Progress Thread Slow Progress On My "illegally Abused" 1988 Gt

Crazedstang

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Sep 18, 2013
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Hey guys and gals,

My name is David and I have been on here for a few months. I bought an abused 1988 GT Hatch back in February. I have had things come up that made me put this build off for a few months (kids' mom battles). Well I'm starting to get cracking on this pony again. Some have told me it isn't worth saving because of the rust and the shape it is in. Some idiot rattle canned in a horrid blue color. I has really bad rust in the frame rails that I will be fixing. I believe any fox that can be saved, should be saved. That is why I am not scrapping this car. It was originally Scarlet red on top with silver ground effects. When I bought the car as a roller it had no motor, trans, driveshaft, computer, fuel tank, and the wiring harnesses caught fire in the engine bay. The interior is in really good shape. Its gray and only has one rip on the side of the driver seat. Back seats look almost new. The car did come with some upgrades. Has upper and lower control arms in the rear, 3:73s, and springs. I don't know what kind of springs or control arms they are, all I know is they are red. Bout a month ago I have been gathering parts to start the build. I have the driveshaft in place with T5 and on saturday i will be picking up a 2000 explorer 5.0. I have bbk shorties and 140 speedo. This will be a slow build because of school and kiddos, but I will be posting progress as I go. I do have all the parts to switch over to the Ex 5.0 to build it.

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Will post more as I go.
 
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Hey guys and gals,

My name is David and I have been on here for a few months. I bought an abused 1988 GT Hatch back in February. I have had things come up that made me put this build off for a few months (kids' mom battles). Well I'm starting to get cracking on this pony again. Some have told me it isn't worth saving because of the rust and the shape it is in. Some idiot rattle canned in a horrid blue color. I has really bad rust in the frame rails that I will be fixing. I believe any fox that can be saved, should be saved. That is why I am not scrapping this car. It was originally Scarlet red on top with silver ground effects. When I bought the car as a roller it had no motor, trans, driveshaft, computer, fuel tank, and the wiring harnesses caught fire in the engine bay. The interior is in really good shape. Its gray and only has one rip on the side of the driver seat. Back seats look almost new. The car did come with some upgrades. Has upper and lower control arms in the rear, 3:73s, and springs. I don't know what kind of springs or control arms they are, all I know is they are red. Bout a month ago I have been gathering parts to start the build. I have the driveshaft in place with T5 and on saturday i will be picking up a 2000 explorer 5.0. I have bbk shorties and 140 speedo. This will be a slow build because of school and kiddos, but I will be posting progress as I go. I do have all the parts to switch over to the Ex 5.0 to build it.

th_FB_IMG_1472078567137.jpg

th_Screenshot_20160819-203107.png

th_20160914_223034.jpg

Will post more as I go.

Congrats on the purchase and good luck. If the control arms are tubular, they maybe the LMR house brand jobs. If they are box style then probably hotchkis which are pretty good quality. Those headers look like MAC ones which don't seal very well. BBKs have a one piece solid flange.
 
Congrats on the purchase and good luck. If the control arms are tubular, they maybe the LMR house brand jobs. If they are box style then probably hotchkis which are pretty good quality. Those headers look like MAC ones which don't seal very well. BBKs have a one piece solid flange.
They are box style I believe. I will be doing some work on it tomorrow so i will take some pics of them. I will go look at the headers. My buddy told me they are BBK they have some kinda info on them so I will look at them.
 
Good lukc on your project. Tackling a car with that much rust in the shock towers, rails and torque boxes is questionable, but can be done if you have the time, talent, and money. I'd like to see some pictures of the inside and outside shock towers, rails, and torque boxes if possible. @Davedacarpainter - he's going through this with a few projects and is an experienced body man who can give you some advice as well

Do yourselff a favor and sell those headers. 1. they are equal length which are a PITA to install and change spark plugs. 2. They are MAC which have individual flanges and always are warped after taking them off a motor. I would get a set of used FRPP SS shorty headers. You can get them on CL or the Corral for around $100.
 
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Good lukc on your project. Tackling a car with that much rust in the shock towers, rails and torque boxes is questionable, but can be done if you have the time, talent, and money. I'd like to see some pictures of the inside and outside shock towers, rails, and torque boxes if possible. @Davedacarpainter - he's going through this with a few projects and is an experienced body man who can give you some advice as well

Do yourselff a favor and sell those headers. 1. they are equal length which are a PITA to install and change spark plugs. 2. They are MAC which have individual flanges and always are warped after taking them off a motor. I would get a set of used FRPP SS shorty headers. You can get them on CL or the Corral for around $100.
Yeah drivers side is horrible. Must have had a bad master cylinder leak and never cleaned it. I got the Macs up for sale right now and plan on going FRPP shorty headers. I will definately look him up for some guidance through the hard part of this project.

Thanks for the heads up
 
I ran BBK unequal shorties on my '95 with GT40P heads, and there was only one spark plug that took a trick to get it out. I can remember which cylinder number it was, but it wasnt that bad at all. Its been discussed many times, so I quick search and you will find the tricks to make it easy. Also, I highly recommend Remflex crushing gaskets for any headers you use. They are about $50 if I remember right, but are awesome, and you will never have to worry about an exhaust leak if running used (possibly warped) headers. I have used them on three projects with used headers, and never had one leak.
 
I ran BBK unequal shorties on my '95 with GT40P heads, and there was only one spark plug that took a trick to get it out. I can remember which cylinder number it was, but it wasnt that bad at all. Its been discussed many times, so I quick search and you will find the tricks to make it easy. Also, I highly recommend Remflex crushing gaskets for any headers you use. They are about $50 if I remember right, but are awesome, and you will never have to worry about an exhaust leak if running used (possibly warped) headers. I have used them on three projects with used headers, and never had one leak.

These are the Mac shorties. He thought they were BBK, but come to find out they aren't. So I dont think they are going to work. Thanks for the info on the header gaskets. I will definately be looking into them.
 
It's a rough starting point but I'm looking forward to your progress. Good luck!

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Yes it is a very rough start, but I refuse to let this fox go to the crusher becasue of the shape it is in. It has frame rail rot and I will have that repaired before the motor goes in. Thanks for the good luck.
 
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