# My New Toy



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

LX 5.0 (302 CID) V8 1992 151K miles. 5 speed T5 Trans and King Cobra Clutch replaced 123K miles.

Cold air intake with 70 mm Cobra Mass Airflow Sensor

H-pipe with flowmaster mufflers

Drove it home today. The thing is a beast.

Clutch is kind of like an on/off switch so you get to blip the throttle good every launch which turns a lot of heads.

I co-own it with my son and it is for having a blast as we each have daily drivers (also manual trans but 4 bangers)


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Nice! Congrats. Fox Mustangs are in high demand. I'm sure getting one in good condition like this wasn't cheap. I lean towards the understated nature of the Thunderbirds from that era, but the interior of that Mustang looks surprisingly comfortable. The whorehouse red color of the interior certainly reminds me of a long-gone era when interiors had some real colors to them for better or for worse. It's probably for the better in this case. 

So, what kind of oil are you going to use? Motorcraft filters?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Thanks. Yeah, I like the T-birds but I don't think they came with manual transmissions. We paid $3200 and it is rough (asking was $3700). Will need some work done on it but overall fairly solid and we drove it home about 20 miles with no issues other than it pegged the temp gauge as there is a coolant leak. Oh I forgot to mention it has 3.55 gear ratios which is perfect considering the standard ratio for that year (per web searching) is 2.73.

Clutch pedal has very heavy action. Got back in my S10 later and the clutch pedal felt like feather.


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

$3200 isn't bad for that. The body and interior look to be in good condition. The rest can be fixed.

The Thunderbirds/Mercury Cougars of that time were available with manual transmissions, but only with the supercharged V6 (Thunderbird SC/Cougar XR7).


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Klassik said:


> $3200 isn't bad for that. The body and interior look to be in good condition. The rest can be fixed.
> 
> The Thunderbirds/Mercury Cougars of that time were available with manual transmissions, but only with the supercharged V6 (Thunderbird SC/Cougar XR7).


If I was so inclined I would take the Cougar with the manual and drop a v8 in it. My mother had two Cougars in the late 80s mid 90s. They were pretty nice cars.


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

Fritz Kobus said:


> If I was so inclined I would take the Cougar with the manual and drop a v8 in it. My mother had two Cougars in the late 80s mid 90s. They were pretty nice cars.


That would be an interesting project. The supercharged V6 might be a lot of fun, but a normally-aspirated V8 would be more practical. I'm more familiar with the supercharged 3800 V6s from GMs during that era than the Fords so I don't know how reliable those supercharged V6s were. Having a manual helps, Ford/Mazda automatics from that era were dreadfully unreliable.

The Thunderbirds from that era got a bit of an unfair reputation as being old man cars as they weren't aggressive looking and looked quite a bit like a Taurus from that time. I liked the way those cars looked though. The Taurus of that generation was a groundbreaking design anyway and the bottom-breather grille design looks really sharp in contrast with today's guppy-like huge fake grilles. Those cars, like the Fox Mustang, really weren't overly styled to the point that they look hideous.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Ford falcon ute XR8 is what I want 








The 5.0-litre 'modular V8' engine is currently the Ford Performance Vehicles' V8 engine, released in June 2010. Initially two versions were released, one rated at 315 kilowatts (422 hp) and 545 newton metres (402 lb⋅ft) of torque and the other at 335 kilowatts (449 hp) and 570 newton metres (420 lb⋅ft).


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Meanwhile here in the UK.........


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Eddie's car in the real world








Well-proven 1725 cc overhead valve petrol engine as a starting point which varied in output from 66 bhp (49 kW) to 88 bhp (66 kW) top speed: 130 km/h (81 mph) (declared by factory);


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## Guest (Jul 15, 2018)

My first car was a Morris Marina.

What's up with all that buying oils specific to each make and model of car at great cost? I stick in 10w 50 supermarket oil. Never had a problem.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Tulse said:


> My first car was a Morris Marina.
> 
> What's up with all that buying oils specific to each make and model of car at great cost? I stick in 10w 50 supermarket oil. Never had a problem.


There is a website with forums www.bobistheoilguy.com for people obsess over oil grades, brands, and components. For the Mustang, it will never see enough miles to justify synthetic, so i am running Maxlife 10w30 in it with a Wix filter. The only filters I trust are Wix, Motorcraft, and Baldwin for this application.

Also a correction to the above info: The car has a 3.08 rear gear ratio, not 3.55. The owner said 3.55 but was wrong. It has a new Ford Racing 3.73 gearset in the box in the trunk but I will sell that. I have no need for that gear unless we are making a drag strip machine, but I want to drive it on the street. And with the 3.08 it is already traction limited, though I don't have great tires on it now.

Hot Rod Magazine says,


> "Anything greater than 9.5 could be considered overkill for the street. Ever driven a Mustang with a 3.35 First-gear trans and a 3.73 rear? First gear is virtually useless, since the overall ratio is 12.49."


Mine is about perfect with the 3.08 rear (figures 10.32 overall ratio). Slight overkill, which is perfect for my purpose.

We have the car in the shop for a good going over to make sure all is good for the longer haul. Main issue is that it overheats. That could be issue, but think it may be stuck thermostat. Hopefully did not buy a pig in a poke, but for $3200 the losses would be minimal vs buying a $10,000 car. I will report back mid week.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Here is an article on the 1987 Mustang titled "*Five Liters of Fury*." This is the same setup through mine in 1992 and same rear gear as mine. Only difference is mine has AC, but I have opened up exhaust and cold air intake. Also, I am not sure someone didn't do some engine top end upgrades. I open the oil filler and the insides are clean as a whistle.

Article is in 5 separate images for those interested in reading it. The article has a lot of humor and is hard driving with colorful language.

https://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/attachments/defeo1-jpg.553220/

https://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/attachments/defeo2-jpg.553221/

https://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/attachments/defeo3-jpg.553222/

https://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/attachments/defeo4-jpg.553223/

https://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/attachments/defeo5-jpg.553224/


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

UPDATE:

So on the drive home with the Mustang the radiator sprang a leak and the temp gauge nearly pegged. We were about a mile from home and saw white smoke coming out of hood and smelled antifreeze. Has been in the shop this week. now has new radiator, new oil pan (old one was rotted out), and will be getting a water pump as that is going. Will be getting some front end work (something loose or worn), a fuel tank leak fixed, and a few miscellaneous items, then we will be in business. Oh, need tires too. We knew going in we would have to spend up to $2000 but felt it was worth it as the car is pretty clean.

Sadly my son's 2005 Focus was totalled yesterday because some lady decided to hang a left from the freeway ramp to a divided highway, cut across two lanes during rush traffic and jump into the turn around (boulevard turn). However, once she hung the left and got into the road crosswise she found out other cars were then occupying the turnaround and she had nowhere to go, so stopped crosswise in the middle of traffic. Now my son was two cars back and the car in front of him hit her, and he hit that car. Front end is pretty messed up. He paid $3700 for the car and it might take $2000 or more to fix. Lady got out of her car and said (get this), "My GPS told me to turn here." The police told her you cannot turn there but have to drive an extra third mile to the next one. 

The lady should have swerved and gone up the curb because stopping in the line of traffic on a 45 mph road is a good way to get a broken hip from being T-boned. Her SUV was hardly dented. My son was going about 40 mph and was about 5 car lengths behind the next car but because of traffic in the next lane did not see the culprit as soon, so he got the worst of it.

Well at least my son can drive the Mustang while he is getting another car.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

So the Mustang is running great. Spent about $1800 to get the radiator, water pump, serpentine belt, oil pan, clutch cable, and fuel tank replaced. Car runs wonderfully. Have a sunroof weather stripping replacement kit to install, and should get some new tires next spring (car is going into storage for the winter). Also had one repair the shop didn't want to deal with:

Hood latch catch turned out to be a block of wood with a bracket on it and it fell out. Can't figure how the guy had worked it so I made a latch catch from 1/4-inch steel rod. Works great and lines up nicely as shown by the red line in the last image below. You can see the previous owner had monkeyed up the hood in making his cheesy catch. You can see one of my backing plates through the slots the guy had cut. I used two of his slots and only had to drill the hole for the bolt on the left. Bent the rod using a vice and sometimes assist with a huge crescent wrench.


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