escort?'s thread revived...

[Blue03Cobra]

escort?, since your thread was taken over by post-whores, I'll restart it.

You listed a wide range of years, there are some significant differences between...

'86, first MPFI 5.0, roller valvetrain, forged pistons, 200 HP/285 TQ, speed density, restricted flow heads.

'87-'88, 225HP, speed density (harder to mod)

'89-92, 225HP, mass air (easier to mod)

'93, 210HP, first year for hypereutetic pistons (no longer forged)

HTH

I might buy a late '80s 5.0, myself (as a daily driver to keep the snake in the garage), even though I'm leaning toward an SVO...

Anybody else got advice for a 5.0 or SVO shopper? What to look for, known problem areas, etc.?

 

[wheelspin]

Known problem areas on an earlier fox are behind the drivers seat. Look for cracks in the floorpan. I haven't seen them in an 87+ car though. The closest thing to look for is the body panels. Make sure they all line up nice. It's a good indication of whether or not a car has been beaten to death. Look close at the rear main seal. It's a real PITA. The valve covers tend to leak to, and they are kinda time consuming. Not terrible, but a good couple hours. Make sure the tranny doesn't grind on downshifts from third to 2nd.

 

[Blue03Cobra]

Excellent! Keep 'em coming...

 

[hillie16]

The interior lines will be off too if the car has been beaten or twisted.......

 

[SVT X 2]

Another common problem on the Fox bodies was the torque boxes ripped easily if the car was raced heavily or used slicks w/5,500 bansai launches.

Also, although hard to see by eye, the '91-'93's had slightly stretched fender lips to more easily fit the 5-star rims.

Actually the '87-'88 Speed Density Stangs were a little faster (stock) than the Mas-Air '89-ups ('88 in CA), they just became rough daily drivers after heavy modifying, whereas the Mas-Air computers accepted mods easier and had better driveability after mods such as a hot cam/head combo. However, there were, and I'm sure still are, 12-sec Speed Density Fox's out there.

Another thing to look for: Just incase you liked the T-top version like the older carbed Stangs or the new EFI Stang in '86... they did have the T-top option for the '87's and that was the last of the T-toped Stangs to date! You don't see alot of these though...

More: The '87-'89's had a tilt steering column, whereas in '91 the airbag was first incorperated into the Stangs and it did not have a tilt colmn. I have seen those years modified to use the previous tilt columns, not sure how legal that is...

 

[escort?]

thanks

Thanks for all the information, I will probably go with a 89-92 notchback, if I can find one without too many miles, for a decent price (fingers crossed). Gonna put my tax return into a savings acount, save my money over the summer, pass on the scort for some $, and hopefully by then I will have enough. My brother's wife has a 98 gt with 3.73 gears, k&n and exhaust (no cats), and it sounds SWEET! Hoping to smoke her when I get mine, hehe. Again thanks for the welcome, and the info.