Might be selling for a Mustang. Questions

[Death Metal T/A]

Hey guys. I've been thinking about selling my Trans Am recently. It's a 95 with a six speed. I figure I can get $6,000 or $6,500 for it. I have some financial problems due to school and the necessity of a daily driver. I need a car that's good on gas that I can drive in bad weather, so I'm probably going to be buying a Civic very soon. That's about $3,000 down the drain. I have $6,000 saved, so subtract $3,000 and I'm left with $3,000. School is going to cost me $2,500 or so this semester, so that leaves me with $500. If I sell my car, I'll have $6,500 or $7,000. That puts me in the clear for school, insurance and a daily driver. The thing is, I'd really like something that's fun to drive. I see Mustangs in the paper for $3,000 or so and they're even modified a lot of the time. I've never owned anything other than GM cars and the only performance car I've owned is the Trans Am I currently own. I've been lurking around on stangnet for some time, plus I've been looking in various parts catalogs and I've noticed that in comparison to F- bodies, parts for Mustangs are not only abundant but they're dirt cheap in comparison to parts for my car. This means that I could get a car for cheap and build it up for dirt cheap too. I know I sound stupid saying this to Mustang guys as you all know this already, but it's news to me! This leaves me with a few questions. I'd like to state ahead of time that I am NOT trolling. The only experience I have with cars are GM cars so that's all I have to compare things to. I'm only interested in V8 models if that helps at all.

1) What year(s) would be my best bet for performance? I love the looks of the 94- 95's but I hear they have more weight and less power than fox bodies. I need something cheap, so I'm definitely not going with anything past a 95. What would be my best bet? I know that the 94-95's probably weigh more, but do they handle better or have some form of advantage over fox bodies?

2) Not to start a pissing contest, but how do Mustangs handle in comparison to F-bodies? I love going fast through the "twisties", so handling is very important to me. If they don't handle well stock, can they be made to outhandle a late model WS6 or SS F-body with some suspension work? (I mean suspension work on the Mustang)

3) All I've seen in terms of 1/4 mile and 0-60 times are estimates and times from magazines. We all know how inaccurate that is, so I'd like to ask you guys who would know first hand. What would a stock fox body (from the late 80's on) run as far as 0-60 and in the 1/4 mile? What about a 94/ 95? I've seen 15.0, but I've heard some Mustang owners claim a 14.5 bone stock in their fox.

4) What do the cars weigh? I've gone nuts trying to find the curb weight of these cars, but the answers I find vary too much to rely on. I've heard claims between 2,700lbs and 3,150lbs. This was on fox bodies only. I didn't find results for 94's and 95's.

I'd like to have hardcore straight line performance, but I'm extremely interested in a car that can take turns well at the same time. I have no problems with stripping things out of a car, so long as they can be put back in with relative ease (I hear that A/C units and components are easily removed, but very difficult to reinstall). Since this will be my fun car, comfort isn't much of an issue. I'll probably pull the carpet and sound deadening material, spare and jack, possibly the A/C and a few other things too. Right now I'm assuming that my best bet would be a fox body. They seem to have the most parts available, weigh the least and cost the least. Since a lot of cars from the 80's have ripped carpets and A/C units that don't work, I don't think I'd feel too bad ripping these things out of the car. A 94- 95 would probably be in much better condition than say an 89, so I'd feel bad in a way if I were to go gutting it.

Sorry for the long post. I really appreciate any input. Thanks guys

 

[Blakthorn]

I would start browsing for a 89-93 lx / notch if you are concerned about weight


Id follow this link and learn what changed in the Mustang, year to year - http://www.mustanggt.org/year.htm

Then read this site for a basic starting point - http://home.pon.net/hunnicutt/50must.htm#Increasing the Performance of the 5.0 Mustang

After that, take a visit to https://www.maximummotorsports.com/store/ and learn how you can make any mustang handle those turns

Also learn that the Classifieds on Corral.net and Ebay will give you GREAT deals on all types of Mustang parts for real cheap

 

[srothfuss]

Hey guys.

Welcome to :SNSign:

1) What year(s) would be my best bet for performance? I love the looks of the 94- 95's but I hear they have more weight and less power than fox bodies. I need something cheap, so I'm definitely not going with anything past a 95. What would be my best bet? I know that the 94-95's probably weigh more, but do they handle better or have some form of advantage over fox bodies?

The 94/95 cars are a bit heavier than the fox versions, but they also come with 5 lug wheels (good for aftermarket wheels)

The A/C probably still works

They have an e-Fan stock

The Fox cars between the 1987-1993 years is probably your best bet for cheap thrills though. You can get a nice car in from this time frame very cheap. Where as the SN cars will be slightly more expensive.

On the handling bit: Quite simply put, the mustang leaves a lot on the table in the handling department.

2) Not to start a pissing contest, but how do Mustangs handle in comparison to F-bodies? I love going fast through the "twisties", so handling is very important to me. If they don't handle well stock, can they be made to outhandle a late model WS6 or SS F-body with some suspension work? (I mean suspension work on the Mustang)

I am a converted 3rd gen WS6 guy. my car choice is very poor for handling, but I still get some "shear terror" enjoyment out of it. This summer, I hope to get a panhard bar to install to help control the rear end a little better. The F-bodies [stock vs. stock] will out perform the Mustangs of this vintage

3) All I've seen in terms of 1/4 mile and 0-60 times are estimates and times from magazines. We all know how inaccurate that is, so I'd like to ask you guys who would know first hand. What would a stock fox body (from the late 80's on) run as far as 0-60 and in the 1/4 mile? What about a 94/ 95? I've seen 15.0, but I've heard some Mustang owners claim a 14.5 bone stock in their fox.

14's in the quarter in stock form. to 60MPH around 6 seconds assuming a good driver. The SN cars are slightly slower than the fox cars.

4) What do the cars weigh? I've gone nuts trying to find the curb weight of these cars, but the answers I find vary too much to rely on. I've heard claims between 2,700lbs and 3,150lbs. This was on fox bodies only. I didn't find results for 94's and 95's.

I honestly do not know. A safe assumption is 3200 pounds and 3500 for the verts

Thanks guys

good luck in your choice. Just remember to put school before anything else

 

[LB0193]

fox body all the way

 

[bryce93lx]

for a little under two grand you can make a mustang handle awsome, call maximum motorsports order thier subframes and bilsien coilover conversion, makes it a whole new car, most fox's need new springs and struts anyway, and if you want to lower it you have to get caster camber plates, this is all included in the mm kit, plus you get adjustable ride height and way better ride and handling. another thing is a fox weighs way less than your f-body, so less power equals more go. if you are in search of big power the way to start is with a head cam and intake setup a prep for the power adder, a stock 5.0 can take alot of power 450 or so without to much trouble. Much more than that is the danger zone for the stock block, it is the weak link it will fail way before anything else. All of the 5.0 up to late 92 had forged pistions, but with a good tune the latter hyper pistons will still take more power than the stock block. The 94, 95 are good they already have the 5 lug and better streeing geometry, but the computer is not a accepting of mods and the earlier al9 computer found in the foxes.gl with the stang huting pm if you need anything :SNSign:

 

[Death Metal T/A]

This is very delayed and I apologize, but THANK YOU!!!!

 

[_jb_]

The 94/95 parts are usually more expensive than the 87-93. That's something to think about also.

 

[dead]

The best years of Fox (imo) are 89-92. 88 and earlier are speed density instead of mass air, and if you plan on modding the car a LOT that's an extra unneeded headache. And forged pistons were replaced by hypereutectic in '93.

Standard weight is all over the place when you go from notch to hatch to convertible, power options and not, etc. But I believe a notch is around 3100-3200 lbs.

Mustangs can be made to handle very well. If you don't go the coilover route, 1000 lb race springs and some nice shocks (Bilstein HD's, etc) and a caster/camber kit make a huge improvement. Got a few local guys doing really well in amateur racing with fox bodies.

Just don't underestimate the amount of money you may spend on this car... it sounds like your budget is really tight. It's way too easy to spend a lot of cash