1984.5 Mustang GT Turbo Convertible Restoration

[ChristmasGT]

Good news! Decided to pull the trigger on the new Fuel system. All of the old Nylon lines have been removed and am going the Stainless route.

Doing the fuel system on a Fox can be a bit confusing, even with all of the info out there. So in order to clarify a bit, I made a Flow diagram to help explain what fittings should be needed. If during the install I find that anything is screwy I'll adjust the diagram a bit and remove the one below so not to cause any confusion.

This utilizes the stock pump bracket (The pump is a Walboro 255).

Everything should be here Wed's, I'm hoping to get it all in place on Saturday night.

As an added note, it doesn't look like the Gas Gauge has been working very well in the car, going to go ahead and replace the Level Sending Unit since it's likely pretty old.

[svonturbogt]

your gt looks amazing my friend. Keep up all your good work.
Tony

[hcmclean]

GT looks awsome! Cant wait to see it finished.

[ChristmasGT]

Hey Guys!

Wanted to give you guys an update. I actually ended up re-painting the 1/4 panels, Door Jambs, and Trunk Jamb this weekend. Spent Saturday wetsanding everything, looking pretty good! The Jambs turned out awful the first time.

Hoping to put the doors on this weekend and then start getting them ready for paint, need to get around to replacing the hydraulics for the top motor, and probably the struts for it as well.

[ChristmasGT]

Been a crazy long time since I've posted Pics. Everything's looking so much better, getting better each time I paint.











Fixed the door chime issue as well, that one for some reason in particular has been bugging me.

Also, it runs! Need to do some tweaking, but the PiMP and Ron Francis wiring is in and things are looking very very good!

[ChristmasGT]

Just a few more below. I'll be re-shooting the rockers in the next week or so when the paint shows up, then after that hang the doors and and get to work on the outers. Once things get wrapped up, I'll take the IC piping and have it powder coated white to match the car, should look great.

[JTurbo]

You're making great progress.

[82GTforME]

You're making great progress.

I'll say, looking good!

Everything's looking so much better, getting better each time I paint.

I'm in the same boat, but practice makes perfect for sure!

[ChristmasGT]

Whoo boy, weather's starting to turn nice, so it's time to run the gauntlet again! Really pushing for this thing to be on the road by early April. Got a ton done the last few days.


That passenger side door gap is a thing of beauty, the new pins really helped a lot.


The trunk's back on as well! Actually pulled the bracers out of a 93 when I grabbed the skeleton top, the deck outer needs to be repainted the same time I get to the doors, but good to see it actually look like a car again.


Also, was able to get the new springs, shocks and quad-shocks installed this weekend.


Mocked up the door panels for fun, only had them on for maybe an hour after I got the car. Both panels need to be re-done for sure. But the passanger side is by far the most needed.


Here's the lower driver side door bracer. It seems like it's pushed out a bit too far (hard to tell in the picture I know). With the new door Pin fully seated, I can't get the cotter pin through since it's not far down enough. It also is causing the lowest pin bushing to back out a little bit. Going to try and fix this one this week.


Both doors are on (this is just a shot of the passenger side). The passenger side looks great, the drivers side needs a bit of reworking, but nothing too crazy.

[ChristmasGT]

FINALLY! The doors are done, I'll be polishing them out this week, they should turn out really well. Also, went ahead and re-shot the trunk as well.

Should make some great progress this week

[ChristmasGT]

Got some more work done on the car this evening. Things are progressing pretty well, the doors look MUCH better now that they've been wet sanded and buffed.

It's definitely not perfect, but overall I'm pretty happy with it given the conditions I've been painting in and considering some of the MAACO jobs I've seen, hopefully things start coming back together pretty quickly.

[JTurbo]

Awesome!

[ChristmasGT]

Got a bit more work done this evening. Decided to spend some time working on the body molding, just to see how it's going to look when done, got to say, it looks great so far. What I'd like to do is get a lot of the body squared away before Saturday, then spend Saturday into Sunday working on mechanics / tune / checkup's to get it running consistently.

The end goal is to have the exhaust done by Monday the 6th if possible, the Top will probably come a few weeks after that.

Also, I've got some material for the seats coming my way that should match, I'd like to get them completely redone to Factory including new foam if possible, so I'll need to find a good upholstery shop and get things rolling there.



I've got new door locks / handles / everything else including some factory stickers that go on the door jambs, the car really is shaping up to be pretty slick. Overall I'd say I'm at about a B- for the paint job, need to work on better applying the clear over time, I think there was a bit too much air which caused it to become aerated, a lot of it came out with Wetsanding / buffing. The base clear should hold up a lot better then the multiple single stage jobs that were on it before (so. much. red.).

With everything aligned and new strikers installed with the inner weatherstrip, the doors open and close fantastic now.







Here's a super blurry pick of all the new Weatherstripping that was purchased for the car. The goal is to re-weatherstrip EVERYTHING which I think I'm pretty close to having. As far as the top goes, I'm definitely going Canvas from Convertibletopguys.com. hopefully I'll be able to order that in the next week or two.

Also, I've ordered new hydraulic lines for the convertible top motor since the originals were broken in multiple parts. Going to order a driver as well as passenger side hydraulic shocks as well. The passenger one is stripped out and pretty screwed up.

For the hockey sticks, I went ahead and ordered a set of 87-83 since they include the side molding for the quarter glass, so far they'll look like they should fit without an issue, but will let you guys know how that process goes. Really for the price they're pretty sub-par. It uses the original ford tooling, but feels rather "thin" and will need some sanding to smooth out.

[82GTforME]

Looking good! Show some pictures of the door handle and lock install when you get there too!

You're going to be driving in style in a couple of weeks!

[ChristmasGT]

Hey Guys,

Putting it back together is going well, got the Scott Drake LED lights installed in the dash, huge huge difference, makes the cluster look much better! Door handles are on, dew wipes are installed and most importantly is that is runs now! Spent a day working with the PIMP installation and got it running on the base tune.

All of the gauges are wired up now and looking pretty good. I replaced the Fuel level sender that looks to be working nice as well, an added bonus is the Low Fuel light works now too.

Next Monday I'll be ordering the full exhaust from Stinger with dual stainless tips, should look fantastic. It's coming together really well, just got to keep plugging away at it. The new weatherstripping looks so so so much better.













Found a set of really nice door panels in the Junk Yard this weekend, they were with manual windows and power locks, took the entire harness / grommets and am going to convert it to power locks in the next week or so. Should be simply plug and play although I'll have to drill a hole in the driver side door to pass through. The passenger side has the routing hole, but not the driver side....weird.

[Gemini1999]

I like i! Keep up the terrific work!

[ChristmasGT]

Hey Guys,

Got my seat material samples from SMS today,




Need to find an upholstery shop when the car's running to get this done.

[conmech]

Hey Guys,

Got my seat material samples from SMS today,




Need to find an upholstery shop when the car's running to get this done.

I was going to say those samples looked familiar...... Progress is looking SWEET.

[ChristmasGT]

Crazy busy day, didn't get much work done on the car. Was able to get the glovebox back in and the lower / upper shift boots with the new Knob.

The plus side is I ordered the new Convertible top! Went Canvas instead of Vinyl, it should look absolutely fantastic on the car. Also ordered the Stinger dual 2.5" exhaust as well as new door lock actuators and a couple of other small things.

Off Friday through Sunday, so I should get a lot of work done in that time.

[ChristmasGT]

Keepin on trucking, got the front and rear fascia bumpers painted. Turned out absolutely fantastic! Tomorrow I'll get to work on pin striping.

Got everything hooked up with the top as well! Look's like the motor works just fine, lord knows how long it's been since it's worked. Unfortunately I ordered one new Hydraulic lift, once the second one went under pressure the Nylon / Plastic threads broke loose, so I'll need to order another one on Monday. The good thing is the replacements have aluminum threads.







Went ahead and screwed in the fittings just so nothing would get in the system.


This one looks so much better, much higher quality for sure.

[TopGear85]

Wow you really are truckin on this baby. You must be chinook at the bit waiting to drive her. It's really looking great so keep it up. Question...are those red LED's in your cluster?

Great freakin job!!

[ChristmasGT]

We're getting there! And yep, those are the Red Scott Drake LED's. They look so so so nice.

Today I got the front lights all installed. I went ahead and cleaned up the bezels (which had some red overspray) and the light brackets and painted them with the trim black paint, they came out absolutely excellent. Tomorrow I'm ordering the replacement drivers side lift and hopefully a replacement marchal 750. The passenger side on's light bracket is broken and needs to be replaced (won't light).

Also got around to pin striping the front fascia and cleaning up the wiring. The top should be going on in 2 weeks really think that's going to set the whole thing off.





After pin striping (still need to trim a bit, was just getting the line done):

[ChristmasGT]

Hey guys,

Still on the odds-and-ends, kept working on installing the new weatherstripping as well as it's first drive around the block!

Huge bonus is the convertible top now fully works! Opens and closes like a charm

[83GTJIM]

Congratulations! The car looks GREAT!!! I just noticed it was a non-AC car. It's cool to see no left side passenger air vent. (No pun intended). I really admire how the few mods have been so tastefully done- nice upgrades. Since you even plan to redo the interior with the correct fabric ($$) from SMS, do you plan to keep those wheels? I like the use of the later style taillights on your car and I think a set of chrome or white Ponys would really finish the look & style off great. Just wondering and great save! I hope to see this car in person this year!

[TopGear85]

I'd go with a set of white, silver, or black Enkie 92's (or similar mesh wheel) if it was me.