87 LX 'Vert

[fun331]

Saw this on the net last week. It didn't look too bad, top looked beat up, paint is faded and the interior looked real dirty. Red on red is not my favorite color combination but I always wanted a speed density mustang and it didn't look too rusty so I made the call. I asked the owner what it needed and he said "only a battery". I'm thinking, "sure that's all it needs". He was asking $8000 Canadian (6000 US) for it. It was only an hour away so I took the battery from my '89, my floor jack and a few tools and headed out.

It looked better in person than in the pics. The top isn't in bad shape, just the stitching is coming out of it over the doors and around the top of the rear window. I think it can be fixed if I find an upholstery repair place. The interior isn't that dirty, just faded mostly. No bad body rust, just faded paint. Underneath is real nice considering it's 36 years old. One spot of surface rust about as big as your palm, 5 minutes with a piece of sandpaper and some paint will fix that. She was hit on the passenger side front. the hood doesn't line up 100% and the inner fender is lifted a bit; but most of these older foxes have been in a fender bender or two. It's fixed up good enough for me. Higher miles 228000 Km (140000 miles). Shock towers are in great shape and so is the trunk. I was real surprised.

There's a cold air intake, super rusty BBK shorties, and a Flowmaster cat back with the stainless tips. Even a set of homemade subframe connectors under her. A receipt in the glove box for transmission removal and install (wish it had more info than that) in 2020 for $1700 (1300 US). She is low on options (which I like) no power windows, door locks, A/C or cruise on her; just power mirrors and automatic transmission.

I put my battery in it and she started first crack. Pulled up to 1300 RPM and idled down to 800. No check engine light. I was trying real hard not to smile too much. Unlatched the top and hit the switch and down she went, came back up nice too. So I asked the guy what his best price was and he goes $6000 (4500 US). I couldn't argue with that, so I gave him a deposit and came back in a few days and drove her home. Never missed a beat in the hour's drive home, steers straight, no big rattles. Oil pressure was a bit low (around the L in normal), but he said it has 5W-20 in it, so I'll put 10W-30 in this week and see if that moves it up a bit. Brakes don't seem to have much power assist, they do have vacuum to the booster. It's not super bad and the more I drive it the better they seem to work.

Classic insurance was under $200 (150 US) and the classic plate is $20 a year. I can't wipe the smile off my face. It does a decent brake stand too.

No big mods planned, but I think I'll put an off road H-pipe on her. I'm not required to run cats or any pollution gear on a car made before 1991 where I live, so I might take the emission stuff off the passenger side.

I have a couple of questions for the members here. Will I trip my check engine light if I remove the smog pump and the emission controls from the passenger side of the engine? I'll leave the EGR on. Also the car has jacking rails (fourth pic) and I was wondering if they are an add-on, or were they stock on the convertibles?
Thanks all.

 

[Mustang5L5]

1987 Mustangs do not have a check engine light. You'd have to add a jumper if you want the light to actually work. See below thread

Electrical - Foxbody Mustang: Adding Check engine light to 86-88 cars

As some may know, the early Speed Density 86-88 5.0 cars did not come with a functional Check engine light. The 86 cars never had the means to display a CEL. The 87-88 cars do have a spot for the CEL under the tach, and part of the dash wiring. This, however, was solely for the 2.3L Mustangs...

stangnet.com

Removing the air pump and the TAD/TAB will generate a few codes, but they don't affect how the car runs and are soft codes (don't trigged the CEL to display). You can create a couple resistor jumpers if you want to eliminate them but it's not generally necessary. There's no need to delete the EGR on a stock car.

Those rails are standard on convertibles. They are not for jacking. Just trying to make a wet noodle chassis stiffer where possible. Most of the structure on convertibles is supported through the side rails just under the door. Highly recommend subframe connectors at some point.

Good pickup for what you paid.

 

[90sickfox]

Those rails are factory to stiffen the verts a bit.

 

[fun331]

1987 Mustangs do not have a check engine light. You'd have to add a jumper if you want the light to actually work. See below thread

Electrical - Foxbody Mustang: Adding Check engine light to 86-88 cars

As some may know, the early Speed Density 86-88 5.0 cars did not come with a functional Check engine light. The 86 cars never had the means to display a CEL. The 87-88 cars do have a spot for the CEL under the tach, and part of the dash wiring. This, however, was solely for the 2.3L Mustangs...

stangnet.com

Removing the air pump and the TAD/TAB will generate a few codes, but they don't affect how the car runs and are soft codes (don't trigged the CEL to display). You can create a couple resistor jumpers if you want to eliminate them but it's not generally necessary. There's no need to delete the EGR on a stock car.

Those rails are standard on convertibles. They are not for jacking. Just trying to make a wet noodle chassis stiffer where possible. Most of the structure on convertibles is supported through the side rails just under the door. Highly recommend subframe connectors at some point.

Good pickup for what you paid.

Thanks for the info.
I got lucky and she already has subframe connectors. Homemade but they work.
I never owned an automatic mustang before; she tachs 2000 RPM at 60 MPH. It seems a little high for a car that probably came with 2.73 or 3.08 rear gears. Any chance she might have 3.55's?

 

[Monkeybutt2000]

Thanks for the info.
I got lucky and she already has subframe connectors. Homemade but they work.
I never owned an automatic mustang before; she tachs 2000 RPM at 60 MPH. It seems a little high for a car that probably came with 2.73 or 3.08 rear gears. Any chance she might have 3.55's?

Might have 3.27s

 

[Mustang5L5]

Door tag. Look under “AX”

M= 2.73
E= 3.27 (optional on AOD)


Of course, they could have been changed.

 

[fun331]

Door tag. Look under “AX”

M= 2.73
E= 3.27 (optional on AOD)


Of course, they could have been changed.

Yeah it's an "M" code. I'd be very surprised if the 2.73's were still in there. Thanks again for the info.

 

[fun331]

Since @Mustang5L5 educated me on the check engine light on my '87, I thought I could at least look and see if she had any codes in the computer. Dug my scanner out and she gave me an 11 in the current memory and 11 in the continuous memory. Pretty hard not to like that.
The more I drive this car the more I fall in love with it. I don't drive fast but I do like to spin the tires. Put her in Drive and just a bit of brake pressure, mash the gas and she sits and tachs up to 5500, then she hits second and drops a bit of RPM but climbs right back up to 5500. Keep just a bit of brake pressure and she just sits there. Let off the brakes and she spins hard out of the hole. Just too much fun. It has to have a shift kit in the tranny, she shifts real firm, and I'm guessing 3.55 gears. I'm all smiles with this one, gonna be a fun summer for me.

 

[slow84lx]

You got a good car for the price. Enjoy the summer! I think you will need a new set of tires soon.

 

[fun331]

So over the summer I've been noticing the carpet is wet in the rear passenger floor after a rain, We had a big storm and there was a half inch of water on top of the carpet in the back. I couldn't ignore that so I pulled up the plastic sill piece on the passenger side and got a few sticks under the carpet so it'd dry after I sponged the water out. I knew the top was iffy when I bought it, just not looking to put a new one on right this moment.
Well I can't keep letting the carpet get soaked and sit there or it'll rot the floor out of her, so the next day I pulled the seats out, unbolted the console and pulled the carpet. The top has definitely been leaking for a few years, lots of water has been under the carpet.
So here's a few pics of the interior coming out.
The third and fourth pica are under the rear seat. It's wet under there and the water is under the carpet and the sound deadening material that Ford sticks to the floor.

 

[fun331]

So first up is me rolling the carpet out from the driver's side and finding some surface rust but nothing too bad at all.
Next is the passenger rear floor area where I was noticing the wet carpet and it's surface rusted, especially up by the front seat brace on the right side of the pic, but not as bad as I feared. I did notice that the brace for the rear of the seat is missing. There's supposed to be a piece of flat steel running between those two holes for the seat bolts and it's not there. You can see the outline of it in the rust and the pinch weld marks are there. Someone has been here before me.
I did find a hole in her floor though, just ahead of the rear seat mounts and right out at the edge of the sill. Not great but not super bad.

 

[fun331]

I decided that with the carpet out I'd put the interior back in and enjoy the car the way it was for a bit. With no carpet in her it won't hurt her to get a little wet, and I don't mind the look of her without carpet at all....

 

[General karthief]

Good move

 

[fun331]

Well I couldn't leave her looking so rusty so I sanded the rusty spots on the floor down, wiped her with acetone, and took some POR15 and painted her up. Nothing pretty but it'll keep the floor good. Used my heat gun and took up the rubber matting that Ford covers the floors in. Found a little bit more rust up by the firewall and cut some of that fire blanket back so it wouldn't hold moisture. One spot in the drivers side would have been trouble in a few years but I took my grinder to it and she should be good for a while now. I'll probably buy a new top and carpet next summer, but I don't mind sponging a little water out of her. Still feel real lucky on this one.

 

[Potomus Pete]

Ok brother whats going on....I was just getting exited about your car and you stopped....You better still have it.

 

[fun331]

Ok brother whats going on....I was just getting exited about your car and you stopped....You better still have it.

Yes I still have it. I can't stop driving it..... and it's winter in NS. Not as good in the snow as I thought it would be. I figured the auto and trac-loc would make her pretty unstoppable in the white stuff. It's not bad, there's lots of push with both rears spinning, the problem is that the back end kicks out so easy when she spins. I had her Krowned (it's a rust protectant), put some real nice snow tires on, keep the tank full (about 90 lbs of fuel) and put a 5 gallon bucket of beach sand and rocks in the trunk for weight, but my lx civic will outclimb it. No big deal, I just pick my days to drive her. If I want to drift all over the place I take the '87, if not I drive my civic. Good clean fun.

 

[Potomus Pete]

Wow..I wouldn't have expected using it as a toboggan. Go easy so when the snow melts you can have more fun.

 

[Noobz347]

Not as good in the snow as I thought it would be.

 

[fun331]

Wow..I wouldn't have expected using it as a toboggan. Go easy so when the snow melts you can have more fun.

I have storage, it's just that there's other mustangs in it that aren't as winter friendly as the '87. Her top is done and the paint is real faded so I decided that I'd rather drive her than look at her sitting in the back yard, plus snow tires smoke real nice!

 

[fun331]

I did a compression test (cold motor) and the results look a little low to me. Does anyone know what numbers I should be getting for a stock 5.0?