98 BAB GT - The Moosetang

chithead · Apr 7, 2022

No better way to kick off a build thread than to dive right in and what's been done, right? I've been a Mustang guy since high school, but mostly fox bodies. Can remember seeing the SN95 riding around, but wasn't really a fan. There were a few that of course were ok, but liked the New Edge better when it was introduced. That all changed about 2 years back. After starting a Fox Body club on Facebook, started hunting for one to work on in my spare time. Stumbled across a 98 Mustang GT that really caught my eye. Not sure if it was the Bright Atlantic Blue color, or the potential there with a really great platform for upgrading. She was a bit neglected, looked to have been sitting for a while. Story I heard from the seller was it was his uncle's car. Radiator popped, coolant went into the transmission (4R70W), so he parked it. Transmission got a rebuild and his nephew decided to sell the car. Everything seemed to work, or so I thought.

On the way home, noticed the odometer wasn't working. And a check engine light come on. So that's where we begin.

Getting her in the garage for the first go round of repairs:

Quick Google search revealed the odometer issue. Ordered the new gears from Amazon.

Yup, definitely a problem:

Decided to throw some red Testors paint on the needles while it was all apart:

chithead · Apr 7, 2022

The trunk hinge had the shock ball broke off - have a great hookup nearby to get everything that could be desired - Out To Pasture Mustang parts in Salisbury, NC. He hooked me up with all sorts of goodies, and has been for the past 2 years.

New (used) hinge:

Then tackled the check engine light. Checked codes and ended up with three. An online search said they were all EVAP related, so decided to just replace the common faulty parts. Purge Valve, Flow Sensor, and all four O2 sensors.

Also scored a set of "real" 03 Cobra wheels from a friend for a super great price:

Couldn't wait to pop those on:

She looks like a monster truck now with those wheels on there. Sitting way too high. The horse broke too when I tried to fix the bent tail. Oh well.

Repaired the armrest lid, and ordered a new bottom for it from LMR:

Then tackled the leaking trunk (my handy helper that keeps saying it's HIS car when he starts driving):

PinkieT · Apr 7, 2022

Nice car, great story!

chithead · Apr 7, 2022

Thank you! Was going to say unfortunately, the saga continues - but it really isn't that unfortunate. REALLY enjoy working on her, most of the time. The unfortunate part, was when most of the fun, became not so fun. Noticed a coolant leak towards the rear of the engine. Started out just a tiny puddle, turned into a much larger puddle after a few days. Couple Google searches said to check those heater hoses, so I replaced them. Still leaked. That led me to believe possibly the intake wasn't sealing properly to the cylinder heads. So, started the fun process of removing the intake.

When I flipped it over, there was these rubber band looking things, but no intake gaskets?

Went to the parts store and picked up some gaskets. Put those on:

Intake manifold went back on, and she wouldn't start. What the... messed around with some things and finally got her to crank... but man. Coolant was absolutely pouring out everywhere.

Asked my mustang parts guru guy from Out To Pasture and he said because it's a Dorman intake, there are different gaskets. And they look like rubber bands. Back to the parts store, picked up the, "other" gaskets - and took the intake off again.

Went ahead and replaced injectors while it was off this time:

And drove her to work the next day:

Well. She leaked. Still. Coolant. Right at the back.

Turns out the intake manifold was actually cracked by the heater hose at the rear. She sat for a while while trying to make a decision what to do. It really wasn't that much money to go ahead and replace the manifold, but was a bit of labor, and of course - the proverbial, "rabbit hole" that would open up. And boy did it. So... manifold replacement doesn't leave but a few options. And of course I went with the Ford Performance intake. But... that meant a few things had to be changed. Due to how low into the valley the runner of the Ford Performance intake drops, had to replace the metal heater hose tube, the nipple that goes into the block behind the water pump, then went ahead and replaced the water pump, belt, thermostat - all those fun things.

But did we stop there? Of course not! Swapped the factory 65mm throttle body for a SVE 75mm from LMR, and changed the stock 68mm upper plenum to a 75mm unit from Trick Flow:

Had to get the matching valve covers too:

Rear diff cover was leaking as well. Went ahead and took care of that since we're adding fancy parts:

Ok. So we've got her running, and able to drive again. And wholly bee-yalls does this thing haul now. Apparently the car was ingesting coolant the whole time since buying her. With the manifold replaced and that little bit of extra air coming in, dang. I do believe this car is quicker than my '91 5.0 was.

chithead · Apr 7, 2022

Check out how clean the heads were when I swapped those valve covers:

That was a pleasant surprise.

Picked up some new headlights too:

chithead · Apr 7, 2022

Friend from work happened to have a whole bunch of parts he wanted out of his shed, and I just happened to have a whole bunch of audio equipment he wanted to trade for:

Ended up with new rear calipers, new rear Brembo Cobra rotors, rear Cobra caliper brackets, front and rear brake hoses, emergency brake cables, brake pads, Cobra and Mach 1 front calipers, front Cobra brackets, Cobra front rotors, and another set of hubs and spindles. He also had some adapters that were to adapt the rear Cobra brackets onto the GT flange, but I couldn't get them to work at all. Maybe they were for a Fox body 8.8 and not the 94-98? Anywho. Decided to hunt for some Cobra axle flanges and was quickly disappointed. $400 for a used set? Ridiculous. Saw some billet aluminum adapters, but wasn't sure how they'd hold up. A quick search locally uncovered a 97 Cobra axle, with Yukon shafts already installed. And for $300!!!

Great piece to start with.

So let's start with basically a complete suspension rebuild. All the bushings were wore out, so a kit from Prothane was ordered.

What a nightmare that was. Getting those old bushings out was a royal PITA. Took FOREVER. But it happened. Drill bit method works, once you figure it out. Took a bunch of tries and a few snapped bits before I figured it out though.

Here she is during the tear down:

Installed Moog ball joints, Moog inner and outer tie rods, and Timken front wheel hubs.

New hub nuts, dust caps, rear caliper hardware, rear axle caliper bracket bolts, rear caliper slider assemblies, front caliper rebuild kits, front caliper hardware, brake hoses, Koni STR.T shocks for the front, Koni STR.T shocks for the rear, new strut boots, and the Prothane offset steering rack bushings were all ordered from LMR and installed.

Also nabbed some lowering springs locally:

The Cobra and Mach 1 calipers were a project, they had about six layers of paint on them. Used paint stripper to get it most of the way off:

After wire brushing, hand scrubbing, then spraying some silver caliper paint to protect and seal everything:

And then a splash of high heat color - Burnt Copper:

Used a razor blade to get the letters cleaned up:

chithead · Apr 7, 2022

Prepping the Cobra rear axle for installation:

A bit of paint:

Cleaning up the control arms:

And all ready to go:

Front end was the first part to go back together:

Still not sure I like that copper color on the calipers. Already have another color choice in mind that I like better. Will be changing them later on:

Soooo, yes those were new rotors. No, I didn't keep them. They are Cobra rotors, but I wanted drilled/slotted to match the rears. Ordered a set from LMR.

Definitely needs an alignment, but holy geebees does this thing stop now. Like, crazy stopping power. And I can feel what people were saying about the road transfer into the car from the poly bushings. Is it different, oh yes. Is it unbearable, not for this application. I'll gladly give up a bit of that cushy ride for this go kart handling.

Ordered new sway bar bushings too. Was thinking of replacing the sway bars, but a lot of other Stang owners say with all these upgrades, stiffer sway bars could actually hinder performance, making her want to understeer instead of oversteer. So I'll keep them factory for now.

chithead · Apr 7, 2022

Not long after getting the front end together, the thermostat housing decided to blow out from the intake manifold. Normally, not too bad of an issue. But on the 4.6 2V - the bolts that hold the housing, are also two of the intake manifold bolts into the cylinder head. So yup, you guessed it - that means the cylinder head was stripped. How in the heck do we fix that. Two words, heli coil. The torque rating on these really wasn't much at all, so after pulling the intake (AGAIN) it really wasn't bad at all to drill, tap, and insert the heli coil. Has held up great ever since.

And then finally had a chance to swap out the rear axle. What a beyotch. I'm not sure which was worse, that entire front end rebuild, or just swapping the rear. Had to get some Cobra specific brake pads as apparently the GT pads are too thick for the Cobra rotor. Still not sure why Cobra pads cost twice as much and are almost half as thick. Oh well.

And here she is all put back together:

Also ordered an exhaust - SLP Loudmouth II for a 99-04 Cobra. It is meant for an independent rear suspension from the 99-04 Cobra, but was supposed to fit the solid axle cars with some slight modifications.

I rigged it for a bit, and planned to do a much better setup to securely hold the pipes and mufflers soon, but one tailpipe ended up falling down while cruising home one afternoon. Pulled that off and put on a set of Flowmaster dumps for now, but will revisit the exhaust avenue another time. I actually LOVE the way she looks without tailpipes, and plan to keep it this way.

RAU03MACH · Apr 7, 2022

Turning in to a nice project nice

chithead · Apr 7, 2022

k you so much! It's been an adventure focused mostly on bringing her back into some form of glory that she deserves. Hopefully can start moving towards the looking nice parts soon.

Scored a Bassani X-pipe locally too for a good price - same guy that had those Flowmaster dumps actually:

Those tires look so mean on there:

So the X-pipe didn't fit. Read a lot about people saying the Bassani would fit either manual or auto trans and didn't matter 2V or 4V, but the driver's side cat hit against the 4R70W linkage, and the flange didn't even line up to the manifold studs on that side. Probably could be modified to work, but I'd rather not. Local exhaust shop quoted $800 to make it and the SLP exhaust fit with over the axle pipes they would fabricate. I politely declined.

Went ahead and changed the speed sensor since the O/D Off light would randomly flash sometimes while driving. Turns out the connector was actually split, and wasn't making a good connection. LMR has the replacement though! New connector installed, new speed sensor, and swapped to the red speedometer gear for the Cobra 3.27 rear end.

Found some two tone door panels too I'd like to swap in. But you know how you're there, looking at them, and swear it'll be perfect, then get it home and shake your head... that happened. Apparently Opal grey and Medium Graphite are more different than they appear:

Oddly enough, I like the Opal grey better. Thinking about getting that color dye for the dash and console. Planning to replace all the seats and carpet. Probably switch the carpet to black. Doesn't seem like it would be too terrible of a job, especially once the seats, console, and carpet are removed. I need to do that anyways for all the audio plans already in place.

Frank.JD.Perez · Apr 7, 2022

gib bab goodness

Musturd · Apr 7, 2022

BAB is one of my fave colours . Nice start on the build .

garrittpwl · Apr 7, 2022

Looks great! Jealous of the blue!

chithead · Apr 8, 2022

Thanks a lot, I wasn't sure about having the blue at first (my wife already has a Hydro Blue Wrangler) - but it really is a gorgeous color. Can't wait to touch up some scratches and stuffs and get a fresh clearcoat on her.

Forgot to add there was a transmission leak from the beginning too. Ironically, it was dripping from the bellhousing, and I thought pump seal for sure. But after replacing the intake manifold and stopping that coolant leak, the drip was all around the trans pan. Some searches led to questioning the integrity of that dipstick O-ring, so I decided to start there. But the O-ring was quite, "crispy" - replaced it with a fresh one, and added a second above it so there are two O-rings to seal. Leak is fixed!

Been driving her all week and really couldn't be happier. Feels much better to be behind the wheel instead of laying next to some jackstands.

Deceptive GT · Apr 9, 2022

Gotta love saving cars.

TORCH · Apr 12, 2022

Those Cobra brakes look nice in that color and like the blue especially. I will be looking for some cobra brakes for my ranger im building ,that's another story.

chithead · Apr 12, 2022

Thank you! I hope to make her more worthy of the forum here as time and money allows.

NEURON · Apr 12, 2022

Great pix and text. My old BAB Cobra.

TORCH · Apr 13, 2022

chithead said:
Thank you! I hope to make her more worthy of the forum here as time and money allows.

It takes time getting the money up. I have too many projects.

chithead · Apr 13, 2022

NEURON said:
Great pix and text. My old BAB Cobra.

View attachment 16539

That is beautiful! I did find a Cobra hood local, but can't really decide whether to go for that or not. Feel bad enough already sneaking a Snake in the grille. Can't imagine the poser hate flying in if I did a hood swap. But it's already painted BAB and looks to be in very good shape.