Introduction and some Q's

[oliver83]

I'm new here, just picked up my first mustang. Ever since I was a little kid I had a passion for stangs. I've owned a handful of gm's (camaros, trans am, S10's) but I'm going back to my roots. I found a super clean and original '83 GT for a good price. Being a university student I'm on a limited budget and this car has to serve as my daily driver in the summer. I'm doing full exhaust over winter and fresh paint will come in the spring.

Question:

Anything I should know about an '83? Any weaknesses etc? I know about the 7.5 rear end and 4 lugs obviously. I am fairly educated on mustangs, not so much the early fox's though. I was also trying to find specs on the engine. Can anyone point me to some links? Thanks

These are the only pics I have right now. I will be putting the 3 spokes on all 4 corners. New wheels won't fit my budget anytime soon.

Thanks for any help and I apologize in advance for the 10 000 questions I will ask.

 

[94gtfreak]

HI 2 :SNSign:!

First off...I know nothing about early foxes. With that said..looks like you have your self an excellent lookin 4-eye!

As for wheels...maybe off the 3 spokes and the 10 holes and pick up a set of Pony's? Just my .02

Also, there is no such thing as TOO many questions, just make sure you use the :search: function before askin a simple question.

Anyways...congrats on the car and enjoy teh Stangnet!

 

[ID89GT]

Ohhh I like your car a lot. Nice find

 

[1991notchbackLX]

That car is really nice, great find! Check this thread out for some ideas http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/771054-before-you-butcher-4-eye-56k-beware.html


I hope you hate having money saved as much as the rest of us do

 

[87GT Drop Top]

Welcome! Nice looking fox!!

 

[stykthyn]

is the car an automatic? if so you have a CFI setup which is really going to limit how well the car will perform. if its a manual you should have a 4 barrell carb.

 

[7upstang91]

Welcome! I don't know much about carb cars, or 4-eyes myself. But everyone on Stangnet is willing to help. You can probably pick up a complete set of 10-hole wheels for around $40.

 

[rbonella]

Great find! good looking car and welcome to the money pit

 

[Cobra912]

Welcome to :SNSign:

See if you can find two ten holes for the fronts, looks good.

 

[NIKwoaC]

Beautiful 4-eye! Welcome aboard!

Unfortunately, these 5.0 cars did not become big performance contenders until maybe 1985. Pre-'85 cars went through a lot of changes, and the engines suffered from low compression ratio and less-than-stellar performance. The transmissions, exhaust system, brakes, and suspension are all sub-par when compared to the '87 and newer cars, with the 85 and 86 cars kind of being the performance transition years.

If you have serious performance aspirations for this car, just hold on to it for now and keep it in the best condition possible, until you have the coin to start making it go really fast. Clean 4-eyes are very hard to come by, so don't lose hope!

P.S.- I'm pm'ing you with more info.

is the car an automatic? if so you have a CFI setup which is really going to limit how well the car will perform. if its a manual you should have a 4 barrell carb.

I don't think CFI came around until 84/85... I think...

 

[stykthyn]

could of sworn 83 was the first year for CFI, but I could be wrong

 

[oliver83]

the engines suffered from low compression ratio and less-than-stellar performance. The transmissions, exhaust system, brakes, and suspension are all sub-par when compared to the '87 and newer cars

will E7 heads out flow my heads? how do they compare in chamber size?

should I be on the lookout for a WC T5? From my understanding my non-WC should be good to about 300 ft/lb of torque?

I plan on building an engine (my first) for this car. Should I be looking for an early block? or a later one?

Thanks for the pm that is a great link

 

[oliver83]

the car is a later '83, so it has the non-WC T5 and 600 cfm holley 4 barrel.

Are the 3 spokes really that bad? I have a set of 10 holes and a set of 3 spokes. I'll put a pic with the 3 spokes and a pic with the 10 holes on my wall and study them all winter.

 

[FrankenStang]

Put the 10 holes on.

Here's my '84 with black 10 holes.

 

[stykthyn]

e7's might but not enough to really make a big difference by themselves. i would save for a new rotating assembly and top end. rock the t5 until it breaks and just enjoy having a clean car. love the color

 

[Celeb]

Welcome, and nice ride. Got any interior/engine shots?

Be sure to keep us updated on the progress complete with pictures.

 

[NIKwoaC]

will E7 heads out flow my heads? how do they compare in chamber size?

should I be on the lookout for a WC T5? From my understanding my non-WC should be good to about 300 ft/lb of torque?

I plan on building an engine (my first) for this car. Should I be looking for an early block? or a later one?

Thanks for the pm that is a great link

If you are dead set on a 302, look for a VERY early block (late 60s) or a Mexican block. A late model stock 302 will split down the middle at about 500hp, but I've heard of Mexican blocks living at 600rwhp. Early blocks are supposedly somewhere in between.

OR, you could build a 351 Windsor, and run 600+ at the rear tires with no worries, of course with the right supporting components.

rock the t5 until it breaks and just enjoy having a clean car. love the color

+1, build the car to go fast and replace the trans WHEN it breaks. Enjoy it for what it is until then.

 

[oliver83]

more pics to come and possibly a build thread.

we'll see about the 351w, I don't want to rush into anything. I plan on taking my time with this car and doing things right the first time around.

 

[Mr. Rustypwnz]

will E7 heads out flow my heads? how do they compare in chamber size?

should I be on the lookout for a WC T5? From my understanding my non-WC should be good to about 300 ft/lb of torque?

I plan on building an engine (my first) for this car. Should I be looking for an early block? or a later one?

Thanks for the pm that is a great link

instead of the e-series heads skip and go straight to the gt40 series heads, look for a 96-01 explorer with the 5.0, you can usually find em at the jy for about 100bux, put on some good springs and your about 30hp more than what your currently at!! as far as exhaust goes, get you a set of shorty headers, or lt's (just preference), then get a 85+ trans crossmember, for the dual exhaust, and then a 86+ 5.0 midpipe and catback will bolt up perfect..

as you may well know, t5's are junk, it dosent matter if its a world class, they all break at one time or another, so what im saying right now is, if yours breaks, buy either a tremec tko, or a 3550, yes they are pricey, i went through 7-8 t5's before i got my tremec in my 89' lx hatch, with the money i could have saved on trannies, it would have paid for the tremec!!

anyway!! the easiest way to get solid power out of your car would to be this: either find a 87+ 5.0 roller and swap in, or find an exploder longblock and swap in a decent cam/headers/ intake/carb, you could have a solid 275rwhp car for about $1500, if you go with the explorer long block you already will have gt series heads on the car, just to make it that much easier..

the 7.5? easy!! find either a 8.8 out of a fox, (usually around $300) or find you a turbocoupe 8.8, stock they are disk brake, with either 3.55's or 3.73's, they usually run about 200-500..

basically anything from a 79-04 suspension wise will bolt right up, body wise: 79-93, interior wise 79-93 (if you want to go efi or something?) mustangs are like lego's an basically they snap together..

 

[oliver83]

^^ great post

thanks for the tips, thats exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for