The Fox is a five speed...so hopefully that doesn't mean it doesn't qualify for inclusion on these forums.

I've always been a huge fox body fan. First Mustang I ever rode in was a Fox Body. First Mustang I ever drove in was a Fox Body and when I first really got into cars as a teenager, I hung out with a few guys who had modified Fox Bodies and needless to say, I've wanted one ever since. Well, in January I finally picked up my first Fox Body. It's a 1988 GT, white with the red stripe around the middle (Vanilla Ice style-ish, lol). I've been trying to do some small things when I have time to work on the car.....like fixing the horn, replacing some minor exterior and interior pieces, returning the CAI to stock, etc. It definitely needs some more work like fixing some oil leaks and addressing some rust but overall I'm pretty happy with the car and I'm looking forward to continuing work on it as sort of a resto-mod/occasional weekend track car, in the coming months and years. I've documented my progress in some threads on other forums but trying to cast a wide net so I can get as much insight and guidance as possible from other auto enthusiasts (and to shamelessly plug the project as I document it on my YouTube Channel).

Anyways, here's the car (along with my 2014 GT):

 

Latest on the fox body - battery (brand new) has died on me a couple of times. Now completely dead. Ordered a trickle charger and am now patiently waiting for it to arrive....probably won't be here until middle of next week. I've also ordered a heat gun so I can replace the center molding stripe.


Got a few things in the mail this week including the plastic clips for the fuel filter and some sway bar end links (I've had some noises at low speed/tight turns).


In the meanwhile, I pulled out the battery and I'm taking the drill/wire brush to the rust on the frame. Also have a POR-15 kit on the way.

 

I’ve wanted a foxbody for a while, fun cars great price.

 

Yeah man, even with all the work I've had to do so far, it's been great fun. It's a very "analog" driving experience, if that makes sense. Not that my 2014 is super technologically advanced...lol.

Finally managed to get rid of the old yellow stickers on the inside of the quarter windows.....took a long time though. They were driving me crazy.

Before:


After:



Also, interesting update on the battery not holding a charge situation. I had a person comment on YouTube that I should check the lights on the vanity mirrors to see if they are draining the battery. Battery was out of the car, attached to trickle charger that just arrived so I couldn't see if the lights were functioning. I had taken a picture a while back though and noticed one of the vanity mirror lights was still on even though there was electrical tape across the little button. So I pulled the sun visors out (they need to be repaired or replace anyways) and disconnected the vanity mirror lights.

I hooked the battery back up to the trickle charger and let it charge over night. The next day, I threw the battery back in and the Fox started right up. I ran voltage test on the battery and it appeared normal. Even took the Fox for a little spin around the block. The day after that, I ran voltage tests with the multi-meter and everything looked normal, both with the car turned off and after cranking. So it seems the vanity mirror lights were draining the battery....and I might have taken forever to figure that out if some random person on youtube hadn't said something. Funny how that works sometimes.

In other battery-related news, my PA Performance battery cable kit arrived a couple of days ago. The current positive battery terminal has a crack in it which I didn't notice until very recently.

 

Last night I replaced the old battery cables, which were in even worse condition than I thought, with the PA Performance kit. I couldn't figure out the alternator cable yet because I couldn't see where it was routed exactly...but I will try to get that installed sometime in the next few days.

Old:



New:

 

Heat gun finally arrived..along with some other random stuff. On Friday evening, something else arrived. Our foster dog, Lady, gave birth to one puppy at our house and then was having trouble delivering the next one. We ended up having to take her to the clinic and she got an emergency c-section. An little over an hour later we were driving home with Lady and six tiny puppies. Hell of a Friday, lol.

Lady and puppy patrol

Once things settled down, I managed to get some garage time. Took advantage of the heat gun and started removing the body molding stripe.


I need to look a little bit closer but it seems like the stripe on the door moldings is possibly a different material or might even be painted on. I didn't want to melt the door moldings so I didn't mess with those much longer while removing the rest of the stripe around the car. I also got the front driver side wheel off again and started doing some more work on the rust. I need some spray bottles for the degreaser and metal treatment from the POR-15 kit. I had initially ordered them from Chemical Guys but the order got cancelled due to lack of inventory. Fortunately I was able to pick up a couple of alternatives with my grocery pick-up at Wal-Mart today. Hopefully these will work fine and I can get at least one side of the apron done with POR-15.



On the alternator power cable situation, I finally just sucked it up and ordered the SR performance cable which already has the 200 amp in-line fuse. I figured between everything else I'd need to order to do it myself, I'd only be saving 15 bucks and at least with this kit I have everything already put together. That should be here in a day or two.

Hoping to make more progress this coming weekend.

 

gonna be a sweet project!

 

Thanks! Looks like you've got a serious stable full of horsepower based on your signature. Would love to get a Vette project myself one of these days. Also, I always loved the Lightning.

 

Happy to report that I finally got the alternator power cable finished. I ended up running the power cable in one loom and the rest of the wires in a separate loom. It took a while but I got it looking how I wanted it, for the most part. I might need to redo the tape around some of the clips but for now, I'm pretty happy. Trying to get both looms to sit well and fit underneath the battery tray took the most time.





The car has been running pretty well since I got this taken care of. No issues starting/turning over. In the meanwhile, someone pointed out that it looked like whoever did the brake upgrade on my car may have used copper brake lines, which is apparently a no go. So after some research on the forums, I ended up recently ordering a 1993 Cobra master cylinder and a brake line kit. I believe I have everything I need for that but I do still need to pick up another can of POR-15 to use on the shock tower so I can do both of those at the same time.


I also recently managed to make some progress on cleaning up the residue underneath the body molding stripe, which was a pretty tedious process. I need to figure out a solution for the door sections and the rear bumper.




I've been documenting most of this slow and steady progress on my YouTube channel. The last couple of weeks have been minimally productive because the foster puppies have gotten a lot bigger and more energetic/mischievous.


The foster puppy goon squad should be on their way to new foster homes/adoption this weekend and then I'm hoping to make more progress. I've also recently ordered a set of Koni shocks but they are on back order so I patiently wait.

 

Enjoying your thread! Nice car project.

I used a ton of parts from these circa Mustangs to build my FF Cobra.

Keep the pics coming...especially the pups/dog....love em!

 

Thanks a lot, I appreciate the encouragement and support.

I never thought about the compatibility with FF Cobras but it makes sense...what sort of engine/drivetrain does your use? Does it share any suspension parts with the Mustangs?

 

My latest efforts on the fox body - I replaced the lower door hinge tension spring so now the driver side door is actually able to stay open without having to prop it up with a jack stand or cinder block. Kind of hard to explain without a video or gif but it did the trick.


I removed the hood, which was easier (and lighter) than I expected because I was planning to replace the hood hinge cups. Ended up discovering some more rust in that area so I've been working on that with my drill/wire brush bit.


Here's how the passenger side looked after I pulled that side out:


And here's how it's looking after my first pass at cleaning up:


I'm going to be working on this and removing the brake master cylinder, then brushing/cleaning/treating/painting both these areas and the shock tower, before putting in the new brake MC (1993 Cobra), brake lines, hood hinge cups, and a hood to firewall seal. Depending on when some recent parts I ordered arrive, I will hopefully also be getting started on replacing valve cover gaskets and cleaning/painting both the valve covers and the upper intake manifold.

 

Factory Five Cobras (Roadsters are they officially called BC of a Lawsuit from Shelby using a tradmarked name) were originally designed as a kitcar utilizing the Mustang Fox Body years. The kits are pretty flexible and you can decide how much or little of a doner car you want to use. The aftermarket parts world can also supply more custom or competition parts. If you want to go economy, the kit frames are designed to accept the entire suspension/steering directly from the doner car. This includes the entire rear diff/axles. Most builder will use aftermarket steering/front suspension parts.for a more updated geometry. I did.

For engines, these kits can go in a lot of different directions - Ford old school, modern Ford using the Mustang's EMS. or even Chevy format V8s. I went with a Ford 302 old school. Here is a pic of my chassis and finished car.

 

Oh man, you got me looking at the Factory Five website. Very cool

 

Latest on the Fox Body....I got the temperature gauge working, after replacing the temperature sending unit.


I got the POR-15 kit applied to the areas around the hood hinge cups and on the driver side shock tower behind the factory proportioning valve.


Also finally got the brake master cylinder out, but had to go a very painful route of pulling out the brake booster as well. It ended up being a good thing though, since I found that the bottom of the brake booster is looking pretty rusted, presumably from having brake fluid leaking on it over the years.



I ended up ordering a reman unit from Auto Zone, which is supposed to be here next week *fingers crossed

Once that arrives, I will double check and make sure I have everything I need as far as hardware, then I need to bench bleed the new 93 Cobra master cylinder, get everything put back together and get the brakes bled.

I am planning to replace the valve cover gaskets and intake manifold gaskets, and also clean up and paint the valve covers and intake manifold. I've got some cleaning to do underneath the car as well, to see if I can better identify some of the oil leaks (assuming rear main seal at least, possibly the oil pan gasket as well). Beyond that, I'm waiting for my Koni shocks to arrive and then will continue piecing together the suspension.