FivepointSlow's 4.6 Build

FivepointSlow

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The irony is in the title.

I am back into a Mustang again!
4 years since abandoning my previous build and getting into a Crown Victoria and dumping entirely too much money into that, I have picked up @JonBeast old 1998 Mustang GT

His old build thread can be found here

How did I acquire the car?

I have pretty much done everything I had wanted to do to the Crown Victoria, and started to get bored of it. I do not drive it every day as I have a 2010 F150 that I daily drive, and while getting into the Vic every now and then was enjoyable, It wasnt what I wanted. I enjoyed the crap out of it while I had it, but I badly started wanting to get back into a Mustang.
for months I searched craigslist and other sites for a deal, and about 2 months ago I finally put the Vic up for sale.
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Prior to having a buyer for the Vic, I came across a craigslist add of a familiar car...
1998 Mustang GT - $3500
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98 mustang with 2002 4.6v8 engine
198,000 miles on body
About 100,000 miles on engine
Interior was redone at the same time the engine was rebuilt

Why does this car look so familiar????

After reaching out to the members of this forum for some answers, we figured it out!
I reached out to Jon via instagram about the car, and went through his build thread as the seller didn't know much about the car because his dad gave it to him to sell to help pay for his student loans.

I had followed Jon's build back when I had my 94, and I was in love with the car then.

I asked the seller to send me more detailed pictures and this is what I received
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I made the ~125 mile trip up to eastern Mass to see the car.
It was untouched from when JonBeast had sold it 6 years ago.
Literally untouched. It was filthy, has some paint problems, cracked bumper, etc etc. But not modded any further.
With a jumpstart it started right up, and besides an occasional whining sound coming from the belt area, it ran perfect.
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According to the seller, his uncle bought it from Jon, and then passed it to his dad, then his cousin allegedly drag raced it here and there, and now his father gave it to him to sell.

After a bit of negotiating I got the price down a bit...

It's all there, and needs some work for sure..
-cracked front bumper
-cobra lip is half torn off
-there is a spot of surface rust on the drivers door
-passenger rear quarter panel has flaking paint(thanks ford)
-drivers rear fender lip caught the wheel at some point and was pulled down
-passenger corner light weather stripping is falling off
-both headlights are hazy and leaking, the HIDs also do not seem to work
-missing spare tire and jack, and the trunk is just kinda torn apart
-passenger front seat isnt bolted in... why? Who knows...
-rear wheels are all chewed up from hitting the fender
And I'm sure theres other things I havent discovered yet.

I went up today after work to pick it up after selling the Crown Vic just yesterday.
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and Exhaust videos of course!
https://i.imgur.com/pTdVOW9.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/2CW7EHo.mp4

I am very excited to dive into this project and revive this car, this is my game plan for now...
-Clean it up and fix the headlights
-Register and insure it for about a month (I want to enjoy it as I didn't get to enjoy my 94 build)
-Park it for the winter (F you too New England)
-Dive into it and fix it up over the winter
-Air suspension is definitely on the to-do list, especially after having it in the Vic, just not sure how soon that will happen...
-Roll the fenders so they stop killing the tires
-Fix broken interior panels (door cup insert where the switches are pops out every time the door shuts, etc)
-Replace worn interior buttons (headlight knob, window switches, lock switches etc)
 

07GtS197

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Oh good you got it, nice! Cant wait to see the progress of this thing.

Also before I forget, if it has a low beam only hid kit make sure the turn signal stalk isnt pushed back as though the high beams are on. Id never had hids before I bought my 02 gt and lets just say I might have had a similar situation... lol.
 

mikey94gt

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Good to see one of the nicer cars on this forum is still around! I'll be watching to see how this (re?)build goes.

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Burninriverdiver

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Hell yes! Its going to be great watching you revive this one to be better than it's former glory
 
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FivepointSlow

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I got the car off my trailer without issue, I inflated the tires to 32psi as they were all at 12 when I went to go get it and I only inflated them to about 22 with my little cigarette lighter compressor to get it on the trailer. It rolled off without hanging on the midpipe which I was surprised about.
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I started to dive into the interior and get an idea of what needs to be fixed
First item on the list is to fix this sketchy radio bezel due to it having every tab broken off of it and replace what looks like a new Chinese android unit which I already hate and is duct taped to the broke bezel. I got a phone call after connecting my phone and everytime I get a call the ringtone plays at full ear bleeding volume and theres no way to change that setting, you just have to turn the volume knob down... so dumb...
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The door insert is another victim of broken tabs, everytime the door is shut it pops out...
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Hey! Green door! lol
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The passenger side is in good shape though!
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I can get used to this view though
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All of the gauges in the cluster seem to work, with the exception of the odometer. Pretty sure this is around about the mileage it had when JBeast sold it 6 years ago.
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This ones a funny one. I'm not sure why but the passenger seat is bolted down in the front, but is not bolted down in the rear, and I dont see any bolt holes for it.. So I am not sure what thats about...
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Shifter boot is not attached to the bezel, though I think I want to replace the shift boot and get all fancy with it so that is fine for now, however I found that the shifter handle was pretty loose and it turns out the 2 bolts in it had almost backed themselves entirely out.. hand tightened them up ad the shift is very tight. I like it.
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Rear of the interior is in great shape. I need to get a strip of vinyl back up on the top of the window though, looking pretty dumb.
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Headlight knob has seen better days
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The drivers side door lock doesn't seem to lock with the door button or the key fob, it moves down just a smidge, but its like it gets stuck, if you push it down it locks, and when you unlock it it works just fine, but wont fully lock. I am not sure if the rod isnt lined up right or if thats the actuator going out
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I dont even have any words for this
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Noticed this on the hood, I am going to clean it off tomorrow and make sure its not actively flinging grime off the belt... May just be from 6 years of neglect
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This is probably why the headlights do not work, HID ballast is resting against the motor and the wiring is shoved next to the battery
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FivepointSlow

FivepointSlow

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That booty though
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This is pretty funny. I was messaging Jon (previous owner) today while I was giving the car a thorough once over, and he sent me this
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And I proceeded to send him back this
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I started to clean the leather up. It was dingy and dirty looking. This is before and after on the console lid.
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Anyone have any tips for getting black scuff marks out of light colored leather? For some reason the passenger seat is pretty bad. I didn't have anything aggressive enough to get it out.
 

07GtS197

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Damn Im jealous of those gauges!

Im willing to bet the drivers side door lock actuator is going out, I had the same issue with my 87 grand marquis. The replacements are crap so if you can get away with maybe freeing it up do it.

Also are you going to get another double din bezel or are you going to get a single din?
 
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FivepointSlow

FivepointSlow

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I cleaned up the filth today. Paint is in way better shape than I thought. And the rust spot on the door just turned out to be some weirdly colored dirt and came right off... lol
Before ( I couldnt wait yesterday and cleaned the hell out of the wheels, but other than the wheels I hadnt cleaned anything else in this picture..
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Before/Afters
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Spent about 2 hours scrubbing the entire car today, the amount of dirt was terrible, and I feel like it was almost baked into the paint.
But it came out great!
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I am going to have to take out the headlights and taillights, and possibly other body panels because theres dirt caked on in all of the panel gaps. I dont even want to talk about how filthy under the trunk and gas door are...

There is also a strong possibility while washing and scrubbing my fingers numb, that I pushed on the fake brake vent enough to dislodge it and send it into a black hole... Anyone know the easiest way to get in there and get it out?
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evilcw311

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Can you not get it from inside? You have to take out back seat and the side panel but there may be a place to reach in.


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FivepointSlow

FivepointSlow

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Can you not get it from inside? You have to take out back seat and the side panel but there may be a place to reach in.


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I was thinking that or the side skirt may be my best bet. I'll try the interior route when I get off work today. Thanks!
 
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FivepointSlow

FivepointSlow

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So today after work I used the about 4 minutes of daylight I had to do some diagnosing.
I recovered the side vent insert from the blackhole that is my quarter panel. It clips onto the side vent from the back. Does anyone know how the side scoop comes off? I'm not sure if its glued/taped or if there are bolts holding it on...

I dived into the headlight/foglight problem next.
I am super not impressed with how the HIDs where installed (sorry Jon).
The ballasts are kinda just shoved here and there and not secured anywhere. I played around with the OEM headlight plugs that connected to the HID harness and discovered something interesting right away.
The HIDs have a magnet in the bulbs that seems to pull the bulb into the base of itself when the headlights are turned on and it receives power. Interesting as I've never seen that before and not sure why that movement is necessary. But it provided me with some good info. Because of that function I was able to conclude that the problem is solely in the HID system, probably just the bulbs, but either way its not the stock wiring. Power is being sent when it should be. So a set of Halogen bulbs will fix my headlight problem. Great!
I have plans to do retro fits and going back to HIDs. But for now Halogens will suffice.

Next up was diagnosing the foglights... I had a suspicion that the headlights not functioning was causing the foglights to not work. But now that I know the headlights are receiving power it must be a different problem.
My first guess now was another bulb/ballast problem. I had my test light out from testing the headlights, and I couldn't find any power getting to the foglights... Oh great.
So I jumped in the interior and popped the switch out, and what the crap...
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That is a foglight switch, with nothing plugged into it... Okay weird.
So I poked around the center console looking for the harness, I am familiar with most of the car wiring and harnesses from my 94 as that was a wiring nightmare. So I knew what I was looking for, should be a square plug with 4 wires coming out of it... didn't see anything. So I started lightly pulling on some wires to see if the harness was tucked in somewhere and then I pulled these out..........
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This was a worrying find. Someone had cut the harness off, and went to the trouble of doing that and taping the ends of the wires... Why? Am i going to find another problem? Was something wrong with them and someone was trying to fix them? What am I getting into??
Then I remembered seeing 2 harnesses in the center console bin..
Pulled those out and sure enough I recognized them both, the foglight pigtail and the convertible top switch pigtail (unused in coupes obviously)
Twisted the ends together and wouldnt ya know...
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So why someone would cut the connector for the perfectly working foglights is beyond me, but now I just have to properly connect those 2 pigtails up (the convertible top one just for piece of mind to prevent any crazy shorts), and pickup some headlight bulbs, and as far as I am concerned I will have a road legal car :)

I do need to look into why the passenger seat isnt bolted down in the back of the seat bracket and fix that before my girl gets in but otherwise I will be insuring and registering it next week
 

evilcw311

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Had they possibly rewired it so the fog lights were always on like driving lights?? And then maybe decided against it?!? Just a thought


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ttocs

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someone was probably trying to wire them to come on with the parking lights and then gave up/didn't have the right connectors or idunno.
 
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FivepointSlow

FivepointSlow

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someone was probably trying to wire them to come on with the parking lights and then gave up/didn't have the right connectors or idunno.
Well when I wired the switch back up they come on with just parking lights, so if that was the goal they had it... not sure why chopping both harnesses was necassary I know I did that mod on my 94 but you just have to swap pins.. lol
 

mikey94gt

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The fog light wiring is crazy man. I'm glad you've figured out a lot of the issues already tho

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FivepointSlow

FivepointSlow

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Went through DMV hell today and finally ended up with some temp tags, which ironically they make you put in your rear window, regardless of tint.. So it basically looks like I am driving around with no registration... :)
When I got temps for the Vic, they had a construction paper like plate that they had you place where the rear plate normally goes, now I guess CT is just doing regular printer paper and putting it in the rear window...

Anyways I took it out for a bit before it got dark out, I am in love.

The only problems I found during my drive was rubbing at full lock in the front, and the rear feeling like it was kicking out on the passenger side when I shift semi aggressively... I am thinking bushing? But it doesnt really seem that bad, just something I noticed and will have to keep in mind.

I picked up some headlight bulbs and undid the HID shitshowwiringmess
I had to tape the bulbs in unfortunately because the HIDs had built in retainer clip things for the bulbs and I do not have a set for stock bulbs... Add it to the parts list...

All in all very pleased.

And of course, pics.

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evilcw311

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Where’s the Smokey burn out videos?!?!


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Burninriverdiver

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It cleans up very well, glad the paint is in better shape than you expected. You're doing us all a favor with the photos, I know I'm looking at a good thread when my phone has trouble loading the page lol
 

PinkieT

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Nice project! TJhe side scoops bolt on from the inside. I have a really nice 98 radio bezel with all the tabs if you need one. There is a self-serve boneyard nearby, so if you need other small pieces let me know...
 

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