QThe doors on this Fox
Mustang were plagued with all
the common maladies: saggy
map pockets, broken switch
panels, crooked windows,
cracked bezels, sloppy hinges,
and missing hardware. The folks
at Late Model Restoration had
everything we needed to give
these doors some love.QHere’s our shopping list. All
the parts were available from
Late Model Restoration, making
for easy one-stop shopping.58 MUSTANGMONTHLY.COM
FOX-BODY DOORS
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HOW-TOREBUILDING FOX-BODY MUSTANG DOORS WITH LATE MODEL RESTORATION
Door-Slamming Success
Fortunately for us, the Fox-body enthusi-
asts at Late Model Restoration (LMR) stock
everything we need to take a Mustang ’s door
panels from clapped-out to classy. To get the
windows rolling up properly, our shopping
list included new window motors and window
guide bushings. We picked up a set of replace-
ment door hinge pins, bushings, and strikers
to ensure the doors would
close better and the hinges
wouldn’t clunk when going
over bumps.
On many Fox Mustangs,
the door panels’ upholstery
isn’t the issue, but rather
it’s the backing board to
which the upholstery is
attached. The wood-fiber
backing boards are often
warped, and the push pins
holding the panel to the
door have pulled out. A
cost-effective alternative
to new door panels is to re-
furbish the existing panels
with new backing boards
from Late Model Restora-
tion. While it took a little
time, the results were
worth the cost savings. A
new set of LMR’s vapor
barrier sheets kept the new
backing boards from get-
ting water damaged.
We ditched the saggy
map pockets altogether in
favor of map pocket delete
panels. Nothing is more
annoying than loose door
armrests, so LMR sent us
fresh armrest pads and
hardware to give them a
new look and feel.
To finish it off, we
received replacement
door handle trim bezels,DOORS ARE A GLUTTON FOR PUNISH-
MENT. They get flung open and slammed
countless times throughout their lives.
Inevitably, their mechanical bits wear out. If
you own an old Fox-body Mustang, chances
are your door hinges are sloppy, the strikers
are broken, the power windows are lazy, and
the door panels are floppy.Wes Duenkel TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHY