So one of the members posted on our forum,
and he jokingly said, we probably all
have enough parts laying around for these cars
to build a complete car.
That tongue in cheek statement evolved into, well,
why don't we?
Why don't we build a car and maybe sell it for charity?
We got to kicking around the idea at various meet.
And then we got to thinking, well,
we can't just build a basic Fox out of used parts.
We need to step it up and have put something nice that people
are willing to buy, maybe, chances in a raffle for.
So we just started building.
And then when we got to points in the
build where either safety, performance, or aesthetics were
required, we reached out to companies like Late Model
Restoration for parts that we just otherwise couldn't source.
So we had almost 40 company sponsors step up
to donate either money, time, or parts
and brought it to a very high-level
build that a lot of Fox owners very much appreciate.
And then once we had the car donated,
we started working, stripping it down.
And I believe if look at the interview from last year,
you'll see that this car was a shell on a rotisserie.
It didn't look anything like it is today.
We decided to create a Save a Fox build committee.
If you just waited for people to volunteer,
it's just never going to get off the ground.
So we found six SEFB members.
We wanted to make sure we built what
the club wanted us to build.
We had nominations and voting for the color,
the interior, the motor.
We also had them nominate and vote charities
that we wanted to benefit this project.
So we took the top three charities,
and that was The Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation, Victory Junction Gang Camp, and Savannah's
Drive, a little eight-year-old girl
in Kannapolis, North Carolina that's battling leukemia.
One of those aspects, we said, did
the club want a 302 based motor or a 351 based motor?
Of course 351 won out.
They ended up boring it 30 over, so the displacement
is 358 cubic inches.
We reached out to Trick Flow.
They donated a set of their 185 cc CNC heads.
And then they went ahead and also helped
us round out the top-end package with their stage two cam R
intake and, of course, their valve
covers, just to keep their name on the top of the engine.
The motor, we had it chassis dyno tuned at Amazon Tuning.
They have a Mustang dyno.
And it topped out at 341 horse, 345 torque.
But we wanted to keep all the accessories that a Fox normally
might have, which is the power steering,
power windows, power brakes, AC, power steering.
We wanted to build a driver.
One of the major components were Late Model Restoration
helped was the drive train.
Late Model stepped up with a Z-spec T5, a Ford Racing
aluminum drive shaft, a Cobra rear differential,
a 3.73 rear gears, 31 spline five-lug axles, of course
the in-house SVE brand Cobra brakes, front
and rear-- so five-lug, four-wheel disc brakes.
We called the guys back at Late Model,
and they stepped up and gave us a RAM HDX clutch and then
all of the components that you would
need to finish out the drive train, a complete clutch
installation kit, firewall adjuster, clutch quadrant,
cable, pilot bearing, everything you
would need to really round it out.
That was a huge burden that was lifted off of us because there
were some gaps along the way.
And Late Model did a tremendous thing
by donating all of those parts for us.
And for that, we're just ultimately grateful.
TMI stepped up.
The club voted on a black and gray themed interior.
We looked at their Cobra-style sport seats
and looked no further.
Everybody loves the Terminator suede inserts.
So we knew if we had the black carpet and that black and gray
seats, we needed to figure out how to incorporate the door
panels-- so a black speaker grill, black carpet
on the bottom, gray center with a factory black trim up top.
And then as a nice touch, they took the same gray suede
that's in on the seats and put it
as an insert on the door panels.
So it was a lot of fun.
I learned a lot working on this car.
It'll help me when it comes time to work more on my Fox body.
I think we're one and done.
I don't know how we can top this, to be honest with you.
It's a very high-level build, and any other
build would be compared to it.
And I wouldn't want it to be disappointing at the end
result.
At Southeastern Fox Bodies, we've
got a forum that we use for social networking and setting
up meets and just filling the time in between the weekends.
It's www.sefb.net.
We have a Save a Fox section that was dedicated to the
build.
You could really see it from start to finish.
And we've got a photo album that, really,
as you're scrolling through, you can see where the car came from
and what it is today.
I'm going to have mixed emotions about doing the draw here
in a couple hours.
We really hope it goes to good home.
We hope it goes to somebody that's going to take care of it
and appreciate the work that's been put into it.
I hope when it's time for them to maybe sell it
that they give us the first look because I think
we'd like to keep it in the club, for sure.