Eric261

Alright so Im selling my S197 Gt for personal reasons and Im looking around at these foxbodys for one of my next cars. The 88-93 5.0 seem to come in a few different body styles and from my understanding they had changes in them throughout those years engine wise.

Now I've been all about my s197 for the past couple years so Im a noob when it comes to the fox so if someone could explain to me the differences in mustangs between 88-93 Id appreciate it im just trying to learn so I know what Im looking for when buying of what is better than what etc. Cheers: Eric

Alex-7

1988 is speed density (except in california) Not mas air. Speed density is harder to tune.

Uhhh, I think fox's got air bags in 1990 and lost the tilt wheel at the same time.

I believe 1993's don't have forged internals like the earlier ones....

Just buy the cleanest most stock one you can find.

FivePointOhh

+1^^

nicely worded. if you want to modify it i'd try and look for an 89 coupe. lightest best looking fox IMO. tilt wheels. no airbars, forged internals, mass air. pretty sweet platform to build off.

try to find a clean body, you can always fix the mechanical stuff a lot cheaper and better than bodywork unless your hobby/job is bodywork.

Chuckles_5.0

correct. 93 does not have the forged internals like the rest of the foxes. They have hypereutectic. I don't know a heck of alot about the pitons other than the fact that I've heard they are fine to use as long as you're not talking about monster numbers. But thats just hear say.

Also in 93 ford changed the Dyno methods they used and "lost" 20 hp. basicly this 20 hp just got lost some where in the paper work, cause its the exact same engine (other than the pistons) and makes the exact same hp as the earlier 5.0s.

I believe they started airbags in 90 and all airbag equipt vehicles lost the tilt stearing (don't know why...but you get used to the steering wheel fairly quickly)

Also in 90 or 91 the body molding went from black to body color. (thats the black strip you see around some foxes)

87 and up is the "Aero" nose style while 86 and down is the four eyed fox, its much harder to find an unmolested four eye so if you can find a half decent one at a good price go for it and you can more than likely put some TLC into it and turn it around for a profit.

like Alex said, 88 is SD except cali models, and all 89 and up are mass air.

Oh yeah, and then you have the 7.5/8.8 rear ends. I think (but am not sure) that the 8.8 is 87 and up. Def. don't quote me on that one though. 7.5 is dinky and should be swapped if you plan on keeping a car that has one.

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Just as a note:

These cars respond great to mods. Like, greater than your S197 responded to the factory great. Thats why they are still on the road like they are.

some of the first things to think about:

CAI
Gears
Taurus electric fan (yeah, there is something worth having out of the Taurus, lol)
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Subframe connectors (unibody frame is known for twisting. If you have plans for big numbers and especially any rear suspension work/sticky tires, go ahead and do this, you'll regret it if you dont.)
Breaks (Foxes are not known for their brakes..in fact it is common knowlage that the brakes suck. it is a good idea to upgrade them)

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Other than all that, the fox is the lightest mustang (even the convertable is lighter than any of the new mustangs from the factory) And can be a beast in the quarter. Whats more its REALLY fun to drive. Its on the edge of old school muscle and new.

It will fill any role from sweet DD to street/strip to full on drag car.

There is so much more...lol. It's easy to talk about them for ever. But I'll stop there.


Any way, now that I'm done spewing my guts about the foxes...hope that helps, and good luck!

mjr46

here is your history lesson on the tech section

https://mustangforums.com/forum/5-0-...ease-read.html

92hatchLX

Remember that the pre 1986 foxes came from the factory with a carb and are not fuel injected and IIRC didn't have as much power as the EFI cars. What are you wanting out of the car? A stock daily driver? Strip car? Street/Strip? Sunday cruiser? Remember you can also get various body styles, hatchback LX or hatchback GT, convertible LX or GT, notchback. All of the body styles were equipped with either the 5.0 HO or the 2.3 or whatever 4 cyl Ford stuck in there. Also if you go test drive some cars don't get down when you drive a car that is a convertible, AOD, with 2.73 gears. The 5-spd's are quite a bit quicker compared to the AOD in stock form. You can transform an AOD car into a monster as well though. They also came with various gear ratios; 2.73s, 3.27s etc. which can change the feel of the performance of the car also. I'm not going to make any suggestions of what kind of a car to look for until I know what you want to turn the car into or if you want to modify it at all.

wrenchturner75

plus the early 87 88 cars like my 88 some were pretty plain from the factory, my 88 has no power seats, no power windows, no rear defroster, so if your looking for a lightweight the earlier ones are the way to go.

5.0stang123

also in 91 to 93 the gt and lx 5.0's got the pony rims. And i think the 87 to 89 had some minor interior differences then 90 to 93's.

Chuckles_5.0

Uh..thats just called "Basic" all that stuff is extra. (most of the time) even on new cars you pay out the butt to have that stuff.

You are right though...it makes for a lighter car. But for a dd, its nice to have power windows.

Eric261

wow so many responses thanx for all the info! Well my idea for the car is to have a a mostly street car but with some pretty nice power with the occassional run down the strip maybe about 450 rwhp or so. I've seen what these foxes can do with such little power and im quite impressed. So from what I understand I would be looking for a fox thats not a 93so itll have forged internals but later than an 89 so it will be easier to tune? am I understanding this correctly?

Btw turbo will most likely be in this cars future.

Power windows and locks would be nice but its not a must I suppose point me in the right directions guys of what model I should look for. :-) Thank you all again in advance!