I finally has Challenge Car!

I overpaid a bit for it but it was a friend's car/charity kind of deal but still within budget money. I miss having a Mustang around, especially my old fox body. So here she is, I affectionately call her the 'Heap':

Engine has recently been rebuilt with an E303 cam, has BBK longtube headers and 4.10 rear. The suspension is kind of a mix of parts and it's quite low so I will definitely have to see if it's been lowered too much. I know these cars suffer from worse handling if they've been lowered too much. I know it needs some work but the wife and I desperately needed a project car and we're pretty excited about getting started and learning how to do body work.

So what's the best way to handle this? Just sand it down til I hit bare metal and spray it with a primer? We're thinking making the whole car a primer car to start until we get better with painting.

Looking for tips/ideas/suggestions on brands/techniques!

I will be selling the entire interior with possibly the exception of the dash. I'll probably keep it for the Challenge but eventually this will be my dedicated track car with SLA front and five link rear. Right now I just want to clean it out, paint it and get it on the track. Hopefully I'll make the Challenge this year!

Plenty of extra stuff for sale:
Need injectors anybody?
Some interior parts look ok but I didn't get good pictures of those yet. I'm thinking if I sell everything off from the inside (the good stuff) I should have enough for a lift off fiberglass hood, a decent seat and possibly a Saleen wing. Thoughts? Other than OMGDIRTYWTFCLEANTHATE36!

I'm jealous. Nice score!

There are a lot of parts that make great swapping opportunities on these, nice score.

Does it have weld in frame rail connecters, if not, that should be the first fix.

Check under the seats for floor cracks.

Is it a manual?

If I am correct it is an 87.

Is there a LSD?

It is an 88 with a manual swap. It likes to pop out of gear a lot so that needs looked at as well. Not sure of SFC's or the LSD yet. My list of must have parts are the SFC's, rear lower control arms (MM) and SS brake lines.

Nice! Always happy to see more challenge cars.

Nice! Looks pretty solid.

If its an '88, why does it have '85 wheels?

My 91 had those wheels from the factory. Nice find!

jstein77 wrote: If its an '88, why does it have '85 wheels?

Because they're kewl? The wheels appear to be in great shape, probably better than the rest of the car.

Awesome!!!

The rust on the roof isn't bad just as long as there isn't any more on or inside harder to get to parts. Just clean it all off good before it gets any paint. A palm sander with a med grade sandpaper will make short work of it. As for the primer you might want to avoid it if you can as it absorbs moisture and can make new rust.

Not sure what is going on with the bondo but if it is coming up like that it is on there pretty thick and prolly a hack job. That stuff should only go on in a car in very small batches. That looks like someone fill loaded about a full gallon onto that poor fox. Definitely get if off of there and see what you are looking at. There might be all kinds of rust and chicken wire underneath.

Otherwise just make sure you get a good respirator and keep up with the filters. If you do the spraying yourself stay away from paints with isocyanides.

Car won't be at the Challenge - at least not as a Challenger. The wife stole it from me and is making it her dedicated drag car. She wants to get into the 12.50 class with all her drag racing buddies. While I'm bummed I'm missing out on an awesome Challenge car I'm very, very happy my wife can finally get back into drag racing.
Back to the list of Craigs!

chknhwk wrote: The wife stole it from me and is making it her dedicated drag car.

Just once in my life, I'd like to be able to say something like that..

There's gotta be another one out there somewhere, they must have made millions of those things.

friedgreencorrado wrote:

chknhwk wrote: The wife stole it from me and is making it her dedicated drag car.

Just once in my life, I'd like to be able to say something like that.. There's gotta be another one out there somewhere, they must have made millions of those things.

Yeah, I've never heard of someone's wife stealing their car to go racing... She sounds like a keeper!!!

friedgreencorrado wrote:

chknhwk wrote: The wife stole it from me and is making it her dedicated drag car.

Just once in my life, I'd like to be able to say something like that.. There's gotta be another one out there somewhere, they must have made millions of those things.

You talking about the woman or the car...?

She IS a keeper - that's why I let her steal the car. I'm trying to keep her! LOL

We started the interior cleaning today and the tires showed up a couple hours ago. In it for $1965 so far. Lots of mouse turds and mold inside however...

chknhwk wrote: Car won't be at the Challenge - at least not as a Challenger. The wife stole it from me and is making it her dedicated drag car. She wants to get into the 12.50 class with all her drag racing buddies. While I'm bummed I'm missing out on an awesome Challenge car I'm very, very happy my wife can finally get back into drag racing. Back to the list of Craigs!

...Wonders if this was clever April Fools Day post?

hrdlydangerous wrote:

chknhwk wrote: Car won't be at the Challenge - at least not as a Challenger. The wife stole it from me and is making it her dedicated drag car. She wants to get into the 12.50 class with all her drag racing buddies. While I'm bummed I'm missing out on an awesome Challenge car I'm very, very happy my wife can finally get back into drag racing. Back to the list of Craigs!

...Wonders if this was clever April Fools Day post?

I kind of wish. Looks like I missed the boat on good Foxbody prices. It'll be a while before I find one this cheap again.
On to the pics!
Yeah. This will be a fun tear down.
Web of the spiders.
Little tire rub never hurt nobody.
I don't know and I don't want to know.
What are these??
Look what we found under the rear carpet!
Look what we found under the rear seats.
Rear seat delete!

I just realized, shouldn't this be in a different forum?

chknhwk said: Looks like I missed the boat on good Foxbody prices. It'll be a while before I find one this cheap again

Come down to NJ and buy my former Challenge Fox. It's pre-gutted and collecting dust right now.

Message me.

hrdlydangerous wrote:

chknhwk said: Looks like I missed the boat on good Foxbody prices. It'll be a while before I find one this cheap again

Come down to NJ and buy my former Challenge Fox. It's pre-gutted and collecting dust right now.

Made some progress on it yesterday by ripping out the rest of the interior and finding a few more issues.
I have no idea where this wire goes, why there's arcing and carbon buildup in that port or who likes acorns so much.
Some interior rust to deal with. Picked up an air tool, grinding discs, rustoleum and interior paint last night. Going to start on that today.
Old interior. I should tag this 'biological waste' with all the mouse droppings and mold that come out of here...
PS, should this be in the build forum? I didn't intend to make this into a progress thread, it just kind of happened. And we're officially about $800 over on budget restrictions so at this rate it probably won't ever become a challenge car. As long as SWMBO is happy, I'm happy. I'll find something for me later this year or next year.

Oh, the acorns! I still have nightmares about colonies of vicious gearhead rodents that must have lived in the heater box of the Neon I bought for parts. Take the dash apart and you just might find about 10 pounds of weight reduction once the pile of acorn shells and other... stuff falls out and contaminates your garage.

Car definitely needs grip. Wife is at a charity drag race event right now and she's spinning the tires in all four gears down the track. :D

chknhwk wrote: Made some progress on it yesterday by ripping out the rest of the interior and finding a few more issues. I have no idea where this wire goes, why there's arcing and carbon buildup in that port or who likes acorns so much.

Oh that picture is an instant classic, hilarious! The random wire run out of the dusty fuse box. The oxidizing hardware and the spontaneous half eaten acorn wedged on top of it all. That sums up every project car I think I have had pretty well too

Funny, squirrels around my house like to toast acorns on my manifold/valve cover. I swear they wait until it cools enough to climb under and grab the shells.