Good Buy??

[1990gtstang]

Hi everyone im new on this forum and i found a mustang for pretty cheap and i was wondering if it was a good buy. it is a 1990 white gt 5 speed and it has the black interior and sunroof, it needs a decent amount of body work and the trans needs rebuilding. is it a good buy for $1800?

thanks
brandon

 

[Stump1000]

That sounds like a decent buy to me. Just depends on how bad its ragged out. Is the interior decent? How wavy is the body? Still... seems like a decent deal

 

[powershift351]

I would rather have a good body and decent interior than a good runner. All in preference I guess

 

[Stump1000]

I would too. motor and tranny and stuff are easy to come by. But for the price, i dont think it would be a bad deal even if it needed some body work. Thats the problem with older mustangs, they are always trashed on the outside.. rubber gets droopy and stuff... i hate that

 

[1990gtstang]

it really isnt in that bad of shape outside it just needs a new rear bumper mostly and paint, the interior is mint and just has one rip on the drivers seat. i have 3 months to work on it before i get my license so i should be able 2 fix everything. also i was wondering how much it would cost to have a nice blue paint job done and how much it would cost to have the transmission rebuilt?
also it has 136,000 miles on it

thanks
Brandon

 

[85GTlover]

That is a fair price I would say as long as the underbody is good also, as for paint there is a big range there. I would expect 600-1000 for one that will be ok, worse as the price goes down, up to thousands. As for tranny my guess is a few hundred anyway, could be more.

 

[88stangmangt]

i would talk him done to 1500 tranny rebuild is prob gonna cost you 500-1000 with labor and everything. I on the other hand could care less what the body look like as long as it is fast(my gt has a smashed driver side fender broken fog light and a huge paint spot missing outta my rear bumper) but it gives off that slow POS on it's last leg image. so it is a real sleeper untill they here my BOV.

 

[1990gtstang]

how hard is it to put in a tranny, say in a driveway?

i was also wondering wether you can push a 331 stroker to 6500 rpms?

 

[85GTlover]

You should be able to do it if you are mechanically inclined, buy a manual $15-20. Haynes is a good one, that is better than trying to explain it all.

 

[1990gtstang]

what do u guys think is better, a rebuilt trans or a brand new t5?

 

[85GTlover]

Come on thats an easy one, if you can afford it why not buy new. New is better cause its new.

 

[85GTlover]

Come on thats an easy one, if you can afford it why not buy new. New is better cause its new.

 

[1990gtstang]

lol jw, but does anyone know if a 331 can handle 6500rpms?

 

[88stangmangt]

what do u guys think is better, a rebuilt trans or a brand new t5?

rebuilt will work fine since 9 times outta 10 your syncros are shot but if you have the money and are looking to make some power later look into tremecs line.

how hard is it to put in a tranny, say in a driveway?
depends on how high you can lift the front and what tools you have to work with.
i was also wondering wether you can push a 331 stroker to 6500 rpms?

that depends on your cam and heads if it will even rev that high my power band is to 5300k why rev the piss outta it when you can get more for less?

Come on thats an easy one, if you can afford it why not buy new. New is better cause its new.

not always true my friend most times you can rebuild it back to new for 1/2 the cost.

 

[1990gtstang]

well in this trans 1st 2nd and 3rd grind really bad dunno if this has an effect on the rebuild? and i talked 2 a transmission guy and he said it might have broken teeth

 

[85GTlover]

At half the cost yes, but if your not worried about money, cost don't matter. If got a new one, I would buy better than a T5.

 

[1990gtstang]

i was wondering because i got this computer dyno program, Desktop Dyno 2000 and i made a 331 blown stroker and its peak hp was at 6000-6500 and it was 556hp and the peak torque was 540 ft lbs at 4500

 

[Stump1000]

You shoudl be able to turn a naturally aspirated 331 6500... it being blown with cheap internals i dont know. If its an all over paint job and you want it slick your not gonna get it for 1000$. Probably more than double that, just depends on how good of a job you want

 

[stangbear427]

A mint complete black interior is worth over half the asking price by itself. I'd go for it. You can change a tranny in your driveway if you're a glutton for punishment, but it doesn't require much skill or special tools- just awkward. I'd buy a new one unless you know someone who'll give you a deal on a rebuild, T5's are cheap. If you're serious about that 331 and the numbers you're talking, you may as well spend the money now on a Tremec and be done with it. You never did say how it runs? Immediately having to dump a bunch of money into getting it to be reliable really cuts down on the budget for the other stuff you mentioned. You can have a Maako shoot it blue for under $1000, it's all in what you can live with. You get what you pay for. If it really needs work too look good, you should be able to talk them down some more since you can't even drive it without grinding gears. Good luck!

 

[1990gtstang]

what is a good tremec, or can i somehow beef up the t5? it runs beautifully its jsut the trans thats bad, it just had a tune up and its an all stock(down to the air cleaner) motor.