FINALLY! A PROJECT CAR!!!

[Musclecarbuilder]

I finally bought myself a project! I found it in the woods at my Uncle's house, I paid 300 bucks for her! 

Its in there...

This is what it looked like when I found it: 

My friend and I started to dig it out. (We were out there for 5 hours...) 

We kinda started to get a path cleared for it: 

Then we got all the trees around it cleared out. (We disturbed a few wasp nests while we were at it) 

It ain't there no more...

A few pics before we towed it home...

Floors look REALLY good for sitting 21 years...

On the dolly...

And now its at my grandpa's, where it'll stay til i get it running.

Best part is that its the same color as my truck!! 

All thoughts welcome. Can't wait to start wrenching on it! 

 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Congrats. Looks like a solid little car. Glad it finally has a home.

Those 2.3 inline fours are pretty simple, reliable as bricks if they're not actually broken.

If it's been sitting that long, turn the engine through manually before trying to crank it with the starter, and if it turns free...REPLACE THE TIMING BELT BEFORE YOU GO ANY FARTHER.

A timing belt that old will almost certainly be brittle, and if it strips the teeth, valves can hit pistons and get bent (IF it's an "interference engine", which I don't know right off hand) causing a WHOLE lot more expense and effort.

Best to find a service manual before you do much of anything to it. Information is a whole lot cheaper than ruined parts.

Hope you didn't have to tow it far with the dolly too.

Towing an automatic like that without dropping the driveshaft is a good way to kill one.

Of course...if you already know all this, my apologies. Just trying to help.  

Edited Sunday at 08:35 PM by Ace-Garageguy
accuracy

[johnyrotten]

Pretty decent looking start for a project car, great platform as well. 👍👍

[Xingu]

I had a '95 F150 that same color.

Grats on the project. Looks like it will clean up pretty nice.

[Musclecarbuilder]

56 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Congrats. Looks like a solid little car. Glad it finally has a home.

Those 2.3 inline fours are pretty simple, reliable as bricks if they're not actually broken.

If it's been sitting that long, turn the engine through manually before trying to crank it with the starter, and if it turns free...REPLACE THE TIMING BELT BEFORE YOU GO ANY FARTHER.

A timing belt that old will almost certainly be brittle, and if it strips the teeth, valves can hit pistons and get bent (IF it's an "interference engine", which I don't know right off hand) causing a WHOLE lot more expense and effort.

Best to find a service manual before you do much of anything to it. Information is a whole lot cheaper than ruined parts.

Hope you didn't have to tow it far with the dolly too.

Towing an automatic like that without dropping the driveshaft is a good way to kill one.

Of course...if you already know all this, my apologies. Just trying to help.  

Thanks for the advice Bill! I was gonna take the driveshaft out but the trip was like 10 minutes so I left it in the car. I thought about attempting to turn the engine over with a socket, but someone at work offered me 400 for the engine the way it sits, so I'm probably just gonna sell it to him because I'm planning on throwing a V8 in it when I get it cleaned up. 😎 Plus I'd already have made 100 bucks off my 300 dollar investment. 

[Musclecarbuilder]

2 minutes ago, Xingu said:

I had a '95 F150 that same color.

Grats on the project. Looks like it will clean up pretty nice.

Thanks Michael! My F150 is a '94, its the truck my dad owned when I came home from the hospital when I was born. 

[Musclecarbuilder]

24 minutes ago, johnyrotten said:

Pretty decent looking start for a project car, great platform as well. 👍👍

Thanks John! Since it's not rusted at all for the most part, I'm hoping to V8 and Manual swap it, It's a lot of work but cheaper in the long run. Cuz here in Tennessee a nice running Fox that's not rusted goes for 10k minimum. 

[JollySipper]

Thank You for rescuing that fox Mustang........... There is Soooooooo much aftermarket stuff for these cars!

[espo]

Great find and save. Listen to Bill's advice on getting it running again as that will save you a ton of money. Got to wonder about the why's and how this wound up where you found it.  

[Musclecarbuilder]

25 minutes ago, JollySipper said:

Thank You for rescuing that fox Mustang........... There is Soooooooo much aftermarket stuff for these cars!

I know!! I never realized how much stuff there was for these cars! 

[Musclecarbuilder]

21 minutes ago, espo said:

Great find and save. Listen to Bill's advice on getting it running again as that will save you a ton of money. Got to wonder about the why's and how this wound up where you found it.  

Oh man there's an incredible story on how this car was parked here. I gotta go eat but when I'm done Ill tell the story

[johnyrotten]

25 minutes ago, espo said:

Listen to Bill's advice on getting it running again as that will save you a ton of money

Absolutely sound advice. Step #1 get it running, that way you can enjoy it while you save up,and acquire things for your ultimate idea. Non-op vehicles tend to stay that way,no matter how good the intentions of owners.

[iamsuperdan]

You're right, that is most definitely a project!

BUT I can definitely see the potential there. Other than the one fender and the tail light, it looks pretty straight. 

Love the 90s colours. Perfect.

 

Personally, I would clean the heck out of that car before I started any thing mechanical. I hate working on dirty vehicles, and I love detailing, so I would detail it to within an inch of it's life before tackling the mechanical.

That would include full disassembly of the interior. Seats, carpets, door panels, side panels, much of the dash, center console, etc...everything out! Each piece cleaned and hit with a steamer before being reassembled. 

I'd also get it up on jackstands, get the wheels off, get one of those undercar attachments for a pressure washer and clean the underside and the wheel wells. Engine bay too. Carefully.

 

Once it looks as close to showroom as possible, I'd start with Bill's advice on manually turning the engine. And if it turns, I'd pick up a new timing belt, plugs, wires, battery, all fluids, etc. All of that easily replaceable maintenance stuff.

I'd wonder about the electrical. If it's been sitting that long in those trees, I'd be certain that critters have been making homes and chewing on wires.

[Musclecarbuilder]

49 minutes ago, iamsuperdan said:

You're right, that is most definitely a project!

BUT I can definitely see the potential there. Other than the one fender and the tail light, it looks pretty straight. 

Love the 90s colours. Perfect.

 

Personally, I would clean the heck out of that car before I started any thing mechanical. I hate working on dirty vehicles, and I love detailing, so I would detail it to within an inch of it's life before tackling the mechanical.

That would include full disassembly of the interior. Seats, carpets, door panels, side panels, much of the dash, center console, etc...everything out! Each piece cleaned and hit with a steamer before being reassembled. 

I'd also get it up on jackstands, get the wheels off, get one of those undercar attachments for a pressure washer and clean the underside and the wheel wells. Engine bay too. Carefully.

 

Once it looks as close to showroom as possible, I'd start with Bill's advice on manually turning the engine. And if it turns, I'd pick up a new timing belt, plugs, wires, battery, all fluids, etc. All of that easily replaceable maintenance stuff.

I'd wonder about the electrical. If it's been sitting that long in those trees, I'd be certain that critters have been making homes and chewing on wires.

Yes sir I'm definitely gonna be cleaning her up! I LOVE detailing cars! I even bought one of those steamers for 50 bucks at walmart to clean it with. 

Ohhh man you should see the engine bay; dang near every wire in that thing has been chewed. On the bright side though I found a parts car that's a running driving 5.0 5-speed on Facebook that I'm gonna buy and I'm planning on doing a swap. I've been saving for a project since I was 12 so I've got a pretty good little nest egg saved up to bring this thing back. 😁

[Musclecarbuilder]

4 hours ago, espo said:

Great find and save. Listen to Bill's advice on getting it running again as that will save you a ton of money. Got to wonder about the why's and how this wound up where you found it.  

Ok, soo about 21, 22 years ago, my 2nd cousin Matthew and his Uncle Robert (Matthew's passed now, and his Uncle's in Jail) were working on this Mustang, they had just put a brand new trans in it and couldn't get it running. Matthew bought it from Robert shortly after, because Robert couldn't figure out what was wrong with it, now from what I've heard it needed a tune up, but Matthew couldn't afford to fix it, thus leading him to park it. The funny part about it is that my Uncle said the woods weren't there when he parked it. The woods grew up around it. 🤣 

Now, this all happened about 4 years before I was born, so I never knew about the car til a few weeks ago, my dad and I were at my Uncle's looking at a different Mustang that was parked next to his house. While we were looking at it, my Dad said there's another Foxbody in the woods somewhere, so we went cutting through the woods looking for it. And there she sat, all cold and alone. And the rest is history... 😁

[Musclecarbuilder]

This is my end goal for this car at some point. 

[johnyrotten]

9 minutes ago, Musclecarbuilder said:

Ok, soo about 21, 22 years ago, my 2nd cousin Matthew and his Uncle Robert (Matthew's passed now, and his Uncle's in Jail) were working on this Mustang, they had just put a brand new trans in it and couldn't get it running. Matthew bought it from Robert shortly after, because Robert couldn't figure out what was wrong with it, now from what I've heard it needed a tune up, but Matthew couldn't afford to fix it, thus leading him to park it. The funny part about it is that my Uncle said the woods weren't there when he parked it. The woods grew up around it. 🤣 

Now, this all happened about 4 years before I was born, so I never knew about the car til a few weeks ago, my dad and I were at my Uncle's looking at a different Mustang that was parked next to his house. While we were looking at it, my Dad said there's another Foxbody in the woods somewhere, so we went cutting through the woods looking for it. And there she sat, all cold and alone. And the rest is history... 😁

Cool that you know a bit of the history on the car. 👍👍

[Ace-Garageguy]

39 minutes ago, Musclecarbuilder said:

...so we went cutting through the woods looking for it. And there she sat, all cold and alone. And the rest is history... 😁

Obviously this was fate all along, and you are meant for each other.   

[Russell C]

2 hours ago, Musclecarbuilder said:

...my Uncle said the woods weren't there when he parked it. The woods grew up around it....

You guys back east have trees and shrubs and stuff. Always amazes me to see such runaway greenery. We don't have that out here in the low desert southwest. Car would've been entombed within a dense sand-filled cocoon of tumbleweeds. 🤣

[Falcon Ranchero]

Awesome find; have to admit I do have a soft spot for the fox body Mustangs. Looks like it has lots of potential. Careful of those wasp nests you said you disturbed; did a similar thing two weeks ago and got stung 3 times.

[Zen]

Cool story and great find! Get her cleaned up and running and go from there, take your time and enjoy the journey.

From that first pic I thought it was going to be a 93 Cobra find, lol.

[iamsuperdan]

It may look terrible, but being amongst the trees could actually be a good thing. The shade from the trees and the sap/leaves/whatever covering the paint could very well have protected it from the sun and other elements. 

Once you clean it and decontaminate it, that original paint could very well polish back to showroom shine. Obviously that front fender needs some work, but if you're lucky you won't need to do much other paintwork.

[thatz4u]

wear protective gear & mask when cleaning out the interior, don't know what's been living in it....if rodents could be Hunta Virus...

[Musclecarbuilder]

15 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Obviously this was fate all along, and you are meant for each other.   

AMEN 🤣

[Musclecarbuilder]

6 hours ago, Falcon Ranchero said:

Awesome find; have to admit I do have a soft spot for the fox body Mustangs. Looks like it has lots of potential. Careful of those wasp nests you said you disturbed; did a similar thing two weeks ago and got stung 3 times.

Dude lemme tell you it was awful! There was only one wasp sitting on the rear quarter panel, my friend and I sprayed it with brake cleaner, and about 10 more came out of the door jam. We looked at each other, and then took off running. 

Worst part about it was we realized after fighting the wasps for an hour that the brake cleaner we had was non-chlorinated, so it did literally NOTHING. 🤦‍♂️

Edited 7 hours ago by Musclecarbuilder