My '83 GLX T-Top Coupe Junk Yard Find

[erratic50]

If there are 96 and you have any plans in the future to go to an aftermarket K-member it might call for 96 so if you see this grab them too.

watch yourself - those coil springs are dangerous! Once you put a jack on the A arm to relieve the pressure on the strut bolts and pull them you're committed for sure. At least run a chain through the spring and a arm and connect it to itself. Or preferably use a coil compressor...

[Davedacarpainter]

I paid for the sc engine today! Woohoo!

This is the t-bird it will come out of. The seats in it are in spectacular condition. I didn't get a picture of them though, next time. Maybe sc seats in a 4i mustang?

I also put my ten holes on my mustang today. Why do that you ask? Because this saturday at roughly 10:00 AM I will be pulling it out of the yard finally!!! See, all it take for ten holes to look decent is a really ratted out mustang.

The front wheels didn't want to spin when I got them up in the air. The brake pads had fused to the rotors. Nothing a pry bar couldn't take care of. So I popped the calipers off and removed the pads, then put the calipers back on. The wheels spin real nice now.

Since the car will be sitting in the storage unit a mile and a half from my house I will be doing lots of odds and ends to it while I rebuild the sc engine. Remove the drivetrain, fixing little things here and there until I get it to the house to replace the floor pan and finish up the body.

[xctasy]

I like the real 21st century Fox.

Hal yeah!


Welcome to the 21st Century, Dave.

You can open the pod doors,
go through the air lock without a helmet,

you can do FREEKY sh!+ with a 3.8 SC.

[84StangSVT]

I paid for the sc engine today! Woohoo!

This is the t-bird it will come out of. The seats in it are in spectacular condition. I didn't get a picture of them though, next time. Maybe sc seats in a 4i mustang?

Sweet! I will be down there soon to pick that motor up from ya. You sure are a good guy for doing the grunt labor for me!

Seriously though, that should make a fun project and hopefully when you open it up, there are no surprises lurking internally.

As for the SC seats, you should strongly consider them if they are in awesome shape and he's willing to sell them cheap. It takes a little work to make them fit a fox track but they are OH SO COMFORTABLE. If you don't want them and they are cheap, I would be more than willing to take them off your hands for my Ranger. I would make it worthwhile for ya.....as long as it has nothing to do with floor pan replacement.

[droopie85gt]

Put the SC seats in a 4 eye. I have a SC steering wheel in mine! It was a direct swap! Cruise works and it's a direct swap on mine. I think at some point the wheels and the Fox columns go from splines to d shaped and vice versa....I don't remember now. There's a thread someone on here about it though...that's where I got the idea. I love the SC wheel. It's a million miles better than the stock one on my 85 and like I said it kept the cruise working!

[Davedacarpainter]

When I'm at the yard in the morning I'll ask him how much he wants for the seats.

I'm a little torn about them. I think they look really cool, but I put a butt load of work into the originals.....hum.....

I got to keep the original steering wheel, I put way too much effort into the center medallion to change that now.

[Davedacarpainter]

Ah hell Drew.....now you got me thinking about that steering wheel.....

[droopie85gt]

Damn...I forgot about that emblem. Maybe a man with a certain set of skills acquired in a lifetime of hardwork could make that fit the SC wheel. The thread on here where I found out about the SC wheel, the original poster was able to remove the SC emblem and put a Mustang emblem on it.

Like MadMike says....listen to the little red guy on you shoulder!!! (Actually I think he says the red guy talks a lot but he doesn't listen much)

[Davedacarpainter]

I'm going to rename my car (I need this for some reason). Instead of Roby, it will now be Scuby (like Scooby-doo).
Super
Charged
Ugly
Bastard
Y to make it sound right, otherwise it's just scub, no excitement there.

[Davedacarpainter]

No Scuby there now!

On the trailer.

At the car wash.

In the sun.

In it's new, dry home. WOOHOO!!!

[gr79]

Lookin good.
Cars slowly go away parked outside on 'bare' ground.
The car wash stop was a great idea.
Can see what you really have and wash off what you don't want there.
Rather than at home.
Great you can save a sc engine. Hate to see good stuff go to waste.

[Davedacarpainter]

BTW, remember me mentioning those sc seats? Here they are

The yard owner will sell them to me, he hasn't said a price yet, but he's such a nice guy, he'll be fair.

What's y'all's thoughts on this one?

I know I did all that work on the original seats, but I could mount them together against the wall for whenever y'all make a pilgrimage to Oklahoma.

I don't believe I can use this steering wheel. Mine is a spline attachment.

[ZephyrEFI]

I considered that steering wheel, but the reason I didn't go with it was because it sits farther back than a Mustang steering wheel. It messes with your ergonomics. I had mine dialed in just how i like them too, so no dice on the SC wheel.

How did you keep people from taking stuff off your car while it was still in the yard?

[erratic50]

Super
Charged
Really
Ugly
Bastard
?

congratulations on getting her cleaned up and into storage!

I am looking forward to getting my 90-5.0 off the stand and in my 85, that's for sure. I'm sure you feel the same about your supercharged 3.8!

those seats are nice. Even if you don't use them bolt them to a few boards and make some nice garage seating!

[Mustang-junky]

By the time you are done I doubt the car will be ugly. Supercharged? yes. Ugly? No.

Jess

[flyboy60]

Wow!!!
It took me some time but I finally got to the final page.
Congrats truly inspiring.

[Davedacarpainter]

I considered that steering wheel, but the reason I didn't go with it was because it sits farther back than a Mustang steering wheel. It messes with your ergonomics. I had mine dialed in just how i like them too, so no dice on the SC wheel.

How did you keep people from taking stuff off your car while it was still in the yard?

It's not an active yard. The owner is a fireman. His father owned it and left it to him. I ran into him through a large series of phone calls trying to find parts for another car.

Very few people know of it's existence outside of the salvage people.

[Davedacarpainter]

Wow!!!
It took me some time but I finally got to the final page.
Congrats truly inspiring.

Thanks man, that's nice of you to say.

I've learned to think of this car as my hobby that I really enjoy working on.

There was a moronic thought way back of it's rarity, then I realized it was a V6 fox that was (and still is to an extent) ratted out.

I kind of like some of the "odd things" I'm doing with this car. I don't know why, but sticking with Ford parts makes it ok to me. The "Supercoupe" description fits in my mind of course because the mustang is a coupe too.

This next few weeks ought to be pretty exciting for me, I'll be doing lots of stuff either with the car itself (stripping it completely to it's shell) or gettting the sc engine home and it's tear down. Oh yeah, possibly the sc seats as well.

[Davedacarpainter]

By the time you are done I doubt the car will be ugly. Supercharged? yes. Ugly? No.

Jess

Thanks Jess. Ugly now, pretty butterfly later

[Walking-Tall]

I love this little car of yours, and everywhere it's headed. Almost everything FOX I have owned and loved had 10 holes on it... I disturbingly love the crazy phone dial rims, lol...



No 10 holes on my '80 Turbo RS with transplanted '72 302/FMX, lol

Kelly Springfield Charger 275 rear and 245 front tires on the '83 Cougar...

... and 235/60 Cooper Cobras on the Mustang I drive daily today...

[erratic50]

Cooper puts out a great product! And for those of us in the US, it is a made in the USA product.

Glidethunder's 86 ragtop has 235/60/15 on 10 holes. The ol 5.0 is turned up and running my old aggressive as hell VM1 ECU. They bite really well and stay hooked up the majority of the time.

This compared to the Goodyear (I think) tires on his welds that would blow instantly off at 25 mph when you stand on it.

[erratic50]

Build what Ford wouldn't.... a four eyed fox with a V6 and a 5-speed! The supercharger - that's just gravy!

Later on they realized V6 5 speed was a great combo, but not until the first one was released in 94!

[droopie85gt]

I actually found the SC wheel helped my ergonomics. I felt like the pedals, steering wheel and shifter on my 85 were made for someone with either a small torso and long arms and long legs or someone with very long arms and short legs. The SC wheel sticks farther out. The biggest complaint I had was I had to take my left hand off the wheel to get the turn signal. That was a minor annoyance, until I found out the turn signal stalk from an 80's Tempo (I believe) is bent torwards the wheel vs the fox just stuck straight out. Something like $15 later on Ebay I had a new turn signal stalk and it's a perfect flick now with a finger while the hand is still on the wheel. I think you can swap the upper shaft for a spline vs d shaft, but I am not sure. About the only thing that was different was the wheel is clocked differently. I had to realign my car to get the wheel straight again. It was about off about 1 oclock from being straight. I think I have some pics.

[Davedacarpainter]

Concerning the steering wheel, I'm pretty much in love with the one that was in the car originally.
The sc wheel is kind of neat though, I'll at least check how it mounts up. The discussion may be moot.

[dagenham]

I don't think the whole center of the sc wheel looks right with the more squareish looking fox interior. IMHO