Got a better look at the rust on the shock towers today, disconnected the distribution block from the rail and the hydroboost unit from the firewall. Whoever the engineer was at Ford when they designed the hydroboost unit should be punched. For some reason they made it so there is one nut in the engine bay side, and three inside the car, under the dash. Why couldn't they have done it the opposite?! to make matters worse there is so much shit in the way of accessing the nuts under the dash it spent a lot longer than it should have to unbolt it, let alone contorting my body to fit under the dash. Anyway, I might look into replacing the hydroboost unit as I have already had to replace the master cylinder, plus it is already out. I have to check and see how much they are and if its worth it to do it now. While I was contorted under the dash I saw that grommet/gasket that Odessa suggest for the steering shaft, Super easy to get to and will definitely be replacing that as mine looked like it has seen better days.
there is the obvious hole on the rear side of the shock tower, but the more concerning part is that the rust from the tower is actually pushing and rippling the driver side rail. it is hard to see in the pictures ( see picture 4) but the driver side rail is actually slightly bowed out towards the passenger side. The plus side is the actual rail it solid, aside from what looks like surface rust just starting in the wheel well area when the spring perch of the K-member touches the rail. I found a salvage yard in Florida and California that says they have strut tower and rail assemblies in their yard, going to give them a call tomorrow and see how much they want for them and how much shipping would be. I figured its better to spend a little extra in shipping from a southern or western state as those cars have a far higher chance of being rust free, this also beats trying to make my own patch panel. All depends on the price the yards want.
I also saw that
LMR sells rail repair kits for Foxbodies, I know the new edge is based on the fox platform and someone in the review section mentioned they used the kit to fix their 1995 GT but had to make some modifications to the kit. If my frame rail is that bad, i may just end up going that route. It's a shame that restoration panels aren't really available for these SN-95 cars, They are at that weird age where most people will junk them because they are old, and then other people who see the "collect-ability" if you will, of them and want to save them. I am the latter, and I bet within the next 5 years we'll see patch panels and restoration parts start to be sold.
The passenger side looks mint compared to the driver lol. It is just starting to rust on the front side, the rest is all surface that I can easily take care of. The only other concerning part I noticed on the passenger side was that on the inner wheel well area by the A/C accumulator it is starting to show some signs of surface rust(see last picture.) I assume this is from the A/C lines in that area and some of the lines having moisture on them. Not a big deal at all as i plan to bedline/undercoat both of the wheel wells and inside of the fenders to prevent this sort of rust from happening again.
