zzzwilliams3200

Newbie to Mustangs here...I recently put my 92 tsi awd in the paper and I got a call from a guy wanting to trade for an 83 mustang convertable. He was asking 3300 for the car, and I will post his ad here:

83 mustang convert. with a 90 gt motor with a paxton supercharger and brand new 351 heads new rods, its got cobra upper and lower intake, bbk 70mm throttle body, bbk fuel pressure regulator, new gas tank with and 155 lb racing pump,diablo custom chip new valve gaskets new head gaskets, ford racing 30 lb injectors, 73 mm mass air flow tuned to the 30 lb injectors,cobra front end cobra springs,arms,rotors, and it has a dash conversion nto the 87 to 93 style dash and it has racing seats, H pipe, i believe it has a pully kit. 2.5inch cowl,pony rims not a bad car just need somewireing straighten out i have drove it and it gets up and goes.. but it need wiring fixed great car..asking 3300

I asked about the body on it and he said it was "good" with good paint. I asked about boost and he said it was running 7psi, I asked about some kind of monitoring device (for knock, o2 volts, etc) but he said it didnt have anything like that. Basically, if I go take a look at it, what in specific should I look for? He mentioned something about where the clutch cable is connected underneath the dash, something about a clip or retainer that needed to be replaced. Any additional info you guys can give me would be great, or any more questions I need to ask him also.

Thanks guys, I appreciate it,
Zach

PS also, any way to know what this setup is capable of making for power? thanks

Ryan5.0

I think you should definatly look at it. Take plenty of pictures while your at it. Make him be very specific about the wiring issues. Try to get details on exactly what parts are in the engine and who did the work. It has been a pretty big project to update that 83, if done right it could be a badass car. Keep us posted and good luck.

zzzwilliams3200

I called him up and asked about the wiring issues, he said that the air/fuel gauge in the car is not wired up right, LOL, and that the ignition has some kind of issue where you can start the car up, but it wont shut it off. I was reading posts about something physically breaking in the mechanism of the ignition key cylinder in the steering column, but he didnt know if it was mechanical or electrical. Thanks for the reply Ryan5.0, I asked about the parts in the engine but he didn't know what was in it as far as pistons or rods, compression ratio etc. He replaced the heads because one of the old ones was cracked. I hate it when you dont even know whats in an engine to start with...could be a time bomb ya know what I mean?

Ninety5five0

Look around for sings of a wreck also. Make sure all body pannels are strait, look at different angles and such to see if there are any different shades of paint. Look at the gaps between the hood and the fenders, they should be pretty even. Get up under the car and look for any obvious leaks. Take it for a long drive too, see how it is at normal operating temp. Is it 5spd or auto ? Be sure to smell the fluids too, and check all of them. Good luck. It sounds like a sweet car, post up some pics if you can.

zzzwilliams3200

It is a 5spd. Aside from looking for previous body damage, are there any common problems that seem to come up a lot with this year/model? I know when I went to buy my talon I was told to check for shaft play in the turbo, check for cracks in the body around the rear 1/4 glass in my buick to see if its been to the track much... Is there a way to check for excessive wear on the supercharger? Are there any obvious weak links in the setup that this guy has so far? Thanks

Liquid_02

To think, the 7.5 inch rear-end is still holding up with all the power that set-up should make. Personally, I think he's full of ****. There's something wrong if that rear-end hasn't snapped in two. Probably why he's selling it so cheap. I'd be taking a REALLY good look at this thing before buying it.

zzzwilliams3200

Liquid_02- so if this setup isnt making enough power to blow apart the stock rearend, that should lead me to belive that its not reaching the potential that it should be at? What is the power and ft/lb potential anyway? Maybe a reallly rough estimate, not knowing the compression ratio and such.

93 LX FiveO

IMO I wouldn't go for it unless it looked really clean in which case.. you woudln't even need to question buying it.

for 3300 you could find yourself a nice original(low mileage)/modified 5.0 and know whats been done to it.

obviously carfax before u buy it

IMO '83 wasn't a good year for the 5.0.. even with those modifications that car is probably making only 300rwhp

'83s are notorious for oil leaks unless it was made late in the year because then it has the 1 piece design

Liquid_02

Well! Consider this, STOCK 5.0's were blowing apart the 7.5inch rear-ends in cars, so Ford changed them to the 8.8's in 87, the 4cyl cars (possibly the v6's but not sure) have the 7.5 now. So if a supercharged mustang, with those mods can't blow up the 7.5 when a stock 5.0 can, I'd be looking for some bigger problems, but that's just me.

That set up... if nothing's been ported... I'd say should be makin roughly 325hp... don't know ANYTHING about 351 heads so that's a guess, and probably 360 or so torque... someone with more knowledge of those heads may be able to give you a better answer.

Also, in the ad "I think it has a pully kit", that shows he doesn't really know what's been done to the car, when I buy something, I want the seller to be POSITIVE, incertainty leads to problems. So personally I wouldn't believe a word he's said until I checked absolutely everything he says is done myself, and then do an even deeper inspection such as compression test it, I'd be checking everything and anything on that car

Liquid_02

That motor makes roughly 215-220 stock.... which is probably 190 or so to the wheels stock, it SHOULD be making WAY more than that