amorgan93

I just got a 88 mustang 2.3 all in primer, no symbols. but i found an LX sticker inside the car. Im guessing its an LX. im trying to understand the difference in models. i know the mustangs came with the N/A 2.3, the turbo 2.3, the 5.0, and the 5.0 HO. But on advanceautoparts.com when i select what type of car i have, the Mustang LX only has the 5.0L option. The Mustang GT also has the 5.0, which i know is the faster. So is my mustang a LX, or what? Its an automatic, im guessing the A4lD, however the overdrive on the gear selector doesnt engage. according to some research ive done, the A4ld is very easy to break and is a cheap transmission. Actually supposedly the whole 4 cylinder car is junk cause it has junk suspension and crappy transmission and a motor that has no potential for power, unless tons and tons of dollars are spent on it. This is my first 2 door car and my first car that is rwd, and i like the idea of it, but if the whole car is junk im just going to put a dirt cheap price tag and move on to some other car. So give me some of your advice, and encourage me to keep it theres got to be some reason to keep the car, besides the gas mileage. Anyways, if theres any more information you can give me about the fox body mustangs, besides the little bit wikipedia has, i would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

also does the 2.3 N/A LX cars have sway bars? front, rear, what? any good? my suspension is shot, so any recommendations for good stiff shocks, i want good handling.

zonker

hi and welcome to the red headed stepchild of the mustang group, the 2.3L N/A fox body mustangs.

with that being said, there is nothing wrong with the car that would make it such a crap pile like "what you heard".

A little info on your car... in 1988 there were two models of mustang, the LX and GT. All GT's had the 5.0, but the LX could be had either as a 5.0 or a 2.3 (there were no 2.3 turbo Mustangs from the factory in 1988).

Your car is a 2.3 "4 plug" 4cyl. motor and the tranny is an A4LD. The 2.3's are so bulletproof they make the trannys seem cheap in comparison because while you can get over 300k out of the motor (if regularly serviced) an A4LD tranny won't hold up that long. And as for trannys, I think the A4LD gets a bum rap too, because if you try to service and adjust linkages and the like as you would an AOD, you'll likely screw it up. Same goes for putting the wrong type ATF in one as well On Fords, always read the dipstick to see what to use for fluid and don't believe the non-oem ford shop manuals).

The suspension on a 2.3 is the same as a 5.0, except for the spring rates, so anything you can do to improve a 5.0 suspension, you can do to a 2.3). Because a 2.3 has less weight over the front wheels, it's actually easier to make a 2.3 handle better than a 5.0 since it is closer to an ideal 50/50 front/rear weight distribution.

As for spending tons of dollars to make power... well thats a yes and no. If you just don't want to be laughed at by your friend with the chevy cavalier which beats you at the stop light, then there are some simple cheap mods to get another 20hp or so.

If you want a car that will keep up with the Honda crowd, then a cam and some light machining work will be in order to see another 50hp on top of that 20 cheap hp. It's still not terribly expensive at this point... guys have gotten this far spending less than $500.00

If you want to race built 5.0's and turbo 4's, then you'll need to spend more $$ - but even at that level there is some cheap alternatives. A 2.3 turbo motor from a donor t-bird with some light porting, hi-po cam, and a modified turbo will be a no brainer to reach 250hp. Price wise you can still get this done for a couple grand assuming you've done wise shopping and do the mechanical work yourself.

Hope that sheds some light for you...

Babybudistmonk

X2 on that!

The bast way to make good, cheap power with these engines it to put some boost to it! Find an old trashed SVO, Turbo Coupe, or XR4Ti and rob the drivetrain. You can usually find a TC for $500. And it's loaded with goodies that will bolt right up to your car.

Good luck!

dreamer1uk

The 2.3 N\A's are very reliable. I have a 93 and its outlasted a 2001 Kia Sportage and a 2002 Nissan Sentra SER Take care of it and it will take care of you.

However, if your looking to race, rice, or whatever, you picked the wrong car to play with unless you do a 2.3T swap or drop in a 302

94gtstang50

The 2.3 swap is pretty easy and you'll love the performance, its literally night and day. Before the swap my car couldn't get out of its own way, now it rapes srt-4's and stock 5.0's and will give a modded fox a run for its money, and if you live anywhere where the temp get cold you'll love driving it in the winter. I got sideways in second the other night as soon as I hit full boost, and that was on the stock IHI at 15psi - I have a set of wrx sti turbos being donated, hopefully one of them will work (not toooo big). But yea these things are nasty and I get better gas mileage than my commuter car (I would use it to go to work but my left knee is all jacked up currently) As far as 2.3 performance- in a nutshell -get a volvo intercooler, ebay fmic kit, some good t-clamps since the ebay ones can't take over 12psi at certain locations, a ford ranger roller cam with roller rockers, rebuild it yourself, and for under a grand you have an animal. If you have any questions let myself or anyone on here know. I'm sure we have more info than you can possibly dream of to turn that thing into a beast.

lolz1970

well with the false idea that i had to dump loads of money into the car to make it even slightly fast, i sold the car for scrap metal. Didnt think it was even worth fixing up. it had an absolute perfect body, no rust, 1 tiny dent. Did you mean that i would need to use a 2.3t block? or use the n/a 2.3 block i had? i found all the parts off the 2.3t, including the turbo itself, for $150, not including the block. but too late now, i bought a $200 subaru legacy wagon that needs work and the funds from the mustang is gonna fix it :{

94gtstang50

You can drill the 2.3 n/a block, and good luck with the subi, I had an old ****box legacy that I beat to **** over the course of two years and didn't maintain. Just wanted to see how far it could take me and I was very impressed. You do the regular maintenance on them and they'll last almost forever.

ShooterMcGavin

Hi guys I am relatively new to Mustangs as well. This summer I bought a 93 LX 2.3 and if I were to do 2 or 3 mods for under $300, what would those be to get the max hp for my money?

dreamer1uk

Well, theres not much you can do to these motors for power unfortunatley, unless you want to do a 2.3T or 302 swap.

I would look at gutting the air silencer from the intake (sleeper_inc has a write up somewhere) or you can buy an aftermarket intake kit from ebay now for the 2.3's for about $50.

You could also look at putting some 4:10 gears in the rear but thats probably going to be more work for you than anticipated.

You could also have the Cat. cut out too but thats about it.

I would just save the money and plan on doing a swap

ShooterMcGavin

Well I live about 26 miles from my school, so it would be ideal to stick with a 4 cylinder to save money on gas, at least for now