83 GT Vert Build Thread - "Back in Black"

[BTD]

This will serve as my build/restoration thread, and a place to showcase what I'm doing.

I will post up pictures of the car when I first purchased it, and through time to show how it's evolved
Replacement/Restoration Completed
New Dash
New Convertible Boot Cover
Full set of GT proper decals
Full GT Rocker Decals (Its not factory correct, that was for me because it looks cool)
Complete Interior Detailing on all vinyl/carpet (I freshened up the paint, deep cleaned all the carpets)

Things to be completed (Aside from engine removal related)
Will eventually need to be blasted down to bare steel and repainted, there was some creepy rust underneath the bodyside moulding that I controlled for now, but def needs paint. I don't think it's terrible, but spots bug me.
The suspension I will eventually do, the car rides great as is, but more to just make it a little safer
Replace all headlights with led, or equivalent - I'm not sold one way or another on this yet

ENGINE BUILD
Goals
I love 1983 mustangs, all of them. However it wasn't feasible for me to make my car into a t-top , so I've decided to combine my 83 vert with a turbo, paying homage to the Turbo GT which also debuted in 83. The car will feature a single turbo, going into a shaker hood with a function cowl effect style induction. Boost will be kept low, I'm doing it more for the engineering/build fun than speed - Mayyyyybe 5-6 psi

Coming Out
Original Ford 302 with stock intake and stock Holley 4V Carb, stock cam, heads, etc (Nothing has been modified on the engine before this point)
Factory reverse facing hoodscoop
Anything factory exhaust related

Going In
Demon Carbs - Mighty Demon 650 CFM Blow through edition
Weiand Intake : Weiand Stealth II Intake - Dual Plane
Custom Made Steel Airbox with custom linkage to underside of hoodscoop
Garret t/4 Turbo with an emusa ebay housing (Internals are garret, exterior is emusa)
Turbosmart Manual Boost Controller T
Turbosmart Blow Off Valve
External Wastegate(Not yet decided, depends on funds)
Intercooler (Not yet decided top mount or front mount)
Custom Shorty Headers
Custom Turbo to Airbox Piping
Stock heads, cam, etc

[BTD]

In the beginning, Ford created the Mustang GT, and it was good.



But there was a great sky above to be seen, not hidden away from, and thus the mighty Ford commanded that Mustang owners would no longer have to be jealous of a Chrysler , for the Convertible had returned ! Thus it was so, and man rejoiced. However man was greedy, and wanted more. The mighty Ford responded with the Mustang GT ! No longer shackled by a 2V Carb, the mighty Ford breathed new life into the 302, with the 4V Holley Carb. The engine breathed, and man rejoiced.

It was Tuesday April 5th 1983, under the sign of Aries. The US president was Ronald Reagan (Republican). In that special week of April people in US were listening to Billie Jean by Michael Jackson. In UK Let's Dance by David Bowie was in the top 5 hits. Screwballs, directed by Rafal Zielinski, was one of the most viewed movies released in 1983 while The Little Drummer Girlby John le Carré was one of the best selling books.Somebody at Co-Trac Ford Mercury Sales Ltd of Dutton Ontario Canada, placed an order for a 1983 Mustang GT Convertible to show on the lot as stock.(It was not ordered by a customer)

Ford received the order and serialized it for production on April 21st, 1983. After sitting around and making other peoples wonderful cars, they bucked my car on May 17th, 1983, almost a full month later. They had scheduled to build it on that same day, but you know the Islanders were playing the oilers in a winner take it game 4 in the Stanley cup, so they decided to wait till the 19th too build it instead (Gotta have a recovery day)

The car was assembled from Thursday the 19th 1983 until Monday the 23rd 1983. They worked over the weekend to build it, and released it too cars and concepts. The car was at Cars and Concepts until August 83, where it was then finally shipped off to Co-Trac Ford in Dutton, they received it and registered it with the Motor Vehicle Registry on August 8th, 1983.

The car was first sold to a man named Jon on Jan 11th, 1984. Jon had the car until April 29th 1985, when he decided to trade it back into the dealer, as he felt it was too quick for him.Co-Trac now had a 986 KM 1983 Mustang, that had low miles but was now 2 years older than what they had on the lot, and it was carbed, not EFI like the others they had available.

Co-Trac used it as their dealership showcar, drove it too local events, and generally just sat it in the middle of the showroom looking nice too attract attention to the Mustang, and the convertible in general. On Feb 2nd 1988, after having the car for almost 3 years, the owner of Co-Trac's daughter, Stacey, bought the car with 2500 Km's on the Odo.Stacey only took the car out on the nicest of days , and just enjoyed it as a once in a while cruiser. However, her brother in law david was very taken with the car, and finally got it from her in June of 1992, at this point with 8637 Km's on it from all the weekend crusing.

Unfortunately, David passed away in 2002, after having loved the car for 10 years. His family had no desire for the car, so it went up for Auction. The vehicle was reported at Auction on June 20th 2002 as having 10561 KM's on the odo.It was sold for 4500 at the time. The buyer was Michael, he owned the car and drove it (Only maybe 5 times in his words) before he sold it too George on October 1st, 2007 with 11599 Km's on the ODO. George enjoyed the car, but couldn't find many chances to use it in northern Ontario, so he sold it too denise , who's husband mike already had a 5.0 83 GLX Vert, that they wanted to make a GT, this was in October 2012. Mike, denises husband never really got around to doing anything with the car, and just used it as a place to store the junk from his GLX, he did take the time to register it in the Mustang GT registry.

After having it sit in his garage for 4 years taking up space, Mike realized he would never get around to restoring the GT (Which at this point didn't have it's stripes, and needed a lot of interior work. Further bad news, the brake bushing block had leaked from sitting so long, and corroded the drivers frame rail underneath it. He knew it was time to sell.

Along comes a striking fellow named Brian, who having sent his 81 mustang off to BC , was looking for another project. Brian didn't want just anything though, see Brian has a disability. He can't walk around very well, can't grip objects, and can't stand or sit for more than 2-3 minutes at a time. Brian was involved in a bad football accident as a kid, and that combined with being wounded while on tour In Afghanistan for the Canadian forces, left him unable to work. Brian had had a Harley Davidson 2011 Iron that he bought brand new, he loved that bike, rode it all across Canada east to west.

However the time had come, and Brian knew he couldn't ride anymore, as his disability just made it unsafe. So, with much sadness, he sold his beloved hog. Brian knew, he needed the freedom, the power, and the ability shift gears, but in something black, with a carb he could mess around with, and a solid gearbox he could slide through. So it was through kijiji that Brian saw it, but lo ! It was far away. Over 200 Km's from where he was living. He had to see it though, there was something about it.. And so he did travel, too a father off region of northern Ontario, where he saw it.

Mike and Brian talked for many hours about Foxbodys, and Mike knew that Brian was the one to do what he could not. Restore the glory of the almighty ford, and make the GT Live again . To remind the world that the boss isn't back, because he never left.

And so my journey began.

[BTD]

Here is what I started with, freshly washed up

[Davedacarpainter]

Now there's a story told well.

This ought to be fun to follow along with. I look forward to your build brother. Good luck in the process.

Nice car, what's the current mileage on it?

[BTD]

Now there's a story told well.

This ought to be fun to follow along with. I look forward to your build brother. Good luck in the process.

Nice car, what's the current mileage on it?

Just over 18000KM

[BTD]

It was June of 2016, I had the car in my possession - Funny story, I had to trailer it home because the brake lines needed to be done , as Mike had only installed the e-brake cable. I figure, okay no problem, it starts up after a little love from carb fluid, and we get it on the trailer. Mike reminds me, basically no brakes. Okay no problem, my wife and I drive the 200 something Km's back to my house in Oshawa. We pull the trailer around, and I hop in the stang ready to back it off. Everything unhooked, okay I think I'm okay..

So freaking nervous, as I had read these cars were very low production, and this car was in good shape.. I start the car.. into reverse.. okay good. Nice and slow down the ramp.. okay I'm going down too fast.. I push the brakes... pump pump pump nothing... oh crap oh crap I'm really going now, In a last ditch attempt to save it - EBRAKE - THUMP ! Into the car that was a long way behind me.. Oh god... Oh god.. (see at the time there was two cars parked in front of my house, a super nice newer mercedees right in front of my house, and a Saturn farther up) I am literally dying inside at this moment, dear lord, all this time and effort, and I'm going to get sued to death (Stang was on trailer so no insurance or registration) Pleeeeeease don't be the benz...

It was the Saturn. I slam the car into first and drop my foot on the pedal harder than I ever have as I bounce off the bumper of the plastic Saturn.. The tires growl like I have never heard , oh **** I think oh **** oh ****... the tires catch traction, and off I go down my residential street with only an ebrake in a car with no insurance and no registration.. I start pumping the e-brake.. and slowly , very very very slowly, I get down to manageable speed.. white as a ghost, I make the trip the rest of the way around the block and back to my house. We parked the stang, and took off in the truck/trailer.

As we are leaving we see the neighbours parents come out and go to their Saturn.. and they get in as if nothing has happened, and drive away.

My wife and I both thank god, and take the truck back to the rental place.

[Davedacarpainter]

Ah jeez! Lol! That was pretty funny. Maybe should have had it in first gear and feathering the clutch off of the trailer?

[BTD]

Ah jeez! Lol! That was pretty funny. Maybe should have had it in first gear and feathering the clutch off of the trailer?

I thought about engine braking as it were, but didn't think about it at the time I needed to be thinking about it, lol. The mustang wasn't any worse for wear, American steel vs American plastic - Steel wins

[BTD]

I had the car in my friends shop over the summer in 2016 after I got the car. I didn't have a covered driveway or garage at the time. Fortunately the shop was only 10 mins or so away from my house. We first began by stripping all the carpet and interior out of the car to get a look at the rust situation. Not so bad, however because of the updated Ontario Safety requirements for used vehicles, we knew we had to fix it all. The major , if I can call it that problem was the drivers frame rail and strut tower, which had been worn away by the brake fluid dripping onto them. Fortunately the top of the strut tower was fine, so we cut out the bottom, and fabbed a new piece in.

How the rail looked before

The drivers floorboard also had some 1inch - 2 inch holes, we couldn't figure out why it was so worn and the rest wasn't . but new sheet went in all the same.

Fortunately, the rest of the car was okay



For the rails I used rails from "Fox Rails" , did the whole thing on drivers side. We ran new stainless brakelines to all 4 wheels, and tightened up the e-brake

[BTD]

As fortune would have it, the prices for housing in my area was going up, so we decided to sell and move up north. Now that I had a garage, the real work could begin. First thing was to give her back her stripes.

With the GT Hood Decal set from Phoenix Graphics installed

I messed around with what I wanted the side and hatch too look like , but finally settled on something.
Side try 1
Hatch try 1

Final Side Choice


With some rocker flair, because 80's

[Davedacarpainter]

Jeez! Easy guys.

I want to hear about your project. This is your car, your project, your thread. I'm excited about it.

Can we go back to the regularly scheduled program now?

[wraithracing]

Above posts were deleted to keep this thread on track.

Please refer to Rules of Conduct and #2 specifically.

2. Civility is required. Many members like to think of this board as more than just a place to post messages. We strive to make it a community of enthusiasts who enjoy the common goal of the preservation and promotion of the Four Eyed cars and their identities.

If you want to help someone realize that TYPING IN ALL CAPS IS AKIN TO SHOUTING ONLINE, please PM them about it or be diplomatic in your explanation in their thread. If you disagree with someone’s tech recommendations, give your reasons why, your proof to back it up, but refrain from out and out insults. If you don’t like someone’s styling choices about their car, explain why without bringing their family tree into question, suggest improvements without flaming. Also, do not be so quick to judge someone's comments as being derogatory. It is often difficult to interpret someone's intentions having only text and no body language or tone of voice to guide you.

Bottom line if you don't have something nice or constructive to say then do as your mother taught you and keep it to yourself. If you want to have a debate or discussion about the validity of someone's statements please do so via PM. Any further issues may include punitive actions. Thank you for your attention in this manner.

Trey

[BTD]

Now that I had the room, and had my build in mind I set to work buying the parts I needed, and getting the engine out.


Engine Came Out pretty easy, although we couldn't get the exhaust off the manifold, so we cut it. Didn't really matter as all new stuff going on anyway.

Parts had arrived, and I had most of what I needed


Then the new Carb and intake arrived so I decided to mock them up with an edelbrock triangle I had on the shelf

[BTD]

With the intake available, work on the exhaust and hood mods could begin.

Gave the engine a gunk treatment, and mocked up the custom headers myself and my brother in law fabricated

[BTD]

All things considered, the engine was just really dirty. The car had a rear main seal leak, and the valve cover gaskets needed work. So a full engine replacement gasket set from Fel-Pro was the way to go. Working on taking off all the oil grime is taking some time, but the pressure washer and 6 cans of gunk will get the job done.

Looks pretty good in that Ford blue though, I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it, or just repaint it - since everyone calls it fake for being blue in the first place.


Fortunately, there are some things that speak for themselves

[BTD]

Took some more shots of the engine out as it's coming apart. Everyone keeps telling me that they never came blue, but it sure as hell looks original to me. Considering it's all the same shade of blue, and everything (Including the heads) is done with no overspray. The valve covers were not blue, I painted them to match and the color I used was duplicolor "Ford Blue"

My apologies for the google doc links, I live in a remote area with really bad internet (think 300Kb/s) so if I can get away with not having to upload twice (first to google, then download to my computer, then upload to forum) I take it

Engine And Trans - Same Color, even spray all over it
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8...Xdobm5RdDZQb2c

Trans up close showing 83 , it also says "Basic" in stylized lettering
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8...1FjNWxHcVQ4bjg

Looking down with intake off, the wonders of having 18,000 KM on your engine.. so smoooooth (No cleaning done yet, just as it was)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8...XNrc2tkZ296Z2s

Engine front with power steering off so far
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8...nFjZzl5el9VcDg

And yes, the engine is on jackstands.

[BTD]

Duplicate please delete.

[BTD]

Work on the airbox / shaker scoop has begun

Here is my paint design for what it's going to be lol, it's printed and hung on the wall in the garage right now for reference

Hood scoop will not be attached to the hood itself, only to the airbox, making it a true (although way bigger and backwards) shaker

[BTD]

While box is being worked on I took a minute to take a closer look at the trans. Well after seeing this I know the engine and trans came blue from factory. How do I know? Because the clutch fork is blue. Nobody in their right mind would paint a clutch fork aftermarket. Also a nice look at a clutch with zero wear and blue springs.

Sent from my F8131 using Tapatalk

[BTD]

Engine all cleaned painted and mocked up.

Sent from my F8131 using Tapatalk

[BTD]

Thanks too 83gtjim I now had the pattern for the 83 seats. It took a long time but I was able too make a pretty good cloth and vinyl version. Needs more dye but it's a good start.

Sent from my F8131 using Tapatalk

[BTD]

Decided to go just vinyl. Looks right at home

Sent from my F8131 using Tapatalk

[BTD]

Work on the wiring almost done. Was able to hide all of it. Engine bay looks super clean now.

Sent from my F8131 using Tapatalk

[Bryan Knebworth]

It looks like the front seats are Leather, but they are the '81-'82 style. '83 Leather seats looked way different. For comparison, look at sowaxeman's '83 hatch. It's coming along nicely though

[BTD]

They are 83 vinyls

Sent from my F8131 using Tapatalk