In a sea of fully restored Fox Body Mustangs, it’s nice to see a few people bringing it down a notch. After all, the majority of us have put ourselves in situations that require quick trips to the auto parts store and an empty parking lot to see if a vehicle will start and maybe get us home. Well the guys at Legit Street Cars are providing us with some down-to-earth entertainment as they try to get an abandoned Mustang to run after sitting for over 25 years!
The car in question is a 1987 T-Top Mustang with burgundy exterior and a complete ‘80s vibe red interior. The car was purchased for a measly $2,500, but with any inexpensive purchase there is going to be a few quarks that come with it. The guys at Legit Street Cars decided to dive headfirst into the Fox Body project by removing the plugs, checking compression, and making sure the engine had no internal damage.
Once the engine was assessed to be in decent shape, they did a quick oil change before diverting attention towards the fuel system. Determined to not push contaminated fuel from the well-aged tank into the fuel lines, fuel rails, or injectors, a jerry-rigged fire hazard known as the makeshift fuel cell was built. Unfortunately, this idea failed as the return line was able to force fuel back towards the parking lot at a higher pressure than expected. Since the fuel tank is not a complicated task to remove, they decided to drop the fuel tank and replace the pumps to see if fuel would make it towards the front of the chassis.
Thankfully, the fuel pump did the trick and fuel entered the engine with ease. A quick fix of some ignition wiring and the Fox Body Mustang started right up! The purring sound of a fuel injected 5.0-liter softly emitted from the factory dual exhaust as the excitement of everyone grew. While the video is rather simple and covers the basics of buying any car of this vintage, it truly reminded me of the times I spent in my younger years doing exactly the same thing. We look forward to seeing more of these roadside repairs and rebuilds from them.