This thread has got me cruising CL for Fairmonts again... like I need another project!
My two cents styling ideas, which are worth about... two cents, so grain of salt etc; I wonder if SN95 mirrors have mounting lugs in the same position as they were on these cars. Looking at images online are inconclusive. I wouldn't bother with a front clip swap. I think that Mustang "Aero" clip doesn't really work here and screw up the proportions of the car. Maybe on the wagon it wouldn't be so drastic but that sedan shared by Jed just doesn't really work for me. I honestly kind of like the simple Fairmont front styling. Maybe some kind of front bumper tuck and remove the over-riders? Darkening trim and removing the luggage rack would help.
A color change to either red or white would probably help this thing a lot. I like red; you can quote me on that.
I love that we're now parting out Mustangs to build wagons. The universe is coming back into balance. 
I don't plan any major styling changes. I got a Fairmont wagon because I like the looks. (However, I think that 4-eye-mustang-clipped wagon Woody posted looks COOL!)
Wheels help almost anything look better, so it'll get some cheap ones. A bumper tuck would probably look cool but not sure it'll ever happen. Color change? That's expensive work that I'm not good at. The paint isn't in bad shape so I'm not motivated to make any changes there.
The roof rack stays! I'll consider this project a failure if there is not a canoe strapped to it at some point during my ownership. 
Oh no, I would totally roll Rustoleum or wrap the thing, and not spray a real paintjob.
Has anybody put an LTD front end on an LX notchback yet?
Even in banana-pudding-yellow this thing looks better than any paintjob I'm likely to apply
Chadeux wrote: Has anybody put an LTD front end on an LX notchback yet?
I'd be interested in seeing one, if so.
I love a good fairmont. Even more so if its a wagon 
My family bought new 84 and 85 Mercury Marquis sedans and wagons. I logged a lot of miles in them as a teenager and even did an ok job of putting an efi 5.0 into one of them when it was passed down to me. I'm enjoying your build.
I do think an air dam or chin spoiler would work well for looks on the front end. As it is, the radiator support is pretty prominent, visually. It's probably not evident in a lot of the photos here, but at some angles it's a little obnoxious.
I'm not sure if there's something junkyard-friendly that would work.
ClemSparks wrote: I figure 15” wheels will be a good size for this car and the tires can still have 60 series (or so) sidewalls that should ride comfortably. With the two parts cars, I have a total of 7 10 hole wheels. All of them are pretty rough, finish wise, but I bolted a couple on tonight just to get an idea how they would look.I meant to have center caps on for this photo...but one valve stem was leaking quickly so I had to move fast and just get some photos. But basically...I like it! Not too flashy, not too incredibly-narrow-14”-steelies-with-dorky-hubcaps. The front end is too low for me. If it were juuuust a little bit higher, it would be great. So...I'll do some asking around on the internet to see what springs work well on a foxwagon.
In the first photo I see what you mean about the core support.
But WOW it looks good in the second pic.
IMHO that would look great with the ranger spoiler mod.
Another interesting visual mod...replace the grill with a horizontal-only bar grill, and tuck the turn signals behind it so the grille extends from headlight to headlight, and the turn signals are hidden unless illuminated.
Front looks good. Back is too high. Trim 1/2 coil or something to level it ou and rock it.
In reply to Dusterbd13:
You gotta have room to squat when you hit it off the line. Especially when the back is full of tires.
marks93cobra wrote: IMHO that would look great with the ranger spoiler mod.
I'll have to google that. I'm as yet unfamiliar.
Well...I have NOT been removing a bolt a day from the red parts mustang like I said I'd try to do MONTHS ago. But I did get the engine out this evening.
I probably won't do anything else on it for a while but this was a good step toward getting the parts car gone...eventually.
Heck yeah, glad to see this build moving forward!
It's weird, the older I get, the more I like the Fox Body Mustangs and Fairmont. I was never a big fan of either as a teenager. I definitely gained an appreciation for old Fords after I got an SN95 '96 GT. Owning a Ford with a Modular engine is funny, you either spend your time defending it or telling people about how you plan to swap in an LS.
Your already closer to v8 power then me and ive owned mine 5 years!
I scored a deal on some Ford Motorsport C springs this past week. $90 for the set in "barely used" condition. I don't know if the rears will be useful for me in a wagon but if nothing else the fronts should work well with the rears that are in the car now.
No other progress...but I've been thinking I need to round up my front end parts (K-member, control arms) and take them to the sandblaster so I can have them prepped and ready to install someday.
I had a set of MINT 10 holes with knee deep rubber I sold to my uncle for 30 bucks, he kept the tires and scrapped with wheels. They were stacked up in my way, I wish I would of seen this first.
The vert springs would probably work well on the back of the wagon.
The bcam and the aod probably won't like each other much, especially if you keep the stock gears..
Project86fox said:The bcam and the aod probably won't like each other much, especially if you keep the stock gears..
Do you have any experience with what cam would work well?
The red mustang has a 7.5 with better gears (I forget what they are...3.23s maybe? I'll have to crawl under there again and check now that the bumblebees are dormant, 
). It might not go in at the time of the engine swap, but I thought I'd hang onto it to clean up and install eventually.
The problem with say the bcam is, the basic operating range is like 3000-6000 rpm. So below 3000 rpm is going to be a dog. With stock gears and converter it's not going to be fun off the line. Get into the 3000 it'll start to pull pretty good, but the stock autos shift at like 5000 rpm... I can promise you it'll be WAY slower than the same car that has a stock cam.
The stock cam with some 1.7 rr is going to be really hard to beat with any stock heads and converter.
If I was going to keep my car an aod, I'd toss in an explorer motor and throw a stock h.o cam in it with some 1.7 rr. A set of 3:73 gears would finish it off. Not super fast, but an excellent driver... Sometimes a big cam just ruins that.
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