80 6 cyl
- Thread starter splogan
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93PONY
Founding Member
is it a 2.8 v6 or a 3.3 inline six? i had an 82 mustang with a 3.3 il6 and it was one of the best cars i ever owned. very strong durable engine with plenty of torque. not much in the hp department though. if i remeber right they were like 93 hp from the factory. but a great engine. now the 2.8 v6, is just plain junk, if it has that in it i would still get it but put a new motor in it. you will end up doing that any way unless you like changing head gaskets alot,lol. and if you do get it keep the original nose on it dont put one of the newer style ones, there are too many of them out there and not enough 4 eyed beast out there anymore.
josh
josh
If you buy the car with the intent of swapping the drivetrain to either a V8 or even a 4cyl, keep in mind that if it is in fact an inline 6 car, the k-member is different than those in the V8/L4 cars so you'll end up swapping that out as well. the L6's aren't bad motors if you leave them alone. There's some cool stuff being done to them performance wise, but I think the same can be accomplished with a V8 or even a turbo4 with less effort per hp.
But hey if the price is right and the car really is that clean, go for it!!
But hey if the price is right and the car really is that clean, go for it!!
Guy said 1500 but more than likely I figure 1200 or so for the car. I did not get to look at very long but what I did see no dents, rust of any kind and the paint looked pretty good The interior looked clean. It is an auto car, silver with red interior.
93PONY
Founding Member
Anlushac11
Founding Member
I currently have a 1980 Mustang Ghia hatchback with a 3.3L and a 1981 no a/c Mustang T-top coupe with a 3.3L I6. I think the I6 cars are a great treasure and can be built up into very nice running street performers.
I dont remember if we are allowed to post links to other sites so I will PM you with I-6 links.
The K-member is different, all other parts are standard Fox. Anything you can do to a Fox Mustang to improve performance you can do to a I6 Fox to improve performance.
The weight is similar to a 2.3L Mustang. My 1980 hatch with I6, C4 auto, a/c and P/S was weighed at 2866lbs on a certified truck scale. Weight distribution was 58/42 mostly due to the longer I6 engine sticking so far forward over the wheels. Any weight removed from the nose goes a long way to restoring balance. The 86LX hatch I used to have with 2.3L auto, P/S, A/C, Power door locks, and power windows weighed almost 3200lbs. My old Capri turbo R/S was weighed at 2779lbs.
I currently have 3 sets of wheels but I am running a set of P215/60HR-14's and the car handles very well with stock springs and swaybars. I have a set of M-5300B springs and a 1.12" front and a choice of .58", .79", and .95" rear swaybars. My car is still not running because I was laid off work for 3 years. But I started back to work in November and am moving forward...slowly.
Things to watch for:
If at all possible go to a junkyard and grab a set of 10" brakes off any 1987-93 4 cyl Mustang. You will need to run 14" or larger wheels with the 10" brakes if I remember correctly. The stock 9" brakes are woefully inadequate. Do a search in these forums for the brake upgrade swap and there should be lots of info you will need.
It seems all 3.3L auto tranny Mustangs got 2.73:1 geared rears which is good for highway economy but leaves the car struggling to accelerate. Any 87-93 Mustang 7.5" rear with 3.45 or 3.73 gears will be a improvement even if just in ratio.
Make sure your motor mounts are in good shape. There is not much room between the fan and the radiator so if the mounts go bad the fan will eat the radiator.
The cars are old enough that you might want to consider changing the head gasket. Thats what sidelined mine. The factory head gasket was a steel shim head gasket. After 26 years they often are about to fail. It is recommended that you pull the head, get it reconditioned, mill .060" off, and use a good modern head gasket such as the print-o-seal kind. You mill the head because the old head gasket is much thinner than the new composite gaskets and the thicker gasket will drop your compression half a point or so. So you mill the head to bring the compression back to stock and maybe raise it a hair.
If you have the money one of the links I will send you is to a 170-250 I6 performance site that will have a aluminum closed chamber high swirl high flow head coming this spring. The head is expected to be a 100hp bolt on improvement over the poor flowing log head. (The 2.3L doesnt have the market cornered on poor flowing factory ports). Also coming are turbo, supercharger, and fuel injection kits.
I dont remember if we are allowed to post links to other sites so I will PM you with I-6 links.
The K-member is different, all other parts are standard Fox. Anything you can do to a Fox Mustang to improve performance you can do to a I6 Fox to improve performance.
The weight is similar to a 2.3L Mustang. My 1980 hatch with I6, C4 auto, a/c and P/S was weighed at 2866lbs on a certified truck scale. Weight distribution was 58/42 mostly due to the longer I6 engine sticking so far forward over the wheels. Any weight removed from the nose goes a long way to restoring balance. The 86LX hatch I used to have with 2.3L auto, P/S, A/C, Power door locks, and power windows weighed almost 3200lbs. My old Capri turbo R/S was weighed at 2779lbs.
I currently have 3 sets of wheels but I am running a set of P215/60HR-14's and the car handles very well with stock springs and swaybars. I have a set of M-5300B springs and a 1.12" front and a choice of .58", .79", and .95" rear swaybars. My car is still not running because I was laid off work for 3 years. But I started back to work in November and am moving forward...slowly.
Things to watch for:
If at all possible go to a junkyard and grab a set of 10" brakes off any 1987-93 4 cyl Mustang. You will need to run 14" or larger wheels with the 10" brakes if I remember correctly. The stock 9" brakes are woefully inadequate. Do a search in these forums for the brake upgrade swap and there should be lots of info you will need.
It seems all 3.3L auto tranny Mustangs got 2.73:1 geared rears which is good for highway economy but leaves the car struggling to accelerate. Any 87-93 Mustang 7.5" rear with 3.45 or 3.73 gears will be a improvement even if just in ratio.
Make sure your motor mounts are in good shape. There is not much room between the fan and the radiator so if the mounts go bad the fan will eat the radiator.
The cars are old enough that you might want to consider changing the head gasket. Thats what sidelined mine. The factory head gasket was a steel shim head gasket. After 26 years they often are about to fail. It is recommended that you pull the head, get it reconditioned, mill .060" off, and use a good modern head gasket such as the print-o-seal kind. You mill the head because the old head gasket is much thinner than the new composite gaskets and the thicker gasket will drop your compression half a point or so. So you mill the head to bring the compression back to stock and maybe raise it a hair.
If you have the money one of the links I will send you is to a 170-250 I6 performance site that will have a aluminum closed chamber high swirl high flow head coming this spring. The head is expected to be a 100hp bolt on improvement over the poor flowing log head. (The 2.3L doesnt have the market cornered on poor flowing factory ports). Also coming are turbo, supercharger, and fuel injection kits.
88GeeTee
New Member
it would have to be a 3.3. the 2.8 was dropped after it's first year, 1979...seems like a good deal, would make a decent daily driver...i say go for it!!
Josh
Josh
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