Hey all, first post, I'm considering picking up an 89 GT convertible with about 70,000 miles on it. The mill is all stock except for a drop-in K&N filter. White with nicely done grey racing stripes, no rust, white/red leather interior, previous owner is selling because his DUI habit finally got his license revoked. Clutch feels fine, motor starts right up but there is a check engine light. The motor seems to be running ok but doesn't feel especially strong, its not missing a cylinder but its not pulling like it should either. Asking price is $4,500 o.b.o. and its been on the market for awhile, in my small town nobody has any money so cars can sit for quite awhile before a buyer comes along.

I'm planning on running a diagnostic on the motor and then using whatever error code it brings up to knock down the price of the car. Also it has no radio (like I was going to keep the stocker anyway, haha) and the A/C isn't working, so those will bring the price down too. I'm confident I can grab it for slightly less than $4k as the seller seems pretty darn motivated. He even told me he'd take the car off the market for me if I threw him five bones or so, and I could give him the rest once I raised the cash. That's always a good sign.

Question no. 1-- is this a good deal? What do you guys think is a fair market value for this car?

Question no. 2-- let me preface this by saying that I helped a high school buddy build an '89 LX 5.0 into a drag car about ten years ago, while we were still in high school, but that was the last time I did anything with a 5.0 Mustang. How is the aftermarket for these cars now? Ten years ago it was raging, there were bolt-on options as far as the eye could see, is that still true? Are there better parts out now than the E-303 cam and Edelbrock heads/intake that we based his mill on?

Question no. 3-- how can I find out if this GT has the "tremec" 5-speed? I seem to remember that the "tremec" was more desireable, maybe stronger, but I can't recall exactly what the situation was. Could this car have the "tremec" and what is the difference?

 

first of all, you could talk him down to 3 grand probably

if your not confident if its in perfect shape, take it to a mechanic and ask for an inspection


ps. the market for 5.0 parts is incredably and its one of the cheapest cars to mod and one of

the most responsive to modifications.

 

Be sure to check the bottom of the doors for rust on the inside because its very commomn on those cars.The mods they sell for a fox are endless and fairly cheap compared to the other model mustangs so picking up some go fast parts wont set you back to bad depending on what you get.I'd be willing to bet the car doesnt have a tremmec unless someone bought it and installed it which I doubt because you said the car is stock other than an air filter so chances are the tranny is to.The check engine light most likely is a o2 sensor which is a very common service engine light problem.The 4500 price is average but I bet you could get it in the upper 3,000 dollar range.Oviously the kid needs to get rid of it and has been sitting on it for a while so start low and work up from there,you might be able to score the car for cheap.The verts are very heavy cars and if you want to build a track car its really not a good one to do it to.The verts need cages to have cages in then once you break the 13.99 here are the NHRA rules to verts When do I need a roll bar or roll cage, and what should it look like?
A roll bar is required in any convertible running 13.99 seconds or quicker in the quarter mile, and in other cars beginning at 11.99. The roll bar is accepted in vehicles running as quick as 10.00 second e.t., provided the stock firewall and floorboard is intact, other than for installation of wheel tubs. The rollbar must be constructed of minimum 1 ¾ inch o.d. x .118 inch wall mild steel tubing, or 1 ¾ x .083 chrome moly tubing, and must conform to the following diagram:



If the floor and/or firewall has been modified, then a full roll cage is required beginning at a 10.99 e.t. A full roll cage is required in any vehicle running 9.99 seconds or quicker, and any vehicle running 135 mph or faster (regardless of e.t.). The roll cage must be constructed of minimum 1 5/8 o.d.x .118 mild steel tubing, or 1 5/8 x .083 chrome moly tubing, and must conform to the following diagram:


Hope this helps some.Good luck with the purchase


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Fellas, thanks for your quick responses. Back in the day I used to be a tech inspector at KCIR in Raytown, MO, so I know about the rollcage rule. There were some guys there who had 12 second convertibles and would put on great 0-60 times and then deliberately "sandbag" on the top end to run 14s. If we caught them we would give them a warning about it, its pretty obvious when a guy's brake lights come on right before the top end trap! LOL! I'm pretty sure all those guys wound up with cages, the need for speed won out over their reluctance to install an ugly cage.

This thing is going to be a daily driver, a commuter, and will get a crapload of mileage put on it. I'd love to dip into the 13s, and I don't think it would be tremendously difficult, but reliability and streetability are paramount. No nitrous, no 4.11 gears. First I'll just tune it up as best I can, right now it feels like a 16 second car and I bet it has been sitting for awhile and needs plugs/wires etc. I can swap out the 02 sensor as well, no problem. In the long term I think midrange torque is the way to go on this, so keep it naturally aspirated and start shopping for intakes, exhaust, heads, a mild cam etc.

How restrictive are the exhausts on the '89 GT? What's the first thing that should be addressed once you start modding, exhaust or intake or throttle body or what? I remember on my friend's LX 5.0 we saw a huge difference after a few expensive bolt ons when we installed a relatively cheap fuel pressure regulator. I remember he had a little gauge right there in the engine compartment that would tell us what the pressure was, and when we cranked it up the car ran measureably better. Would this be a good idea to get at the beginning or is it something that is only necessary once you are flowing alot more air?

P.S. Anyone know of a good Mustang shop in the Kansas City area?

P.P.S. Even more questions! Thought of more and had to come back and edit. I know generally that convertibles have less chassis rigidity than their hardtop cousins. I also seem to remember that the convertible mustangs had some kind of X-brace underneath to fix this, which also added weight. Is this factory X-brace any good? Does this car still need subframe connectors or are they unecessary since the factory brace is already installed?

 

Exhaust is going to be the best improvement over stock.Throw on a H or X pipe and a cat back and that will help alot.Gears are the second best mod for the money go with a 355 or 373 and you'll be happy you will still have low rpms on the highway so it wont kill the gas milage to bad but you will see a nice gain in take off speed

 

Try posting this on the 5.0 branch as well for more replies.

 

99Saleen-- an x-pipe is better than an H-pipe, correct? What do you think of this unit? If it has catalytic converters then why are the check engine light eliminators recommended?


http://www.mustangtuning.com/cattedxpipe.html

This would be better than just finding a local shop with a mandrel bender and having them fab an x-pipe from scratch, right? [shrugs shoulders]

 

Xpipe has a raspier sound than the h pipe and the power difference is minimal. Personally I think the offroad h pipe sounds great and performs great. You will not need the eliminators.

 

1991, this is going to be a daily driver and needs to pass inspection so it should have catalytic converters. The days of slipping the inspector a few extra bucks not to look under the car are long gone. How restrictive are the stock cats compared to aftermarket high-flow cats? Again, should I buy a complete aftermarket unit or just find a local shop that knows what they are doing and have them fab up an H-pipe/X-pipe?

Also, since you have a '91 convertible, is there anything specific to convertibles that I need to check out in particular? The top looks to be in good shape but I haven't tested out the mechanism yet, I just test drove it with the top up.

 

please xplain the screen name, cause I don't get it. don't know **** aboot 5.0's but I wanna learn 'em