hi5.0

Well done!

watchdevil

It's been a while since I posted here. I have gone through a few cosmetic and functional changes since you all last checked in.

Enjoy the show!

1987-88 front end swapped on

I did away with the ancient digital dash cluster and put a set of 95 Mustang gauges in it, painted the needles and caps in the gauge face. Everything works perfectly. The car had nothing but a speedo and fuel gauge originally. It was easy to make the connection to the speed sensor, ignition coil "-" and sending units which were swapped for 95 Mustang specific ones. The cluster is calibrated to actual mileage of the Tbird and the gauge readings are accurate when active.

I am trying a 85-86 era standard Mustang 3-spoke wheel.

I have also swapped the 1983-84 taillamps with the 85-86 styled ones.

More progress as it comes along...

watchdevil

Installed amber side marker lamp bulbs and socket in the main headlamp housings...

hi5.0

Nice to see the project moving along. Those night time shots make the car look evil - especially since it is currently in black primer/oxidized black. So for the headlight mod, take it you made another opening in the housing to mount the amber bulb socket spliced off of the running lights? Guess when the headlights are on, it looks normal.

watchdevil

That is correct! I drilled a hole under the headlamp bulb openings (which there was a generous amount of room to do so) and I installed 194 bulb sockets and wired them into the parking lamp circuit. I used 194A amber bulbs and the result is a continuous full amber glow.

The headlamps do come on with normal white light when used.

Oh yeah and I hit the jackpot finding a salvage car with perfectly good headlamps that have a crystal clear lens instead of being fogged up like most of them are of this age. Even the chrome reflective coating inside is flawless.

Yeah doncha just love the oxidized and faded black paint! Looks like a rat rod right now! The header panel is just semi-flat black Krylon and the bumper cover is just semi-flat black flexible bumper paint. I did that so the car would not have a gold header panel and white bumper cover while I wait all this time to get to the stage of exterior refinishing which will not be done until I do a lot of mechanical and drivetrain work to the car.

I have a lot of ideas bouncing around. One is changing the interior to all black with just white seat and door panel inserts. Another possibility is if the automatic transmission cannot be saved, I may switch it out for a 5-speed manual. That will let me mount a floor shift which I can use a white ball handle on.

Inspiration for me has been the 1960 Tbird. Lots of Tbird design theme already built into the look of the Mustang dash. With the 87-88 LX grille pattern, smooth nose and browed arch over the headlamps, it picks up the same themes of the 1960 Tbird which was the intention of Ford when they rediesigned the Tbird for the 1987 model year.

watchdevil

Oh yeah and some Mustang goodies that the Tbird will benefit from when I finally get to the stage of minute detailing...

Black leather seats with white inserts, and not shown here but Tbird emblems in the backrest in the black section above the white inserts.

Silver painted cluster, centerstack and passenger airbag cover to mimick the same application of aluminum finish in the 1960 Bird.

White shift ball if going to a 5-speed manual transmission.

The Mustang's aluminum pedal covers.

Chrome rings around the gauges.

watchdevil

And this will be a modification to the taillamps to reduce the focal attention away from the large clear back-up lamp sections which will also help the taillamps look full width. This is already the look that the 1989-97 Tbirds use for the back-up lamps.

Slims00ls1z28

Looking good and still moving along nicely I see. Time to start saving for some of the Cobra R rims and since you need the suspension/bushings already more than a motor that still runs fine might as well go there with a drop too .

watchdevil

My unltimate rim of choice are these:

watchdevil

Here it is... Not like first planned but I reduced the back-up lamps to smaller squares and painted red around it to give the taillamp a more full width look.

hi5.0

IMO, go 5-lug. Better yet, upgrade to front and rear disc conversion to 94+ spec. The pre-Fox4 chassis cars have crappy factory brakes.

watchdevil

More progress... Just a couple of little things...

I replaced the dinged lower left taillamp trim and decided to paint them Toreador red to match the taillamp lenses. Kinda gives off a fuller look the same way the black paint was deleted from the bottom strip of the 1996-97 Tbird taillamps.

I also bought a slip on auto parts store steering wheel cover to beef up the steering wheel. Looks like I will actually be able to stitch this at the seams just like any factory steering wheel cover.

I also did my "old school" ambient lighting. I started off trying blue LED's in the instrument cluster with hopes that they would look nice complmented with blue LED footwell lights. Bad choice! The LED's do not give off consistant lighting and allow hot spots behind certain areas. I hated the uneven lighting, so I abandoned the LED's in favor regular clear bulbs. The cluster from the factory gives off a greenish blue color. So for my retro ambient lighting, I just took two side marker lamp sockets and two blue 194 bulbs and monted them under each side of the dash. So there you have it... "old school ambient lighting"!

watchdevil

It's been a while since I updated here but here is some progress...

The dash and console has been painted all black. I relocated the auto shifter to the floor using a flush mount Mark VII auto shifter that only requires a hole large enough for the cable to pass through the transmission tunnel. I also removed the old column shifter and shaft and replaced the shaft with the lockout cable that keeps you from locking the steering column when you try to turn the key to lock unless it is in park.

You can see I have the instrument cluster bezel, center stack trim, shifter trim and passenger "airbag cover" painted silver. This is to mimick the look of the 1958-63 Tbirds where there design dual cowl design of the original Mustang dash was inspired in the first place. I am having a hard time with the RH airbag cover. I am using a used airbag cover that was blown and split. I put it back together from the back using some foil tape. I sprayed some vinyl with the silver paint I used on the other dash trim. That worked great as this Duplicolor factory color paint must have a flex agent included in case it is used on bumper covers. My problem is getting the vinyl to adhere and not lift from teh airbag cover. Plus there is so much pressure on the right side when installed that the top half slips down onto the bottom half. I so want to use one of those factory matched airbag delete covers that are made but they cost quite a bit. It would be perfect since there is no Mustang name script on it.

Everywhere I have read people have said you cannot use the 1994-04 Mustang wiper switch. Well that is true but the big secret is that you have to use a wiper switch from a 1986-88 Taurus or Sable. Those cars use the same wiper motor, same wiper control module and have the same wiper switch connections though you have to use the pigtail from the Taurus and splice it into the Tbird harness. Finishing this off I used steering column trim from the 1989-93 Tbird and now it looks like it came from the factory this way. And thank God no more column shifter. I just installed a manual shift boot tonight to fill the shifter plate. I like that better than any PRND21 indicator.

I got a overhead roof console from an Explorer which has a digital compass and temperature display. I painted it to match the dash theme with black base and contrasting silver face.

I had an issue with the original starter drawing so much current that it would cause the solenoid to sieze in a closed curcuit which resulted in the starter running on cranking with the key released. The only way to stop it was to pull the negative battery cable. So I bought a newer style high torque mini-starter and it bolted right in. That is a great improvement plus I like the newer high-torque sound like newer Fords have.

I have to complete the remaining interior work converting the rest of the interior trim to black, then work on the headliner and carpet. Seat recovering will likely be the last thing I do after all the mechanical and exterior paintwork is done.

hi5.0

Wow. As far as the passenger airbag cover is concerned, is it possible to glue or epoxy pieces of plastic or metal along the break to hold the two pieces together? Better yet, use some kind of plastic welder. For the vinyl, perhaps trimming a bit off the edges along the airbag panel's perimeter and folding the vinyl over to the back side can help stop it from lifting away along with using a good glue or epoxy that's heat resistant. Otherwise, look for a intact piece from another car, fill the "Mustang" script, sand the panel smooth, and repaint to match.
Ever considered this shifter **** for the A/T should you keep it?
http://www.uprproducts.com/mustang-b...***-black.html

Evil_Capri

That is coming along very nice!

edumspeed

Dude, it's looking awesome! I dig the silver & black interior

watchdevil

Thanks for the compliments fellas!

watchdevil

A while back I bought an airbag delete plate that is flat and I like it better. I thought had thrown it out but I found it today. The flatter plate is more consistant with the flatter surface of the instrument bezel. All I have to do is strip the silver vinyl from the Mustang cover and put it on the platsic delete plate.

Thanks for showing me the billet Mustang auto ****! I would like the silver billet one that they offer which looks like the Bullit manual ****. Maybe soon. Priorities have to shift to mechanical before I go crazy on the fun of getting Mustang goodies that will work with this interior.

watchdevil

Now with the shift boot installed!

Closeups of the 86-88 Taurus wiper/turn/hazard/dimmer switch installed along with 1989-93 Tbird steering column trim.

edumspeed

I like that

Subtle, but noticeable custom touch.