Build thread - 1985 Mustang Saleen (clone?)

[wraithracing]

I need to clean up the current harness and look at the damage done by the previous owner to determine what needs to be done. Yes, a new/better harness would be helpful if one can be obtained. Unfortunately I don't believe I have one that is correct for this year model, at least not here in TX.

I will check the girdle clearance when we install the Panhard Bar. I know the clearance is tight, but hopefully it will clear.

[wraithracing]

Here is a teaser of what was accomplished yesterday on the Mustang.

Before:



After:

[JTurbo]

Metric ****-ton of work completed so far, looking good. Great job!

[erratic50]

Awesome!

Man I hate all the holes ford put in the strut towers, etc, but a person could spend weeks welding holes shut and body working them so they are decent. Really too bad it’s so difficult.

[wraithracing]

I agree I hate all the extra holes in the engine bay. Always thought it looked like Swiss cheese or as if it had been shot up! You will spend at least a full day welding everything up, sometimes part of a second. Then another day or so with some filler and sanding to get them nice and straight. Major PITA. I have done it a couple of times, not any fun at all!

This will be installed in my next build when I want to smooth the engine bay. http://scottrodfab.com/shop/fox-body.../8-ficstl.html

[erratic50]

Those definately help.

Now check out all the holes on the strut towers..... good grief. Those are what drive me nuts.

I can’t let any and every thing there is bother me or I’ll have so much in this car that it’s beyond stupid money.

Open to recommendations on an approach to a quick cleanup. It just doesn’t make sense to spend a ton of time or money.

[wraithracing]

The inner fender aprons take care of the majority of the holes. The strut towers are thicker metal and easier to weld up IMHO. Otherwise you can use these, but again IMHO it takes just as much work if not more to smooth them out and get them to look right.



http://www.scottrodfab.com/foxmustang.html#fox_engine

Then you also have the frame rail pieces if so inclined too.



Unfortunately it's the same issue of where do you stop? I see little to no reason to clean up some of the holes if you aren't going to do all of the unused ones. Otherwise it doesn't achieve the look you really want. If you seriously want to consider something like this, then let me know ASAP, otherwise the engine bay will be in primer very soon. Would prefer to not waste primer if we are going to do a bunch of welding in the engine bay.

[erratic50]

I would say it’s just a nice to have and not a priority. I may regret that but I just can’t see spending the time and money. The build has a tough timeline to meet.

[wraithracing]

I would say it’s just a nice to have and not a priority. I may regret that but I just can’t see spending the time and money. The build has a tough timeline to meet.

I completely understand. We can incorporate it into the build if wanted, just don't want another floor replacement after paint kind of scenario!

Besides once all the wiring, hoses, engine, etc. are all installed you will notice less of the holes. They really stand out when the engine bay is empty.

[droopie85gt]

[QUOTE=wraithracing;1877084]Here is a teaser of what was accomplished yesterday on the Mustang.

Before:



What's the red square tube behind the crossmember? K Member brace? Jack stand support?

That's a ton of work! I am impressed! Another question....if you look at the bottom left of the after pic. There's a square hole (round on mine) on top of the frame rail, pretty much under the battery tray. What is that for?

On mine it looks like it's been broken out or cut out...it's not square. When I had it running previously, I made a rectangular washer to put down there and run a bolt thru one of the legs of my battery tray to hold the tray down against the frame. I was thinking about welding that hole up and welding a nut under the plate I put in.

[82GTforME]

Wow is this ever going to come together quickly at this pace!

I can't imagine what all of the holes put into the fender aprons could be used for. There must have been some reasoning behind it. At least on the stock set-up, some are used and other covered up by all the stuff.

The earlier cars sure never had a perforation problem

[BMW Rider]

I've noticed the same with my 79 - far fewer holes in the engine bay. I saw no need to do anything to fill holes, the few that seemed to have no purpose are hard to see once all the components are in anyway.

[erratic50]

The red bar is an early Saleen design Racecraft lower Kmember brace. This car has the entire early racecraft suspension kit under it and had most of a Saleen body kit on it when I bought it. we suspect its an old Kenny Brown / HPM car but have homework to do to confirm it.

The amount of Saleen parts that have been the car for so long is the reason its being built out with the rest of the Saleen body kit. Finish what someone started 30+ years ago.

I am not sure on the square/round hole discussion.

I've been told before -- and I don't know if it is a line of BS or not -- but the reason for all of the perforations in the towers and aprons on the later foxes is to help reduce under hood heat soak via more airflow.

Not sure how much truth there is to that, but I'm sure its plenty breezy under the hood. :0

[wraithracing]

The square hole under the battery tray should be one of the hold down bolts for the battery tray if we are talking about the same hole. There should be a J clip that fits into the hole and a long bolt holds down the battery tray.

I believe the reason for all the holes is the available engine options in the Foxes over the years. Different engine/drivetrain options require different wiring, different sensors, and multiple sensor/wiring locations. I believe Ford just continued to add holes to the engine bay as the years progressed and never deleted holes. This is the reason the later years have more holes than the earlier models. Also keep in mind that the inner engine bay was used across the Fox platform, so other Ford vehicles in the Fox family required different options and placements.

[droopie85gt]

The square hole under the battery tray should be one of the hold down bolts for the battery tray if we are talking about the same hole. There should be a J clip that fits into the hole and a long bolt holds down the battery tray.

Does anyone have a pic of such hold down? Probably much better than what I did./

[wraithracing]

Does anyone have a pic of such hold down? Probably much better than what I did./

I don't have a picture to show you right now, but here is the replacement hardware for the Four Eyed Battery tray.

https://lmr.com/item/HDW-10732AK/Mus...stallation-Kit



I believe the 79-85 (maybe even 86) cars use 2 bolts to hold down the battery tray and then two into the inner fender. The Aero cars only use one down bolt and the two thru the inner fenders IIRC. Hope that helps!

[erratic50]

Working with Trey to decide on wheel center finish.

we're trying to decide how shiny the clear coat should be and also what color the centers on a 1E silver car should be.

What we are leaning towards is gloss, and matching the middle stripe on the grey stripe kit from Saleen.

Thought about starting with charcoal then mixing in some silver metallic base to lighten it up. also thought about painting it charcoal grey trim color then dusting it with 1E silver base coat before clearing it.

I don't think a 1E silver center would look right regardless of if its satin or gloss. Not sure.

Open to input.

Thoughts?

[Tigger]

I don't think a 1E silver center would look right regardless of if its satin or gloss. Not sure.

I agree. My car no longer has the stripes but I think going with the middle stripe color would look good. I think a satin finish would be better than gloss. Just my opinion. My car came with two extra sets of wheels in addition to the original ones when I bought it. None of them had a real glossy finish on the centers. One set was red and the other was white. I still have the white set. In my opinion, when the hoops are polished those wheels tend to pop regardless of the finish on the center.

[erratic50]

Sounds like one vote for polished hoops then middle stripe center topped with satin.

Thinking about having Trey leave the rims sit out in the booth when the 1E is shot on the car after the main color is applied to the centers. I remember my brightly colored metallic shoes from shooting metallics.

[wraithracing]

Sounds like one vote for polished hoops then middle stripe center topped with satin.

Thinking about having Trey leave the rims sit out in the booth when the 1E is shot on the car after the main color is applied to the centers. I remember my brightly colored metallic shoes from shooting metallics.

The only problem with a 1E silver is there is not much metallic in the color. It's a good looking silver, just not really a metallic silver. You will see today when your color samples arrive.

[84StangSVT]

This car is gonna be awesome! I can’t wait till it makes it back home to Nebraska, so I can see it.

Trey is doing some killer work! I know who I will be sending Blondie to....if I ever get that far.

[wraithracing]

Roof is solid and back in place.

[erratic50]

The color samples showed up today and its AWESOME. You can go track down old historic photos of the 1986 Mustangs rolling off the assembly line and look at the Charcoal then look at the sample and its spot on. The silver looks exactly like I remember too. Totally awesome.

This is going to be one over the top tribute four eyed fox build when its done.

[erratic50]

You can't really tell it from the work posted here, but the roof skin was surgically removed from a dead four eyed fox and transplanted on to my 85. The amount of patience and skill it takes to remove a roof skin without damaging it then put it in place on another car is truly amazing.

Should come in handy if we ever get crazy enough to join the non-dead front portions of my 1986GT together with the back sections of dead SVO I know of before it ends up at the crusher. Stupid thing is rust free...... grr.... LOL.

[erratic50]

I stumbled across an opportunity for some parts that I couldn’t pass up.

85-86 LX bumper/facia
rust free hood
rust free doors

I need the metal parts for my 86 but I wasn’t really looking to buy them now. I had been looking for an uncut 85-86LX front facia/bumper so I could keep the GT style from my Saleen for my 1986GT build. The seller was parting individual pieces out of the doors and other stuff and advertised $1200. I offered 300 and he took it.

Having fog lamp openings in the front bumper back behind the 85 Saleen 3 piece facia is a bit like looking at the wart on the witches nose. Saleen swapped them for LX on any of the four eyed fox GTs they converted. Interestingly they didn’t always swap out the “GT” trim on the sides and they almost never swapped the vents above the glovebox and the bezel around the gauges over to LX style of the car was a GT.

Anyway, so now to get the nose to Austin area.

The added bonus of this plan is I’ll have spare factory fog lights to put on my 86 now too - something that GT hasn’t had on it since they were stolen in 1994....