abq954

I found a 89 convertible with a 331 stroker. I'm not real mustang savy so any help would be greatly appreciated. I was under the impression that stroking a motor was the top end but was told by him that the motor was completely gone thru and has a new crank and cam.
The car has a clean car fax and had the motor swapped from another car. Hasn't been registered in 2 years while being swapped. The owner says it has trick flow heads and a gt40 intake. He said he has $1700.00 in the heads alone. He also said he is taking a beating on this car and has some financial issues. I'm sure people say alot of stuff when trying to sell a car. I just don't want to overpay for something because of lack of knowledge. Stated he has a 4 core radiator and It's been lowered 2", Headers, off road H pipe and cat backs. The interior was converted to black leather from a 91 donor car and has all new guages from summit. It has new paint (black w/purple pearl) and a 3" to 4" cowel glass hood. Also has 17" chrome Cobra R's, new rubber and all new tail lights, markers and head lights.
Some off the bad stuff.
The parking lights work but no brake lights and the automatic top does not come up with its own power. Could this be a major electrical issue? I like the car alot but don't want to get it home and find out it has some major issues. I understand an older car like this will need some TLC.
I plan to get more info tomorrow so I can have a few more motor details. So any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Also the car is being sold for 5k.

Thanks,
ABQ954

Also I had a 02 GT and I had an off road x-pipe with the Mil eliminators. It passed emissions so does a 89 need mil eliminators too and will this be an emissions issue?

91hatchgt

It sounds like a nice car, the reason he is asking so much is because he has so much money into the car. A stroker kit is not the top end it is a new crank which allows the pistons to travel more in the cylinder walls, or stroking a longer distance. The TFS heads are about 1700 bux, so it doesn't sound like he has lied to you at all. The electrical top sounds like the motor is getting worn out, and would be relatively easy to fix if that is indeed the problem, although I do not know how much a new motor is off the top of my head. You can check out www.50resto.com to find OEM replacement parts.

All in all, I think I would pay 4k, 4.5k MAX for the car as you dont know how bad the car has been beaten on, 331 stroker with aluminum heads is a recipe for big power. Good luck with your decision I hope I helped out a little.

mustang4eva

$5,000 sounds like a very fair price. All it needs is a new convertable top motor which can easily be bought for not too much. Brake lights is no biggy its probably just a loose wire connection or a fuse/bulb. I wish you had pics I wanna see the paint it sounds different.

7 UP Mustang

We have the 1990 LX Convertible, and when we bought it we had the same problem with the top operating mechanism. It would go down, but would not come back up. Underneathe the cover in the top down area you will find 2 relays. One is for UP, and one is for Down. If you swap those two relays around, and it does not go down, then you know you have a bad relay. I was able to buy one quickly and easily from the Ford dealer. As I recall, it was only $9.95. Hope this helps and good luck. Let me know if you have any more questions, I am retired and will be glad to help.

r.barn

I bought my 89 LX vert for $5,500 more than 8 years ago.

This guy has put well $5,000 in add on parts.
It's a good deal even if you have to spend another $2-3,000
getting all the little bugs fixed.

And with that power combo you'll be smoke'n tire all over the place.


Stroker: you get more displacement in the cylinder by increasing the
up and down "stoke" of the piston. hence it's called a "stroker" engine.
To do this you change out the crank and piston rods.

Normal ford engine 302 ..... "stroked" to 331

r.barn

Also, on your electrical problems........

I've been having some too. Mostly just old relays corroding away.
A decent mechanic should be able to get the electrical working
for a few hundred dollars.

90GTRagtop

One other thing with the top, all those hinges and pivot points in the linkage do require lubrication from time to time. Mine was a little slow when I bought it, but it was from being stiff and needing lubrication. Then it smoothed out nicely. A little white lithium spray grease applied carefully works wonders. If the top motor is not running at all when you try to go up, look at the relays first like 7up said. Brake lights could be a number of things from a bad ground in the back to a bad switch to a blown fuse. All in all, price sounds fair. If I were interested in the car I'd start by offering $4K and see how bad he wants to sell.