🔧 BUILD Strtcar's 1986 Mustang Convertible

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General Information

I've always had a soft spot for fox vert's so I bought this in 2015. I'm the third owner (60k miles), the car spent it's entire life in IL and surprisingly has zero rust, it's spotless. Originally this was going to be a coyote swap car however, already having one swap I missed the sound of a classic sbf (and the oil leaks) so decided to keep this one more of a traditional 90's build.

Car started its life out as a 1986 LX 3.8 v6, c5 auto, 7.5". The goal is to make it a great handling car with 325-350hp 400-425hp and do autocross events, perhaps even some HPDE, this won't be a drag car.

Planned mods are as follows, I have 90% of this stuff collected already:

Strip and paint engine bay, leaving the swiss cheese
Full Stifflers Catalog (FIT system, driveshaft loop, cross member)
Full MM Catalog (kmember, PHB, TA, CC Plates, Steering Shaft, Hydroboost, etc...)
Koni coilovers on all 4
2003 Cobra R&P
2003 Cobra Brakes
2003 Cobra Hydroboost
All new SS Brake Lines (Hard & Soft)
Stock block 331 (10:1)
AFR 185 Heads
TrickFlow Track Heat inake
Custom FTI Cam
Holley Terminator X EFI (LS CNP)
T5Z 5 Speed
Built 8.8 w/3.73 5 lug (wheels still tbd)
Bassani/AFM 1.75" shorty headers
2.5" Flowmaster 40 series (Is drone such a thing in a convertible?)
Paint the trim, but leave the rest of the car as is, maybe swap to black top
Leave interior 100% stock, hope to just use the terminator x 3.5" dash for gauges.
Rollbar for autocross & hpde

etc.... etc....

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strtcar

strtcar

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Oct 28, 2007
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  • #78
    Mr_Roboto said:
    Happy thoughts on keeping the T5 alive. They're not a dime a dozen like they used to be.
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    Prices are getting ridiculous and eventually nobody will want to touch them anymore. The Ford rebuild kits are like $600 now, not to mention $400-$500+ for cores, and if you can't rebuild yourself to save on labor it's just not worth it anymore. The T5Z is $2k just buy that, or for $800 more TKX....

    I'm hoping it will live long enough for me to get a few seasons on the car and get all the bugs worked out and just replace with TKX down the road. This car will never see a drag strip, and I've got a very friendly street clutch going in it.
     
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    strtcar

    strtcar

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    Oct 28, 2007
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  • #81
    Boostie said:
    Man I like this thing! Trying to find an excuse to build the wife a ford powered foxbody like this. Love all the attention to detail!
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    Thanks, It's spiraling out of control a little bit, went from just do a v8 swap over a weekend to a multi year build. But I like the direction it's going. Hopefully up and running next season.
     
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    Boostie

    Boostie

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  • #82
    strtcar said:
    Thanks, It's spiraling out of control a little bit, went from just do a v8 swap over a weekend to a multi year build. But I like the direction it's going. Hopefully up and running next season.
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    Took me almost 3 years till I was able to first hear mine run. All said and done I am glad I did it right the first time. If you aren't in a rush I would just keep the path you are on!
     
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    BOTTLEFED

    BOTTLEFED

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  • #85
    strtcar said:
    Intake is back from the coater, copied the look of Terminator-Fux Terminator-Fox a little bit, but leaving the valve covers wrinkle black, didn't want to do intake black. I think it looks good, hope to have motor test fit this weekend.

    View attachment 167726
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    Who did you use for powdercoat? Seems like all these local mofos dont wanna do shit.
     
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    strtcar

    strtcar

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  • #91
    So now that the engine and trans are in, I think the next logical step is to tackle the rear. I've got the MM Pandhard Bar & Torque Arm, along with a empty 8.8 housing and all the necessary parts to assemble it with the good stuff. Talked to Vince@VRN today, going to bring the housing to them to straighten and weld in a few weeks. In the mean time I'm going to pull all the old suspension out and clean the floorboards.

    Yesterday I leveled up the chassis on jack stands, I noticed that the back right jack stand wasn't even touching, about 1/8" floating above the jack stand, I thought ot myself wtf...I started to shake the car, sit on the door sill, rock solid... I guess the subframe connectors and Stifflers FIT web bracing does something. I quickly put the jack stand back after I took this pic...

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    Boostie

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  • #97
    strtcar said:
    MM PHB & TA install is going well, the PHB was a pain to get set correctly before you drill the holes, the TA seems a lot easier. Held up my bullets they look pretty good, paint contrast between the blue & gray looks good. I'm on the fence about getting different wheels....I've been eyeing Boostie Boostie FR500's...

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    Shoot me a message if you are serious, Ill cut you a real good deal on them. I have way too many sets of wheels right now
     
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