Advice On 89 Lx 5.0 Purchase

[CarMichael Angelo]

It's not for me,...it's for my son.
He's all off on a tear to buy a "project car" for himself, and has come across this car:

http://shreveport.craigslist.org/cto/4048072452.html

I have advised "against" as it seems that it has been beat,...but he thinks he can get it for 2k.
It needs springs, ball joints,...tie rod ends, a transmission, (which if it were mine, I'd just rebuild) and the A/c has been deleted (as per the owners ad).
I told him that a car w/ a blown up trans will more than likely have torque box issues,... and obviously it cannot be driven (to any real extent w/2nd and 3rd gear gone) to determine what else is wrong.
The hood is a lift off as well.

If it were me,..I'd consider the mechanical condition of the running 5.0 the trans, and the 8.8 rear (if it does in fact have one) secondary to a clean,..rust free body, as long as the torqueboxes weren't ripped out of it, and there were no other stress related tears in the floors from either abuse or some wreck.

Which brings me around to this:

What's it worth?

 

[88LX5.Oh]

I would possibly buy it for 2500 if he threw that 1400 dollar transmission in with it lol. But he better have receipts for it

 

[A5literMan]

Same here. 2500 with trans. People with broke s hit are almost as bad as people with a crap ton of $$ in their rides. They always over value what they have. Without trans I'd offer 1500$

 

[Noobz347]

If he can get it for $2k, I say go for it. Let him keep the transmission and put a TKO in it instead.

 

[mikestang63]

I'd pass. There are too many running fox body car for around 2-3 grand to take a chance on this one. By the time you add up the parts to get this one going and driveable, you are around 3500-4000. No A/C? hacked up rear suspension...... not for me.

 

[hoopty5.0]

Yeah, but people pretty much give away stock parts, so I don't see what the fuss is about. It's a goo looking car with a clean interior. Find a rebuilt t5 and start sourcing ac parts

 

[rangerboy101]

Who says it needs AC?

 

[90lxwhite]

Who says it needs AC?

Grownups

 

[A5literMan]

I'd pass. There are too many running fox body car for around 2-3 grand to take a chance on this one. By the time you add up the parts to get this one going and driveable, you are around 3500-4000. No A/C? hacked up rear suspension...... not for me.

Agreed. Need frontend/rear suspension,trans,door handle(and whatever misc crap that you will find),lift off hood(ok if you're going racing but..?) I'd look for a better project car. IMO there are better starting points

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

My take on it is the overall condition. What does it really need to run? A trans? He could pull that and bring it to me next time he's here,...and I'd rebuild it. 275.00 restores it.
If your gonna put a trans,...you'll probably need a clutch. Another 250.00.

Springs? Seller says he has some to restore it back to stock. The back yard lowering was probably the same that most do when money is more important than ride quality,...and they cut a coil. (Personally, I like the ride height the car has)
It probably has bumpsteer as a result of that rideheight. Ball joints, tie rod ends, (probably a reman rack) and putting the stock coils back on will fix that though. Until he decides to buy the bumpsteer kit, lowering springs, and CC plates that it needs to lower it properly.

As far as the A/C goes,.....winter is coming,...he'll have 6 months to worry about that.

He says he's gonna offer the guy 1750.00 I'd say it would be worth that. another 1000.00 on top of that given no unseen issues,....and he'd have a decent car for under 3 grand.

 

[stykthyn]

i would run screaming from thst car. something tells me those pics make it look better than it does. no telling whats truly lurking in that pos

 

[TrophyHead]

If you guys are painting the car yourselves go for it.

I say everything is else is fun. Painting a car the right way is a lot of work and farming it out can get somewhat expensive. I'd pass just on paint alone.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I see damage in the front passenger quarter panel.

Overall the car just looks dirty. I'd bet money a test drive would reveal a rattlebox...but what fox Mustang isn't these days?

I'd really need to look under the car. Ay serious rust and I'd walk. Assuming the damage in front isn't a side hit that knocked the nose over, it's probably a $1500-1750 car to me.

What trans does he have for $1400??

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

The subject of my other question,...my son bought that 89. I gotta say I've never seen a car this badly rusted.
(But then,..It's been almost 30 years since I've lived in a state that used salt on the roads in the winter)

The front subframe at the K-member mount point is completely disintegrated. He hasn't put it up in the air yet,... but I'm sure that I would gasp if I was under it.

Basically, he bought a running 5.0 (that looks stock), backed up by a blown up t-5, ending out back w/ an 8.8 w/ some aftermarket low gear set.. The exterior sheet metal looks good, as does the grey tweed interior w/ sport seat front buckets.

for 500.00.

Conversely,..the topside looks really pretty decent ( supposedly 60k miles) The interior sure looks like it's low miles,...but there is also some reddish discoloration going on.

So, this brings about a dilemma. How could a car that looks so "good" for it being so old be so damn rusty?
Would you try and save it?

The exterior of the car looks as good as this tail shot, w/ only a small dent in the front edge of the pass fender,..and a stupid lift off cowl as potential detractors.

I was telling him he has to part it out because of the rust,...The reason for this thread is to determine how much the sum of the parts would be worth. is that the right option?