Finally a Fox Body Owner - 1988 GT acquired!

Juice

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If your power steering whine is due to aerated fluid, an old time mechanic gave me a trick. Pour about a half ounce of STP oil treatment into the PS fluid Within a few seconds, no more air bubbles. I could not believe how well that works.
 

DudeStang

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Following up on the alternator cable issue - I wasn't able to re-use the ring terminal from the green wire and all the ones I have (that came with my cheap, crappy wire stripper) are too small. So I am waiting on some of those to arrive in the mail. I also ordered some more wire loom tubing, wiring harness clips, cloth wiring tape, and electrical tape.

In the meanwhile, I managed to make a little bit of progress using the POR 15 on the area underneath the battery tray (wheel well side). Unfortunately, I didn't think ahead and planned poorly with brush usage, so I have to wait until I get some more brushes before I can get to the engine bay side. I have some cheap brushes ordered for curbside pick up so fingers crossed that those are actually in stock). I managed to get two coats of the POR 15 on with the two brushes I had available.
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Once I get the brushes, I should be able to get some more rust work done and then eventually get the alternator cable situation squared away. Oh, in other exciting news, got a new t-shirt (and HP sticker) via Blipshift that I think some folks will appreciate.
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Anyways, here's my latest video documenting recent progress:

 

DudeStang

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I made some progress on applying the POR-15 kit on the frame underneath the battery tray. I will likely need some more of the POR-15 to get the shock tower done. On the shock tower though, I'm wondering if it would make sense to remove the master cylinder (and how difficult that is) in order to apply the POR-15 better. It's not the easiest space to get into.
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Back to the horn issue...I was finally able to get the screw out of the horn bracket, thanks to the torch idea. I found a couple of random screws that actually fit in the holes on the bracket (looks like they are from IKEA) but they fit in the bracket pretty tightly and they are too narrow for any of the holes on the frame. For now, I used some washers and attached both horns to the same hole but with that placement, I can't get the fender protector back in and I'm also wondering if the second horn is too close to where the tire will turn in. I will carefully test it out once I get the alternator and battery hooked back in. I am thinking I might need to just have someone weld the bracket back in eventually.

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Anyways, here's the latest video documenting these efforts.

I finally got some electrical tape and ring terminals, at least one of which will hopefully work. Planning to try and get the alternator and battery squared away and put back in this weekend.
 

DudeStang

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So on another forum, someone pointed out that my brake lines look like they might be copper. My car has a rear disc brake conversion but it looks like whoever did it kept the factory master cylinder and made custom lines coming from that MC.



A few folks have chimed in that copper lines are not good and that I should try to address this. Initially I was looking at purchasing the 1993 Cobra Master Cylinder, which appears to be somewhat of an upgrade, and can fit on 87-93 GT Mustangs without major modifications. The problem I'm anticipating though, is the Maximum Motorsports master cylinder installation kit doesn't appear to include the front port brake line, which I obviously need to replace too. I'm not seeing any front port lines available on MM or LMR.

I also looked at the 94-95 Cobra MC on MM and it looks like their installation kit does include a complete line kit. Anyone have thoughts on the 94-95 Cobra MC for a mostly stock 1988 GT?
 

Juice

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The 94-95 Cobra MC, (actually, I believe it is 94-04) is for the 13" Cobra front brakes. The bore size is different. I had to install the cobra mc. (was included with the cobra front brake kit).
Also, the rear brakes will have too much power. Highly recommend installing a bias adjuster. Easy to install at the right side hood hinge, there is a brake line coupler there that the adjuster replaces.
And for sure change those copper lines.
 

DudeStang

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Happy to report that I finally got the alternator power cable finished. I ended up running the power cable in one loom and the rest of the wires in a separate loom. It took a while but I got it looking how I wanted it, for the most part. I might need to redo the tape around some of the clips but for now, I'm pretty happy. Trying to get both looms to sit well and fit underneath the battery tray took the most time.

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Got a new video up documenting this progress and talking about a few other things:


I went ahead and ordered the 93 Cobra MC and installation kit. I'll try and figure out a solution for the front port line when the time comes.
 

DudeStang

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Foster puppy madness has occupied most of our time at the house the past few weeks. I found some time to make a new video but not a ton of progress on the car. The foster puppy goon squad should be gone this weekend so I'm hoping to start working on the master cylinder/brake line project soon. I believe I have everything I need for that but I do still need to pick up another can of POR-15 to use on the shock tower so I can do both of those at the same time.

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I also ordered the lower door hinge tension spring so I can finally fix the driver side door. Also managed to make some progress on getting the residue from the body molding stripe cleaned off (documented in the video a little bit as well).

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A few more pics of the foster puppy goon squad, since this is the pics and videos section.
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tjm73

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I could not foster puppys. I would become attached, unable to let go and then own several dogs. DAMN! They are cute.
 

DudeStang

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I could not foster puppys. I would become attached, unable to let go and then own several dogs. DAMN! They are cute.
If it had been like two puppies...that might have been the case but managing six was pretty insane, especially the last 2-3 weeks. Fortunately, they were all moved to their next foster homes very quickly. My wife's boss is fostering two of them and might adopt both so it's possible we could at least see them occasionally, which would be really cool.
 

DudeStang

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Still haven't made a ton of progress recently. In addition to the puppies, I've had a few things come up in the house that we need to work on sooner than later. I am still waiting on the shocks I ordered a few weeks ago. I did install new header panel support brackets...but I should probably take some time to clean up the screws. Still looks better than the rusty ones that I had on there.
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Also, I ordered a lower door hinge tension spring, since my driver side door won't stay open. I noticed today that the bag is marked a little bit differently. It says 82-83 door check tension arms...the parts in the bag look the same as what is advertised on LMR though, so I'm hoping it's still the right piece, just tagged or bagged incorrectly.
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Also, managed to make some time to clean a bit more of the space on one side of the garage. This area was pretty crowded and a pain to walk through until now. We recently ordered some new shelves to help better organize the garage and maximize space. It's the little things that help sometimes...
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Made a new video documenting some recent things:
 

DudeStang

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Finally got the driver side door able to stay open, by replacing the lower door hinge tension spring.

The installation video from LMR definitely made this seem like an easier install than it actually is...at least for me, lol.

 

DudeStang

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Good progress Dude!
Thanks!

Multiple failures/delays from the latest fox body efforts....


Hoping the ratcheting wrenches I ordered (should be here tomorrow) will help with the brake MC removal. Also planning to do more trouble shooting on the temp gauge issue based on some guidance from folks on another forum.
 

tjm73

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What issue have you been having with the temp gauge? I too am having either a gauge/sender issue or my engine is capital F fucked. I am going to swap a known good oil psi sender to see what, if anything, that does. Basically once my oil is warm the factory gauge (which is just a fancy idiot light) drops way low and dances and moves in correlation to the amount of throttle applied.
 

tjm73

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Just a little follow up. Last night I swapped that sending unit (literally a 5 minute operation) and went out for a nice 30 minute drive. When I discovered the potential problem I was driving the car to work. It happened about 15 minutes into a 25 minute commute down the highway. I figured 30 minutes of back roads around home would be much more rigorous than plodding down the highway at a steady speed. And if it was an engine issue I could limp home as I wouldn't be far away.

And the problem was the sending unit. After driving for over 20 minutes the gauge stayed more or less right in the middle of it's range. Now I have to get that mystery oil out and get the Valvoline Racing 5W30 in it with a nice new FL1A.

Jumping back to your temp gauge troubles.....I had problems many years ago with a factory gauge and it was a resistor on the back of the dash pod that averaged readings so the driver saw a steadier reading. So it could be that. Or it could have a bad temp sending unit.
 

DudeStang

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The gauge doesn't move at all on my car. It just stays stuck at the bottom below 130. I replaced the temp sending unit and there was no change. I've been advised on another forum to jump the sender wire to engine ground and that should tell me if the gauge itself is good or not. I will probably try that in the next few days.
 

DudeStang

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So it turns out that the temp sending unit actually did fix the gauge issue. I just didn't let the car run long enough.

I gave up on the outer nut/bolt and ended up getting the brake booster out. It was a huge pain. Getting the top two nuts required some seriously creative thinking, lol.

I managed to finally get the POR-15 kit applied to the firewall areas where the hood hinge cups go. I also applied it to the shock tower behind the factory proportioning valve.

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The brake booster has seen better days. Per the advice of someone on another forum, I went ahead and ordered a reman BB from Auto Zone, which should be here sometime next week. Fingers crossed.
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I documented these efforts of course. Latest video is up on my channel.


 

tjm73

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The easy simple repairs are the best. You go in expecting a massive hassle and it ends up being something simple.
 

Bullitt2954

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So on another forum, someone pointed out that my brake lines look like they might be copper. My car has a rear disc brake conversion but it looks like whoever did it kept the factory master cylinder and made custom lines coming from that MC.



A few folks have chimed in that copper lines are not good and that I should try to address this. Initially I was looking at purchasing the 1993 Cobra Master Cylinder, which appears to be somewhat of an upgrade, and can fit on 87-93 GT Mustangs without major modifications. The problem I'm anticipating though, is the Maximum Motorsports master cylinder installation kit doesn't appear to include the front port brake line, which I obviously need to replace too. I'm not seeing any front port lines available on MM or LMR.

I also looked at the 94-95 Cobra MC on MM and it looks like their installation kit does include a complete line kit. Anyone have thoughts on the 94-95 Cobra MC for a mostly stock 1988 GT?

If those are Cupronickel (and by the gold-ish colour in the photo, I believe they are), the Burst-pressure is higher than steel, and far more corrosion-resistant to boot.

I used to use steel exclusively, until I actually bent-up and flared a set of CuNi lines, about 3 years ago.....
 

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