Considering 1985 GT TBI Have Questions

[carhopper]

Hello everyone, I hope I'm in the right section. I don't know a ton about mustangs, but a good bit about cars in general. My brother in law is selling an 85 GT and I was considering for my 16yo son. I thought it would be a rocket, but really not that fast at all relatively speaking. I just have a couple of concerns about the car.

One is that it doesn't have any kind of roll protection as it is a convertible. I have found some roll bars on line ranging from 169 to 300. Any suggestions for a cheap roll protection?

Second, while test driving the car it developed a leak behind the water pump. We took off the water pump yesterday evening and there is a small hole between the back of the pump and the timing chain cover. It almost looks like it's there intentionally, but it couldn't possibly be because it's right above the top left passage into the block. We were thinking some JB Weld would do the trick, then put on a new water pump since they're so cheap.

 

[carhopper]

This is my first post, first mustang, 49 people read my post and no responses! What a great welcome.

 

[Onefine88]

First off welcome to Mustangs. The '85 is definitely a good choice. The four eyed Fox cars are becoming classics.

As for the water pump. Water from that hole means its gone. Its probably the original pump. Needs to be replaced.

I've never bought a rollbar for any of my verts so I won't be much help there. These cars are pretty stable and would take quite an event to turn over. But, for a young driver you can't be too careful. Maximum Motorsports sells high end race parts and have some real nice bars for verts. I've bought alot of other items from them over the years. Good company.

I know that car doesn't seem all that fast but its enough to get a less skilled kid hurt. Make sure you keep an eye on your son's driving habits in that vert.

Enjoy,
RandyP

 

[jrichker]

The 85 with CFI is an odd duck. Say the words CFI and most will lose interest. Most of the cars here are either carb or full EFI.

A roll bar isn't needed if the car is driven in normal sane fashion. If you are racing the car and below a certain ET range then your local drag strip may require a roll bar.

Be a bit careful on the choice of cars for a young driver. Talk to your insurance agent and ask for some statistics on accident rates for young drivers and high performance cars. You may be surprised and have second thoughts about putting V8 power in the hands of a freshly minted driver.

 

[Bills89GT]

This is just my experiance, I bought my mustang as my first car when i was 16. It is much different now but that just shows the ease of modifying these cars. Mine was originally an 1989 2.3l 4 cyl LX Convertible. It got fantastic gas mileage and a huge lack of power to keep me out of trouble, plus insurance and taxes were dirt cheap

 

[notchback]

3 main reasons it's not a rocket when it should be decently fast out of the box

1) cfi cars are rated at a measely 165 hp as opposed to the 210 of the carb'd version
2) cfi cars are all AOD's and the aod is horribly geared, with poor shift points and about half the stall speed it needs to run decent. i'd never use anything less than 3000 advertised stall for an aod car
3) it's a vert so it is tagging in at about 3600-3700 lbs with a LIGHT driver, i'm 150 and my '90 vert was 3650 with me in it and 1/2 tank of gas, fyi.... my '93 notch weighs 3150 with me in it now and a 1/2 tank of gas


with all that being said.... if you remember that every 100 lbs is like a tenth of a second OR 10 hp, your giving up 50hp in weight, 50 hp in initial hp, and the aod to t5 difference is very much like 75 hp or more in potential ET. i realize adding that all up is like -10 hp lol so it's not rocket science..... but i'd guess the '85 gt aod vert would run in the 16.50 ET range


and btw... WELCOME !!!!!

if you got it you could really wake it up with not too much. swap to carb, get a decent aod or do a t5 swap.

check out these 2 places for tranny options

Welcome to D&D Performance - The 5 & 6 Speed Experts!

Lentech Automatics-AOD Home

and read here for the t5 swap... WestCoastFords.com

it is super easy to get a fox in 13 second range. '87-'93 can do it on just 4.10 gears and a sticky tire all day long if it's a t5 car

 

[notchback]

oh.. and nitrous is NOT an option with the CFI

nobody makes a kit for it, and a buddy called NOS and they wanted $600 for a custom plate

but my '90 vert went from 15.10 to 13.60 on a street radial and 3.73 gears. just headers, h-pipe, and catback. that was on a zex 100 shot dry kit......it was aod as well

 

[twistedwankel]

I just sold my 84LX CFI vert with 187,000mi to a "collector". I autocrossed this car for the last 4 years every month in FL, drove it on a cross the USA/CA trek with my wife (10,300mi) in 100+ temps and mountains.

These cars have such a low center of gravity, have been (factory) slightly stiffened beyond the coupe with extra torque boxes (and a tie bar), tend to understeer (unless really standing on the gas in Low) and are so underpowered compared to the 225HP normal ones. I cannot imagine rolling one without hitting a curb sideways at speed? And that would be very ugly in any car for sure. The 4.0L v6's up until this 2011 have 200HP and will beat the pants off the CFI!!

Most proper roll bars make the rear seat unusable due to smacking of one's head so you might want to get a rear seat delete too. Kid can put his maxi speakers there.

At least it still has only the 85mph speedo so as not to encourage the kid to speed.

Due to the collectiblity and rising prices on these cars probably not the best pick for a new driver? Still has rear drum brakes and no ABS. Maybe a good one for dad tho' Sit on it for 5 more years and make some good money.

I replaced my stock 84 with a stock 86GT Vert AOD with "real" FI and am much more delighted when autocrossing it with all the torque. It is really fast up to 60mph only.

I gave my youngest son my nice old car on his 17th birthday because he was a really safe driver and we autocrossed together for 3 years so I knew he had great skills. He got his first speeding ticket that same day about 2 hours later. We sold that car and I got him a slow ass auto Honda. At least he never hits anything!!!

 

[carhopper]

Great responses guys, thanks. We bought a water pump and we're putting it on tonight. I think we're going to buy it and put in a roll bar. I found a direct bolt on for $299 plus shipping. Mom says it's a must if I get him the mustang and I don't argue about safety. My daughter has a 2000 Z3 and it was a prerequisite for her car too.

 

[Bills89GT]

What exactly are you getting for a roll bar?

For my convertible i got an 8 pt weld in cage from S&W race cars. Mine is chrome-moly ($400) but the mild steel version can be had for as little as $180 and the quality and fit are very good. The ends that meet are pre-notched so all that you need to do is cut the bottoms to form to the floor, bend the floor plates, and weld er in. Its some extra work removing a lot of the interior to weld in the bars but I think it is worth it (I had all my interior out to swap to a black interior anyway so it was no big deal for me). Some of those bolt in bars are for style only and provide no roll protection at all. But if all you're trying to do is get it by mom, then