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Topic: Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal. (Read 39016 times) previous topic - next topic

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #45 –
All good points, and sorry if I came off as assholish in my prior post, was extremely tired and admittedly, not in the most graceful of moods LOL.

I'm about an hour and a half from Whiteman AFB (where the B2 bombers are "kept") so if the NORKS get their delivery system sorted, and decide to be (even more) ignorant, I'm placing extreme doubts on the survival times in this area. Not to mention, fallout from there will be here within hours, going by prevaling winds alone.

I don't wear camo, except when turkey hunting. Seeing hundreds of people wearing orange coats, hats, shirts while eating out during deer season makes me want to laugh. Posers. What ya gonna do....drop an 11 pointer while chawing down that big mac 'n fries? LOL...

Music wise...tractor rap sucks. 99% of country music in my ear was made before I was 12 years old, some Alan Jackson Brooks and Dunn excepted. I'm the guy in muddy jeans, ripped t shirt with no sleeves pickin' up small bales while listening to pantera, then a pink floyd song, then something off of "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound. And I know every god word to 'em all. LOL.


Although.....I would appreciate being close to a big city-sized bookstore about once a week. And a by god Hardee's.
'98 Explorer 5.0
'20 Malibu (I know, Chevy, but, 35MPG. Let's go brandon, eh)

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #46 –
Meh it's fine. We're all adults, at least physically :hick:.

How's the Turbo Coupe coming along? Sorry I derailed your thread....
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #47 –
Quote from: thunderjet302;462871
Meh it's fine. We're all adults, at least physically :hick:.
Heh, I resemble that remark! Yeh, the threado derailmento is partially mine too LOL.
'98 Explorer 5.0
'20 Malibu (I know, Chevy, but, 35MPG. Let's go brandon, eh)

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #48 –
Thread derailments aren't a problem at all. Once I actually have more pictures and tech to add, I intend on adding a table of contents to the first post with links to each post.

I'm at a tough point right now. I'm thinking about doing things in stages. For example, I have a set of SN95 spindles, SN95 springs, Maximum Motorsports camber/caster plates, and some of Chucks shock mounts. I can get the PBR front brakes fairly inexpensively, and land some SN95 axles and and brakes for the rear fairly easily. I could also get some stock replacement Mustang shocks/struts and front control arms to replace the worn out stuff on the car(rear shocks are new). The issue lies in that I want Koni's, MM rear control arms, front coil overs, panhard bar and torque arm, which would require replacing things twice. The dilemma becomes, do I want to have something pretty nice now and wait just a little longer for something badass later, or do I want to just wait it out.

I'm already pretty sure as to which direction I'm going to take because of my lack of patience.
It's Gumby's fault.

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #49 –
I'd do all the conventional stuff for now (including the MM rear control arms) and go coil over front and rear later, if you really want to.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #50 –
I apologize for my lack of updates. I've done a few things here and there, but haven't taken any pictures as of yet. I'll have a few updates towards the end of the weekend.
It's Gumby's fault.

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #51 –
I didn't get too much done this weekend due to the girlfriends parents needing some help in their basp00get. I did score some pretty nice vintage audio gear that needs some work and clean-up, but I'll save that for another post.

The other reason was her moms Mustang needed some brake work. She complained that the pedal was spongy. It didn't feel spongy at all to me, but it required a lot of pedal effort to get any amount of braking. I decided to go the affordable route, and decided to pull the calipers, lube the slide pins and flush the fluid. I broke the bleeder screw on one of the calipers in the process, so a quick trip to the parts store was in order. After a full fluid flush, the brakes feel much more progressive. I ran almost two quarts of fluid through it just to ensure it was clean.

The view from my garage this afternoon:



The new caliper:



And one of my favorite tools ever:

It's Gumby's fault.

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #52 –
As far as my car, I don't have too many picture updates yet.

I finally made it over to my parents house and c00ched most of my parts stash. I was primarily looking for my SN95 spindles. I had two sets, so I gave a set to my buddy. Well apparently, I only had one set, and gave that set to a buddy. I'm not one to ask for things back, so I took to eBay and grabbed a set for 170 shipped. Not too hateful, but I'm still a bit butthurt over it.

In my stash, I also had two nearly new condition headlights, one that is about 85% new, a few turn signals, an inner marker, and 1.5 tail lights. I was heart broken to see one of my nice spare tail lights broken, but it happens sometimes. Before putting the lights on, I want to experiment with putting clear bra wrap over the headlights to protect them from the U.V. rays.

So while I am butthurt over my SN95 spindles, I happened to find that I stashed a set of SN95 rear brake backing plates and anti-moan brackets. I had no idea I owned these, but it *kinda* makes up for the spindles.

I was quite happy to find my 40Bob log.

Found my spare fuel rail with adjustable fuel pressure regulator and gauge on it.

Cleaned up my Camber/Caster plates. Just need to call MM to get some of the missing hardware and new bump stops.

I was also stoked to find the Chuck W subframe connector seat mounts. I thought I gave those away with one of my previous cars.

Ended up finding that I saved a handful of somewhat useless interior pieces and some other random stuff.

In slightly more exciting news, I picked up a set of 99-04 GT wheels for 100 bucks. I needed some 5-lug wheels, and found these. The tires are absolutely garbage, but they should get me to the tire shop when that time comes:

It's Gumby's fault.

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #53 –
If you paid $170 for 96+ SN95 spindles you should take yourself out back of the house and kick your own ass.  If that was for the 94-95 spindles then that was a good price.

http://www.car-parts.com

I get the 96+ spindles from salvage yards for about $70 a pair plus shipping out of Texas.  So call it $85 a pair.  When you do the search on the website I posted above (I have posted it before) drill down into the pages a bit to get the cheaper prices.  If you are buying the pair they will sometimes knock of $5 or so.

83 351W TKO'd T-Bird on the bottle


93 331 Mustang Coupe - 368 rwhp

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #54 –
For headlamp coatings this might be an option: http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotive/products/g17804-keep-clear-headlight-coating/

I plan on giving it a try. I picked up a set of pretty much like new headlamps and I don't want them to yellow.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #55 –
Quote from: Aerocoupe;463012
If you paid $170 for 96+ SN95 spindles you should take yourself out back of the house and kick your own ass.  If that was for the 94-95 spindles then that was a good price.

I won't even mess with the 96+ spindles. If I was going with a different k-member, I would consider it, but I really don't feel like dealing with the geometry issues.
It's Gumby's fault.

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #56 –
Quote from: thunderjet302;463019
For headlamp coatings this might be an option: http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotive/products/g17804-keep-clear-headlight-coating/

I plan on giving it a try. I picked up a set of pretty much like new headlamps and I don't want them to yellow.

It doesn't seem like a bad option. I also considered the new ceramic coatings that people are using for paint protection. I just don't know much about it yet.
It's Gumby's fault.

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #57 –
Just a small update for the moment.

The previous owner supplies a 140mph speedometer with the purchase of the car. Last week, I got off of my ass and finally installed it, along with some cool white LEDs. I did nothing more than pop the green lenses off and install the LEDs. At this point, I'm actually unsure of how much I like these particular LEDs. The green is somewhat washed out, and the outer edges of the gauges show a lot of white through. I haven't done anything to help with light spread, so that may improve things.

My phone couldn't get a good picture, so I took the two pictures that are the closest. One is more washed out, and the other makes it look less washed out, so you can imagine the happy medium.





I've primarily been grabbing parts here and there, so the progress pictures are pretty slim for the moment.
It's Gumby's fault.

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #58 –
What about green LEDs?
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Back in a fox. 1988 Turbo Coupe. The life journal.

Reply #59 –
Quote from: thunderjet302;463334
What about green LEDs?

I've thought about green LEDs and I've considered putting the green lenses back in. I do like how white the needles and the odometer window is.
It's Gumby's fault.