New member from Illinois

JohnTaper · Jul 16, 2011

Hello everybody. I'm new to this board but not new to mustangs or cars in general for that matter. I'm an auto tech and the first mustang I owned was an 84 1/2 mustang GT 350.
My new baby is a 96 mustang GT. I bought it a couple weeks back really cheap. The reverse is out in the automatic trans and somebody hardwired the cooling fan. other than that the car is in amazingly good shape except for the paint fading on the hood. I've already got a guy trading me all of the manual swap items tomorrow including the t-45 itself.
Car has 109,000 miles and I picked it up for 1,200 bucks. Couldn't pass it up. Well here's some pics. I already yanked the engine and trans and will be going back in the same way with the manual since it seemed to go very smoothly.
I guess there is one more issue. The front right tire is sitting too far back in the wheelwell. I've got the K-member out right now and there was some room to go forward but I don't know if it is enough. K-member and control arm don't look bent but it is hard to say. I'm hoping moving the k-member as far forward as it can go in the slots on the pass side will resolve this problem. If not off to the frame shop for measurements I suppose. Well anyway, I look forward to hearing from everybody and contributing myself when I can. Also I have been doing some reading and from what I understand to make the auto crossmember work I will either have to get a offset mount or elongate the mount locater holes on the cross member. Is this correct?

Twista · Jul 16, 2011

welcome.

Maximum95 · Jul 19, 2011

Welcome, glad to see you are already putting hard work in your new stang!

Post some more pics as you go.

GrimRipperSVT · Jul 19, 2011

Dalamar · Jul 19, 2011

Welcome! and good luck with the mods.
regrards to your question, I think you'll have to modify the crossmember, possibly get a different mounting block.
just make sure the pinion is correct once your done.

on the K member, make sure it's squared w/ same measurement on both sides, and get it aligned. they should be able to tell you if anything is bent.

miss2slocoupe · Jul 20, 2011

welcome! and that wasnt a bad buy at all! It a good project and im glad to see your on your to making it a BA!! keep us posted on the build

JohnTaper · Jul 21, 2011

Thanks for the welcomes and all. Probably not the place to post this but does anybody know if the space in front and behind the front wheels to the wheelwells is supposed to be the same distance. Like say 2 " of space in front and behind front tire to wheelwells. I realize different tire and wheel sizes would effect this measurement I am just wondering if they are supposed to be offset front and back or just equal distance. Any info or direction to info is greatly appreciated.

I also found out why the body is in such great shape. There is no rust on this car whatsoever. I did a carfax and it's from California. It's only been near Illinois for 4 years. Other than that it was bought and registered in California. This thing just keeps getting better and better. I'm also lining up some black interior because I'm not a big fan of the tan and I'm planning on keepin this car for the long haul so I'm gonna have it solid as hell and the way I like it. There are too many things I am going to do to it so I'm sure I'll make a build thread here soon once I start gettin all the parts. Still waiting on the manual swap at this point. I'm not moving forward until I know I have this stuff first.