What? Reliable?
I'm ok with that.

I need at least one vehicle that functions.
Huh,......just watched my 17 yr old get into the 86, start it, put it in gear, back up, and then drive away. This would be the same car that has been back and forth to Shreveport 4 times in the last year.
You mean that kinda reliable?
Only thing it has needed in all that time have been wiper blades, and new headlights.
Again ** slowly,..painfully steps up onto nearest soap box**
You should be about as close to having a reliable fox body as anybody here can get. I'll admit that it takes some effort to get it that way, but once it's there, what's not to trust? The 86 I refer to has a few issues, ( speedo makes clicking noise, passenger side window won't go down, squeaks, and rattles) but that doesn't stop the car from being reliable.
Matter of fact, The only reason I'm reluctant to see this car daily driven, is because the last car this kid had ended up w/ a tow hitch rammed through the radiator.
I watch what you do, and what you have done to your car while trying to get it dependable, your last issues w/ the engine temp would be a welcome diversion for me from the mountain of stuff still looming ahead just to get it to that point. Anytime you wanna trade a GM project for a running mustang w/ a bug, let me know.
I say it here a bagillion times. Expect that something will go wrong, and it won't be such a surprise when it does. The USARMY has vehicles in their fleet that are ancient. They keep them reliable by performing weekly preventative maintenance on them just the same as if they were pre-flighting an aircraft. Belts got replaced when they started to crack, hoses the same. Stuff got greased ( and we used a lot of grease) and the whole thing got pulled and tugged on for about 4 straight hours, and after all that, the vehicles got test driven, then put back up till they were needed. Consequently, I never had to tell my Captain that the Jeep wouldn't start, or had to sit on the side of the road if the damn thing broke ( because it didn't break) Despite those words of wisdom, #1 was constantly losing his sh*t when this didn't work, or that made a noise, and just drove it anyway till it really broke. Then had the balls to be pis*ed when it did. His solution to never having to worry about that was give the car to his brother, let him pay him back monthly, the go out and buy a new Wrangler 4 door jeep, put an extended warranty on it, and watch his check shrink by 700+ monthly.
So again, to those that claim their mustangs can't be trusted I say enlist, and get a MOS where you will be responsible for the routine maintenance of one of the vehicles.
The Army will school you on how to guarantee that your ass won't get stranded in a convoy moving through hostile territory because you decided to fix that "weird little noise" the next time.
Oh yeah, almost forgot......Yeah Allen,
@Boosted92LX ...you still got it.