Hello! Glad I found this forum. I own a '88 Mustang LX 2.3 5speed. I got it dirt cheap in May and planned on restoring it.
It had been sitting in a dry garage for over 4 years and hasn't been driven in the winter, so the body was in an OK condition - no previous major accidents, a dent on the hood, minimal rust, but other than that - OK. The paint is Oxford White but there's not too much left of the original paint - it had been resprayed by spray bottles.
The clutch and brakes were fine. I had planned a 302 swap from the beginning but first wanted to get the original engine running properly. The 2.3 N/A engine sounded horrible, there was a huge vibration inside the car, it idled poorly and the alternator wasn't working properly. The previous owner had put in a Saab 9000 radiator (???) and 2 electric fans, also off a Saab. I decided to take it for a drive but it had the acceleration of a bag of bricks and after a 15 minute drive, I noticed the temp gauge slightly climbing. Instantly stopped the car and shut it off, it ended up spewing coolant all over the ground. I also heard strange noises from the rear axle while driving. Jacked the car up to find both rear springs split in half.
Since I didn't have time to work on it myself due to work, I decided to take it to a mechanic who specializes in American Fords in Estonia. He said the Saab radiator was too small for the engine and thus was the problem for the overheating problem. Didn't turn out too well, I had to constantly remind him to work on my car, having to wait over 4 months for the guy to replace the radiator with a OEM one, put in the original fan, intake manifold gasket (which had been made out of some weird plastic by the previous owner), redo the cooling system piping and some minor work. Finally a month ago, I got a call that the car was ready. So I headed to pick up the car. Since the guy had been fixing US Fords for over 15 years, I trusted his work. I started driving home. Everything seemed ok. When I finally got home (about a 10 mile drive) and shut the engine off, it started spewing coolant again. I was furious and opened the hood. The mechanic had forgot to wire the fan and the wires were hanging randomly. I called him and told him what was up and the guy was startled, saying he forgot to wire the fan. He told me he would give me a discount of 50% the next time I need work on my car. I mean who does that?
At the moment the car is in my garage but since the garage is not heated and the temperature is -15 Celsius outside, I haven't been able to work on it. But as the weather gets warmer i'll start building this Fox on my own.
Sorry for the long post, wanted to get that off my chest :grinroll:
Sander
It had been sitting in a dry garage for over 4 years and hasn't been driven in the winter, so the body was in an OK condition - no previous major accidents, a dent on the hood, minimal rust, but other than that - OK. The paint is Oxford White but there's not too much left of the original paint - it had been resprayed by spray bottles.
The clutch and brakes were fine. I had planned a 302 swap from the beginning but first wanted to get the original engine running properly. The 2.3 N/A engine sounded horrible, there was a huge vibration inside the car, it idled poorly and the alternator wasn't working properly. The previous owner had put in a Saab 9000 radiator (???) and 2 electric fans, also off a Saab. I decided to take it for a drive but it had the acceleration of a bag of bricks and after a 15 minute drive, I noticed the temp gauge slightly climbing. Instantly stopped the car and shut it off, it ended up spewing coolant all over the ground. I also heard strange noises from the rear axle while driving. Jacked the car up to find both rear springs split in half.
Since I didn't have time to work on it myself due to work, I decided to take it to a mechanic who specializes in American Fords in Estonia. He said the Saab radiator was too small for the engine and thus was the problem for the overheating problem. Didn't turn out too well, I had to constantly remind him to work on my car, having to wait over 4 months for the guy to replace the radiator with a OEM one, put in the original fan, intake manifold gasket (which had been made out of some weird plastic by the previous owner), redo the cooling system piping and some minor work. Finally a month ago, I got a call that the car was ready. So I headed to pick up the car. Since the guy had been fixing US Fords for over 15 years, I trusted his work. I started driving home. Everything seemed ok. When I finally got home (about a 10 mile drive) and shut the engine off, it started spewing coolant again. I was furious and opened the hood. The mechanic had forgot to wire the fan and the wires were hanging randomly. I called him and told him what was up and the guy was startled, saying he forgot to wire the fan. He told me he would give me a discount of 50% the next time I need work on my car. I mean who does that?
At the moment the car is in my garage but since the garage is not heated and the temperature is -15 Celsius outside, I haven't been able to work on it. But as the weather gets warmer i'll start building this Fox on my own.
Sorry for the long post, wanted to get that off my chest :grinroll:
Sander
