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Note : Take my advice at your own risk (If you mess something up, I am not liable for any damages). Sorry, but I have to put that there, you never know who might try to sue you these days.

This page has a lot of images, please be patient.

This is just a small piece of information to help people interested in cleaning up their engine bays in 87-93 Mustangs. Here are some pics of what I started with in my '90 GT.

As you can see, it's quite a mess. Don't worry though, there's hope for this thing yet.

My motor was out because I am swapping in a 331 stroker, so it seemed like a good time. You don't need to take the motor out to hide wires, but if you have the chance to do it when it is out, it's much easier. Im not sure where to start, but I'll see if I can give you some useful advice.

Make sure your battery is disconnected before you begin.

First, I took out the passenger and driver side inner fender covers. This only requires taking out a few screws on each side, and it helps to have the vehicle in the air on jackstands with the front tires off. Once all of the screws are out, just gently pull the cover out. If your car is anything like mine, about 5 pounds of dirt will fall out, so wear safety glasses if you are underneath it when you remove the cover.

Some people choose to remove the whole fenders, but I didn't see a need for it. It may make a couple things a little easier, but it didnt seem worth the extra trouble of removing the fenders to me.

-----------------------------------------------Passenger Side-----------------------------------------------

I would suggest that you start on the passenger side. The passenger side has a lot less wires to deal with, and will give you an idea of what you're doing before you decide to tackle the driver side and its massive jumble of wires. The passenger side has the MAF, alternator, thermactor, airbag, and a few more wires (this may vary in different model years). Please forgive me if I have left something out.

You will need to unplug whatever you see connected to the large set of wires running down the fender. Label them if you feel it is necessary, so you don't forget what goes where.

I was removing all of my smog and E.G.R. equipment, so I completely removed the thermactor sensors behind the passenger side strut tower. You can see what I am referring to in the third picture from the top of this page. This only required unplugging a couple of harnesses and taking out a few bolts.

After that is out, if you choose to remove it, you are left with one large set of wires heading to the front of the vehicle. If you have all the harnesses from the MAF, etc... unplugged, you should now be able to move it around. Look behind the strut tower, and you should see a good sized hole. I routed the harness through that hole. For this, no wires should need to be cut. Start by getting the largest connector through first, then the next largest, untill all connectors are through. Once all the connectors are through to the inner fender, gently pull the set of wires through until you have all that you can get in there. Be careful not to strip any wires on metal edges and whatnot.

Once you have the all the wires in the fender, find an available hole close to the MAF, alternator, and whatever other accessories you may have harnesses to. Run the corresponding wires to the accessories and plug them back in. Take a look at it. If you are not satisfied with how that looks, see if you can find a different route to run the wires out. Once you have the wires the way you want them, secure the wires inside the fender. You could do this a few ways. You may choose to use wire tires, cable holders, or a variety of other things. The most important part is to make sure that all of the wires are clear of moving parts. If the wires are going through holes in the fenders, be sure to use grommets or at least make sure the wire loom on them is in good condition.

Another thing you may wish to remove on the passenger side for a cleaner look, is the charcoal canister.This is located near the anti-sway bar. It is connected to a line to the fuel tank and a line to the upper intake. The charcoal canister is sort of a venting system for your fuel tank. If you choose to remove this, you may want to do some more research to decide, first unplug the hose on the upper intake. Cap off the outlet on the intake. Then, disconnect the other line from the canister. You will need to either seal the hole in the gas tank that this line leads to and use a vented gas cap, or cut/route this line somewhere safe to vent. If you choose to cut or reroute the linebe sure it is not near the passenger compartment, or excessive amounts of heat. Youy will probably want to put some sort of screen on the end as well to prevent debris from entering your fuel tank. If all that sounds like too much trouble and worry to you, you should just leave the canister there.

-----------------------------------------------Driver Side-----------------------------------------------

If you have the passenger side done and it was a bit much for you, you may not even want to continue to the driver side. If the passenger side seemed like a piece of cake, please proceed.

I'm not even going to attempt to list all the things that there are wires for on the driver side. I'll just say, "There are a lot." The procedure for the driver side is basicly the same as the passenger side, except there are a lot more wires.

Once again, unplug and label the accessories attatched to the wires you wish to relocate. You should be able to find empty holes behind the strut tower brace on the driver side, similar to the passenger side. You will use these again, just as you did with the passenger side. I had to cut one group of wires and then reattach them after I got them through the fender. If you choose to do this, you can use butt connectors or solder to reconnect them. I believe soldering is the best method. Whichever way you choose, be sure to apply electrical tape or heat shrink tubing to be sure the connections are waterproof.

After everything is through the fender, follow the same steps as you did on the passenger side by finding spaces and reconnecting wires to their proper locations. One thing that is very different on the driver side is the starter solenoid. It may be difficult to get the wires through the fender properly to the solenoid, without putting them in areas that they could easily be cut or stripped. I chose to relocate my starter solenoid inside the fender. It makes it look a little better, and the wires seem safer. Here's a pic of my starter solenoid's location (next to the coil, inside the fender).

This is not the only place you can put the starter solenoid, just the way I chose to do it. Some people may prefer to leave the solenoid in it's stock position or inside the fender where it can't be seen at all. People also commonly move the solenoid to the trunk. I believe there are kits available for this. Sorry, but I don't have much information to offer you about relocation of the solenoid to the trunk.

I had to extend thre wires to the master cylinder. If you have to do this, just add a small length of wire and use butt connectors or solder as described earlier.

One other thing that makes the driver side look a lot cleaner is the relocation of the battery to the trunk. This is a fairly simple process as well. I used a battery relocation kit from Summit Racing. Basicly all I did was run a 1 gauge wire from the stater solenoid through the car to the trunk, and of course to the positive post on the battery. You must also make a good ground. I used a 1 gauge wire from the negative post, and grounded it to the frame in the rear. This setup is not NHRA legal, so if you plan to run at the track, don't do it this way. To be track legal, you will need a shut off switch in the rear of the car that kills the power to the whole electrical system.

You will also need a battery hold down and possibly a battery box. I used a Jeg's aluminum hold down for Optima batteries. I chose not to use a box because I am using a sealed Optima battery and it will be in the trunk since I have a convertible. You can find some very nice battery hold downs and boxes at Summit and Jeg's. Below is a pic of the Jeg's Optima battery tray that I chose.

By now, the driver side fender should be pretty well done.

-----------------------------------------------Firewall & Radiator Support-----------------------------------------------

The firewall is fairly simple the way I chose to do it. The firewall basicly just has one big group of wires and some brake lines. I moved the brake lines from above the lip on the fenderwell to below it. There were a couple of small bolts holding the brake lines up. I just removed those and gently moved the lines down. Be careful not to bend or break the lines.

All I did to the large group of wires was move them under the lip as well. Once the engine is in, you won't really be able to see the wires anymore. Some people also run these wires under the cowl. You may have to drill new holes to do this, I'm not too sure. If you dont use the hood hinges, I assume you could just go in one and out the other to hide most of it.

The radiator support has a group of wires running under it. If you remove the clips and unhook one sides headlight and marker lights, you can reroute it up under the support better and wire tie it so you can't see it anymore. The other thing on the radiator support are airbag sensors, if your year is equipped with and airbag. There are left, center, and right crash sensors. If you choose to remove these (track only vehicles), they are simply bolted in with a harness to each.

There are certainly cars with better looking engine bays then mine, but I'm happy with it.

Well, that's about all the advice I have to give right now. Some things may be missing, because I did this a couple months ago, and every detail isn't fresh in my head. At very least, this should give you some idea of what you are getting into. I hope this helps you out. If you have something you think I should add to this, you can suggest it by emailing me or sending a PM to me, 90GTVert, on corral.net. Also, if you have more questions, do a search of the forums at http://www.corral.net/ and you will probably find some more great advice.

Here are some more pics of some very nice engine bays. If you see your car here and wish to have it removed, email me.

Once again, Good Luck!