Looking for advice on '88 GT I'm looking to buy...
- Thread starter wildswing
- Start date
'87-'88 cars have only two drawbacks compared to '89-'93 cars...
1- they use a speed density injection system instead of mass air (don't take well to certain mods like mass air cars do)
2-they have 85mph speedos unless it's a Canadian car in which case I don't know
... 90-93 5.0 cars came with 140mph instrument clusters.
Although '87-'89 cars don't have an airbag so they came with tilt steering
Although '90-up cars came with the much coveted black interior. My prefered year is '89 as you can see from my screen name
1- they use a speed density injection system instead of mass air (don't take well to certain mods like mass air cars do)
2-they have 85mph speedos unless it's a Canadian car in which case I don't know
... 90-93 5.0 cars came with 140mph instrument clusters.Although '87-'89 cars don't have an airbag so they came with tilt steering
Although '90-up cars came with the much coveted black interior. My prefered year is '89 as you can see from my screen name 
i havnt had a problem with my 88 gt. i love it, ive heard the 88s are the lighter ones cuz they didnt really come wiht options so they may be quicker but i wouldnt count on that to much. i agree with the fact that its a con that they dont have the maf but thats a easy add on from a local junk yard and a parts list, thats what i did.
My '87 GT (now LX) is tip top. The Speed Density Stangs were a little quicker than the Mass Air cars in stock form, not because of any weight advantage, but because of their slightly more aggressive cam profiles and timing curves.
Being from Canada I would check the undercarriage for excessive rust. I hear the winters up there really take their toll on cars with rust. Especially it being almost what 17 years old now.
Thanks for the replies fellas. If you follow the link in the original post above, you'll see my post in tha Canadain seciton with more details and a link to a slideshow of pictures I took a while back. The underside is really clean and almost rust free.
Any of you have a shop manual or know of a good online VIN/body numbers decoder?
Here's a picture of the door plate.
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Any of you have a shop manual or know of a good online VIN/body numbers decoder?
Here's a picture of the door plate.
I found a decoder at http://www.mustanggt.org/forms/88decode.htm
The only thing it couldn't decode were the front and rear spring codes; both BB. Any idea what those mean?
The only thing it couldn't decode were the front and rear spring codes; both BB. Any idea what those mean?
wildswing said:Any of you know of a good online VIN/body numbers decoder?
http://bradbarnett.net/mustangs/timeline/87-93/88/
Vehicle Identification Numbers
1FA Ford Motor Co.
B Restraint System (B-Active belts)
P Passenger car
42 Body code for coupe LX (42- Hatchback GT)
E Engine code (5.0L, EFI, V-8, 225 hp, HO, E Code)
4 Check digit which varies
J Year (J-1988)
F Plant (F-Dearborn)
000001 Consecutive unit number
This is yours: 1FABP42E4JF291661
