I just wanted to do a quick write up on my projects I got done on my 1984 ½ 20th Anniversary Mustang over the Christmas break. First, I want to start with a little history, I bought this car after I graduated High School in 1998. In 2000 I had it repainted and drove it off and on but let the car eventually sit after tiny things stopped working. Transmission would pop out of 1st gear, clutch slipped, dash lights out everywhere, AC stopped working, heater core leaked and finally parked it in 2014 because the hard brake line on the rear broke.
Which brings me to today – I have several Mustangs and simply neglected to drive them routinely creating situations that led me to this ambitious project during these 2 weeks I have had off. I started by replacing the hard lines on the rear, simple enough and put a new drum hardware kit while I was in there. I used Por15 after removing the grit and grime from the wheel well.
Then I moved to the front, rusty as all heck. Pads were new and rotors had no wear. I cleaned them up with scotch brite pads and then decided I would ceramic coat and paint everything because I knew the American Racing replacement tires in that size were $600 and Super GT Sport tires wouldn’t be road worthy. I knew tires and maybe new rims were going to happen if I want to drive this in the spring – more on that later.
Next, the most intimidating project was to replace the heater core. I got a quote for the heater core at $650 bucks. I said hey I will give it a go at 25 dollars for the part. After watching a few YouTube videos and posts I was able to disassemble the dash and replace it.
While the dash was ripped apart I decided to replace every cluster light in the car.
I didn’t need to remove the interior, but it needed a good cleaning for sitting so long.
I read you should run a restrictor in-line for the inlet hose of the heater core. Parts stores looked at me like I was from another planet and didn’t want to order a bunch of parts online that would take a week to get here. I made one from ¼ inch hard line, 3/8 fuel line, a washer, flared it out and inserted into the inlet hose. Cost me nothing and restricts the flow nicely. I have heat for the first time in 20 years.
Fluids – I can’t remember the last time I did this. With the heater core replacement all the coolant was flushed and replaced. I then did the oil & filter, the brakes where done previously when I replaced the hardlines (looked like chocolate milk). I also removed the gas tank and drained it and replaced the fuel filter.
Next, I started tackling the weird electrical issues I found after putting a fresh battery in it. Dome lights would not shut off. I did the obvious by replacing the jam switches and dimmer – did not fix the issue. After pouring over a wiring schematic with the help of a friend, we found in the A post of the passenger side car chewed wires from a mouse. Lovely, how the heck would a person fix that. I removed the trim, drilled out the rivets for the T-Top bracket and pulled the harness out enough to solder the wires and fed them back down – FIXED! Then I looked over the fuses and I swear I must have just put whatever I had available at the time to replace them. 30-amp fuse in a 10-amp location – you get the idea.
Back together finally:
And now the tire situation, my car had 14 America Racing rims with P215/60 R14 tires on them. If you look the only tire in that size are BFGs which would cost $600 bucks. The rims only had 4 inches of backspacing so they always stuck out from the wheel wells a bit. Once I did the math, I figured out with the money I saved by replacing the heater core ($650) and not buying BFGs on old 90s era rims ($600) I now had a budget of $1250 to fix 2 issues. The first was the sagging rear end, I spent $146.46 on a set of KYB Gas-a-Just Monotube shocks and .750 inch aluminum spring spacers. Then the best part a set of 4 Motegi MR116 17” rims with a proper 5 ¾ inch backspace so my new rubber will tuck into the wheel well. Part of my decision was cheaper tires, as odd as this sounds 15 & 16 inch tires are very expensive whereas 17s offer a ton of options. For me and my heavy right foot I was able to get a reasonable priced tire for $57.99. So new shocks, spacers, rims and tires set me back a total of $939.36. A little math here, budget was $1250 (doing the heater core myself and not buying expensive 14 inch BFGs) minus my Summit Racing bill left me with $310.64 in the black! Doing the work myself allowed me to save money and get a more modern style to my Mustang.
New 17" Rims:
And of course, all of this is made much easier in my home built heated and air conditioned paint booth & my Norco mid rise ground lift.
List of things left to tackle:
1. New T-5 World Class Transmission, since this car is a 1984 it does not have the "World Class" T-5. These about $2000 from what I found or if someone has a 1986 or newer T-5 in the area i would be interested in purchasing it. I may even put a 6 speed in it - anyone put one in a Foxbody before?
2. Air Conditioning
3. Upholstery - Cannot find the 2 tone Canyon Red interior for the 20th Anniversary car, just the solid Canyon Red.
4. Side trim - mind is coming off because it was removed when painted and the metal bent and the tape did not hold. I am having a heck of a time finding the red strip that goes in the middle of the side trim. I bought it years ago from Mustangs Unlimited but nobody carries this anymore. Help if you can.
Cheers to 2020!
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