86 mustang lx/gt

NEED help... (my first stang, ive owned hondas all my life before, im 25 now)bought a 1986 mustang lx/gt late this summer. needed a little work, like paint, springs, struts, shocks, brakes, heater core, and new electrical harness for the lighting. ok no prob, did all that. was running great! also should mention person before me put a 302 engine with an edelbrock 4 barrel carb, and a holley intake. so although in 86 it was fuel injected, mine is not.. i know it has headers, and a msd ignition.. ok, anyways, first day it got cold, started okay, but ran like pure crap. loud popping in gears if rpms were under 1250ish, almost stalling in first gear unless i pretty much road the clutch to keep the rpms higher, then when you got it going, stuttering and bogged down felt like it was holding back so much HP even with the pedal through the floor it would not go.. so got worse and began stalling out if gas wasnt being given at all times. took it to my mechanic, he ended up rebuiling an HEI module and distributer, runs better now, doesnt stall out and idles clean, but still bogged down at lower rpms and popping noise.. so i have a tune up and replace wires and plugs and such.. again slightly better but same problem!.. really would love opinions and solutions to this problem! i really love the car, i have it looking great, its fully repainted, windows tinted now , 17 inch cobra-R wheels, and it is a rare t-top too(in the summer i love). id hate to have to let her go bc i couldnt figure this out!! any clues anyone? beeen researching others info online and forums and i believe some ppl believe that the "choke on the carb" should be adjusted and set dif for colder weather? im going to take it to my mechanic again after christmas and ask him of this. does that sound right to ford mustang ppl who know more than i do? i am honestly an amateur in owning a ford. (literally i have had 2 civics,, 2 accords (own one still) a maxima and an eclipse all 5spds but never the pure HP of a stang; i could work on them all day, but obviously a DIF world here) thanks for the help folks!!! BEN

ok, thank you. will let me mechanic try that first. hopefully that will solve it

i may, but i get easily intimidated w/ things ive never done before and would hate to F*** something up... i am about to look at some of the examples of others doing it and see if i feel comfortable enough to try it

actually tried a remedy after an older friend of mine who has an 87 gt with a 302 that is fully carb on his as well; he suggested running a bottle or two of 91pct rubbing alcohol through a tank and just flooring it and hammering through every gear. said from time to time he has done that through his and helped.. was scared to at first, but after reading some online stuff and talking to another person who has done this method, i did try it. i will admit it helped alot! after a few mins of driving and instense popping and heasitating ans sputtering it started to get better progressively until a little later and 2nd and 3rd gear are at FULL power again and can hammer it with no regard and it moves again finally.. 4th and 5th gear still are perfect but are way better. and first just gotta rev up a little still on the clutch and keep rpms above 1 now. so hoping to adjust the choke and half this fully solved. but did want to tell folks the old alcohol in the gas tank did help me a great deal..

yes you are right about the ethanol! ive have recently done alot of studying about this. ethanol is only made for lower powered engines made after 2001! ethanol gas mixtures even advise you on this. so what are u supposed to do with an 86 model with a big engine then?.. and actually the ethanol gas is less effecient and gets less fuel economy, they say they put ethanol in gas to make it cheaper, yet gas is higher than ever! and now we find out you get less gas mileage bc of this crap, and it also ruins your engine over time! i can honestly tell you that when it is cold my car does not want to run on this garbage! so i did run that bottle of 91pct isopropyl alcohol in a tank with just 4 galloms in it. ran great! then it went through and started to be sluggish and run poor again.. talked to my mechanic and told me try it again and see what happens, he told me it really shouldnt have long term damage to my car in the cold weather ( told me not to in warm weather). so now every 4-6 gals of gas i use a small bottle of the 91 pct isopropyl alcohol , and it runs like a champ! completely takes the stutter and hesitation out of my car. so id strongly suggest if the weather is going to be under 50F and you have an older carbuerated car, try this... alcohol will damage a fuel injected engine though over time! helps mine alot! also did have the choke adjusted open a little further when it was about 30F outside, that didnt hurt any either

well life of that car came and went! 2 weeks ago i was driving, just cranked it up, mad eit to the end of my neighborhood, then pulled onto the main road which is a 4 lane with a split divider, anyways, i stalled.. obviously wanting to get it started back up so i wasnt doing 5 miles an hr on a main rd, i tried to crank it twice, it was flooded, and it had been runnign rich anways, well 3rd time i hit it, wouldnt crank still, instead flame under the hood. couldnt get it out, called the fire department, byt the time they got there, the entire engine was on fire and burned into and through the dash.. so its done! only liability is all i had on it, bye bye 6800 dollars.. bought an 89 lx stock fuel injected except it has 3.55 gears and an H-pipe.. running well, bought it for 2500, painting it in 2 weeks and im changing heater core and water pump now, besides that runs greats and love the 15 inch wheels that came with it.. not draglites or cragers, but look like cragers... will put a pic up soon!