Help me decide about this 88 GT!?

[Tonys96Cobra]

My younger brother has been looking for a fox GT for a while now, wants one he can pay cash for, so it cant be very much $$$. We found this one in the Auto Trader, 88 GT, 110k miles. It looks fairly straight and the interior looks pretty good. Now for the kicker, it has a broken oil pump driveshaft. He says he pulled over as soon as he realized it and had it towed home. He doesnt know how far he drove it. He is asking $1800 but said in an email he was ready to move it and would come down on the price. Around here the car would probably sell for ~2800 or so without the borked oil pump. I figure it needs at minimum an oil pump and shaft, so not much $$$. But there is always the possibility of ruined bearings or worse. What do you guys think? I told my bro if we could get it for $1400 hed save about $1200 after we put in the new oil pump. He doesnt have the money to do a new motor or an h/c/i right now.

 

[DMAN302]

That's big MAYBE on what damage was done...I would not want to jump in unless I was able to deal with the worse case scenerio...expect the worst and hope for mediocre...anything else is a bonus.

 

[Aaron]

Well if he doesn't have any money to fix up the engine, it is a bit of a risk.
$1800 is a decent price for the car as it sits - if he could afford a rebuild, I'd say go for it!
Since he can't afford a rebuild, I'd be a bit hesitant.

 

[Ny Mustang Guy]

If you buy the car and you come into more problems then you will have a 1200$ car(Or whatever was paid for it) sitting for a while and an unhappy brother eager to get the stang going.. I'm sure there will be more cars out there.. I'd say if tackling the problem is iffy.. then its not worth it.. and it will be worth it to save the $..maybe a little more and find the right car that you can (atleast)just get in and drive.. (You don't know the condition it was in before this problem.. and that problem was diagnosed.. what happens if it is not the problem?.. or the problem is more complex than just what he stated?.. or it could be the opposite..) when it comes down to being afraid of getting a car you cannot drive w/ a decent amount of mileage.. I'd say stick to finding a car you can get in and drive.. If you think you can tackle this issue.. then go for it. Body wise and interior wise it looks nice

 

[GroverDill]

buy it and drop in a explorer 5.0

 

[kevin2m4]

id say its worth the risk

price out a 5.0 bottom end www.car-part.com

 

[kevin2m4]

even better is the explorer motor, and you can sell off the old engine parts

 

[Tonys96Cobra]

buy it and drop in a explorer 5.0

This I what I told him we would do if it needed it. You think we could do it and a cam swap (explorer cams are a bit soft I hear) for under $1000????

 

[SoldMySS4a5.0]

tell the guy to fix the oil pump shaft. if the car works, then tell him you will give him the price of the car plus the fix.that way you won't be stuck with a motor that took a ****.

 

[TC93]

This I what I told him we would do if it needed it. You think we could do it and a cam swap (explorer cams are a bit soft I hear) for under $1000????

Can get an explorer motor for about $400-500.. Get a cam for another $100-150 and throw it in while swapping the front cover over. Good thing is you have your motor for parts needed to make the explorer motor drop in. Heck man for $1000 budget you could add a cam, new timing chain & oil pump and headers.

 

[yuk]

i like how cheap go fast parts are for these cars... to get my vr into the low 14's high 13's, i will need a set of cams and some good tires.

i would like to get into a fox body soon.

 

[JChalfan]

I wouldn't pay any more for the car than you would if you knew the engine was bad. That way if it's toast, you're not screwed. If it really only needs an oil pump driveshaft, then you got a good deal.

I can't help but wonder why the seller didn't put a oil pump driveshaft in it, and then sell it for $1000 more if that's all thats wrong?

It's a pretty good looking car. If you can get a good deal, and don't mind putting an engine in it (worst case), then go for it!

Jeff

 

[Hickfied]

You can get a complete new shortblock for 699.99 off of Ebay. Just search for 306 short block. It costs $150 to ship to me... So it isn't that much.

 

[Tonys96Cobra]

UPDATE!

He bought it today for $1200. Guy had it listed for $1800, took $1200 with little argument, glad to get it off the street I guess. We are gonna go get it on Saturday and probably pull the engine next weekend. I will keep you updated on what the damage is. He had about 4k total, so if its just a pump and shaft, hell have some good $$$ left for a paint job or some performance stuff.

 

[Roland69]

good score.

 

[DemonGT]

id say leave that one alone, to bad you didnt live closer to WI..i seen a 91 5.0LX in the paper for sale with new tires/battery/clutch with 175K on it said it ran good and it was 1500 bucks

 

[gruvee87vertgt]

you can get a better deal than that. I was like your bro...jump at the first deal.

I got my 5.0 1990 vert stang with 64k miles on it for $1000.00.

it drove great..then when installed my 18's and tried to get my alligment done the shop told me they is frame damage and cant get it straight. also, a piece of frame that was damaged was painted...the paint came off and it's rusted.

so I got to put more money into it now. and it still wont drive as if it was never in a accident.

I would pass on that deal.

 

[Tonys96Cobra]

Do you guys even read the threads? I guess not

 

[gruvee87vertgt]

Do you guys even read the threads? I guess not

I thought I did......what did I miss?

 

[Tonys96Cobra]

he bought it yesterday, so too late to pass.