mustangnyc

So my father has an '86 Mustang SVO he's owned since new and parked it up in the garage back in '95. 46k original miles, started it twice since 1995, more recently in ~2013, took it out of the garage and ran it for a little, cleaned off the dust, parked it back up again. The gas in the tank probably should have been drained, but it started and ran fine, didn't hear any weird sounds/see any leaks/smoke, etc.

Really clean car inside and out, only thing cosmetically, is that one of the exhaust pipes got bent, so my dad removed it.

So, since 1995, it has had no maintenance performed. I'm looking to get all the fluids and whatnot changed and probably a new set of tires and sell it this summer as it's just sitting around.

I'm somewhat handy, having done most of the maintenance on 3 motorcycles and 2 cars that I've owned. So I'm looking to compile a list of things that need to be done/looked at and start tackling it one or two things a weekend at a time; so far I have:

-Brake fluid flush
-Coolant flush
-Oil/oil filter change
-Air filter
-Cabin air filter
-Transmission fluid changed (How feasible is it to do, for my VW's is requires a computer to read the oil level, I'm assuming this may have a dipstick?)
-New tires
-New accessory belt possibly?
-Do these engines have timing belts or chains?
-Should I get a Haynes/Bentley manual or are all these things pretty much straight forward?
-I don't know much about spark plugs/coils/distributors?? as both my VW's didn't have (they were both turbodiesels), would they need to be replaced?
-I'm assuming it has a fuel filter somewhere?

Here's some pics from the last time it saw sunlight:

88 orangepeel notch

Great looking SVO.

Your list is pretty good for maintenance needed. I'd add a roll of vacuum line to replace all the stock stuff. It gets old with age and causes all kinds of headaches trying to find them when it does happen.

A Haynes manual is always a good idea, and you'll want to through a set of plugs and wires in it. The coil should be fine. Distributor just needs a cap and rotor replaced.