the slow white guy build.

[DKblue98GT]

Nice job on the undercoating and valve covers, what a difference! I too am an older guy who likes these cars. I have the 2 1/2" Magnaflow catback and really like the sound.

 

[mustanggarage]

Nice job on the undercoating and valve covers, what a difference! I too am an older guy who likes these cars. I have the 2 1/2" Magnaflow catback and really like the sound.

I looked through some of your build earlier today. very nice. I would love to do some of the suspension stuff you have done. I know I need new shocks and struts, I would also like to lower it about an inch, but I don't want to compromise the ride, or worry about dragging on mall mountains. so I am torn on that for now. I did however score a nice set of leather seats today for $300.00. I saw them on craigslist they are a nice grey out of a 2004 mustang. no tears, and in really pretty good condition all around. so next time I get the chance I will be pulling the old seats out and really scrubbing that carpet. then put the new ones in and that will be a major step closer to where I want to be.

 

[tazmndthomas]

very nice job your doing well I as you went that direction I have some bolt on mods then I did my suspension and then I did gears that's when the car woke up

 

[DKblue98GT]

The suspension mods on my car happened over a number of years on my 98 GT. I swapped everything but the springs into the Cobra so it was pretty turn key. I didn't realize how low the X brace sits on the convertables or I may not have gone so low in front. A 1" drop should make for a nice driver. I would look at some kind of progressive spring, the handling will improve and the ride will not suffer.

The new seats will make the car more enjoyable every time you get in it. There is a thread somewhere on here about wiring the 99-04 power seat tracks into the older cars. Keep up the good work! Pics please

 

[DKblue98GT]

What did you use to clean your convertible top? I need to do mine.

 

[mustanggarage]

What did you use to clean your convertible top? I need to do mine.

convertible top cleaner.
https://lmr.com/item/CCP-52700F/Mus...svSZQ2Tvi5GV0zWiNVyN3IuK40gt-1Yd3fxoCs5Lw_wcB

as far as the seats, the back seats will slip in no problem. I think the floor bracket is different on the front seats however. I will probably just swap the new seats onto the old tracks. my electric seat motor and everything works fine in the car currently so that should be no big deal. I spent some time with some tricleaner last night and got them cleaned up a bit. And I had to watch on you tube to figure out how to take the stupid back seat out so I could verify it was going to fit lol it should work fine. here are a couple pics.





for 300.00 I am happy with them. I will try to get the front seats pulled out tonight. I also need to do some work on that back window on the passenger side. it does not like to go up all the way without help. I imagine it just needs some cleaning and lubing. I will pull that inner quarter out once I get the seats out and see what needs done there. it goes up and down most of the way but it hangs right at the top and you have to help it close the rest of the way.

 

[DKblue98GT]

Thanks for the link, I have been looking for that exact product. Those seat look great!

 

[mustanggarage]

Thanks for the link, I have been looking for that exact product. Those seat look great!

you bet!

well I had a good day today. they finally finished the remodel on my office so it was moving day. and so I had a light day at work. so I came home early and this was waiting for me!.



I had a couple hours before I was supposed to pick Dad up to take him out for dinner, so naturally I got to work.








I still have some tweaking to do on it, and I will need to drive it a bit to find the inevitable rattles and squeaks, but it looks good to me!

 

[mustanggarage]

while I was under the car I removed the nuts for the subframe connectors and after I got back from dinner, I pulled the seats out. Yuck! I vacuumed and used carpet cleaner on the drivers side then took a picture.






it cleaned up pretty good I think.

then I took the passenger side rear quarter panel off and cleaned and lubed that window regulator, it seems to work better now. I will have to wait and see.

then came an interesting but pleasant surprise. if you look closely at that picture of the drivers side you can see that the seat wiring has been modified. I knew the seats in this car did not match the back seats, and as it turns out someone had put a later model seat in here already and already modified the wiring so all I had to do to bolt the new seats in was to drill two new holes for the rear seat back anchors. then it was plug and play.







now all I have to do is powdercoat the shock tower brace then take it for a test drive!

 

[g36 monkey]

Those look right at home! Good stuff!

 

[DKblue98GT]

The new seats and clean carpet look great. I looked back through your thread and realized you already had new edge front seats. It's nice when things are easy.

 

[mustanggarage]

on my blue 94 there are some adjustable side bolsters. these do not have adjustable bolsters, neither did the old seats so I assume that means they are not gt seats. is that correct, or did they do away with the adjustable side bolsters in the later model seats?

on another note, I fired the car up today and I really like the sound. I have not had a chance to get it out and drive it yet. I still have not changed the fuel filter, but I did not detect any exhaust leaks, or vacuum leaks. so I am pleased with that. look forward to seeing how it handles with the subframe connectors.

 

[g36 monkey]

94/95 had more adjustment than any other years. They probably saved $3 per car or something by eliminating it.

 

[mustanggarage]

94/95 had more adjustment than any other years. They probably saved $3 per car or something by eliminating it.

so are you saying they did eliminate it after 95, so these could be GT seats? It doesn't matter unless I ever need to upholster them in the future, but it would be nice to know. I do know they from a 2004.

on another note, I got some more powdercoating done tonight.

I find the powder sticks a lot better if you preheat the part. so first hang it up with wire, then get out my IR light and heat it up.



then spray the powder on and start baking.







then when I was done there were some areas that I did not get adequate coverage on so I sprayed on some more powder and did it all again. I worked on this for about 3 hours tonight.



but it turned out pretty good.



I will let it cool tonight I could bolt it on about 20 minutes but I don't feel like it tonight lol.


it is so much easier coating things that will fit in my oven lol. but this IR light gives me the capability to do pretty much anything I have the patience for. so it is a useful tool.

 

[caldeio]

undercoating looks nice!! It's very even and looks like there was no rust at all and it's fresh from the factory.

 

[mustanggarage]

installed the shock tower brace, replaced the fuel filter took it for a drive. it feels much more solid to me, but it still makes that noise when I go around that one corner. oh well, I guess I will just have to be careful. some day it would be fun to do some real suspension work on it.

 

[g36 monkey]

great job on the brace. And yes, that adjustability was gone after 95

 

[mustanggarage]

thanks. I have to say I love the sound of the magnaflow exhaust. I put flowmaster on my 89 and I like the magnaflow sound much better. I may have to swap those out someday.

on another note my horn doesn't work. I guess I am going to have to sort that out tomorrow

 

[mustanggarage]

The new seats and clean carpet look great. I looked back through your thread and realized you already had new edge front seats. It's nice when things are easy.

Hey speaking of easy since you have a convertible, and have done a lot of suspension work, I was window shopping over at the late model restoration website looking at suspension upgrades. I bought the sve upper and lower control arm kit, and I was thinking it is kind of dumb to replace those without replacing the shocks and struts, and since I am going to have it all apart I should look into lowering springs. well as I was looking this over I saw that a lot of the kits say for hardtop but not convertible. do you know what the difference would be in the shock and struts between the coupe and convertible? I have too options in mind, both will cost about the same. so I am going to have to save my pennies until christmas I suppose lol. but I am looking at the eibach kit because that is a name I have heard and recognized as quality in lowering springs, but this one does not list convertibles. the other option is to go with the koni shocks and ford racing springs. this says it will work with convertibles. also with my rear tires being the

• (2) Nitto 315/35/17 G2 Tires
• Overall Diameter 25.63"
• Overall Width 12.56"

I am concerned about them rubbing. I do not have any rubbing problems right now, but I really hate tire rubbing issues. can you offer any advice on this? thanks. anybody else who has anything to offer please chime in as well. thanks

 

[DKblue98GT]

I just checked the Latemodel website to make sure I wasn't making things up. I don't see the shocks and struts listed as being for coupes or convertables, only the springs. Since convertables weigh more they make different springs for them.

Depending on how much you want to lower the car I would probably go for the H&R sport springs 1.6" drop. I had the Eibach pro kit 1.7" drop springs in my coupe. They are a non progressive spring and the ride was kind of harsh. I have the H&R supersports 2" drop, which are a progressive spring now and the ride is much smoother than the Eibachs.

Both of these kits will lower your car about and inch and a half. I would just reuse the stock upper and lower spring isolators or you could buy new poly ones.

My 315's rubbed the inner fender well on the GT until I got new lower control arms. The factory control arms and worn out rubber bushings were pretty sloppy. You should have no rubbing issues as long as the wheels have the correct backspacing.

I have Tokico blue shocks and struts now but when these crap out I will do Bilstiens all around.

All of this is based only on my experience. I hope it helps!
Robb