Fox Wagon Acquired - 1986 LTD

[Chuck W]

OK, the laser cut parts for my motor mounts showed up today. My old leftover stash from my time building mounts yielded the rest of what I'm going to need to get it all together.



I should have some time on Sunday to get a few things tacked up.

I also decided I'm going to use an SN-95 steering rack in this thing. I picked up a good, used rack from an '04 GT/Mach1, which should do nicely. I figured that since I was going to need to buy one of the MM steering shafts, I might as well upgrade the rack at the same time.

[qikgts]

Nicely done pieces/parts there! Did they come from a online source?

[Chuck W]

Yeah, the new stuff is from sendcutsend.com. I just uploaded my part drawings and selected materials, etc and they process and ship them to me.

I've used them on a few projects.
I have a couple area laser cutting/waterjet shops, but this is just much more convenient. Especially for smaller part orders.

[qikgts]

Very cool! Seems like a very practical option.

[massacre]

Very cool!

[Chuck W]

Well, I wound up being able to only get a limited amount done today.

I'd forgotten that I needed to shorten the bushing tubes slightly and forgot to take them into the office on Fri to use the lathe, and I had the wrong bolts for the lower studs.

I did somehow had one of the proper M14 bolts, so I was able to at least get one side kind of mocked up, but gotta get another for the pass side. (That nut is just there to hold the bushing tube steady while I took the pic.)



I probably could've tacked the tabs in place today, but I'll wait until I have the bushing tubes at the correct length, so I can tack it all together at once.

My spindles showed up on Friday as well, so I added them to the growing pile of parts.

[Chuck W]

Well, I came home from work today and the wife and kids weren't going to be back for a little while, so I set about to get the motor mounts sorted and tacked together.





I had minimal room to get the welder in good spots to do the tack welds, but it got done enough to keep them together for removal.

The Pass side turned out better than the Driver one, but a little cleanup and such and it should be fine.

Hopefully I'll have some time in the morning to burn things all together.

[Chuck W]

Popped out this morning to pick up the first bit of the exhaust.



It's a Pacesetter piece that was for the SN-95's with the 3.8 and some long-tube headers. I'm just going to use the stock manifolds on the engine, but what this does is gives me plenty of working room to mate things together, seeing as a have to make a custom connection to the 3.7 manifolds anyway.

X-pipe. H-pipe. Didn't really care. It was local and cheap.

I'm going to wind up putting V-band connections on it (as with the rest of the exhaust) like I did on the LTS. Going to ditch those stupid band clamps.

Need to get some mufflers and hang them in place so I can place this properly and then work on the front of it.


And got the mounts welded up.

Just need to clean them up for coating.

[qikgts]

Progress is progress!

I'm envious of your motivation and follow through!

[gr79]

Worked few months at a metal fabrication factory. New hand welded 8' wide custom parts racks for the auto factories.
Cleaned entire metal rack after final welding car wash style with commercial hot water pressure washer. Soap, rinse.
Instructed to strip clean all that black like mill coating and brown weld soot off all the metal real well before booth painting.
Scraped weld bb's off with a large chisel. Went over areas using a right angle air tool with flap disk.
Edges, occasional smooth up of mig welds.

Walker DynoMax Tenneco Mega-Clamps are way better to work with than those 'generic' multi spacer bolt nut band clamps.
No juggling act. Look cleaner too if not able to weld anything. Cost about the same.
As a test, wrapped all connection seams with HVAC foil tape multiple times before installing and torquing the clamps.

A large welding magnet, stuck to say a metal scaffold beam, holds a household hammer quick draw ready at all times.

[Chuck W]

I built and sold motor mounts for 15 years. Even did some of my own powder coating. I got it covered for prepping them.


V-bands are my preferred choice for exhaust builds these days. Much easier to deal with should things need to be removed for any reason in the future.

(This is the set-up I stuck on the LTS when I got it on the road)

[gr79]

Thanks for explaining v band. Their purpose and install puzzled me for some reason till now.
Thanks for sharing thoughts and plan of mounts, proper materials used, fab procedure.
Projects that most of us can, not quite or never, have a skill level, tools, or environment required to complete all the steps.
Info like this helps when at the point of getting stuck doing a project and then what to do.
Gee, covering design to engineering proto, on down to finished products so fast W like wizard.

[Chuck W]

I was hoping to get the motor mounts coated today, but it was just a bit too blustery to spray powder. I did get them cleaned/prepped/etched, but will have to wait until I get a better day to coat them.

I did pick up wheels for this thing today.



The tires are a little more beat than I had hoped, but the wheels are in good enough shape for what we want to do with the car. I didn't want another set of Bullitt/Torque Thrust wheels, and other stuff was a bit pricy.

I did do a quick mock-up of how they would look mounted up. They don't look too bad to me.



I think I'm going to get the transmission/clutch R&R done in the TBird before I blow the drivetrain back out of this thing to weld up the K-member and get it sorted for it's (hopefully) final reinstall. Then will be wiring and getting the other systems sorted.

Also hoping to get some cleaning done on it.

[Patrick Olsen]

Of the various 17x8" SN95 wheels, I think that style is one of the best for looking "right" on the older, boxier Fox platform cars. That mock-up shot looks good, I think they're gonna look really nice on the car.

[Chuck W]

Of the various 17x8" SN95 wheels, I think that style is one of the best for looking "right" on the older, boxier Fox platform cars. That mock-up shot looks good, I think they're gonna look really nice on the car.

It was either going to be these, or the split 5-spoke ones. These were like 10 min from my house.

I wish they made some "blank" center caps for them, because I'd like to not have the pony on them. I had a set on a Volvo 240 years ago, but never got around to smoothing the centers out. I think I can fill the recess in the back of the raised pony section and smooth out the face without breaking through.

[mcb82gt]

I think I can fill the recess in the back of the raised pony section and smooth out the face without breaking through.

That was gonna be my suggestion, It will look nice!

[massacre]

It was either going to be these, or the split 5-spoke ones. These were like 10 min from my house.

I wish they made some "blank" center caps for them, because I'd like to not have the pony on them. I had a set on a Volvo 240 years ago, but never got around to smoothing the centers out. I think I can fill the recess in the back of the raised pony section and smooth out the face without breaking through.

I know how you feel- i have Mustang seats in my Zephyr and wish they did not have the ponies on them

[Chuck W]

Well, the wind finally stopped gusting today, so I was able to get the mounts coated.

I don't think I've used my PC set-up since we've been at this house, so it's been at least 7 years (more like 10, really) since I've coated anything.

A little cooking at 400*F


All ready to assemble for when the drivetrain will be set back in the car.



Yes, they're powder blue.

I actually want the interior of this thing to be light blue (instead of tan *barf*). There was a part out of a light blue wagon in FL that I wished I'd been able to snag the interior from, but the logistics just weren't going to work at the time.

Need to deal with a couple small projects on 2 other vehicles before I pull things apart to weld up the K-member, but the task of drivetrain mounting is sorted.

[Tom Wells]

Wow! I have that same t-shirt - one of my faves!

Also very impressed with your work!

Tom

[Chuck W]

Wow! I have that same t-shirt - one of my faves!

Also very impressed with your work!

Tom

The "Large Hadron Collider Cafe" shirt?

I accumulated way too many Woot! t-shirts over the years.

Thanks. I just kind of "do stuff".

[massacre]

Motor mounts look great nice job!

[partypants]

I love oddball wagons

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