Finally a Fox Body Owner - 1988 GT acquired!

tjm73

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Those will look awesome on the car. Just be careful about tire size. When the 16" Pony wheels arrived Ford changed the front fenders and changed the size of the front opening a bit for clearance.

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DudeStang

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Those will look awesome on the car. Just be careful about tire size. When the 16" Pony wheels arrived Ford changed the front fenders and changed the size of the front opening a bit for clearance.

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Thanks for sharing that pic. When I was looking at getting 17 inch wheels, I was reading about the fenders and fitment issues. Hoping I won't run into that with the 16 inch wheels.
 

DudeStang

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Over the weekend, a buddy of mine came to visit and we replaced the power steering pump on the Fox. Plenty of idiocy ensued during the process but I’m happy to be done with that.

I wish I would have learned about hose removal tools before working on this, lol.


While working on the power steering, we found a small leak on the lower radiator hose. Seems like it might be good to replace a few more of the hoses while I’m at it.
 

tjm73

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Thanks for sharing that pic. When I was looking at getting 17 inch wheels, I was reading about the fenders and fitment issues. Hoping I won't run into that with the 16 inch wheels.

I had a '90 GT with Pony wheels that had stock size 225/55R16 tires. On full crank left and right turns they would rub on the ground effects. I put Weld wheels on it almost right away so it never mattered, but I thought a careful trimming of the inside of the ground effects might resolve the issue since it was only at full lock.
 

DudeStang

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My early Christmas present to myself arrived yesterday. Ordered the SVE short throw shifter. I picked this one over the Steeda because it had better reviews and was slightly cheaper. Plus, I already have the Steeda shifter handle so I figure I can at least try both that one and the handle that came with the SVE, rather than having two Steeda shifter handles. Will probably try to get this installed over the weekend.
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Will likely try to do the radiator hoses soon too, since those arrived a couple of days ago:
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Uploaded a new video this morning, brainstorming what to do next and in what order, and asking for inputs from the Fox Mustang folks with more experience/expertise than me.
 

tjm73

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You will like the shifter. T5 with a good shifter is awesome.
 

DudeStang

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Started working on getting the SVE short throw shifter installed. Naturally I found a way to make the process for removing the center console as time-consuming as possible. Just waiting for the lower shift boot to arrive so I can get this finished up and test out the different shifter handles.


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tjm73

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You could have done that with out removing the console. I've done it a couple times. Pain in the ass, but doable. On the bright side, now is a great time to really scrub and vacuum that carpet with everything out of the way. LOL
 

DudeStang

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You could have done that with out removing the console. I've done it a couple times. Pain in the ass, but doable. On the bright side, now is a great time to really scrub and vacuum that carpet with everything out of the way. LOL
I did a little bit of vacuuming but that's about it, lol.

I documented this in the latest video, which I'm currently finishing uploading but I did a little comparison with each of my three available shifter handles.

OEM, Steeda Tri-Ax, and SVE
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Side by side
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tjm73

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Did you drive it yet? Shifter makes a notable difference on these cars.
 

DudeStang

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Did you drive it yet? Shifter makes a notable difference on these cars.
I did. I finally got it installed and the interior put back together and I've driven it a few times the last few days. I love driving it even more with the new shifter.
 

JJDAG

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Heat gun finally arrived..along with some other random stuff. On Friday evening, something else arrived. Our foster dog, Lady, gave birth to one puppy at our house and then was having trouble delivering the next one. We ended up having to take her to the clinic and she got an emergency c-section. An little over an hour later we were driving home with Lady and six tiny puppies. Hell of a Friday, lol.

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Once things settled down, I managed to get some garage time. Took advantage of the heat gun and started removing the body molding stripe.

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I need to look a little bit closer but it seems like the stripe on the door moldings is possibly a different material or might even be painted on. I didn't want to melt the door moldings so I didn't mess with those much longer while removing the rest of the stripe around the car. I also got the front driver side wheel off again and started doing some more work on the rust. I need some spray bottles for the degreaser and metal treatment from the POR-15 kit. I had initially ordered them from Chemical Guys but the order got cancelled due to lack of inventory. Fortunately I was able to pick up a couple of alternatives with my grocery pick-up at Wal-Mart today. Hopefully these will work fine and I can get at least one side of the apron done with POR-15.

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On the alternator power cable situation, I finally just sucked it up and ordered the SR performance cable which already has the 200 amp in-line fuse. I figured between everything else I'd need to order to do it myself, I'd only be saving 15 bucks and at least with this kit I have everything already put together. That should be here in a day or two.

Anyways, I got a new video up documenting some of these things.


That stripe in the doors is not a sticker like the rest of the car. As I remember on mine it was a hard plastic piece that was part of the mounding. I think I still have the stripes for the front bumper. Anyway your stang is looking good!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

DudeStang

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Nice work Dude!
Thank you!

That stripe in the doors is not a sticker like the rest of the car. As I remember on mine it was a hard plastic piece that was part of the mounding. I think I still have the stripes for the front bumper. Anyway your stang is looking good!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That makes a lot more sense now. I haven't messed with the stripe on the door moulding at all since I made that video. I do want to get the rest of the new stripe installed at some point soon though, just to make it look less incomplete. The door sections will have to wait until I can figure out a plan for paint/body parts replacements.

Anyways, I'm still pretty happy with the SVE, especially for the price.

Newest video is up, with more details on finishing up the install and comparing the shifter handles:

 

DudeStang

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I’ve made zero progress recently...I blame the weather mostly. Snow the last three weekends and freezing temperatures over a couple of weeks before that. I really need to get some type of insulation for my garage.
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My other excuse is that we spent a couple of weeks test driving multiple vehicles before finally buying one early last week. I made a video about it, naturally.


I didn’t put all the details in the video or it would be like three hours long but if anyone here is on the tall side (I'm 6'5") and in the market for a crossover, I can offer lots of insight. We tested 11 vehicles initially, narrowed it down to 3-4, then bought one.

I also realized recently that it had been about a year since I bought the Fox Mustang and since it’s still too cold out to do any work, I made a video talking about most of the things accomplished on the car over the past year.

 

DudeStang

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It snowed again this week. I did get time to make a trip to an auto body shop in Fredericksburg to get a quote on replacing and painting the rear bumper cover on the Fox. It's the thing I hate the most on the car visually...so I think I might just do it if we can find the right bumper cover.

I also have some scratches on the 2014 GT's trunk lid that I have been wanting to get fixed for a long time....but I'm also floating the idea of getting into a newer Mustang or something different like a WRX STI or Civic Type R. The amenities of the Forester have me day dreaming of something newer/fancier but still fun and fast. I figure the Fox could still serve its function and fit my RWD V8 needs but I don't know if I'll do it or not. I've had a lot of automotive ADD lately. We'll see.

Anyways, I got bored and made another video.

 

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