Anyone here daily a foxbody? How reliable is a foxbody mustang ('83 GT with a 4bbl Holley 600 and borla exhaust headers specifically) day to day? I was gonna go for one but when I mentioned it to the family mechanic he started pleading to me and God not to get stuck with it, then told me about an 80s Camaro he had that was so bad that he needed a second job to keep it on the road and it was breaking down weekly on him. A Craigslist listing or two for fox mustangs mentioned that the cars they were selling burned oil "like all 80s mustangs". I need a car to last for longass drives and not ask for more than typical regular maintenance, so if this is more than one lemon Camaro and some dumbasses on Craigslist then I need to know.
If you're not mechanically inclined I'd look elsewhere, but mine's fairly reliable. It does drink a lot of oil, so you need to keep an eye on that, but if it runs it will stay running, usually.
However, the brakes are terrible, the handling is terrible, the headlights are terrible, the interior is terrible, everything is terrible to actually live with. As soon as it starts raining at all you go full panic mode.
Owen Turner
I good running 5.0 won't burn any oil.
You don't want to take longass drives routinly in a fox mustang unless you hate yourself.
Finding a stock unmolested fox for cheap is near impossible, and the more molested a car gets the less reliable it is. I bet you that carb on there was tossed on as is out of the box or off another car.
If you wan ta comfortable reliable car an 80's mustang is not it.
Lucas Mitchell
It doesn't have to be unmolested, but it has to be molested correctly. Mine had bolt-on SFCs, a short-throw shifter, exhaust, and rear end gears. Clearly modified, but I can live with it.
Brayden Sanders
Don't do it. This post is spot on.If you want a foxbody you want cheap fast or you like them because AESTHETIC. Buy something comfy and cheap.
Benjamin Scott
wew wrong post
Adrian Myers
I mean I want one for cheap and fast as well as aesthetic, but at the same time I tend to put mileage on my car by the hundreds maybe a couple times a month on top of fairly regular driving so I should probably find a different A E S T H E T I C car.
Gavin Diaz
The problem with the fox is that its 30 years old. Has nothing to do with X manufacturer.
Average mileage is like 12k a year. So that speedo has rolled over three times.
I'd be tired too if I ran 350,000 miles.
Now, as for specific fox issues, they rust on strut towers, sub frame and torque boxes. Can also have issues with floorpans but that's more locale specific (places where they salt the roads, driven on gravel a lot).
They're very good cars overall- theres a reason so many are still on the road.
Good thing is that anything that needs to be replaced can be bought- and you WILL be replacing parts.
Its only a DD after you've done a partial restore.
I'd like anyone to post a car from the 80's, any car, that's "reliable" without already having parts replaced.
Juan Taylor
It took me three years to find a cheap stock fox and I got even more lucky to find a Capri RS t-top bubble hatch. You can find them if you look hard enough, but foxbodys get aftermarket parts thrown all over them and 90% of the time people want way to much money for what they have. Although I would still advise on dailying long trips in one. You'll hate your life.
Oliver Cox
>bubble hatch. My sunroof is $900 to replace, I'd probably have a heart attack if I ever saw the price on that hatch glass.
Connor Sanders
Not the user who owns that Capri, but if it ever was broken I'd go full mad max and stuff two gigantic aux tanks in there and lift the fuck out of the back of the car. Would probably be cheaper than buying glass.
More reliable than almost any other car that old but much less reliable than a 90s Civic. If it's running right, it will go a thousand miles without complaining but the next time you drive it it may run like shit and not even want to take you across town until you give it some attention and possibly replace. rebuild or rig something.
You WILL learn the fundamentals of how ICEs work because you'll have to or you'll just keep having to call someone who does to "fix" simple things you could have if you understood what's going on under the hood but speaking of under the hood it's much easier to work under there than in an f-body and the parts are cheaper as well. '83's brakes do kind of suck and the interior is very 80s economy car tier.
I really have to disagree with the "handling sucks" meme. They handle like a sporty lightish 80s coupe which is to say pretty nimbly, though the steering ratio could be a bit tighter. They're just way front heavy and have this weird 4-link rear end that will literally steer itself if you put real power through it. In a straight line that signature fishtail wiggle is fun and kind of cute but I could definitely see it being a problem when accelerating out of a corner and a huge liability if you were actually trying to drift in one.
Something's not quite right with my carb right now and it'll try to stall on me if I slosh fuel from hard cornering then try to open it up so until I get that one figured out it's not an issue but a panhard bar would probably be my first performance upgrade although a modest nos is tempting as well. Apparently the T5 makes it drive like a completely different car so I wouldn't mind getting me one of them too.
Benjamin Scott
The ford 302 is a great engine, what the fuck are you on about? Stock it's trying to breathe through a straw but it's not by an means a bad motor.
Noah Harris
I'm too scared to check the link. Ive always thought the Capri's was "different" (I honestly can't say cool or grotesque, its just weird) That link might keep me from picking one up someday.
Hunter Barnes
Can you afford to impulse buy a videogame console or a basic laptop? If so then you can click the link with confidence, otherwise don't break windows I guess.
Tyler Evans
They come in hatch as well, and I think notch. You don't have to have a bubble back one.
Ryder Jones
I work at a Performance shop for Mustangs and daily a stock fox. Convert to EFI and you'll be good. Carbed isn't worth the hassle for a daily (idle at cold start, possibility of flooding the carb if you're inexperienced, etc), plus, if you ever want to upgrade(rebuild the top end with a cam), it's easier to do in EFI, especially with a dyno tune.
But even I have a ZJ for comfy driving aswell
Christopher Thomas
How is the stock fuel injection on an '86? Converting the car to EFI without buying one of those $3000 Edelbrock kits seems like a fairly difficult process to do myself, and an expensive one to have someone do for me.
Levi Brown
Eyyy you took off those shitty wheels.
Jacob Russell
86 and up is good. It also means you have a very cheap option for a better set of heads and an intake manifold, off of a mid 90s explorer 5.0. Heads have to be rebuilt with new springs but the MAF is almost plug and play.
Zachary Nelson
I see you still left yours on though.
Brandon Perry
>pony wheels >shitty
Nicholas Russell
>chrome pony wheels >tfw they almost look like autozone beaner hubcaps
Owen Lee
That was literally a stock wheel style. The rest of the car is kind of chunky so they match visually.
Blake Sanchez
>being this stupid You are the reason people stereotype foxbody mustang drivers.
Alexander Powell
>DONT DISLIKE THINGS I LIKE
Elijah Perez
>owns capri >calls people autists
Ryder Parker
Not me, thanks for the concern though. Although I'm not very fond of these wheels if I do say so myself.
Jace Scott
They're very reliabe. The only thing I've done on mine in the past 6 years is replace the window motors 50 times.
Nathaniel Clark
Performance shop guy here. Wire harness (new or off a parts car), ECU (A9P or equivalent strategy, $100-$250), aftermarket heads (new or off a parts car), cam (ford racing $200), intake manifolds (explorer or cobra, likely used), aftermarket throttle body (BBK or whatever, just make sure to get a tune after), fuel injectors (stock was 19lbs, cobra was 24lbs), Kirban fuel pressure regulator ($35), bolts (ARP is a must), dyno tune (~$500). The edlebrock kit is probably good, just not sure if it would cost more or about the same.
Everything on the top end of a 302 just fits together. You could save money and spend a lot of time learning to put it together (what wire or vacuum line goes where, and torque specs) or you could have a speed/performance shop put it together. It would be easy for them and not take very long. If you have a shop do it, you'll be spending more money than what you bought the car for anyway, so you might as well have them put the best into it and make power.
Christopher Martin
If he wants to go cheap he may as well just grab a whole exploder or mountainqueer 5.0, slap some alex's valve springs in it, a decent cam, headers and call it good. He'd still need a harness, maf, and 24#'s, but he'd have a nice roller block with good heads and intakes.
Cooper Parker
Pic and info of your fox? That sounds too good to be true
Hudson Ortiz
Window motors are notorious for going bad on these. Dangerous to fix too.
