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1988 Ford Mustang LX Fox 500 Project Part 2It's Time To Revitalize The Fox 500's Sorry Sheetmetal From the August, 2010 issue of 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords By Dale Amy Photography by Dale Amy
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When freshening the body of... When freshening the body of a project like our Fox 500, which is more than two decades old, you can count on needing scads of parts-large and small-that you never even thought about beforehand. Thank goodness for Latemodel Restoration Supply, from whom we sourced every single utterly important component in the foreground, not to mention the new front fenders and fascia already on the car. For owners of beleaguered Fox Mustangs like the Fox 500, LRS is simply a savior. We're not quite ready to fit most of this stuff yet as we need some BASF paint first, but boy will they make a difference to the finished product, as will become more obvious in our next installment. At the time of our last report ("Late Boomer," Mar. '10, p. 92), Editor Turner's long-running Fox 500 project had finally proven the merit of injecting a muscularly modern GT500 powertrain and some seriously athletic chassis hardware into an '88 LX T-top carcass, upon which some 22 years of duty had inflicted a heavy visual toll. As you likely noticed in that report, this new-age muscle was in sharp contrast to our hatchback's rat-rod looks. In short, while the Fox 500's power and reflexes were now world-class, even an Olympic athlete can't make a good impression when swaddled in hobo's clothing. So we packed the whole disreputable-looking affair off to Motor City Solutions for a major cosmetic makeover. As its name might suggest, Motor City Solutions is located in a Detroit suburb, namely Taylor, Michigan. This close proximity to Detroit is relevant to our story because Motor City Solutions' (let's just call them MCS, OK?) main gig is riding herd on Ford's press vehicles, by which we mean that every single car or truck headed into FoMoCo's huge and ever-evolving North American media fleet must initially pass through the MCS shops for intense scrutiny and detailing before shipping off to the grubby paws and leaden feet of the continent's automotive press. MCS also has complete ongoing responsibility for maintaining, housing, dispensing, and managing Ford's Midwest-area press fleet, going over and repairing/detailing as necessary every vehicle in between each and every media test drive. These cars have to make a good impression. Sure it's now got the latest... Sure it's now got the latest in powertrain and chassis components, but the Fox 500 looked like a tired, old car during our first visit to Motor City Solutions. The doors and front fenders were off, making it easier for MCS staff to asses and work on the unibody. To the best of our knowledge this was always a Florida car, and so is relatively rust free for its age, but has definitely been in a minor collision or two. The right rear quarter-panel shows liberal evidence of previous body filler but was deemed salvageable. As such, MCS has world-class personnel and facilities when it comes to body, paint, and vehicle preparation. In other words, the staff consists of detail freaks-just the kind of guys our pony-tailed leader wanted working on his beloved but beleaguered old hatchback. Besides, one of MCS' owners, Bill Deister, is a genuine car guy with a modified Fox in his own garage, so we knew the Fox 500 would be in good hands. This time around, we'll have a look at some of the challenges the crusty, old LX presented once its grungy white paint was stripped. We'll also bolt on some new fiberglass parts from Cervini's and Steeda, and generally get the project ready for the paint booth. Next time out, we'll check out our project's new hue, and start bolting it all back together using the boatload of essential parts we ordered from Latemodel Restoration Supply. After that, it'll be off to the interior shop-someday the editor might even get to drive it ...  We took a couple detail shots...  We took a couple detail shots before it ever got to MCS. You can see that even Florida's benign climate couldn't protect the hatchback lid from some ominous looking bubbles. In fact, this hatch lid was astonishingly rotten for a sunbelt car.  Overall, the hatch was just...  Overall, the hatch was just too far gone. Also, some of the oxidation had infected the rear edge of the roof panel, not visible here. What is visible here is that the car's paint was in a deplorable state, and the hatch area (at least) had been previously resprayed, no doubt in a vain attempt to hide the rust.  By the time of our initial...  By the time of our initial visit to MCS, ace bodyman Dwight Jorah had already cut out and replaced the infected area on the roof's rear edge. The rotted piece he removed is sitting above the now-invisible metal patch. The body filler on the roof is just a thin skin to facilitate perfectly leveling the surface. Such surface prep can either make or break a paint job.  The discarded hatch was relieved...  The discarded hatch was relieved of its glass, which will be reused. We'll also keep the LX's collision-damaged fascia support, but it will need some patching to get it back to original form. Being fiberglass, it's a relatively simple repair, which when all is said and done, will be hidden again anyway.  Two generations of bodymen...  Two generations of bodymen are shown at work. The masked man working the long leveling pad on our passenger-side door is Mike Jorah, who is also MCS's paint guru. This door just needed repair of 20-plus-years' worth of dings and minor dents. Behind him, his father, Dwight, is working on a troublesome area at the base of the Fox 500's A-pillar.  The area at the base of the...  The area at the base of the driver-side A-pillar had rotted through; the passenger side echoed this problem area but wasn't quite as bad.  By the time of our second...  By the time of our second visit, about a month later, both A-pillar bases had been patched and sealed (and already pretty much hidden behind the reinstalled fender in this shot.)  Our driver-side door had been...  Our driver-side door had been hit, and carried so much body filler that it was deemed too far gone to use for a project like this, which sent Editor Turner on the search for a suitable replacement. Complete new door skins are not available (just lower halves), so Steve used the ubiquitous services of eBay to find a clean used door. True T-top doors are obviously few and far between, so eBay was a savior for finding a rust-free specimen for the Fox 500.  There's little glamour in...  There's little glamour in bodywork. To properly prep for the paint booth, it takes time and a detail mindset to strip away such stuff as the old windshield sealant. Similar attention was required around the T-top's surround channels.  If you've been following the...  If you've been following the Fox 500 saga, you'll recall that we had already received and trial-fitted a new front fascia and fenders from Latemodel Restoration Supply. Our original rear fascia was in pretty decent shape, so it will be touched up as necessary and reused.  While the LX suffered from...  While the LX suffered from minor collision damage, a rusty hatch, and some A-pillar scars caused by standing water, you can see that the bulk of the unibody structure is free of all but minor surface oxidation, thanks to its Southern upbringing. Michigan bodymen probably aren't used to two-decade-old cars in this condition.  In the month since our initial...  In the month since our initial visit to MCS, those fenders and front fascia were reinstalled and shot with urethane primer. Not knowing how much clearance we might have, we had ordered two hoods from Cervini's: a heat-extractor style that was the editor's first choice, and a classic 2.5-inch cowl should we need more height.  Cervini's also shipped a new...  Cervini's also shipped a new fiberglass hatch, to which MCS affixed a Steeda Aero spoiler. If the hatch looks a little arched or bowed in this shot, it's because of the missing glass: It will properly settle once the hefty rear glass panel is set in place. This arrangement is lighter than the stock parts, and obviously rustproof to boot.  As hoped, Cervini's heat-extractor...  As hoped, Cervini's heat-extractor hood fit just fine over our hulking supercharged 5.4-liter, and its modern design suits our whole Fox 500 theme perfectly. In this shot, the hood is completely untouched, the fascia is in urethane primer, and the door and fender have been shot with a black guidecoat to help spot high/low spots once overall body sanding begins. The rear quarter remains unprimed until final fitting of the rear hatch is completed.  When fitting new body panels,...  When fitting new body panels, it's a given that time and filler will be required to precisely mate their junctions, as visible here between the front fascia and fender. Similar fitment detail will be required with regard to such things as perfecting door and hood gaps.  Speaking of doors, MCS was...  Speaking of doors, MCS was able to reuse our original hinges, but had to repin and rebush with a repair kit from Latemodel Restoration Supply to remove the accumulated slop and droop from years of use.  Our original hood hinges were...  Our original hood hinges were missing altogether and the hatch hinges were shot, so we sourced some great replacements from All Mustang Performance's ample supply of salvage parts. With more and more Foxes being restored these days, it's good to know that a healthy supply of both new and used parts is available from the aftermarket.  OK, so maybe we were a little...  OK, so maybe we were a little optimistic laying those headlights in place at this stage, but we wanted to leave off this episode knowing that the next time we visit Motor City Solutions, we'll be completely finishing off the Fox 500's body. Stay tuned-this thing's starting to gain some serious momentum. Finally.
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