Hey we're back with stage 2 of American Muscle's Project Fox Body, as you may remember the
idea of this project was to take this GT here and make our very own convertible Cobra Fox
Body, something that Ford never offered from the factory. Back in stage 1, this thing was
pretty much a total disaster, well as you can see its back from paint, and looks a hell
of a lot better, but we still have a hell of a long way to go. Before we get our hands
dirty here in stage 2, let's recap what we knocked out in stage 1. We did a serious overhaul
on our drivetrain including a brand new Exedy clutch along with the SR Performance clutch
adjuster kit, we then went to work under the hood, giving our 302 a much needed tune up,
and replaced our entire cooling system with some help from Mishimoto. Finally we cleaned
up our engine bay and added some performance thanks to the SR Performance cold air intake,
and the smog pump delete kit. As for the appearance side of things, we addressed some problem
areas, like the fender, rear deck lid and headlights, in stage 1 we installed a set
of smoked 1 piece headlights, which looked great but with any car build sometimes plans
change, so when we got the car back from paint, we decided to swap those 1 piece headlights
out in favor of the tried and true 3 piece OE style. Finally and most importantly, we
laid out plans to create our very own Fox Body convertible, with the help of our Cobra
style body kit and wing, along with that fresh coat of paint. Alright we have a lot to get
to in stage 2 so let's get to it. Alright, so our appearance is certainly on track thanks
to our new paint job and Cobra body kit, but we're still missing a vital part of our cars
exterior styling, that would be a new set of wheels and tires, we're going to go with
these black, 17x9 10th anniversary Cobra style wheels, and why not, since they mark the 10th
anniversary of the car we're building. Ok, so obviously these wheels are 5 lug, and they're
not going to fit on our 4 lug Fox, that's why we're going to use this 5 lug conversion
kit here. This kit is great for a couple of different reasons, the first reason, it's
extremely easy on your wallet, it also includes everything you need to get the job done, including
brand new 5 lug 28 spline axle. We're even going to take this a step further in stage
3, and swap those drums out for disks in the rear, which should not only help the look
of those Cobra style wheels but also improve our braking. This third piece Ryan and I are
installing should further help achieve the look of our convertible. I'm referring to
these 93 Cobra style tail light lenses, granted this is a small part of our Fox Body resto,
but they should really flow well with our Cobra style body kit and ultimately help us
complete the look. So we just took care of those tail lights and now we're going to deal
with a couple of small eyesores up front here. Ryan's currently installing some brand new
lower windshield molding, since our factory stuff is pretty faded and trashed. We're also
going to install this brand new cowl vent grille, since our GT was missing one when
we got it, and it's really going to tie our front end together. While we're in this area we're
also going to install brand new wiper arms, and finish it all off with a 14" shorty antenna.
So the outside of our Project Fox Body is really starting to come together but we've
been avoiding the one very big, very ugly elephant in the room, I'm referring to our
convertible top or what's left of it, so we're going to completely replace this disaster
using a brand new OEM quality top, tinted rear glass replacement window, and all the
other components necessary to ensure our top on our GT operates just as good, if not better
than it did the day our car rolled off the factory floor. Some of those other components
I mentioned earlier include a set of brand new top pads, a new boot cover, and all the
J-hooks, alignment pins and new cable necessary for install. This is a pretty big job, but
when it's done, all the major exterior parts of our Fox should be looking like new again.
The biggest little thing you can do when doing any build such as this is replace all of your
moldings and weather stripping. Sure, visually it might not have the same impact as a new
set of wheels and tires for instance, but it's just as important when doing the job
correctly. So with that said we're going to replace all our dried up and cracked factory
stuff, with new and fresh rubber and moldings available through the site here. Installing
any weather stripping can be a little bit intimidating at first but it's really not
all that bad, in fact most of it either slides or snaps into place, with a few exceptions
needing a random rivet or two. In fact I'm working on this belt weather stripping right
now, that does need a few rivets, very importantly you want to use a short or stubby rivet, simply
because the window operates behind this weather stripping, and you don't want to interfere
with that. Now we're going to move into the interior which as you can see could definitely
use a little bit of love, and we're going to start with that biggest eyesore, our factory
dash, I'm sure a lot of you Fox guys are aware that it's getting harder and harder to find
a factory dash in good condition anymore, so we're going to do the next best thing and
paint ours. We're going to use SEM's black interior paint, which should hopefully get
our dash looking like new again. A quick little tip here, before you get started painting
it would be a great idea to get some fine grit sandpaper, just to scuff the surface
up a little bit, and then make sure the area is nice and clean by using alcohol or some
other surface cleaner. At that point grab some adhesion promoter or vinyl primer, just
to make sure the paint looks its best. On top of our freshly painted dash, which is
currently outside drying, we're also going to replace our carpet. This isn't the hardest
job in the world, but it is a little time consuming, just because you have to remove
the seats and some other items. When you do get the old carpet out, don't throw it away,
you're going to use it as a template to cut the necessary holes in your new carpet, because
it doesn't come pre cut. This carpet, along with that freshly painted dash, should breathe
new life into that 20 year old interior. So our freshly painted dash is in, we've got
our brand new carpet installed, we've got our seats bolted back up, things are really
starting to come together in here, but we wanted to freshen up a few things, some small
areas that have seen a lot of wear over the years, these items include a brand new arm
pad for both the doors and the center console, some miscellaneous switches, a new leather
shift boot, and knob, and finally this mint condition factory radio that we scored just
for our build. Alright, with the exception of our wheels and our top, I know this might
not have been the most exciting stage of our build, but the reality is, all the stuff we
did here in stage 2, is a necessary step of any proper resto, and our GT is finally looking
good again both inside and out. Now we have a solid foundation to work with, I think it's
time to add a little horsepower to the mix, so with that said, we'll see you in stage
3 of American Muscle's project Fox body.