and money back then. I still regret it! There is nothing quite like a nice summer day cruse with the tops off!:nice: I'm jealous!
 
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I need a little help. I have a MSD-6AL ignition controller on my car. It's not hooked up at all. Do I need a wiring harness or can I just wire it up to the battery and coil? According to page 19 of the MSD pdf file for installation it looks like I need a harness.

http://www.msdignition.com/uploaded...ns&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=webgains

Your help is appreciated. Electrical has never been my strong point.
 
I need a little help. I have a MSD-6AL ignition controller on my car. It's not hooked up at all. Do I need a wiring harness or can I just wire it up to the battery and coil? According to page 19 of the MSD pdf file for installation it looks like I need a harness.

http://www.msdignition.com/uploaded...ns&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=webgains

Your help is appreciated. Electrical has never been my strong point.

if your talking about PN 8874 its not required but makes the install easier and you dont have to chop up the stock harness.
 
Yes, PN 8874 is what I need. Thanks.

The bad thing about his car I picked up is that I have to redo some red neck electrical wiring they did. They already spliced into the harness for the coil. For some reason they unhooked the MSD unit but left it all there. Hopefully it still works okay. I'll purchase the harness and do it the correct way after I hook it up and test it out to be sure it still works correctly.
 
Greeting back at ya from the other side of the boarder!

Getting my new BFG G-force tires on my car today. Only thing that sucks is I can't find a decent deal on some original pony wheels in the Spokane area. I'm reluctantly mounting them on the Enkei brand Saleen version mesh wheels (16x7.5). Anyone around the Spokane/Idaho area on this site wanna trade or sell some please hit me up.
 
For some reason people seem to knock the T's but I love them and it's the perfect middle ground between a sunroof (too little) and a convertible (too much). I understand they don't make great 10 sec 1/4 mile cars but I don't care about going that fast. I just want to cruise and have fun with it on the street.

I got my BFG G-force s-comp 2's yesterday and my 4 y/o helped out with bolting the wheels up. Now I can order carpet and install my newly used front and back seats next week.
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My son loves the Mustang and is always telling me to get to work on it and he likes to help. Nothing happens with the Mustang unless he's involved, it's awesome. I had to get a propane garage heater (30k btu's) in order to work in the freezing weather and it works well.

It's going to be a little while before the snowy roads are clear enough for me to take a drive but when I do I'll post an opinion. What I liked about the BFG's were their tread width at about 10" wide. It's the most tread to the ground for a 245/50/ZR16 I could find.
 
Yes, PN 8874 is what I need. Thanks.

The bad thing about his car I picked up is that I have to redo some red neck electrical wiring they did. They already spliced into the harness for the coil. For some reason they unhooked the MSD unit but left it all there. Hopefully it still works okay. I'll purchase the harness and do it the correct way after I hook it up and test it out to be sure it still works correctly.

From what I remember, you can simply use some male/female connectors and wire the MSD into the stock plug. Or just go to any junkyard and cut off the plug from the donor car wire it into your msd and plug it into your existing harness. No hacking required.
 
They already hacked the harness so I'm just going to hook it up to make sure it works and if it does I'll clean it up the right way and leave it in. Anybody know if these ignition controllers make much difference when only running 300hp or less?
 
They already hacked the harness so I'm just going to hook it up to make sure it works and if it does I'll clean it up the right way and leave it in. Anybody know if these ignition controllers make much difference when only running 300hp or less?


IMO, if you already have the MSD there is no hurt in using it. You can also just leave the stock parts in place. I've run them on 400 hp cars. I've seen more MSD boxes fail than I can count, which is why you see so many for sale. Just don't hard wire the MSD directly into the harness so when it does fail and you are stranded, you can connect back the stock.
 
If you need any help at all, I would be more than willing to give a helping hand :) I also have some stuff you may be interested in as well. I was gonna swap my old car to EFI so have a entire harness out of an 89 GT and MAF harness and such. If you are interested just let me know :)
 
Thanks for the offer ID, I just may be interested in the harness since I have a lot of dead end wires that have been cut. I need to do a lot of tracing to see if I can just hook them back up or pull them out completely.

Can't wait for the spring and summer when it's more pleasant to be out in the garage and working on it in good light.