September 2010 Winner
Terry & Julie's (trbofox) 1984 Ford Mustang LX T-Top Coupe
Written by Terry & Julie
This car was an idea we talked about when sitting around at car shows when we were showing the 93 coupe. We knew we wanted to have the challenge of bringing another car from thought to reality. For a couple of seasons we looked around for colors, decided it would be a coupe, wanted to try a twin turbo setup, and decided we both were becoming fond of foureyed cars. We were able to arrive at a theme for this car, interior, colors, engine , stance, everything. There was a clear picture in our minds of what this car would be. We didn’t want a vert, but we previously had a ttop car and thought it would be nice to have another, commence the hunt for the car. We started looking through e-bay, mustang websites, and everywhere for a V8 ttop coupe, and after about 12 to 24 months the searching paid off. Julie saw a post in classifieds on stangnet for an 84 V8 ttop coupe in Connecticut, after a few phone calls, we loaded up and went the next day. The car was actually owned by one person all of it’s life 128K miles, and the person we got it from did not title it so we are the second owners.
Upon getting the car home, we set out to dress it up a little to drive around for the summer, painted over some of the rust with white rustoleom, and tried out our center black hood theme. It wasn’t bad from a distance. All that summer at events we visited swap meets picking up the needed items for the build. We agreed we would need to stay on a budget, in order to get it done with the components we wanted to use. This meant we would attempt the bodywork and paint ourself, even if it meant it would take longer. We would try to do everything in house except upholstery and the painting of the hood with the flattened clear on the center , and the flames underneath. The first winter we would get through body and paint and the second winter work on interior and drivetrain.
We decided to document the build as Blainer did, and we are very glad we have the documentation, it is hard to believe the transformation. In the end it has been totally worth it, and we proved to ourselves that you can accomplish anything if you are determined enough.
We are very honored to have the car win this month, as this website and the members have become a very important part of our car hobby, thank you, what a great group of enthusiasts.
Be sure to take a look at their build thread, they did a great job documenting the build process on this work of art.
Link here: Project Rusty our 84t-top coupe
Specifications:
1984 original V8 factory T-Top coupe 128 thousand original miles
DRIVETRAIN:
Ford racing Boss 302 block prepped by DSS
DSS 331 stroker kit
Ford Racing F cam
Ford racing Z304 heads
Home made 57 trim twin turbo system
Full length 3’’ home made exhaust
Stainless Works mufflers
Home made sumped fuel tank
Magnaflow fuel system
60# injectors
Anderson Motorsports PMS
Freddy Brown 4STB automatic AOD , 3000 stall converter
8.8 rearend with Detroit True Track, 3.27 gears, 31 spline axels
SUSPENSION:
UPR K-member with coilovers
Weldcraft mini tub with coilovers and swaybar
Home made upper and lower control arms
Home made street cage
Through floor subframe connectors
INTERIOR:
Custom upholstered seats
Custom rear seat for minitub
Custom matching door panels
Custom rear 2 piece package tray
VDO Vision gauges,Summit air/fuel meter
1984 “Star Trek” style factory steering wheel
New carpet
Home made headliner
WHEELS and TIRES:
OEM Wheels brand , 10th anniversary wheels
Front: 17’’ narrowed to 8’’ with 235/40/17 tires
Rear: 17’’ widened to 12’’ with 335/35/17 Kumho tires
EXTERIOR:
Boss Inc. 4’’ cowl hood
Cervini trunk lid
Dupont basecoat/clear coat Wild Strawberry
Custom center hood painted graphics, underhood flames
Powdercoated engine parts
79 taillights with Northwest Mustang LLC sequential 69 mustang tailight kit
Badges are vinyl graphics buried under clearcoat
Complete new weatherstripping
