Buying my 1st Fox 5.0

[VanD]

its a 93 GT that was a mechanic owned car. he pulled the motor and did all the seals while building it up for performance. he also did the gear box, the rear end, and some other stuff i cant remember off hand.

i'm waiting to hear back about the suspension since the powertrain will be good for me and my needs, i'd like to get it dyno'd to see just how strong he built it up.

after i find out about what suspension stuff has been done i'd like to get some input from you guys about where to go next with that. i want a great handling car that could eat a road course. but on a reasonable budget.

i'll post with more info and possible problems once i have it

 

[fiveohwblow]

Shaolin Crane has thrown the entire Maximum Motorsports catalog at his fox, he is a great reference. Doc is also another frequenter here and in the Squeaky Wheel section who also has a slew of handling parts thrown at his car

Best of luck!

 

[Shaolin Crane]

I hear my name

 

[Lawbreaker5.0]

I can tell you he didn't do the gear box.

 

[Shaolin Crane]

So basically you know nothing about the car

 

[VanD]

I can tell you he didn't do the gear box.

So basically you know nothing about the car

why do you guys say that?

 

[91foxbod50]

Ehh cut em a break.. Look man, get a pen and paper and do an interview. Write down key points to adk him questions about. B4 i buy a car i always jot down as many questions i can think of. Because your not going to remember everything in person. Ask him the usual mileage owners accidents yada yada. Then go to performance mods and what has not been modded etc. Take some pics of the car. Good close ups of the motor especially. Check under the car for leaks or anything that draws attention to you. Post the pics up w the amount of sale n whats done to it. And we'll tell you our .02.

 

[Shaolin Crane]

why do you guys say that?

You said so in your first post

 

[VanD]

I can tell you he didn't do the gear box.

actually, you could be right. but you could still be wrong.

Ehh cut em a break.. Look man, get a pen and paper and do an interview. Write down key points to adk him questions about. B4 i buy a car i always jot down as many questions i can think of. Because your not going to remember everything in person. Ask him the usual mileage owners accidents yada yada. Then go to performance mods and what has not been modded etc. Take some pics of the car. Good close ups of the motor especially. Check under the car for leaks or anything that draws attention to you. Post the pics up w the amount of sale n whats done to it. And we'll tell you our .02.

it was raining when i test drove it so i didnt go extra crazy on inspecting it. but it didnt look like it was in any accidents previously. here is what i know.

motor pulled and had it resealed, new timing gears and timing chains, new water pump, had heads rebuilt - resurfaced, new valves and springs. New Ford plugs, Ford cap and Ford Rotor, Ford wires, new clutch. I had rear end rebuilt. New axles, new bearings, new pinion seal, new crush sleeve. 373 gears, all this has about 700 miles on it.

the mechanic that built it worked for an expensive high performance shop in the bay area. he was tops in his class and recruited by all major car companies. he left this shop after his partner started cutting corners on costs, he didnt think that was the proper way to do things when people are paying good money - 10-20k. he wasnt planning on selling the car, but now that he lives in a snowy area he isnt going to bring it there. he is already there now and his step dad is the 1 showing/selling it so he doesnt know every bit about it but hes been a straight up guy about what he does and doesnt know. i'm waiting to hear back from him about what kind of suspension work has been done. i should have an answer within the next 2-3 days.

he's asking 4k which i feel pretty good about. it runs like a monster.

the car had 115k when he got it and has about 117k now. he did all that work as preventive maintenance.

 

[Shaolin Crane]

I can tell you in the many years of dealing with foxes he did MAYBE 10% of that work, and that looks like a 3k car tops

 

[VanD]

I can tell you in the many years of dealing with foxes he did MAYBE 10% of that work, and that looks like a 3k car tops

i think you're wrong on this 1. its much stronger than stock. i'll see if he has receipts tho.

also, i'm not doubting your wisdom but its hard to judge a cars value by some tiny CL pics.

 

[VanD]

i'll see if i can go take some quality pics of it this week to help get your guys opinions. i appreciate the critical eye especially, thanks for all the responses everyone. i'm a noob to mustangs so far but i'm excited to get 1 and learn all about them.

 

[Shaolin Crane]

Feels stronger than stock cause of the 3.73's but what do we know, bet its still a mid 14 car

 

[rbonella]

just set yourself up for success as much as you can. Like mentioned before, jot down as many ?'s as you can and ask the prev owner. But you kinda have to take what he says with a grain of salt....I would, but knowing what to look for will help a lot. These cars are getting older and older and usually there have been a handful and hands tinkering with it over the years and you never know what that might mean. I checked out DOZENS of cars before buying the right one and to this day I am finding hack work here and there as I slowly go through the entire car as time permits. Try to get receipts, build sheets, carfax, check the title, kick tires whatever you have to do for some peace of mind. These are fun cars, but buying the wrong one will drive you bananas! Good Luck bud!

 

[NIKwoaC]

It sounds to me that the only performance mod is the 3.73 gears, correct? If it still has the stock heads, rebuilt/refinished or not, taking the car to the dyno would be a waste of time and money.

Check out this thread to learn a lot of the basics about these cars. Keep an eye on that thread, too, it will be updated as time goes on.

Good luck, and welcome to the hobby!

 

[Mustang5L5]

Go back and reinspect then car when it's not raining. Get underneath and look for torque box damage, or othernrust and rot and damage.

Younreally have no way to tell if the engine work has been done. Since aren't used to 5.0's a stock one with 3.73s will feel plenty healthy.

Then again, I rebuilt my t5 myself with good parts...but can't prove this at all since I don't have any documentation other than watching myself do it. So he could have done that stuff

 

[VanD]

It sounds to me that the only performance mod is the 3.73 gears, correct? If it still has the stock heads, rebuilt/refinished or not, taking the car to the dyno would be a waste of time and money.

it reads like that in the ad, but in person he told me it was rebuilt for performance. is it possible to mod the heads and all that to perform better?

Go back and reinspect then car when it's not raining. Get underneath and look for torque box damage, or othernrust and rot and damage.

Younreally have no way to tell if the engine work has been done. Since aren't used to 5.0's a stock one with 3.73s will feel plenty healthy.

Then again, I rebuilt my t5 myself with good parts...but can't prove this at all since I don't have any documentation other than watching myself do it. So he could have done that stuff

where and what is the torque box? searches showed that as a result often while i was researching.

 

[VanD]

damn how much worse are the 93 pistons compared to the forged before it?

 

[NIKwoaC]

it reads like that in the ad, but in person he told me it was rebuilt for performance. is it possible to mod the heads and all that to perform better?

"Rebuilt for performance" sounds like straight BS, in all honesty. He's trying to see you a car, and so he's trying to make a standard rebuild sound fancy. You have to take that stuff with a grain of salt, otherwise you're setting yourself up for disappointment when you find out the car isn't faster than any other stock Fox 5.0.

You can port heads for power, that's about it. Doesn't sound like he ported them.

 

[VanD]

"Rebuilt for performance" sounds like straight BS, in all honesty. He's trying to see you a car, and so he's trying to make a standard rebuild sound fancy. You have to take that stuff with a grain of salt, otherwise you're setting yourself up for disappointment when you find out the car isn't faster than any other stock Fox 5.0.

You can port heads for power, that's about it. Doesn't sound like he ported them.

thats the thing tho, the step dad doesnt know any of the technical stuff. i need to dig deeper into this definitely. maybe i can have his step son call me about it, or at least email me. since he is the 1 that built it.

i wonder if i can find local a place with 1 of those g-tech things that i could use to get an idea of the power it has.

glad i found this forum and posted here, thanks again for all the replies guys.