I’m Curious —-Why a Fox?

Why a fox body?
I have only owned 3 mustangs but I have driven thousands being a alignment specialist at 2 Ford dealers 22 years
I aligned every cop car in 4 cities and balanced the tires on the car
I can say that a 84 GT with a carburetor will do 85 in second gear (not sure what gear ratio those PI's had)
And the 85's with fuel injection would do 72
Not sure if a sn95 will do that because I never flogged the crap out of those like we used to do on the cop cars
And my boss 302 damn sure wont
I will tell you all about the green alien blood in the parking lot some day.
(the motor boys put dye in the coolant and still could not find the leak)
I found the leak

manicmechanic007 said:

Why a fox body?

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'style', eye appeal - seems to be an emotional equation. Many are attracted to that available in their own late teen, early twenties. No proof but these same ppl'n others say "It generates feelings'n thoughts of good time youth". For me it's those (pre-my-own-birth) 50s/early 60s Italian almost feminine human forms (a few Brits & others too) and "classics" (late '30-very early '50s) seem ideal...

Pre internet and pre much auction of used cars I did some rehabs (more rest0 than mod) to get a rough auto I could afford. Safety rehab while driving, some restore when cash saved allowed me a car I could never out right purchase. While friends had new 'muscle' (stang, 442, vetts, GTO fresh out the show room) I had small, foreign, 'sports' & GT. After long rehab, short ownership I'd sell for the next lill abused jewel that caught my eye (Goldies Junk yrd had a million @ the time). My point is - each era seemed to bring a spell of like era cars sought in the market. several decades ago the muscle seemed to B top of the market (buyers 45 - 65 y/o). Now (for 10 yrs?) the ones you point out. Decades ago (my father's gen) liked the lill T-Bird w/port hole window, 1st gen jeepster or commando....

In 1987 I worked at a Ford dealership and special ordered a brand new '87 LX hatchback, red exterior, grey interior, 5 spd. and 3.08 gears. I seem to remember paying ~$8900 with my employee discount! I still have a picture of me standing in front of it, right after I came back from Air Force basic training. It was stock and would outrun most cars at that time driving around on the street. I've had over a dozen fox bodies since then, and now have a '93 GT. Why a Fox Body? They're easy to work on and modify, fuel injected, have A/C (unless someone removed it) and sound great. They're pretty slow by today's standards, but I still get compliments just about any time I take her out of the garage.

I think you'll find that the mustang community is extremely fun. I have been around this community for a very long time and while I haven't ever built anything notable to the larger community, I have had many mustangs and they have always brought me joy. I was sad to see the 5.0 section go away in the Summit magazines, that really made a statement that the 5.0 community was alive and well. As the years go by, it is becoming harder and harder to find parts, however, you have some extremely committed companies like LMR that continue to carry replacement parts albeit not the highest quality in some cases, you can find the little stuff all the way down to the underhood labels. Now that's pretty neat! Another great thing about the Fox is that it was the years prior to them going crazy with "modules", so nearly everything is serviceable! Meaning, while you might get stumped on a few items, they have most likely been well covered (such as the 10 pin connector issues or distributor TFI module.

This is one of those cars that will put you back in the seat with just the stock trim and put a big smile on your face.. Add a set of 3.73 gears and that smile turns into an "Oh Face". There's nothing like it, not to mention the sounds and feel of the T5 trans clicking through gears. It's just amazing fun all the way around. I have been stuck on the SN95 Cobras the last several years but Fox bodies have a special place in my heart and deep down I will always desire one (or 50).

One simple scenario I would like to describe is a 92 LX I had bought from a gentleman in Canada years ago. Brought it home, slapped some GT40 cobra heads, B303 cam (yeh I said it), Vortech S-Trim, 42lb injectors with FMU, adjusted base timing back to 10 degrees, few little tweaks to the TPS and a few other little things, long tube headers/exhaust and gears and that car was doing 120+mph in the 1/4 mile.

It's really something you have to experience for yourself but this forum has fostered much of my addiction and continues to be a source of information for many mustang enthusiasts to this day.

Welcome and enjoy!

And you can just put one of these in your trunk and drive it home when yours fails

Middleagecrisis said:

In 1987 I worked at a Ford dealership and special ordered a brand new '87 LX hatchback, red exterior, grey interior, 5 spd. and 3.08 gears. I seem to remember paying ~$8900 with my employee discount! I still have a picture of me standing in front of it, right after I came back from Air Force basic training. It was stock and would outrun most cars at that time driving around on the street. I've had over a dozen fox bodies since then, and now have a '93 GT. Why a Fox Body? They're easy to work on and modify, fuel injected, have A/C (unless someone removed it) and sound great. They're pretty slow by today's standards, but I still get compliments just about any time I take her out of the garage.

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Middleagecrisis,
I almost bought a SVO new in 88 new for my dealer discount (cost + 600) but bought a new 88 Turbo Coup for the wife and kids instead. Great job buying the Mustang new and keeping it!

manicmechanic007 said:

And you can just put one of these in your trunk and drive it home when yours fails

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I have a spare, but not with those connections. Now soon to have our 3rd foxbody, I better order more..

move original away from heat and it could last U a lifetime...

True story on moving the TFI module to off the hot distributor but who is gonna do that as a new owner?
I would leave mine stock and just replace the TFI module when needed
The stator fails half the time anyway on the high milers and I replace them with DU-30C motocraft parts

Why a Fox?

......they just work

chrlsful said:

move original away from heat and it could last U a lifetime...

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I haven’t replaced a single TFI module since I relocated mine with the McCully Racing kit. I used to keep an extra in the glove box as well.

ThinBlue502 said:

I relocated mine with the McCully Racing kit

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it that what's in the pic post #85?
I think I could do that (save 2hundred) when I get it running this spring/summer...
Where do folks mount??

LAFF said:

Barb made me take it as she wanted to make them happy.
I planned on selling the 83. Had my 1996 F150 4x4, and she had her 2015 GT Premium. Didn’t need anything else.
She encouraged me to keep it, and fix it up. Was’nt going to do it.
After she fell over a baby gate that screwed up her hip her Mustang was uncomfortable for her to drive, so we traded it in for a 2018 Explorer.
7 months later she passed away.
So I am looking at this Explorer that I don’t have any use for, and I’m looking at the little Mustang and I thought “ Why not build the Mustang and sell the Explorer.
The Explorer sold in less than two weeks.
Only had 5,000 miles on it.
My build began.
Want you to know that it was about 4 months before I decided to sell her ride.
It’s been about 3 years so please no condolences. I’m good.
Just curious as to why the Fox.
Never was a fan until 2019 and owned one, and started visiting this Forum.

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Not sure what all this has to do with the original question.

It's simple. It's the most efficient car to do anything with. Wanna go fast for cheap? Foxbody. Wanna buy a car you can make handle and has a v8? Foxbody. Want a solid sounding v8 at a reasonable entry level? Fox body.

My love for cars started with first gen mustangs. Then I got into Foxbodies. After many years without either, I fell into this Foxbody. I remember telling my brother I would fix it up, keep it for a few years, and then go back to first gen. But now that I’ve poured the last 4 years into it, I’m thinking I’m going to keep it. They really are fun cars to work on and drive (and first gen prices are more ridiculous than Fox prices)

I am putting twin turbos on this lump

Going to fab up a tilt front end and up and forward headers into twin turbos then fenderwell exits and dual intercoolers if all goes well
Going to weld all that garbage together and it gets a straight axle. I will keep you all posted
Snowed yesterday and it is 20 degrees today so later it is