Paul's Fox Body Restoration Build (Updated 11.29.14 - We Have Fuel Pressure)

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Paul

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I called Eddie Davis at LRS today - he's the rep assigned to all my orders. I told him the story, and he told me he's done that same thing with upholsterly before and it really pissed him off. One wrong cut and you're done for.

First he checked stock in the warehouses to see if they had a driver side panel that maybe had been returned as part of a pair, but unfortunately he didn't. They only sell them in pairs, and he sold me a new set for ~$240 (instead of $350) which he said is his price on it. It's still a $240 mistake, but what he did was really cool. It softened the blow a bit. Plus he's sending me some more armrest screws that I needed, and some returns I needed to do.

My Corbeau harness bar doesn't fit either, so he gave me the name of his guy at Corbeau. I'll call them first, but he said if I don't get anywhere to call him back. I must say, their customer service is pretty outstanding. Of course, it should be with the many thousands of dollars of crap I've bought from them... but still.


Croke came over today. He wired my cruise control up with my Momo steering wheel with the custom Croke-machined cruise control mount that he made. It's so awesome. I got the A/C condenser mounted. We started wiring the DC electric fan and water pump controller too.

I ran into some problems mounting the rest of the steering column trim, knee panel, and fuse box. I believe I installed an airbag dash in the car, but it has a tilt column. I know there's a difference between the 87-89 column/dash and the 90+ column/dash, so I need to find some of those parts. I need, at a minimum, the knee panel, fusebox cover, and I think the big plastic gauge cluster housing. Can anyone shed light on that?

It was good to make a little progress at least. Here's a few minor update pics .

LED taillight lamps installed.

LEDTrunkLight1.jpg

LEDTrunkLight2.jpg

LEDTrunkLight3.jpg

LEDTrunkLight4.jpg

LEDTrunkLight5.jpg

LEDTrunkLight6.jpg



Steering wheel awesomeness. I've really anxiously awaiting the install of this for a very long time. This is very cool.
MomoWheel.jpg


Paul.
 

the.greg

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I like how you kept the cruise control and integrated it to the momo wheel. This is really starting to come together.
 

duh09

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Your car just went from sick to baller-status with the cruise controls mounted on the Momo wheel.
 
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Paul

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My friend Croke machined that mount on his CNC mill at his house. I actually have a few extras too. :)

We can't take credit for the idea though. In the 90s, that adapter was actually sold by Momo for Mustangs. Since I hadn't seen one in well over a decade, I thought it would be basically impossible for us to find one. However, Croke's brother's car, which was just sitting in front of the house, just happened to have one. It was a truckload of dumb luck.

So, a little bit of measuring, and a few hours drawing the part in Solidworks, and BAM, I have one of my very own. :)

I want the car to be different, so having little touches here and there that you just don't normally see is part of the plan. Hardly anyone mounts Momo wheels in Mustangs anyway, let alone with the cruise control still intact.

Paul.
 

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Awesome build thread! Dont know how I have managed to never see this until now. Your notch looks great and is coming along nicely!
 

Musturd

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Nice man . My wheel in my coupe is just like that momo but black leather . I like how you mounted the switches there on the wheel that's clean . Oh yea the LRS door pannels are ****s . I know exactly what ur talking about
 
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Paul

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Wow, it's been a really long time since I've updated this...

Here is some stuff that has been done:
- The interior is pretty much all in now, and it looks great. I'll post some pictures later. Only thing I need to do now is repaint and install the armrests, find some longer bolts for my seats (because I'm going through an inch of sound deadener), and finishing install the plastic dash surround since the gauges and LEDs are all good to go now.
- Croke wired up my DC electric fan/electric water pump controller. It works awesome. There's a little sensor on the intake bolt right by my thermostat, and we tested it with the heat gun to make sure it all works. My new Contour dual-fan setup spooled up just right, and I could feel the electric water pump spinning.
- Croke fixed some of the litany of damaged/melted/cracked/FUBAR'd wiring in the car. It's a mess. He replaced the ignition coil pigtail, the wiring for the 3G alternator, and some other stuff around the starter solenoid, but there's still more work to do. We'll find out someday when it comes time to try to start the car.
- The front wheel splashguards are in, but I need to find some hardware so it's OEM correct. I primered and sprayed rubberized undercoating on the rear fenders so they're not just bare sheetmetal after the minitub. They should be good to go now.
- Contour fans were trimmed up a bit and are ready to install on the radiator. They look really great, are low profile, are supposed to flow very well, fit very well, and the price is incredibly reasonable through RockAuto.
- I replaced all the old crusty hardware, painted, and installed my used Flaming River steering shaft. The car has steering!
- Timing pointer is installed.
- Figured out why the column was not sitting centered with the driver seat. The brackets on the column were basically "flipped over" and there's a left and a right to it. Now it sits correctly. Much happier. Although my Momo wheel is small - I should've ordered the bigger one. Oh well. Not a huge deal.
- Fuel system is completely installed and ready to be pressure tested. Need to extend some wires for my fuel pressure sending unit to reach all the way back into the car where the gauge controller is. God I hope it doesn't leak. Looks nice though!

I need to get some dieletric grease and install the fuel injection harness. Hopefully the salt n' pepper shakers still work, otherwise I'll have to get someone (probably O'Connor) to re-pin the whole thing in some new weatherpack connectors.

It's coming along. Slowly but surely.

Paul.
 

MustangChris

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"salt and pepper shakers"??

sounds like solid progress man!!! i cant wait to see the pics!

will it make its way to any shows this year?`
 
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Paul

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Sorry, the primary engine compartment connectors for the ECU on foxbody cars are black and white cylinder-shaped connectors. People call them "salt and pepper shakers." They're a pretty common problem.

It won't make it to any shows this year. It probably won't even run this year, and if it did, I'm not much of a car show guy anyway. If it runs, I'll just drive it.

Paul.
 

Slykin

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If i'm correct the salt and pepper shakers are the electrical connectors or set up for the fox bodies.

Edit: Answered already...
 
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Paul

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Everyone should have a Croke. They are pretty much the best thing ever. He is a genius, and a solid gold human on top of all of it.
 

BlkoutGT

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I wish I had a friend named Croke... let alone one made of gold and the abilities to do electrical lol. When you get around to those pics, could you get a few of the fan controller/fan/water pump setup? I'd like to see what your attention to detail/OCD did in that area because I'm looking for new ideas.
 
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Paul

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I've been plugging away at the interior and some odds and ends a bit. Today I finally finished off the door panels and I also got the air dam installed correctly. I'm going to drop by Richard's house tomorrow to look at his '88 coupe for comparison because I'm trying to figure out routing on some of the stuff in the engine bay.

Anyway, here's some pics:



The air damn, like everything else on the car, was either attached with either the wrong bolts or no bolts at all. It was sort of hanging there all dilapidated and sad looking. I ordered the hardware from 5.0 Resto and fixed it today.


Here it is when I started:


Then the awesome fasteners, which was one wrong bolt and one zip tie, neither of which were really doing anything.



5.0 Resto to the rescue:



All fixed. Looks proper.



Finally got around to repainting and assembling the new armrest assemblies. Got new chrome trim strips and armrest pads since my old ones were shot. Door panels look pretty decent now. Fitment was a bit of a challenge at times, but it looks light years better than it used to.



Seats are in the car, but I need to buy some longer bolts to bolt them down, plus clean up some of the threads that were damaged by the wrong bolts I took out.


Center Console looks decent. Basically everything is new. I want to get a cool shift knob... but I don't know what I want yet. Radio isn't installed, and stopped working anyway. Don't know what's wrong with it.


Most of the interior is done now. Maybe tomorrow I'll paint the gauge cluster surround and lower collar trim piece. I think Croke has a little wiring left to do in there so I'm not sure if it's worth installing it yet.

Paul.
 

Ferocious

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That interior looks mint. Not really something you see often in a fox-body. Well done.
 

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