pyromjm

I just acquired an 89 Mustang Convertable. I know nothing about these cars, the only car ive worked on is my
82 porsche 924. What is the first thing i should be interested in upgrading performance wise? e.g. what is the biggest bottleneck on these cars stock? Also any other new owner tips you guys would like to throw at me would be great, or some kind of preventative maintenance i should impliment right away because of some common problems with these cars?
-Mike

tokinGLX

one of the best things you can do is put subframe connectors in. those help the convertibles very much, as does every other form off chassis support. if you are planning on making it fast, you should check into upgrading the brakes. its real easy to make it go fast, that just depends on how much money you want to put into it

nitrous_bob

the biggest cheap gain is gears, especially in a 'vert. you can check your door tag, under "ax" code...

for stock gears...... m=2.73 , z= 3.08 e= 3.27 (available only in aod cars)

the biggest bottle neck is the heads, followed by exhaust (headers mainly, then the rest) then intake. the stock intake will support about 300 hp though.

problem areas.....the trunklid, the lip uderneath is prone to rust (a hatch is also)

the ashtray .... lol...about 90 % have a broken ashtray door.

not much else, i would switch to all synthetics right away.... engine oil, tranny oil , gear lube , PS fluid.

after you gear it tires are a must , bad weight distribution causes the tires to explode w/ minimal acceleration.

but a stock motored 5-speed w/ 4.10's and cheater slicks can run low 13's.

in a 'vert i would expect to go about 14.00 though...maybe 13.80's