New to Board / 85 Mustang

MistaMadMike · Aug 22, 2005

Hello everyone, I'm new here and wanna say hello!
I've had this V8 1985 Mustang (link in sig) and it's just sitting in the garage. I don't know anything about Mustangs so I thought I'd jump in here in hopes to get assistance in building a great Street Driven Stang.

So what typical bolt-on's do you guys start off with?
I was thinking of starting off with a cold air intake kit, headers, x-pipe and a decent cat-back. I see alot of stuff for a 86 but nothing much for a 85 and earlier. Not sure how different the two are? I'm in the dark with what manufacturer to go with and who has the best price and quality? I see all this BBk stuff. Hmm, So I'll need some advice as to what websites and people to go through. I'll start searching threads for info in the meantime.
So what usually breaks down on the cars or needs special attention or what should I mod out first? I also have no idea what power this car does right now or will do with bolt-on's. I have no idea as far as a goal since I don't know numbers but anything over 300+hp sounds like a good start. What the biggest Cam I can use with stocks heads? Wow, I probably have alot of questions but any links to other threads or stuff you have time to talk with me will help me out alot. Like I mentioned, I'll look around and see what I can dig up in your forum.

Thanks,

mike

jrichker · Aug 22, 2005

Are you carb or EFI? Auto trans or 5 speed?

stangbear427 · Aug 22, 2005

Welcome! Not too many Q's, but it'll be worth your while to lurk for awhile and many of them may be answered. The search never hurts either. Regardless- the link in your sig doesn't work so I couldn't go check it out, so I'll assume it's stock. A cold air kit probably isn't going to work out well, as the '85 is carburated not EFI. Getting 300HP out of stock '85 heads isn't going to be easy either, they weren't the best of the batch. I'd start with a shifter and rear gears, 3.55's or 3.73's to get you moving, and a catback exhuast. Headers aren't going to help you until you are already close to 300HP, but an offroad pipe may. OH- that car has a 7.5" rear end= POS. Hunt down an 8.8" out of an '86+, and invest in that one. It's a direct bolt in. Lower rear control arms, better shocks and struts, springs, good tires, better brake pads, and you'll be on your way. Under the hood, just reconcile yourself to spending if you want 300HP or more- you'll need heads and a cam, and a better carb, and you should get them as a package from someone reputable. Stock cooling isn't the greatest, get a better radiator at some point, and some gauges you can trust. Good luck

MistaMadMike · Aug 22, 2005

Sorry for not adding that in the post , I'll update my sig so it has the info.
It's Fuel Injected I think and has an Automatic. Everything is stock right now.

stangbear427 · Aug 22, 2005

Hmm... either someone changed it, or it's the rather rare (for good reason) carburated fuel injection. It would looko carbed though, so it must be changed. The AOD is a slug, but can be made to work rather well on the street with a ratchet shifter, shift improvement kits and better torque converters. ARe you sure it's the original drivetrain?

stangbear427 · Aug 22, 2005

delete repeat

MistaMadMike · Aug 22, 2005

I fixed the link btw.

Amazingly I got the car for free. The car is in storage/garage right now and I've had the car for about a year and drove it 5-6 times and it's a fun car. When the last time I popped open the hood which was only once or twice.. it definately appeared "Carbed" to me but since it was a glance and I don't know anything about the car...I was informed that it was fuel injected and the person I got the car from insisted that it was Fuel Injected so I assumed the info was correct and never looked into much since the car is sitting in storage.

Isn't an EFI have that huge Intake an obvisouly it has the Injection boses in it like this picture I found online. http://www.swcp.com/~dilts/mustangs/85_mustang/Efi_Conversion/DVC00104.JPG

If that's an EFI your talking about, then I'm definately Carbed cuz I don't remember seeing that unless there's another setup that's on it. I'll have to drive to the storage and pop the hood to see, crap.

MistaMadMike · Aug 22, 2005

stangbear427 said:
Welcome! Not too many Q's, but it'll be worth your while to lurk for awhile and many of them may be answered. The search never hurts either. Regardless- the link in your sig doesn't work so I couldn't go check it out, so I'll assume it's stock. A cold air kit probably isn't going to work out well, as the '85 is carburated not EFI. Getting 300HP out of stock '85 heads isn't going to be easy either, they weren't the best of the batch. I'd start with a shifter and rear gears, 3.55's or 3.73's to get you moving, and a catback exhuast. Headers aren't going to help you until you are already close to 300HP, but an offroad pipe may. OH- that car has a 7.5" rear end= POS. Hunt down an 8.8" out of an '86+, and invest in that one. It's a direct bolt in. Lower rear control arms, better shocks and struts, springs, good tires, better brake pads, and you'll be on your way. Under the hood, just reconcile yourself to spending if you want 300HP or more- you'll need heads and a cam, and a better carb, and you should get them as a package from someone reputable. Stock cooling isn't the greatest, get a better radiator at some point, and some gauges you can trust. Good luck

What about getting away with a port and polish job on a different Ford Head and throwing a Cam in it? If you can give me some ideas of what Cam and Ford Heads guys are typically running for a street car, that would help. I'm trying to do this on a budget so something like AFR's is what I'm kinda trying to prevent. I plan on running 3.73's and doing the basic bolton's.

90LX5spd · Aug 22, 2005

If your car is an '85 automatic, then it should be fuel injected. This is not the typical port injection as seen on later 5.0s, but CFI or Central Fuel Injection. CFI does look somewhat like a carb. The bad news is unlike the the 5-speed models which came with 210hp roller cam motors and a Holley 600 four barrel, CFI/AOD(automatic overdrive) motors were non-roller cam equipped and put out only 165hp. If, however, your car is a late '85 model, it would be equipped with a low restriction air cleaner and a low restriction dual-muffler exhaust system. These later changes boosted horsepower to 180. I believe late '85s also got steel tube "headers" which are a good sight better than the older cast iron manifolds.

stangbear427 · Aug 22, 2005

Yeah, CFI is what I was talking about- looks more like a carb than EFI. You're better off having one or the other, for sure- either go full blown EFI or a strait four barrel. You can do well with other castings of Ford heads, but it'll take a special setup to hit 300HP on that budget. There are some FRPP heads that'll do it, but for the money you'd do better with Trick Flow's or Edlebrocks. otherwise, it's things like the GT40 "P" heads that came on other Ford vehicles and you may get a better deal, but not as much power potential. If you're thinking to port/polish yourself, it'd be a decent investment. After paying somebody else though, you're back in the TF/Edleb. territory and better off there for the money. Trick Flow, Edlebrock, Holley, all make H/C/I packages that are power proven, I'd look that way. Bigger investment up front, but you know it'll work.

PuterAmI · Aug 22, 2005

stangbear427 said:
Hmm... either someone changed it, or it's the rather rare (for good reason) carburated fuel injection. It would looko carbed though, so it must be changed.

Huh?

The 85 5.0 5-speed were carbed and the 85 5.0 auto were fuel injected. The carbed were roller cammed, the EFI were not. Factory. What is a Carbureted Fuel Injection? Did you mean to give the TLA for CFI? That is Central Fuel Injection.

For more facts on the 82-93 GT, please see the below link...

http://www.mustanggt.org/

To the original poster, your first mods should be suspension and brakes.

Also, you may want to join the folks over at Four-Eyed Pride. That site caters to cars like yours (and mine) and you will get good info from folks dedicated to the 79-86 Mustang and Capri.

http://www.foureyedpride.com

MistaMadMike · Aug 22, 2005

I think you guys may be right about it being a CFI because it appeared to be Carbed but if my memory serves me, It looked a lil different than your typical Mechanical Carb. I'll read up about a CFI to make sure. The headers are definately Tubed and there was no flat iron exhaust manifold.
Anyhow, I'm ganna check out those links and try searching this forum for more info and start reading a lil more what I have here and what I can do to the engine. Thanks for the info so far guys...

troyGT03 · Aug 22, 2005

i had an 85 for my first mustang back in the day. the carbed version was the first year for the roller cam engine. i had the carbed roller version. the auto got the non ho motor with cfi- throttle body injection. the cfi was down on power and had its share of probs.cfi was with the auto trans. some deal from ford...you get an auto trans that cuts power and then a lower power engine????

stangbear427 · Aug 22, 2005

PuterAmI said:
Huh?

The 85 5.0 5-speed were carbed and the 85 5.0 auto were fuel injected. The carbed were roller cammed, the EFI were not. Factory. What is a Carbureted Fuel Injection? Did you mean to give the TLA for CFI? That is Central Fuel Injection.

...did you skip post #10 to reply to this one? I think this was a rhetorical question, but just in case: carburated fuel injection is shop talk slang for Central Fuel Injection, much like Fix Or Repair Daily, Farts On Rainy Days, F***ed Over Regurgitated Dodge, etc... (FORD) or AutoBone, AutoZoo (Auto Zone) or An Old Dog (AOD) and such. Get the picture? In this case, it looks like a carb, is about as efficient as a carb, and is about as technologically advanced as a carb. No, it isn't a carb. Yes, it's fuel injection. It was so phenominal that they abandoned it after one year of half hearted effort and it went the way of the carburator (extinct on the stang): hence, carburated fuel injection. CFI. That's a joke son, get it?

vristang · Aug 22, 2005

Bang for the buck always goes to the gears, heads, intake, and cam. I would think that the first step though would be to dump the CFI in the river with the rest of the corpses. And if you do not have an 8.8 you may want to pitch that too.

stangbear427
I get it ...

Schmucks = Schucks (although it may be Kragen or something where you are)

Crapa = Napa

PuterAmI · Aug 23, 2005

stangbear427 said:
carburator ... That's a joke son, get it?

Nope.
Carburetor.

stangbear427 · Aug 23, 2005

Wow. I don't know what to tell you then.

...can we get a spell check in here sometime?

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