Convertible to notch conversion build thread

[bigblockttop]

I have decided to make some big changes to my car this winter. Ive owned this car for 8 years now and I have countless hours in it. Its not a show car by any means but its the nicest fox that ive owned. Its been through many changes over the years and was even in my wedding.
Before everyone says sell it and buy a notch it will be cheaper and easier, thats not an option. This cars is done exactly the way I want it, for now, and my wife lets me do pretty much whatever I want with it and she doesnt want me to sell it.
As of right now the car needs a new top, like most fox verts. The problem is im running into issues with it at higher speeds. My car is trapping around 128mph and the frame bows up so bad in the middle that I have to reach up and pull it down mid run. The canvas blows up like a parachute, and the quarter windows only go up and down with help. On top of all that, the car is heavy.
I realize this is a pretty big job and most people wouldnt try it but it can be done. If anyone on here has ever done anything like this, im open for advice or suggestions. Heres what im starting with.

[bigblockttop]

So I bought this notch.
The car was pretty far gone but had a loy of the parts I wanyed on it.

[bigblockttop]

[bigblockttop]

Most of the car was already taken apart so it only took me about 8 hours to finish hacking everything off of it. My main goal here was to just rough cut as much as I could off of the car and ill trim it all down later. I want to use all of the factory bracing and weld it right back in where its supposed to go

[bigblockttop]

This is what I ended up having left. The doors ended up being junk but had nice manual window/lock door panels. I robbed all of the manual stuff out of them and scrapped em. I scored a pair of 87-93 quarter windows and some other odds and ends from a local junk yard. My buddy had a sweet pair of 87 up doors, trim, and interior panels. Its a start. I dont get a lot of free time so I look for this to take most of the winter. I want to add more to my roll bar and lighten the car up some also while I have it tore down.

[ZephyrEFI]

Very very cool!

[bigblockttop]

Was able to sneek out and do some trimming for about an hour tonight. You can see in one of the previous pictures where I used a cut off wheel and chopped the flange off of the wheel tubs. There is a brace spot welded part way around so I went back and cut all of the spot welds out now that its easier to get to. So far I have only used 1 side of 1 spot weld cutter. Those things work really well but break pretty easy. I should be able to spotweld all of this inner bracing right back in like the factory

[mustangxtreme]

Spot weld cutters last much longer if you use lubrication on them.

[86foxvert]

Very cool and cant wait to watchnthenbuild....good luck!

[Mustang-junky]

Subscribing.

Jess

[bigblockttop]

Starting a price list. My friend that has the doors and stuff hasnt let mw know exactly what he wants for everything yet, but I will update this throughtout the build.
$200 - 83 notch
$90- 87 up quarter windows
$5- headliner
$5- roof brace( for some reason it was missing from donor car)
-$105 - scrap price for everything left of the car that im not using or selling
=$195

Hopefully I can sell some more of the odds and ends off of the car. There wasnt much left and I got a pretty good deal on the car to start with so I'm not gonna try tto make much off of the parts but every little bit helps. Id much rather see parts go to someone who can use them rather than me sit on them for a long time and end up scrapping them.

[bull-vette]

Subscribing also....

[80 Capri]

This is pretty cool. I've seen notch to fastback swaps on 60's 'stangs done like this, but this is the first fox body I've seen done this way. Definitely going to keep an eye on this!

[grabbergreen84]

If your vert doors are good, you can cut the sedan-style window frames off of the notch's doors, and weld them onto your existing doors. Then just swap in the sedan glass and guts, and you'll be all buttoned up there. I'm pretty sure that ALL '79-'93 Mustang and Capri doors were built with the frames - which got cut off for T-Top and drop-top cars. Yours have the A-pillar stubs remaining above the mirrors. The window frame is part of the shell, and not the skin.

You'll have a one-of-none Mustang GT notch! If it's a real GT, you'll be able to show folks the buck-tag or whatever and prove it. When you're done with the conversion, there's not going to be any question that the car is really a notch - that's one detail which is very difficult to fake...

You could also go T-Top notch, and not have to mess with the window frames, but that doesn't makes sense in your case.

[Jax Rhapsody]

This is actually interesting. Maybe if you chop the top some, it might take a few seconds of a pass- say three inches. Seriously, I've looked a verts, picturing converting them to notches, now I get to see it.

[bigblockttop]

That is a good idea about the doors. I actually considerwd doing it. It would have saved me some paint work. I went back and forth. Honestly I want to use as much stuff that I know is "correct". It was just one more variable that I thought could cause me problems getting everything to line up. If I had done this before and I knew exactly how it was going to go, I probably would have. This is my firat time doing anything like this and I wanted to eliminate as many variables as possible. I also want to keep all of the trim matching the newer style quarter windows.

As far as chopping the top, ive never really liked that look on many cars. Not knocking it, just not what I was going for. I want to be able to use factory parts.

I have considered the ttop notch, but it was just too much to tale on at once. I may be interested in the future. And I think it should be unique being a gt notch.

[bigblockttop]

*cost update
$200 - 83 notch
$90- 87 up quarter windows
$5- headliner
$5- roof brace( for some reason it was missing from donor car)
-$105 - scrap price for everything left of the car that im not using or selling
=$195
-$20 -door trim from donor car
+$60- complete latemodel restoration weatherstrip/window wipe kit from
+$300?- horse traded carburetor for doors, interior quarter plastic, and newer style top door trim.
=$535
Still have some more stuff to sell from the donor car. It would be cool to break even on that.

[bridgener]

This makes no sense, but I love it. Can't wait to see how this progresses. Subscribing!

[MACDONRK]

And I thought I was doing good replacing my roof skin...what's the saying measure twice...keep the updates coming...

[jovibuilt]

What year is the notch?I might need a couple parts

[Metalbass1979]

This is an interesting project. You have my attention on this build. Good luck.

[bigblockttop]

t was an 83. I dony have a lot left but feel free to call/text me. 419-217-1367.

[5.0ranger]

we need updates....

[bigblockttop]

Its been a while since I bhave had an update. Ive been pretty busy past couple of weeks.
I finally got the car weighed. 3240 without me. My goal is 2800 wich is kinda steep but doable I think. Ive been buying some parts here and there. Finding time is the hardest thing.
I started tearing the car down last week and will hopefully have some time this month to gey things rolling. I need to sell some of my parts off of the car to recoup some funds. Haha.
Heres a couple of things ive bought so far to help shed some pounds:

Quicktime bell housing
aluminum flywheel
donathan tube bumpers
1 kirkey seat ( I will have 2 but those things arent cheap)
Manual brake adapter and aluminum master
Once I get the engineand trans pulled I will start on the good stuff.
Stay tuned.

[bigblockttop]

Got a couple days in on the car. This is going to be a lot of work but I think im at a point where it is going to be easier to put the hard top on it then to put all of the vert stuff back in. Next project is getting the dash and windshield out, and then a lot of measuring. Ive never done anything like this so any suggestions on making templates to trim the donor roof would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking of laying templates on the car and marking body lines and then transferring that to the donor roof. I think I can do this with about 10" of seam on each side that wont be covered by the quarter windows and trunk. Once I get the roof set up right next to the car, ill be able to make a better decision on where I need to cut. This has made my mind up on one thing, and that is I will never own another foxbody convertible.