Long Read: Got Back Into Mustangs Tonight After A 13 Year Hiatus, Gonna Need Advice

[bird_dog0347]

Skip to bottom if you just want to see what I am asking about.

So I have had a few mustangs in my past but my favorite 5.0 was always my 88 LX coupe. It was lowered about 2 inches, had a Tremec 3550, a 347 stroker, edlebrock heads, cobra intake, F303 cam, longtubes, off road H pipe, flows, etc. I loved that car... But sadly it met it's demise at the 1/4 mile track when some ass-hat got pissed that I beat him and put me in the wall after I crossed the finish line, then drove right out of the track never to be seen again.

Fast forward 13 years and I have 2 kids, wife, house, a couple of motorcycles I do track days on, and a boring ass truck for a daily driver. Now boring is good in this case, it always runs and is under warranty, but whatever.

I got to looking at my dirtbike that I had only ridden 1 time this year and 9.2 hours in the past 12 months and decided I would rather have another 5.0 then the bike I never ride. I found a guy who wanted to trade plus cash his mustang for a dirtbike and we worked out a deal. It is a 92 coupe, 5.0, 5 spd, red with black interior (THANK GOD it isn't red like my 88 was). Has a few mods, here is what he told me but I have not verified yet... GT-40 heads, B303 cam, dumped flows (some dumbass welded them onto the stock H pipe and still has stock headers and an exhaust leak), Cobra clutch, Hurst shorty lever (short, with hurst knob, but unsure of shift lever it's self), 5 lug 4 wheel disk brakes (missing e-brake cable, likely needs different master cylinder), weld wheels (15x10 and 15x3.5, want to trade for standard 5 lug mustang wheels)...

Long term plan for the car: It will be a weekend driver, needs to be totally streetable, but also ready to hit the track (road course, screw drag racing) at a moment's notice. It will have regular wheels, be lowered, suspension will be setup for corners, and I want it to have at least 300 RWHP while still maintaining drive-ability, and creature comforts.

So here is what I need help with.

1. The brakes were converted to 5 lug, but the e-brake isn't hooked up to anything and I need to make it work. I haven't crawled under the car all the way yet as I am tired, but likely will tomorrow to see if the cable is still there.
2. The guy lost the keys to the car and just has a replacement ignition set in there, I need to get it re-keyed to all match... Can a Ford dealer get me that based on the VIN or call a locksmith? And yes it has a clean title, and yes the VIN matches, that concerned me but It appears to be fine.
3. Blinkers don't work... the hazzards do but the blinker doesn't. I am no NOOB to troubleshooting like this, just wanted to see if this was common before I go through the whole process?
4. I need a drivers-door arm rest cover... what is the best/cheapest place to get those parts? (http://www.latemodelrestoration.com)?
5. The radiator fan is missing a blade, and the radiator is pretty beat up... It drove the 4 hours home just fine and never got hot, but I want to replace them before it becomes a problem... Radiator and fan suggestions?

I am sure I will have plenty more later, hell I have forgotten so much about these cars with all my focus being on bikes the last decade, but it is coming back to me.

Obligatory pics:

 

[hoopty5.0]

Responses in green:

Skip to bottom if you just want to see what I am asking about.

So I have had a few mustangs in my past but my favorite 5.0 was always my 88 LX coupe. It was lowered about 2 inches, had a Tremec 3550, a 347 stroker, edlebrock heads, cobra intake, F303 cam, longtubes, off road H pipe, flows, etc. I loved that car... But sadly it met it's demise at the 1/4 mile track when some ass-hat got pissed that I beat him and put me in the wall after I crossed the finish line, then drove right out of the track never to be seen again.
ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!? Ohhhhh man it would have been on.

Fast forward 13 years and I have 2 kids, wife, house, a couple of motorcycles I do track days on, and a boring ass truck for a daily driver. Now boring is good in this case, it always runs and is under warranty, but whatever.

I got to looking at my dirtbike that I had only ridden 1 time this year and 9.2 hours in the past 12 months and decided I would rather have another 5.0 then the bike I never ride. I found a guy who wanted to trade plus cash his mustang for a dirtbike and we worked out a deal. It is a 92 coupe, 5.0, 5 spd, red with black interior (THANK GOD it isn't red like my 88 was). Has a few mods, here is what he told me but I have not verified yet... GT-40 heads, B303 cam, dumped flows (some dumbass welded them onto the stock H pipe and still has stock headers and an exhaust leak), Cobra clutch, Hurst shorty lever (short, with hurst knob, but unsure of shift lever it's self), 5 lug 4 wheel disk brakes (missing e-brake cable, likely needs different master cylinder), weld wheels (15x10 and 15x3.5, want to trade for standard 5 lug mustang wheels)...

Long term plan for the car: It will be a weekend driver, needs to be totally streetable, but also ready to hit the track (road course, screw drag racing) at a moment's notice. It will have regular wheels, be lowered, suspension will be setup for corners, and I want it to have at least 300 RWHP while still maintaining drive-ability, and creature comforts.

So here is what I need help with.

1. The brakes were converted to 5 lug, but the e-brake isn't hooked up to anything and I need to make it work. I haven't crawled under the car all the way yet as I am tired, but likely will tomorrow to see if the cable is still there.
Post pics of what you find and it'll be easier to tell what you need.
2. The guy lost the keys to the car and just has a replacement ignition set in there, I need to get it re-keyed to all match... Can a Ford dealer get me that based on the VIN or call a locksmith? And yes it has a clean title, and yes the VIN matches, that concerned me but It appears to be fine.
3. Blinkers don't work... the hazzards do but the blinker doesn't. I am no NOOB to troubleshooting **** like this, just wanted to see if this was common before I go through the whole process?
jrichker is the man to ask here
4. I need a drivers-door arm rest cover... what is the best/cheapest place to get those parts? (http://www.latemodelrestoration.com)?
Probably.
5. The radiator fan is missing a blade, and the radiator is pretty beat up... It drove the 4 hours home just fine and never got hot, but I want to replace them before it becomes a problem... Radiator and fan suggestions?
I have a Northern radiator, or whatever they are called. The Misimoto radiators seem to be nice for the price too. Fans is a broad topic. Many people use a single Taurus fans with an aftermarket controller. I have some LS-1 fans which was an exact fit on the radiator, and they move some air, for sure. I also got a controller from eBay for $25 and it works great, adjustable thermostat and all. Make sure to upgrade to a 3G alternator too.


I am sure I will have plenty more later, hell I have forgotten so much about these cars with all my focus being on bikes the last decade, but it is coming back to me.

Nice looking car! Welcome.

 

[bird_dog0347]

Yep, serious... wanted to kill him but by the time I figured out he was not coming back or stopped by the track officials he was headed to the gate and gone. I had to go to the tower (Texas Motorplex) to sign waivers that I wasn't injured and didn't need to go to the hospital, and that was when I saw the TV with a picture of the whole track sitting on top of a VCR (anyone remember those?) and I asked for a copy of the tape... they said no, so I turned it over to insurance as a hit and run and told them there was a tape that the race track had, but wouldn't turn over. They got the evidence, and paid my claim as a hit and run. I bought the car back and bought a no motor/trans 87 coupe to transfer everything into. Drove it for 8 months and sold it to get a bike as I was done drag racing after that bulsh...

All the time I spent running from cops street racing, I went legit and a month later my car was totaled.

 

[hoopty5.0]

Better than losing the car completely and going to jail

 

[bird_dog0347]

Better than losing the car completely and going to jail

Agreed... but aggravating none the less.

 

[NXcoupe]

Nice find! Very sharp coupe, but I'm partial to coupes as I have three currently. Lose the wheels for sure. Wrong offset on the back and I'm not much of a fan of the prostars anymore for some reason.
As for radiator, get an aluminum 2-1" cores, as for fan, the stock setup can't be beat, but for a no hassle install, the Extreme Black Magic from flexalite can't be beat imho. I've installed quite a few and they pull some air.
Combo sounds great, get rid of the cone air filter on the stock maf, that's just an idle surge waiting to happen. Get an Anderson PowerPipe or something equivalent, stay away from mac and bbk cai's they are a pain to tune and get the idle right once you get more mods done.
Your ebrake cable is going to be a pain since you have rear disk brakes. Ford has discontinued their rear cables, but I believe the front cable is still available for rear disk conversions. Good news is Stainless Steel Brake Co. has the three cables you need to make it work. Also, search the net for "Rear Disk ebrake modification" and you'll see wha tyou need to do to modify the ebrake handle to make it work with the rear disks. I have a coupe with rear disk conversion and the ebrake works perfectly. I had all the ford stuff sitting on the shelf from where I ordered it years ago, so it was a smooth swap for me.
Good luck! Welcome back to stangs!

 

[bird_dog0347]

Also, does anyone have a .pdf service manual for this car or do I need to buy a hard copy from autozone or something?

 

[S&B]

just buy a nice book they have a bunch of 5.0 books for doing the work.

I don't know what your plans are but you have a nice car that you could make into a 6-8k coupe easy. The arm rest can be fixed with a new pad from LRS or ebay/ junk yard. Any seat from 79-2004 will bolt right, black seats from a 1999-2004 will be the easiest and cheapest, I would take that carpet out and either power wash it or replace it, looks like it needs new door moldings. You can probably have that thing all cleaned up inside for 400-500 bucks.

I would start working on the blinker situation at the actual switch on the column which is held by 2 phillips head screws under the column. You are going to need a schematic to see what wire does what unless you have another (multifunction switch) to swap in to see if that actual (arm) switch is the issue. Which it usually is.

If it was mine i would put the a/c back on and find a stock air box. You'll never sell a 5.0 quicker when the it all looks stock and maintained. Very nice vert and good investment in the mustang world. Post up some pictures of what rear end was used for the swap and someone will be able to figure out how to get the parking brake hooked up

 

[bird_dog0347]

just buy a nice book they have a bunch of 5.0 books for doing the work.

I don't know what your plans are but you have a nice car that you could make into a 6-8k coupe easy. The arm rest can be fixed with a new pad from LRS or ebay/ junk yard. Any seat from 79-2004 will bolt right, black seats from a 1999-2004 will be the easiest and cheapest, I would take that carpet out and either power wash it or replace it, looks like it needs new door moldings. You can probably have that thing all cleaned up inside for 400-500 bucks.

I would start working on the blinker situation at the actual switch on the column which is held by 2 phillips head screws under the column. You are going to need a schematic to see what wire does what unless you have another (multifunction switch) to swap in to see if that actual (arm) switch is the issue. Which it usually is.

If it was mine i would put the a/c back on and find a stock air box. You'll never sell a 5.0 quicker when the it all looks stock and maintained. Very nice vert and good investment in the mustang world. Post up some pictures of what rear end was used for the swap and someone will be able to figure out how to get the parking brake hooked up

The A/C will be put back on after I manage to get some parts for it, it is missing the compressor, lines from the firewall to compressor, accumulator, and compressor bracket. The inside will get all cleaned up, but it really isn't that bad. Just a few little things. Not really planning to sell it, but I am happy with the knowledge that if I ever HAD to sell it I doubt it would be that tough.