Another noob question from me but please help

[moomoo]

I know now after readig up on 86 GT 5.0 mustangs that the motor is down on HP and TQ compared to 87-93 cars but tell me what the are the differences and why did power jump in 87?
I had a guy telling me that with the 86 motor I could never do an real mods to it to make it fast.....im just confused here I was always thinking just about any 302 could be made quick?

[RichV]

Heads and pistons are different on the 86 vs 87-88. The "E6" heads are the poorer if not poorest flowing heads on the 302. The pistons are not fly cut so you cannot run a big cam or large valve heads. In 89 the EEC went to a MAF instead of Speed Density and that makes the EEC more friendly to modifications.

My 86 had headers/intake/cat-back/70mmTB/ and a 75 Shot. With the stock AOD and 3:27s it went 14.1 @ 99 with tracktion problems. At sea level it would probably be a low 13 high 12 sec car. That was with the stock heads. The E7 heads are easy to find but in my opinion if youre gonna upgrade you may as well go with a set of aluminum aftermarket heads. You can fly-cut the pistons or just upgrade them with some nice forged ones.

There are no other differences other than the heads/pistons/EEC. The intake is actualy a bit different as well, the 87+ flows a bit better.

Rich.

[evlgt85]

Whoever told you that no 86 could have real mods or be made fast is an idiot.

If you want to do cheap stuff, get your hands on a stock 87+ manifold and some E7 heads. These are things that people either just plain give away or sell for cheap (and are the reasons for the better power ratings later on). While you're at it, see if you can wrangle an 87-88 computer, too. They're slightly better in the fuel department, possibly other things...

Speed Density is the big gotcha on these cars, but that won't stop you from putting a blower, turbo or bottle on the car. SD cars just get really angry and protest at cam swaps. If you're looking for minor/easy stuff to do, then a cam isn't on your agenda yet, anyway.

You can slap gears in it, reduce weight, get some good tires for the back, play with the suspension, etc., etc. 86 5.0s are not the dead ducks some would have you believe.

If you don't have a good group of Fox Mustang-typed friends, start looking for some. There's no better source of cheap and freebie parts than having a bunch of buddies who drive similar cars.

How fast you want to go is dependant not only on how much money you want to spend but how much homework you're willing to do.

[moomoo]

Yea I know a lot of people around here who have fox cars.....in fact I used to own a 1990 GT myself about a year ago....
The only thing I really want to do is add heads and a nice intake and add some gears plus some other small bolt ons....Im not adding a blower or nitrous so thats out of the question.
If anything I could always get a brand new motor and add stuff to that I suppose
I wasnt to sure on the details thats why I asked....the guy was really vague and just said the cars motors werent that great and it might be a bad idea to get one.

[moomoo]

Im sorry you guys had to move this I wasnt sure where it was supposed to go

[StangBoy]

I have an 86 GT with this

lightly ported/smoothed e7 heads
87-93 upper intake/tb
stock headers
full exhaust w/ flowmasters
75 dry shot nitrous
no a/c
no smog

soon to come: stock aod with transgo shift kit.

i hope to run a mid 13 but have yet to test it (damn winter)