The car I bought in 1988

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JAMMAN
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The car I bought in 1988

Post by JAMMAN »

So I was a youngin (55 now) and I owned a ford fairmont, 4 cyl. The thing couldn't get out of it's own way.

On the way home from work (M59 in Michigan) I caught out of the corner of my eye in a car lot this bright red car that looked really cool at that time in my life.

I pulled in the parking lot and looked at it from the rear, had really nice wide tires. Was the coolest looking thing I had ever seen.

It ended up being an 86 Mustang GT. I was looking for a car so I asked them if I could take it for a drive. Left my home number and my car.

Stepping out of a 4 cyl smog fairmont you can imagine how amazed I was by the acceleration, 5.0, first year of fuel injection second year of roller cam, 3.73 limited slip rear end, AOD. I step on the gas it throws me back in the seat. I get a huge smile on my face and said out loud "I'm a road commander!"

I had to show my wife at the time (on 3rd wife now that was #1) so I drove it home. I go running in the house and say "You have to take this thing for a drive" so she comes out and gets in the drivers seat. I rode passenger. She pulls back out on 59 (our driveway was on M59) and hits the gas, slides about 30 degrees sideways and says a few words I cannot put in print on a forum, an array of "S" and "F". She gets a big smile on her face and takes it up to like 90 and back down, takes a round trip through town and pulls back in to the driveway.

We are in the living room wowing and oohing about the excitement and the phone rings. Almost 2 hours had passed, the car place had officially closed but the guy was still there waiting for me to come back. Totally forgot about him. "You gonna bring the car back?" I said "Nope, I'll see you tomorrow morning to sign the papers"

Kept my fairmont and sold it for a grand LOL it was a good looking car (2 door, white, sunroof). Mustang had 30,000 on it when I bought it, I drove the crap out of it for the next 3 years... till 100,000 miles, a smile on my face the whole time. True story.
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Re: The car I bought in 1988

Post by cgrey8 »

Just out of curiosity, was it stock? From what I recall, 86 Mustang 5.0Ls weren't THAT powerful. Or did estimates of HP change from the 80s such that 200hp then isn't the same as 200hp in the 90s and today? Or maybe they just had a really good torque curve...
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Re: The car I bought in 1988

Post by JAMMAN »

You know I wondered that myself, it was only supposed to be just over 200HP. I was going to "upgrade" and in mid 89 I took a brand new 89 LX for a test drive at a ford dealership. It was supposed to be 225HP or somewhere in that neighborhood. I remember thinking to myself "i could run circles around this with my 86" and kept the 86. I thought it might be the 3.73 rear end because the 89 had a higher gear. I didn't know enough to check for mods at the time but it was a real butt kicker.
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Re: The car I bought in 1988

Post by cgrey8 »

It's funny because I've read so may websites and see pictures of how "technically" flawed the pre-E7TE heads were with sharp edges and the heart-shaped combustion chamber...and how they figured out how to make the combustion chamber more efficient. And I always just assumed that all those improvements also spelled more torque and power. Maybe not?
...Always Somethin'

89 Ranger Supercab, 331, ported GT40p heads w/1.6RRs, Crane Powermax 2020 cam, ported Explorer lower, FMS Explorer (GT40p) headers, aftermarket T5 'Z-Spec', 8.8" rear w/3.27s, Powertrax Locker, A9L w/Moates QuarterHorse, Innovate LC-1, James Duff traction bars, iDelta DC Fan controller

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Re: The car I bought in 1988

Post by JAMMAN »

I wish I still had it I would tear it apart and look at things LOL. I know it revved quicker than anything I have owned before and after, no hesitation at all. I remember it only being able to do 100MPH but it got there quicker than anything I have ever owned. I remember right about 90,000 miles it started burning oil, acted like rings to me. I burned 4 sets of tires during its life at the rear. It didn't charge very well at idle. Perhaps underdrive pulleys?

It also started pulsing late in its life and would stall. I replaced the air filter and it stopped but the air filter really didn't look that bad IMO maybe it had some flow mods also. Exhaust was stock. I know not enough clues but there was something special about this car.

Not like I have never been in anything faster just never owned one. Had a friend with a 70 cuda we had 3 engines in it during one summer. The sweet spot was a 383 out of an old monico police car, totally stock except for a holly 650 4 barrel and headers, dual exhaust. Had a 4.55 rear gear and not too many people could out run us first 660 feet on woodward ave just north of detroit. That was way back I was only 19. It would have taken the stang too LOL in the 1/8th but being a 4.55 gear it didn't have any top end I bet the stang would have taken it in the quarter.
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Re: The car I bought in 1988

Post by cgrey8 »

I always liked the 383...as much as I can like a Chevy.

A guy here at work has a late 90s S10 4wd that he's jacked up with tall tires. It looks bad @$$ but is a bit of a pig on the road since the engine is still a stock 4.3L V6. Since he rarely drives it off road anymore, I think he did drop the rearend ratio (higher number) to get more stop-light response from it. But he knows that killed his ability to put it in 4wd mode until he puts the matching gears in the front diffy.

He's done a good bit of research on what it'd take to get a SBC in there. He just hasn't pull the trigger on doing it. However I believe he decided to go with a 383, Vortec heads, and the old TPI intake which takes a special lower intake to mate pre-Vortec upper onto Vortec heads. I have to agree though that the old Chevy TPI intake did look so much better than the newer intakes.
...Always Somethin'

89 Ranger Supercab, 331, ported GT40p heads w/1.6RRs, Crane Powermax 2020 cam, ported Explorer lower, FMS Explorer (GT40p) headers, aftermarket T5 'Z-Spec', 8.8" rear w/3.27s, Powertrax Locker, A9L w/Moates QuarterHorse, Innovate LC-1, James Duff traction bars, iDelta DC Fan controller

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