just bought my first 5.0

your going to have to post some pix, sounds fun, nice job

Welcome to Stangnet. There are Mustang owners of the female persuasion here too just so you know.

Welcome to stangnet and like S&B stated we need pics....and throw some of the car up too

Welcome to Stangnet...

Not all of us know how to fix everything, but some of us know how to fix some things
with excellence!

If you want to do the fix up & power up thing, make sure that you have some other
form of reliable daily driver. That way the stang can sit while your wallet and hands
take a rest from the last project that didn't quite get finished on that 3 day weekend.
Things always cost more and take longer the first time you do them. Having some
other working vehicle makes life easier since it isn't the big crush to get it running
for the Monday morning drive to work or class.

Plan on spending some money on tools it you don't already have them. The stang
has both metric and american fasteners, so you really need two sets of wrenches.
A timing light, digital voltmeter, vacuum gauge, compression tester, fuel pressure
test gauge and fuel line coupler tools are some of the test & tuning tools you'll need.
Visit the pawn shops and sometimes you can find a deal on tools & test equipment
if you stick to well known name brands.

A sheltered work area is almost a must, someplace that you can leave the car in
pieces without upsetting anyone. Some guys here have changed a transmission in
the parking lot of their apartment in a rainstorm, but they will tell you it wasn't fun.
Depending on where you live, a warm dry garage is a nice place to do the winter
projects that stangs tend to become.

For lots of great ideas and tech notes on upgrades and repairs, be sure to check
out the “Useful Technical Thread Index” sticky at the top of the 5.0 Tech forum.

Things that break often:
T5 5 speed manual transmission (syncros go bad, mostly 3rd gear)
Electric door locks (see the link in my sign for a cheap & easy fix)
Ignition switches – they overheat and cause flaky wiper, radio, heater blower & turn signal problems.
Harmonic Balancer – they separate between the hub and outer ring. A harmonic
balancer puller is a must have to change it. You can rent or borrow a puller from
most of the larger auto parts stores.

Things that are very durable:
Engine - as long as it hasn't been abused, it will run good for 150,000-200,000
miles without an overhaul
Rear axle other than an occasional case of worn clutches in the traction lock,
they almost never have problems.
Suspension – the front and rear suspension has very few problems if the car hasn’t
been wrecked or seen a lot of drag strip runs. The drag strip runs tend to distort and
tear the mount points for the rear axle control arms. Revving the engine up to 4000
RPM and dumping the clutch with slicks or drag radials tends to break things.

Things that don’t break often but are hard to fix:
Water pump mount bolts – they corrode and shear off when you try to change the
water pump.
Rear oil seal on the engine – lots of parts to remove to get to a $20 seal.
Power steering pump – the pumps are noisy and the pulley requires some special
tools to remove and install. If you have the tools, they are easy to do. Again, the
larger auto parts stores will rent or loan the tools for the pulley.
Power Steering rack - it is hard to get the toe in set so that you can drive the car
to the shop to get it properly aligned.
Starter – the top bolt is hard to get a socket on if you don’t have the right combination
of socket, universal joint and extensions.

Everything considered, 5.0 Mustangs are not hard to work on. They just require
some patience and though before you get started.

Congrads on new stang! Post some pics lol

85 with efi?

ID89GT said:

85 with efi?

Click to expand...

My '80 Capri is efi.

to :SNSign:

ID89GT said:

85 with efi?

Click to expand...

Auto cars got CFI in 85. Manual cars still had the Holley 4bbl.

StangGT1995 said:

to :SNSign:



Auto cars got CFI in 85. Manual cars still had the Holley 4bbl.

Click to expand...

Learn something new everyday.

~FrankenStang~ said:

Welcome to Stangnet. There are Mustang owners of the female persuasion here too just so you know.

Click to expand...

Damn feminists.








Welcome! And an intro thread is worthless without pics of ur car.

Honestly, we don't really care about you, just your car.

Welcome to the site! Great group of people here and you will learn alot. Anything jrichker says you can take as gospil. The man knows these cars like no other and has helped countless members on here fix their cars.

I think he's a bot tho!

StangGT1995 said:

to :SNSign:



Auto cars got CFI in 85. Manual cars still had the Holley 4bbl.

Click to expand...

CFI was technically considered EFI in '84-'85. At least that's what the air cleaner said on my '84 before I peeled off what little remained of it. But when most people hear "EFI" they automatically assume it's like the '86+ 5.0 with the multi-port fuel injection setup; CFI is a God-awful bastard creation that's basically a hybrid between a carb and an EFI setup (almost identical to GM's Throttle Body Injection (TBI) setup used in the late-80's). It's problematic, it's fussy, it's horrible for making any power, and it runs on EEC-III which is complete and utter poo as far as having any adaptability to upgrades you might throw at it. About the only thing I can say for CFI is that at least it turns in pretty good gas mileage (I'm averaging about 24 MPG highway in my '84 with an AOD and 3.08's) and you don't have to pump the accelerator pedal when you start it up. Oh yeah, and the dual-snorkel air cleaner looks cool.

Of course, there's always an odd chance someone might've swapped an actual '86'-'93 5.0 into there, but not too likely. If you've got the time, money, and inclination, and you can sneak it by the Smog Nazis in your area (if you have to deal with those where you live), I'd swap that crap over to a 4-barrel carb'ed setup ASAP - costs around $500 for everything, depending on where/how you source the parts, and with a proper setup you can go from the crappy stock 155 or 165 horses to somewhere more respectably above the 200-horse mark. You can do it with all stock Ford parts, too (which also helps if you have Smog Nazis), although you'll see more gains with an aftermarket intake and some E7 heads while you've got it apart, as well as '87+ exhaust manifolds and a conversion to dual exhaust.

Have fun!

welcome! it always starts with one soon you'll have 3