emericanmilitia

Hello all, first off sorry if this is the wrong section, wasn't sure if it belonged in general discussion, but didn't see any other forum that itd go better in.

I'm currently looking to get out of my 1995 BMW M3 and into a foxbody 5.0 for the summer. As some of you may know, 15yr old german sports cars are VERY expensive to maintain, and I'm wondering how much a foxbody will cost me. I know every single wear item on these E36 BMWs, but am very new to mustangs, so I'm hoping someone can tell me what I should be looking for specifically when buying one. I'll be looking at something modded with boltons, maybe cams if I can find one for the right price. From what I've heard from friends, they're fairly reliable and very cheap to fix when something does go wrong(at least cheap compared to my m3), but would like a real mustang enthusiast's opinion as well.

Also, do many of you DD your foxs? I can't really afford to have 2 cars right now, and I'm wondering how it is driving a 350~ rwhp mustang everywhere, especially in the rain.

Thanks in advance, hopefully I can join you guys on the dark side soon

86 5.0L

we only have one cam in our engines

also check out 5.0resto, summit and foxmustangrestoration so you can see some of the prices for parts

emericanmilitia

Yeah, I've looked at parts prices, but still wondering how often they break/wear out. My M3 will need RTABs/LCABs/cooling system overhaul/etc around 100k, not sure if that type of religious maintenance really exists on these cars or not, but if so, what parts wear out? Thanks!

86 5.0L

not really, allowable tolerances on these 5.0s are very loose.

with regular maintenance they'll run forever.

Dj_Seph

My car is almost to 300k miles and I beat the **** out of it daily. It has been through 2 headgaskets and been overheated tons of times. These things are very great on reliability. Plus parts are just plain cheap when compared to a BMW. I know the feeling.

I had an e39 540i. Went to start the car one day and the damn plastic cooling system blew. If this had happened with the fox, a simple 300 bucks would've put me with a near indestructible cooling system. Not with the Bimmer.

Shelty

parts are dirt cheap... some are cheaper then the price of a case of beer...

dont let miles scare you... honestly, you wont find many foxes with less than 90-100k on them by now. like said, you take care of it, and it will run forever.

the biggest wear item on any fox however will be the interior. but luckily, parts are just as cheap inside as under the hood...

and 350 hp? try stock around 200 hp and bolt ons maybe 230-280 if you include a decent set of heads and a mild cam.

i dd my convertible everywhere and aside from the horrible draft and road noise, its been a great car

TexasTanker19kilo20

I DD my LX and no problems other than a light azz rear. In the rain it can get a little hair raising. The parts are cheap and tires are cheap cause I run stock size. Any chance I get to take the car out (even to work) makes my day. Also welcome to MF

Shelty

also these cars are as simple as hell to work on

the computer is simplistic, most bolt ons, you dont even need a tune for. as long as the MAF is calibrated to the correct injector size, and your fuel pump is providing enough fuel to feed them, the car will run like nothing was ever done... stuff is easy to get to under the hood, you can pull engine codes using a paper clip, and the aftermarket is so huge for this car you could build a complete car from a catalog with nothing more than a stripped shell and a reasonably stocked tool box...