My 1984 GT Refurbish/Upgrade Thread

[84StangSVT]

I'm going to wash it, put a few more pieces in it and try to make it presentable but I'm kinda scared! I have no idea how some of you guys do this for a hobby!

[STANGMAN116]

Dont worry buddy, car will shine and attract attention! !!! We need to get our cars out and represent 4 eye pride!!! I hope you go out there and gain a bunch of attention! !!! And if not take it to the next and the next till it gains the popularity they deserve!

[84StangSVT]

Well I did it! Got the car out to the coffee cruise and all in all it was a good time. It got all kinds of attention from people asking what color is it, to odd looks and funny smiles. It was kind of neat to see all the attention it got and it was the only Fox at the cruise. I wish the car had been in better shape as I just took it the way it sat so it was still missing the headliner and front plastics but at least it was a conversation piece.

Here she is!

[Travis T]

Cool deal. Nothing wrong with taking it out there as it is.

[84StangSVT]

Thanks Travis, I think my signs are what drew the attention initially but once people came over and looked at it and the Marti Report, there was a lot of conversation. Besides one dude who was just a douche, everyone else had nice things to say about it!

[Gemini1999]

One thing I've learned about this kind of local car show is that cars in all different states of condition show up. It's still intimidating. I was going to take mine to a local Ford/Mustang show back in June, but because I wasn't feeling confident about showing it, I backed out. To be honest, I don't know if I felt worse for not going than if I had. The truth is that you've got nothing to lose and you're just showing others that you have pride for what you've got. Well done!

[mustangxtreme]

Brock, I took my 83L to a barbecue on a trailer with the front sheet metal off it. A gentleman also trailered his low mileage 85 Capri to it. We had a great conversation about how we admired each others cars. He told me he appreciated the work and effort I was putting into mine while all he did was let his sit in a garage so don't worry about it. Just enjoy the car as it is meant to be.

[84StangSVT]

Well, yesterday was eventful more in the aspect of cleaning the garage and reassembling the vert to head to long term storage until I can resolve issues with it. Knowing the vert is in limbo at this point in time, I decided to swap some more of the refurbished items that were initially going to be installed in it and use them on the GT.

Started off bolting the dash hull back in place, it has been floating since I have had it. While I was at it, I installed the refurbished gauge cluster from the vert in the GT.

Before


After


I do need to pick up some needle paint for the Tach needle as when I did the gauge swap, I accidentally got a little aggressive removing the non-faded needle effectively breaking it into pieces. Otherwise the gauges I got from Bryan (Gemini1999) look good, work good and are finally installed in something a year later LOL!

Upon bolting the dash pad back in, I noticed something was a bit off......



The mounting point of one of the tabs is not in the proper position. I assume that this dash pad is not original and looks to be the same set up as my LX Vert. Were the pads different between the GT's and lower models? Either way, I'm not quite sure what to do about this and it does leave a bit of a pronounced hump in the pad.......at least I see it and it annoys me.

[84StangSVT]

Upon bolting the dash pad back in, I noticed something was a bit off......



The mounting point of one of the tabs is not in the proper position. I assume that this dash pad is not original and looks to be the same set up as my LX Vert. Were the pads different between the GT's and lower models? Either way, I'm not quite sure what to do about this and it does leave a bit of a pronounced hump in the pad.......at least I see it and it annoys me.

I think the best option here will be to trim the dash pad around the area where the tab is. I thought about trimming the tab off of the cluster bezel but I'm leary of breaking a perfectly good bezel. The only thing I worry about with trimming the pad is future cracking issues with it in the trimmed area but I guess the dash pad isn't perfect anyways.

I'm going to try and get this done tonight.

[02Z06]

Wow, awesome resto thread! What a great car, you've already done some awesome things to it. Glad to see it went to such a good home!

[82GTforME]

Well I did it! Got the car out to the coffee cruise and all in all it was a good time. It got all kinds of attention from people asking what color is it, to odd looks and funny smiles. It was kind of neat to see all the attention it got and it was the only Fox at the cruise. I wish the car had been in better shape as I just took it the way it sat so it was still missing the headliner and front plastics but at least it was a conversation piece.

Here she is!

Glad you got to get out and show it off! The Tangerine Mustang II behind your car caught my eye too. Don't see orange very often

The mounting point of one of the tabs is not in the proper position. I assume that this dash pad is not original and looks to be the same set up as my LX Vert. Were the pads different between the GT's and lower models? Either way, I'm not quite sure what to do about this and it does leave a bit of a pronounced hump in the pad.......at least I see it and it annoys me.

As far as I have learned, there are two different types. There are earlier D9 part number dash pads and then E3 (I think) part numbers where those mounting locations did change. I'm not sure what one could do to make them work on the other cars. All of ours (plus spares) are correct for us

[84StangSVT]

Man I wish my car wasn't such a mis-match Hodge podge that it is other wise I would be keeping the tan interior. I think I will probably go to a darker color eventually beings I have to replace a lot of interior pieces. Mine came with black center console and door panels and I think by the time I find everything it will be easier to do a color swap which is a shame. You don't see very many desert tan cars anymore that's for sure.

You got that right on the color, even people at the coffee cruise asked if that was a factory color or if I just had unique tastes LOL. Glad I had the Marti report to prove it was in fact a rare factory color. I don't think you could go too terribly wrong with black plastics as at least it would help carry the black and tan theme. One could always accent some of the interior with desert tan to break it up a little bit.

BTW, love the color and stance of your car!

[Travis T]

Your dash pad is out of a different model year. Somewhere around 1983-1984 that one tab changed location. Maybe it was during 84 and your convertible was built before the hatch? I have come across that before as well when swapping parts around and usually just leave that one screw out.

[84StangSVT]

Wow, awesome resto thread! What a great car, you've already done some awesome things to it. Glad to see it went to such a good home!

Thanks! There is definitely a fast growing winter project list but I am proud to own it. I'm basically doing the bare minimum and trying to enjoy it before the snow flies. I will be getting a lot more in depth over the winter.

[84StangSVT]

Glad you got to get out and show it off! The Tangerine Mustang II behind your car caught my eye too. Don't see orange very often

Funny......I actually thought about you when I saw that car pull up. That was one of the cleanest II's I have seen personally and the guy is super proud of it. I'm sure I saw at least 4 do not touch signs posted around it LOL!

I was one of the first ones there, I think I started a trend where the odd ball colored cars stuck together as indicated by mine, the tangerine II and the odd color "goldenrod?" triumph that pulled in beside me.

Can't wait to do it again this weekend when the car is mostly put back together and looks a little more freshened up.

[84StangSVT]

Your dash pad is out of a different model year. Somewhere around 1983-1984 that one tab changed location. Maybe it was during 84 and your convertible was built before the hatch? I have come across that before as well when swapping parts around and usually just leave that one screw out.

The gt was built 6 months before the vert so maybe it's out of a little later model as the tabs on the gauge bezel are identical between my 2 84's. I left the screw out but as you can see in the pictures above it, the plain tab raises the dash pad up quite a bit above the oil/fuel gauge and it looks funky. I think I'm going to take a stab at trimming the pad in hopes that it sits down better unless the pad has a permanent hump from sitting like that for awhile.

[Travis T]

It's weird, of all the Mustangs I have owned I've really only had 79s and 84s, nothing in between and I have noticed the 79 pad is different from the 84 but wasn't sure when that change was made. The couple of odd parts cars I had that weren't those two model years were so used up the pads went in the trash and I never even looked at them.

[84StangSVT]

I haven't been on this thread or even really been doing anything to the car for awhile. I know the beautiful mid 60's to 70's degree days will eventually end but not for at least another week, so I'm going to continue driving the car and enjoy it until I can't and that's when the real work will begin.

After all of the attention the car has gotten so far this summer I figured I would put a personalized plate on it, in which I felt will bring a little more attention to it.

I will say that it has worked so far! Over the past week, I have had numerous cars that I have passed on the road speed up to catch me and all of them have either gave me a thumbs up or complimented it while stopped at a stoplight. A few people have stopped me while at the gas station or a store and asked me about the car/plate and what the plate meant, all ending in a compliment before we part ways. Funny how such small things will make a guy feel good about his car even though it does not meet his own standards.........yet!

Yesterday, I decided that I was going to give it a bath. Well one thing led to another and before I knew it I broke out the heavy artillery. Armed with a clay bar, compound, polish, wax, microfiber towels, DA Buffer and most importantly a 6 pack of beer.....I got to work on the paint.

It didn't really seem like the paint was all to bad on it, and it really isn't, but I felt is could be a little cleaner and reflective. Using all the tips and tricks I learned in my paint refurbish thread, I was actually surprised at the difference the 4 part process made on the hood and front fenders. I got the front clip done yesterday and I hope to complete the job this afternoon and post some before and after pics of it for everyone's enjoyment.

Stay Tuned!

[STANGMAN116]

Amazing bro!!! can wait to see some with the paint all cleaned up, love the plate as well!!!

[84StangSVT]

Amazing bro!!! can wait to see some with the paint all cleaned up, love the plate as well!!!

Thanks bud but maybe you shouldn't watch this transformation, as you will want it back and you can't have it back LOL!

My goal is to try and salvage as much of the paint as possible as I'm probably not going to be able to do a full repaint for a couple of years. I'm hoping to get the rear quarter dent fixed, the roof patched and new floorpans done before spring as those are the only real spots on the car that are iffy. Hopefully I can get paint that will match when doing those areas.

[STANGMAN116]

oh believe me I truly miss the car already!!! with what has been done!!

[84StangSVT]

I realized that even armed with a buffer and a plethora of Meguiers products.......buffing out a car is still a lot of work and time consuming. One might ask why I would buff out the paint on this car as most everyone, including my wife, says it looks good and it is pretty reflective as it is when it is clean. Well my answer is that I can see the paint has more potential than what shows and it can look better. My wife turned around, mumbled something to the effect of "you're nuts" and walked off into the house.

Got busy on it and while the pictures are kind of hard to tell it, the difference is huge in both the reflectiveness and the overall clarity of the paint. I'm extremely happy with the outcome.

Before:



After:

[84StangSVT]

What this leaves me is a car that now has some really good "POP" in the sunlight.

[mustangxtreme]

Looks great Brock.

[Gemini1999]

I know there's a difference...I can see it. I remember when mine first arrived, it was dirty from the 400 mile drive. After.washing it, it looked decent enough, but I knew it could look better. I used some Unlimited Compound on it and it made all the difference. I did mine all by hand, so it was pretty hard work, but worth it. The next step was finding a "'nano" wax, which didn't leave any white residue and it worked on all the surfaces. At this stage, the original paint was going to look as good as it was going to, but I wasn't disappointed.

I should probably look into something with power to make the job easier. I really need to five it a good going over before the rains come.

Your car looks fabulous! Sorry for running on a bit...