Hey guys,

I am new here, just purchased an 85 2.3 NA... I was wondering, what should I look for to go bad? I did some general maintenance on it today, including Oil, air filter, belts (and removed the accessory belt... is that a bad idea... the air pump wasn't even connected to anything) and spark plugs. Anything else I should hit, just as a precaution?

Also... I will probably, in the future, look into a 5.0 swap out... how difficult is that?

Thanks!
Art

 

No one .

 

As far as things that go wrong, the auto trannies are the weakest link that I know of. Removing the accessory belt won't hurt anything, I've had mine removed for maybe a year or more and no problems. I think the most common complaints are of fuel or vacuum issues, but nothing that can't be fixed. You may want to check out the rust situation on your car and stop it or prevent it from getting much worse. Besides the things I mentioned, you'll have about as many problems as any other car from this era, but my 93 has been to this day the most reliable car of anyone in my family (maybe because I actually take care of it).
Welcome to the forum, by the way.