• Hello there guest and Welcome to Modular Fox Mustangs home of the 2V, 3V, 4V, Coyote Modular Mustang Conversion Information Website!
    To gain full access you must Register. Registration is free and it takes only a few moments to complete.
    Already a member? Login here then!

84 Notch Build

vettn71

Active Member
ive posted parts of where I want to go with this 84 notch shell I bought. Calling it a roller gives it too much credit. I bought this with the intention of using the parts from my 96 GT to do the conversion. From what I've read on here, it's the best way to get this done at a reasonable cost.

These are a couple pictures of how it sat when purchased. I have found out the PO used a grinder to remove surface rust, which I'm sure was quick and easy. He followed that up with Bondo. Any area having yellow paint hides Bondo. The yellow paint is house paint, I believe.

Well, I'll have to post pictures tomorrow. I can't get the photos into the thread using my iPad and I don't have my computer.

There's a number of issues in doing this swap. Probably the biggest one is the amount of welding needed. I've welded before, but using arc or gas welders. Using a wire-fed flux core welder is waaaay different. Some say it's easier, but I guess it's what you're used to. One area I have to replace is one of the inner fender aprons. The PO was going to smooth the engine compartment, so he slathered Bondo on this one side and gave up on it. The other is the radiator support frame. It looks like the car was towed using it, so it's bent and the bottom is pretty crushed, also. I have a frame from a 90 that is nearly perfect, so I plan to cut the bottom of the 84 frame off, just above the bend, then weld in the bottom half of the 90 frame. I went to the JY and bought the steering column support/hydroboost plate from a 96. I also bought the full transmission tunnel from the same 5-speed car. This gives me any parts I will need in that area. I'll only use pieces of it, but what I don't need I'll just scrap. I'll get the pictures posted tomorrow morning and try to make updates to this thread as I move forward (or backwards)

Jim
 

cpearson1342

Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear that, a lot of people don't do things the right way, so you always have to inspect everything thoroughly before committing to it. It is relatively easy to mig weld, as I've been doing it for a while now, but there is quite a bit of a learning curve on it, so you would definitely have to practice quite a bit. I did some of my first real welds on our 82 and they came out well. I would offer to help you weld the stuff you need, but we're nowhere near each other.
 

vettn71

Active Member
Bill, I already knew tht, but ..... You know how that goes. The good news is that it is a solid, no rust car - anywhere, so that makes up for a lot of ugly. Here's the pictures I promised. The first is a shot of the "interior"



Well, one picture uploaded and Photobucket takes a dump on me. I'll give it another try later. At first I thought this had seat covers, or maybe seats out of a Pinto or something. These are the original seats for a 4-banger Mustang L. I can't imagine someone would want to restore a car like this, but these would be the bomb for it. Gets my disco going

Jim
 

Attachments

  • upload_2016-9-26_12-18-18.png
    upload_2016-9-26_12-18-18.png
    23.2 KB · Views: 65
Last edited:

vettn71

Active Member
image.jpeg

This was taken over the weekend. I'm still taking things off. The yellow paint is house paint. There's Bondo on it, but only small, thin layers to fill in dings and grinder marks. Drives me crazy people can be so lazy. There's no rust anywhere and the body panels are straight, so I just have to work through the bad to get to the good. Just like everything else in life.

I think I'm going to have to resize my pictures, as they don't want to upload

Jim
 

vettn71

Active Member
image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg I went to a JY and bought the entire transmission tunnel and steering column support panel from a 96 5-speed coupe. I didn't want the whole tunnel, but I guess it was easier to cut out the whole thing. At any rate, it gives me anything I might need for the swap

This is just after I bought the car. The trunk lid has some pretty deep grinder marks all over it. Some of the body panels also have some, but not as deep. Thevyellow house paint was fairly good at hiding them.

The front bumper actually is in great condition and has been sanded for painting. I've decided to go with an 86 GT bumper, though so I can have fog lights. I wish I knew what I was getting into. Front bumper cover, fog light bracket and Marchal's fog lights cost almost as much as the car did. The hood is straight, but I already had one that was pristine, so I'm getting rid of that, also.

The very top photo is the donor car when I first bought it. Unfortunately, there's body damage on the right rear quarter and the single stage paint was improperly applied and is flaking off. This is what led me to go the ModFox route. For the amount of work needed, why not go all the way?
 

vettn71

Active Member
image.jpeg

When I picked the car the PO had to remove cans of paint stored on the roof. When I started sanding the roof would "oil can". I took a wide, flat crow bar and some thin strips of wood and forced the dents out as well as I could. I sanded the area then put Bondo in the low spots. I used a dead blow soft faced hammer to work the high spots back down. Not very professional, but it seems to be getting me there. Yes, all that yellow is house paint. The good news is, anywhere there's red paint there's also laser straight body panels.
 

vettn71

Active Member
So, the 96 has an aluminum Cobra (Teksid) block, forged and balanced internals, ported PI heads and intake, C&L plenum, BBK 75mm throttle body, 10.5:1 compression ratio, Comp Cams 278 cams, stock exhaust manifolds, AirRaid CAI, 36lb injectors and Stage 2 clutch/PP and lightened flywheel. It also has a 3.73:1 8.8, Cobra front brakes, Sportline springs, rear LCAs, aluminum driveshaft and a 2004 leather interior. I finally got things sorted out on it, now I'm going to pull it apart! Maybe I am crazy.
 

vettn71

Active Member
84 Seats resized.jpg

A better shot of the seats. This was a low-mileage car that the PO basically stripped and took everything he needed to finis his other car. By the time he got it, it had been converted to a 5.0
 

vettn71

Active Member
I'm putting an 86 GT bumper cover on the 84. I wanted to have the fog lights, so I have the Marchal fog lights and the fog light support bracket. The bumper cover had a few dents and dings, but only one bad spot, which happens to be behind where the license plate will be, so no one will really see it. I used 3M Structural Adhesive to repair the small crack and SEM Bumper Repair epoxy to fill in the small imperfections. Here's a couple photos of the bumper cover

20161005_161426_resized.jpg 20161005_161442_resized.jpg
20161005_161501_resized.jpg

So, the SEM bumper epoxy seems to work pretty well. I read some reviews that said it sanded right out of cracks and whatever, but I haven't found that to be the case. It seems to adhere well, sands smooth and looks like it does exactly what I need

Jim
 

vettn71

Active Member
Worked more on the front bumper cover this weekend. Looks pretty good now. I mocked up the inner fender panel using pop rivets. Now I can get a good weld on it. I also put on the other hood i had, breaking the windshield in the process. Not a big loss, as I'm sure it would have broken anyways when I tried to remove it.

The trunk lid is giving me fits. When I tighten the bolts holding it to the left hinge, it's fine, but when I tighten the right side the trunk moves to the left, leaving no gap there. I have the trunk off right now. I'm thinking of trying to bend the hinges just a bit to move it to the right

Jim
 

Bill

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Donator
I've never broken a front windshield. I broke a back one with the deck lid once. That sucked. Keep us in the loop on the hinge bending. I haven't had that happen, but sooner or later I'm sure I will.
 

cpearson1342

Well-Known Member
That's good I'll have to try some of that on the rear bumper of my notch, there's a crack in it from something. It's usually all about the prep, and that's why a lot of people fail when doing stuff like that, they don't even bother prepping it, then it turns out like shit and they say it doesn't work.
 

vettn71

Active Member
Bill, I agree with what you said. I applied three or four thin layers, then followed it up with glazing compound. Looks pretty good. I'm not trying to smooth out every fly speck, as this will be a daily driver.

Jim
 

vettn71

Active Member
IMG_0123.JPG IMG_0124.JPG I removed the windshield today. Used a tool made for that and cracked it in several more places. I guess one crack pretty much does the job. I also spent a good part of the day adjusting my trunk lid. What a spanking that turned out to be. I wound up grabbing the hinges down by the curve and bending them (or, I guess, bending their mounting points) to achieve a somewhat even gap. I could not get the rearmost edge (by the taillight) to sit flush with the body on the right side. There is literally no adjustment for that end of the trunk lid. It moves forward or backward, but not up and down like the front hinge mount bolt does. Here's how I left it
 

cpearson1342

Well-Known Member
We have a windshield removal tool like this and it works great, but sometimes you have to break out the piano wire. You have to be very careful with that tool though because if you tilt it at all it can break the glass.
 

vettn71

Active Member
Since I had cracked my windshield already, I wasn't too worried about causing more damage. I did see the other tool, but I passed on it. Maybe that would have been a better choice.

Thanks, Bill
Jim
 

Bill

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Donator
We have a windshield removal tool like this and it works great, but sometimes you have to break out the piano wire. You have to be very careful with that tool though because if you tilt it at all it can break the glass.
The piano wire/guitar string is the only thing that has ever worked for me.
 

vettn71

Active Member
It's going to be a while before I can post anything further. I'm having shoulder replacement surgery next Wednesday. Too many heavy bench presses I guess. My youngest son is helping with the car, so maybe I can post some photos if he makes any progress

Jim
 
Top