May be trading for this FORD... What y'all think?

[iamdallas]

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/2097739821.html

I need some help here. I'm going to look at the car tomorrow and I know nothing of Fords.

Some more pics.

My concerns:

Cheap Paint job and rust/ bondo

Is it really a Ford Racing 302? And How can I tell?

How streetable is this?

And do you guys think I can get more out of it than my Lude. I may just sell it after I get it if I can make some $$$ off it and get what I want.

And if I like it, I'll keep it and get something else to Daily. I've never been a Mustang guy (or Ford guy for that matter) but I'm pretty open.

Give it to me straight. I'm a Honda kid and I lost track of American Cars a looong time ago.

REPS for good advice. I needs it.

[-EnVus-]

That would be a LX 5.0 stang the valve covers are aftermarket just says ford racing and yeah it looks pretty well built and put together.
It being bored over and with the 650 carb in a 89 then id think is was originally a 4cyl body

[iamdallas]

That would be a LX 5.0 stang the valve covers are aftermarket just says ford racing and yeah it looks pretty well built and put together.

So not what he says it be, basically? That's my problem... I'm completely ignorant of Ford stuff.

[-EnVus-]

So not what he says it be, basically? That's my problem... I'm completely ignorant of Ford stuff.

Ask him if it was a V8 conversion cause like i said idk why he would do a carb setup on a 89

[joshk5145]

It would be pretty streetable. 3.08 gear isn't too bad. f cam might be a lil jumpy but you'll only notice if your creeping. If it's a newish crate motor I'd wonder why it was bored unless it was ordered that way. Looks decent. Fun cars to drive.

[iamdallas]

It would be pretty streetable. 3.08 gear isn't too bad. f cam might be a lil jumpy but you'll only notice if your creeping. If it's a newish crate motor I'd wonder why it was bored unless it was ordered that way. Looks decent. Fun cars to drive.

it's a 373. He was originally miss-informed he says. There is a 302 that comes bored .030 over. I asked him for the block # but he didn't have it so I can't confirm. And it was a conversion for sure.

It also has aluminum heads like the new 07 up 302. The base crate didn't come with an intake or anything like that. This could explain the carb love.

Ask him if it was a V8 conversion cause like i said idk why he would do a carb setup on a 89

Yeah... I really wish it wasn't a carb setup. But oh well, I'll just pay at ze pumps if it happens.

[-EnVus-]

it's a 373. He was originally miss-informed he says. There is a 302 that comes bored .030 over. I asked him for the block # but he didn't have it so I can't confirm. And it was a conversion for sure.

It also has aluminum heads like the new 07 up 302. The base crate didn't come with an intake or anything like that. This could explain the carb love.




Yeah... I really wish it wasn't a carb setup. But oh well, I'll just pay at ze pumps if it happens.

Wow if it isnt a v8 conversion then idk why he would have used a crate 302 with carb when a crate 302 FI would have been around same $$ with more options and power

[joshk5145]

o and if it was a v-8 conversion ask if he changed the rear out to a 8.8

[joshk5145]

Hope it's got an electric choke lol.

[iamdallas]

Hope it's got an electric choke lol.

...oh god. XD

[-EnVus-]

Yeah with the engine mods and clutch setup i wouldnt want this for anything but playing around and a weekend cruiser.
The gas is gonna disappear fast in that car...

[iamdallas]

Yeah with the engine mods and clutch setup i wouldnt want this for anything but playing around and a weekend cruiser.
The gas is gonna disappear fast in that car...

...pretty sure that's why he wants a Honda. You think I can make money off it compared to my car?

[-EnVus-]

...pretty sure that's why he wants a Honda. You think I can make money off it compared to my car?

Yeah go on to streetcarforums.com and look under southeast> atlanta there is cars going for more $$ with less done.
I know a little about mustangs from my past lol
He may even have it posted on there im not sure but IMO yes its worth more than the lude.
Mustangs sell a lot faster if it was spring or summer time..

[iamdallas]

Yeah go on to streetcarforums.com and look under southeast> atlanta there is cars going for more $$ with less done.
I know a little about mustangs from my past lol
He may even have it posted on there im not sure but IMO yes its worth more than the lude.
Mustangs sell a lot faster if it was spring or summer time..

They go in my area like nothing, too. I would be about the 10,000th 20s dude with a Foxbody around here. haha

Thanks for the help, it's much appreciated.

[Sinfix_15]

To answer a few things mentioned in this thread.

Was it a 4 cylinder swap? Doesnt matter, outside of the 8.8 rear end, theres not much benefit to actually having a GT. The 4 cylinder cars ride much better, they have a longer spring, most GTs swap to 4 cylinder springs.

Ford racing crate motor? You have to take every mustang at face value, any mustang owner whos ever changed a head gasket claims to have some type of "crate" built motor. "gt40" heads... another name people throw around loosely, means very little. gt40p heads are factory explorer heads. Im not sure why claiming this became popular... i guess people saw gt40x turbo swirl heads in a summit magazine and got mistaken.

rust and bondo? not a problem fox bodies in the south have. unless you see anything on the rear quarter or roof, not something to worry about.

How streetable is it? depends on the carb mainly, a .5XX lift cam is pretty streetable in a 5 speed car, thats right at the thresh hold of what mild mannered people think is streetable. A good carb can make or break an old mustang, with a shitty carb its going to be annoying to start in the morning. It's surely not something thats gonna be too "race car-ish" on the streets as i would guess its a sub 300hp car looking at it.

Thing about mustangs........... theyre like finding a needle in a stack of needles..... if you had $3500 cash in your hand, you would have a LOT of foxbody mustangs to chose from. Given your apparent lack of experience with a car such as this, id probably steer clear of a carb'd mustang, that and a coupe would be much sexier.

Doesnt get much more win than a fox coupe...... yummy.

[iamdallas]

To answer a few things mentioned in this thread.

Was it a 4 cylinder swap? Doesnt matter, outside of the 8.8 rear end, theres not much benefit to actually having a GT. The 4 cylinder cars ride much better, they have a longer spring, most GTs swap to 4 cylinder springs.

Ford racing crate motor? You have to take every mustang at face value, any mustang owner whos ever changed a head gasket claims to have some type of "crate" built motor. "gt40" heads... another name people throw around loosely, means very little. gt40p heads are factory explorer heads. Im not sure why claiming this became popular... i guess people saw gt40x turbo swirl heads in a summit magazine and got mistaken.

rust and bondo? not a problem fox bodies in the south have. unless you see anything on the rear quarter or roof, not something to worry about.

How streetable is it? depends on the carb mainly, a .5XX lift cam is pretty streetable in a 5 speed car, thats right at the thresh hold of what mild mannered people think is streetable. A good carb can make or break an old mustang, with a shitty carb its going to be annoying to start in the morning. It's surely not something thats gonna be too "race car-ish" on the streets as i would guess its a sub 300hp car looking at it.

Thing about mustangs........... theyre like finding a needle in a stack of needles..... if you had $3500 cash in your hand, you would have a LOT of foxbody mustangs to chose from. Given your apparent lack of experience with a car such as this, id probably steer clear of a carb'd mustang, that and a coupe would be much sexier.

Confirmed that it's a 4 to 8 swap.... And agreed about the Coupes. And what's funny is he does claim to have the gt40x turbo swirl heads on it. I've read about the whole gt40 head debacle but how does one confirm/debunk which head is which? And he says it has a 650 Holly Carb but he doesn't specify the model. I think it's worth the time to check it out.

Sorry for all the dummmm questions, but I know less about Fords than I do anything. But I do know that some Mustang owners are a bit pretentious sometimes. NOT ALL... just some.

[-EnVus-]

Confirmed that it's a 4 to 8 swap....

HA! I knew it was like i said this is why he did it carbed i bet he wishes it was FI lol
If he wasnt lazy and did a harness swp it been all good with FI and a better car.

[silversol]

To answer your question yes it worth more than your prelude. Ill be the first to admit i love fox bodys! But I hate carb set ups on them. but i would still take the fox over the prelude we both know your prelude is not worth his asking price of his mustang.

[iamdallas]

we both know your prelude is not worth his asking price of his mustang.

...word.

[iamdallas]

So far all I have to verify are the head and the rear end swap. From what I've learned online the explorer heads are cast with gtp and real gt40s are cast with gt with some other small markings. I'm assuming the aluminum x's are, well, made of aluminum and cast with a gt40x. I hope it doesn't still have the 2.3 radiator.


Any more concerns/ things I should I should have about the swap? Suspension etc.

[Sinfix_15]

If the heads are GT40x, they will be aluminum. It's pretty easy to look at the head and see if its aluminum or not, will also have a label on the front of it like the picture below. Theres nothing really to worry about with the 4 cylinder to 8 cylinder swap, the only significant part swapping is the rear end from a 7.5 to an 8.8. Even if the car does have a 7.5, thats something you wouldnt even notice until you got into drag racing. You would never tell the difference on street tires. I can see from the picture that it has a 2 row radiator from a v8 car.

If the heads are GT40x aluminum, that definitely puts the value of this car above your car seeing as how aluminum heads are one of the more distinguishing mods you can do to a 5.0. That would almost put it in the "too good to be true" range on him wanting to trade for you car though in my opinion.

The only real thing to decide is how easy to car is to drive in your opinion. does it start up easy? is the throttle smooth and responsive? things like that. if it does have aluminum heads, id say trade 100% because its easily worth more than your car. It's probably worth more than your car even if it doesnt. Unless you can find something thats clearly wrong with the car or if it runs like shit, it should be easy to resell for at least your prelude asking price.

[iamdallas]

Awwww... I cant rep you again.

If the heads are GT40x, they will be aluminum. It's pretty easy to look at the head and see if its aluminum or not, will also have a label on the front of it like the picture below. Theres nothing really to worry about with the 4 cylinder to 8 cylinder swap, the only significant part swapping is the rear end from a 7.5 to an 8.8. Even if the car does have a 7.5, thats something you wouldnt even notice until you got into drag racing. You would never tell the difference on street tires. I can see from the picture that it has a 2 row radiator from a v8 car.

If the heads are GT40x aluminum, that definitely puts the value of this car above your car seeing as how aluminum heads are one of the more distinguishing mods you can do to a 5.0. That would almost put it in the "too good to be true" range on him wanting to trade for you car though in my opinion.

The only real thing to decide is how easy to car is to drive in your opinion. does it start up easy? is the throttle smooth and responsive? things like that. if it does have aluminum heads, id say trade 100% because its easily worth more than your car. It's probably worth more than your car even if it doesnt. Unless you can find something thats clearly wrong with the car or if it runs like shit, it should be easy to resell for at least your prelude asking price.

Gratzi. I've got all the general stuff down. Just need to know about mustang specific stuff. Ill be daily driving my pap's s10 while I'm deciding what I want to do with it.

And yeah. Its already almost too good to be true. Apparently his wife wants it gone. Idk. Thanks.

[iamdallas]

Anyone know how to id a ford racing block?

[Sinfix_15]

Anyone know how to id a ford racing block?

again, most every mustang owner thinks anything is "Ford racing" most of the engines you buy from any type of performance distributor are just remanufactured OEM stuff. So in that regard, identifying the block has little significance. As far as iron blocks go, you cant really tell unless you run the serial numbers. There's some variance in the quality of the block based on the nickle value of the metal used. blocks made in different time periods had different nickle values as well as ones made in other countries. The mexican 302 was better than the states one and the 70s blocks were better. Not something someone with a street car will ever care about. What block is in it just doesnt matter. That car is not pushing the boundaries of any 302 block, even the cheapest worst one known to man. generally the only question asked about a 302 block is if its a roller cam or not. Doesnt matter too much either way, they just have different valvetrain components.

a REAL "ford racing block" the R302 is aluminum also, easy to identify. Picture below. They just dont exsist in street cars. Anyone who cared enough about blocks to purchase this block would have a much nicer car than that one and it would probably be in the 10,000+ price range.

[iamdallas]

again, most every mustang owner thinks anything is "Ford racing" most of the engines you buy from any type of performance distributor are just remanufactured OEM stuff. So in that regard, identifying the block has little significance. As far as iron blocks go, you cant really tell unless you run the serial numbers. There's some variance in the quality of the block based on the nickle value of the metal used. blocks made in different time periods had different nickle values as well as ones made in other countries. The mexican 302 was better than the states one and the 70s blocks were better. Not something someone with a street car will ever care about. What block is in it just doesnt matter. That car is not pushing the boundaries of any 302 block, even the cheapest worst one known to man. generally the only question asked about a 302 block is if its a roller cam or not. Doesnt matter too much either way, they just have different valvetrain components.

a REAL "ford racing block" the R302 is aluminum also, easy to identify. Picture below. They just dont exsist in street cars. Anyone who cared enough about blocks to purchase this block would have a much nicer car than that one and it would probably be in the 10,000+ price range.

ohhhh... I didn't know the all the blocks were aluminum. That's hilarious.

Well, the deal fell through anyways.

[msanch24]

hey good luck man. i have no ford wisdom to offer but if this goes through, enjoy the torque that we honda owners can only have wet dreams about lol.

[iamdallas]

hey good luck man. i have no ford wisdom to offer but if this goes through, enjoy the torque that we honda owners can only have wet dreams about lol.

...just saw this. hahaha. I feel you.

[slow_hatch]

If this car use to be white before the current owner painted it, I know who use to own it and did all the work to it. I'm 99% sure it's his old car just by the interior and mod list. LMK check with him and I'll try to get you more info. I know it's been dyno'd with and w/o the nitrous and been to Commerce as well.

[iamdallas]

Awesome. But the deal fell through. So, it won't help me now haha.

[slow_hatch]

Awesome. But the deal fell through. So, it won't help me now haha.

Guess I should have read all the post, oh well.

[Bacon]

I have 3.55 gears in my garage if you get this and want them. They are a little more fuel friendly than the 3.73 gears but acceleration is gonna be sacrificed.