Boogiebear

Ok, so I have a 1990 Ford Ranger (4cyl)and its the slowest thing I have ever driven in my life. Ive been looking for a mustang since I started driving, and think I found a good deal. Its a 1989 mustang 2.3t hatchback. The seller is claiming that the only things wrong with it are a cracked exhaust manifold, and "an oil valve in the turbo burst". He is selling it for $1800. Its already got a cold air intake, "lots of new parts", GT interior, and then some other non-performance bolt ons. From the pictures on the post it looks a LOT like the engine in my ranger, and from the specs i've looked up they are pretty much identical (minus the turbo).

Here are my questions:
1) Is the turbo easy to fix?
2) Is it possible to run a T3/T4 with a stock intercooler on very low boost levels until a large fmic is installed (this would be done if the stock turbo was either hard to fix, or more economical to just buy a new one)?
3) Would it be too expensive for a teenager to get this car to 300~ HP over the next few years?

The seller says the car has no rust or body damage (sounds true with the pictures he posted).

Here are the pics of the car:









Let me know if its a good deal. Thanks

evintho

I'd say jump all over it! The overall car looks clean inside and out! And, with a turbo conversion already done you're way ahead of the game. A cracked exhaust manny is pretty common. Go with a Bob's log. 'A burst oil valve in the turbo'? No such animal. I'll bet he means a burst oil line. If the turbo is an IHI, their oil feed lines make a big U right off the block fitting and tend to crack. That would need to be fixed immediately. A Stinger braided stainless steel line will remedy that.

On answers to your questions....
1) If it's the aforementioned oil line, the turbo should be fine.
2) Yes. But if you're tight on money I'd just upgrade to a T3 and FMIC.
3) No. 300hp is easily attainable.

Buy it! Buy it now!!

theboss302

Its not a stick. There is no point in getting a turbo with no manual. Believe me, with 200+ hp a manual trans will be a lot of fun and an auto will suck.

Boogiebear

I was thinking about that but couldnt I always get a better transmission tune and upgrade the torque converter so it would shift better for the amount of power i got it to?

mikerp76

you could but the a4ld may not hold up to that much power.

evintho

Haha, I love it when newbs come on here and profess a point when, I'll betcha dollars to donuts, they don't even own a turbocharged vehicle! Whatdya say boss302, can you back up that statement with facts? Believe me, 200hp even hooked to an auto is no comparison to the enemic 88hp put out by the N/A 4cyl. Granted, AL4D's are the weak points in the driveline but the car is a running driver. T5 swaps are simple and done all the time. Drive and enjoy the car and save your pennies for a T5 swap. Occasionally, you'll see T5 swap kits come up in the classifieds on www.turboford.net and www.turbotbird.com. Trannys are $100-$150 all day long. In fact, I've got 2 T5's sitting in my garage. I sold this swap kit a couple of years ago on TF for $150 minus tranny. It's out of an '88 TC. The guy wanted to run a hydraulic setup in his Mustang.





I'll say it again. $1800 for a car that clean w/turbo conversion is a deal! I paid $1500 for Thunderstang when it was a bone stock N/A 4 banger in 2003!

Babybudistmonk

Or if you still wanted to keep it an auto, and didn't want to have to worry about that wimpy A4LD, go the C4 rout. Bell housings come up all the time on turbo ford forums. And C4's are just as easy/cheap to come by as a T5.

You have a lot of options to think about. If it were me, I would buy that car, drive it around a while, then figure out what you want to do with it. (while saving money in the mean time)

BTW, the stock IC will flow and handle more boost than most people give it credit for. You can continue to use that cooler, just make sure its mounted someplace other than over the exhaust manifold, and you can see 300hp with that and some other mods no problem