Howdy all, I am not yet the proud owner of any types of mustangs that being said I am looking at a nice little 92 LX convertable and have been unable to find much info on the engine and other specs on the car. If anyone could help me out that would be greatly appreciated. I was just wondering how reliable the engine is and if its notorious for any faulty parts that I should look for signs of when I go to test drive the car. Again I've been googling things for about 2 hours and haven't found much... THANKS!

 

Also wondering if there were any sites I should look at if I wanted to mod it... have a 99 Taurus SE now but I'm getting bent over at the pump... I, being a very big fan of ford products, decided to find something with a smaller engine. Was looking at a few mustangs too but then I discovered that they came in a 4 cylinder setup... I was curious about this since that seems like it would run counter to a muscle car... however I am also very interested in a RWD 4cylinder drivetrain.

 

The base foxes were equipped with the 2.3 I4, which in stock form is pretty lame. I've owned a number of 2.3's, but they all been original or upgraded to turbo form. The one I still own is in my '85 Ranger and is probably in the 400 HP range while still knocking down around 20 MPG in town. It's but out of comission for some time due to a thief, but it was a ton of fun. As an ex Ford tech I'll just say stay away from any of the V6 versions. The 3.8 had / has a number of serious problems. The 5.0's can be almost bulletproof when properly maintained and not beat to death. The most common problems I saw were manual transmissions that couldn't stand up to power shifting and cooling system issues due to corrosion from lack of maintenance. These were generally leaks at the front cover and intake manifold gaskets.

Hope that helps a bit.

And Welcome!!

 

The 2.3L is good little motor, pretty easy to fix but if you want to swap in a V8 later it will get involved (isn't just a drop in deal). starting in '87 the V6 wasn't available any more so you don't have to worry. The V8 is a strong running motor and will go easy 200,000. common problems with the V8 are rear intake gasket leak, water pump bolts freezing up in the timing cover, worn motor mounts, and rear main leaks. The automatic backed V8s are dogs but the T5s can show signs of wear mostly a 2nd or 3rd gear grind. The T5 can handle normal shifting and some spritited driving but hard powershifting is the main issues. I like the T5, it is a very light tranny and smooth shifter.

The V8 with a T5 and 2.73 or 3.08 rear gears does pretty good gas milage for a V8 car. Before I modded mine I saw high 20's easy.

Stuff to look for:
Rust around the front strut towers, the pinch weld on the fire wall, floors, rear trunk area, torn or stressed rear torque boxes, broken drivers seat front bolts on the floor ( they tend to tear out on abused cars) rotted out rear trunk or hatch on the under side, rot on the tail light panel and rot on the lower part of the front frame by the k-member and down by the floor.

This should get you started. Best thing to do is when you go to look at one post up the year and info of teh fox you are going to look at I can help you out. I'm a Fox mustang nut and have a pretty good amount of Fox mustang knowledge and books,etc. but to type in all the info from all the years ( more so for some of the 4 eyed years) is too much work.

 

Well thanks for the replies, unfortunately the guy I had my eye on has been sold :/ Wondering if anyone knows where I could get a Mustang with the little 2.3 around the chicago area? Definitely interested in turbocharging it myself, since i feel like any that came from the factory are gonna be dogs...

edit: Been looking around online and I've come to the conclusion that the 5.0s are much easier to find :P if anyone has a trace on a naturally aspirated 2.3 it would be greatly appreciated if you could point me in a direction.

 

Keep hunting but keep in mind that the V8 guys are hunting them down also. The 4cyl foxes are sadly sourced for thier bodies for a V8 swap. Many V8s are beaten, rotted or crashed and the 4cyl fox doesn't make enough power to hurt the body and for the most part isn't beaten up so it is the best for a conversion or parts. I can remember at one time one could trip over them things now not so much, but trust me they are out there. The fox was a highly produced car.