First time mustang owner

[Felipedagreat]

Good evening lady's and gentleman, My name is Phil. im new to the board . I just bought a 1982 Mustang GT TTop car that had been sitting for a long period of time approx 15 yrs. I dont Know a lot about Mustangs at all, I was mostly a G.M kind of guy (ss camaros,chevelles,novas). It was just something about this car that grab my attenion.... I am novice when it come to this car, I have found it's not many original parts for these cars...please feel free to let me know if this is a desirable car to restore.

 

[slow5.087]

82 gt ttop fox is sweet! as far as desirable car to restore? foxbodys are going up in price and finding a fox that's not cut up and made into a race car or rusted out is getting hard to find. the aftermarket for these car's is huge and you can get everything you need for it and there on the cheap side to fix up. do you plan on keeping it and enjoying it or fix it and sell it?

 

[Felipedagreat]

82 gt ttop fox is sweet! as far as desirable car to restore? foxbodys are going up in price and finding a fox that's not cut up and made into a race car or rusted out is getting hard to find. the aftermarket for these car's is huge and you can get everything you need for it and there on the cheap side to fix up. do you plan on keeping it and enjoying it or fix it and sell it?

Thanks for your reply. I'm planning on restoring it and drive it on the weekends....I found a place here in Georgia, Prestige Mustang and they seem to have everything I need....I'm debating on finding some 4 lug wheels or just do the 5 lug conversion because I was planning on keeping as orginal as possible

 

[slow5.087]

i got some stuff from prestige mustang yrs ago and had no issue. i would just keep it 4 lug unless you want more wheel options. she is going to make a great weekend cruiser!

 

[Sawmill]

The stock wheel on the '82 GT was the 16 hole wagon wheel; 14 inch by 5.5 aluminum. TRX was an optional package.
Our cars got sidelined for years due to the prohibitive price demanded for new 390 size tires. We were sharing one set of 14" wagon wheel rims between two cars.
LMR recently created TRX lookalike rims in 16" diameter. Yeehaa! We bought two sets and began restoring the cars to road worthiness.
Not very many '82 GT's were made to start with, and it is very worthwhile to fix it, maintain it, and drive it. They are happiest on the road.
I've had mine for 36 years and I wouldn't trade it for a new one.

 

[Felipedagreat]

The stock wheel on the '82 GT was the 16 hole wagon wheel; 14 inch by 5.5 aluminum. TRX was an optional package.
Our cars got sidelined for years due to the prohibitive price demanded for new 390 size tires. We were sharing one set of 14" wagon wheel rims between two cars.
LMR recently created TRX lookalike rims in 16" diameter. Yeehaa! We bought two sets and began restoring the cars to road worthiness.
Not very many '82 GT's were made to start with, and it is very worthwhile to fix it, maintain it, and drive it. They are happiest on the road.
I've had mine for 36 years and I wouldn't trade it for a new one.

Thanks for the information on the the LMR TRX replicas. I'm going to have to give them a call....One other question, How would i know if the engine is the original one is there any vin# on the block anywhere?

 

[Sawmill]

I don't think the vin is stamped on the engine, but I'm sure there's some way to decode casting numbers that do appear there, that would at least give a date range.
Seems to me the firing order might have been different on the '82 5.0 HO, but my memory may be faulty on that point.

 

[broncojunkie]

These fox mustangs weren't quite collectable enough to worry about numbers-matching engine/transmission. Even if they were, upgrading them for better performance would probably be a better investment than spending money on redoing one with poor performance. The late 70's through the 80's was a dark time for muscle cars. Ford and Chevy was nice enough to give us good platforms to build, but their hands were tied when it came to performance. So give it the performance it deserved from the start! Keep her looking mostly original. Don't "aero-swap" it to make it look like the 87-93 (I could go on for days about how so many older foxes were ruined because people didn't want to trade/sell them). And LS swaps are, of course, always a nice (but boring) performance upgrade (again, I could go on about brand loyalty, but in the end, I treat my cars like they're mine and everyone else should feel free to do the same).

I actually have an 82gt roller that I need to restore. Fairly solid car, but I haven't had time for it. I was hoping one of my stepsons would take it and fix it up, but they, like most of the younger generation, don't have much interest.

 

[slow5.087]

agreed! performance mods if anything would make it more desirable! dont fall into the ls/5.3 swap,351w can perform the same as the ls/5.3 swap...just have fun with it, build it,brake it,fix it repeat!

 

[Felipedagreat]

Thanks guys, for all your inputs and information. I have learned and researched so much on these cars. I plan to stay away from the LS swap route. My goals now are to flush out all this old fuel and try to figure out why i'm not getting fire. this thing has some type of c4 aftermarket ignition system. after i figure that out I should have a pretty decent driver.

 

[Sawmill]

agreed! performance mods if anything would make it more desirable! dont fall into the ls/5.3 swap,351w can perform the same as the ls/5.3 swap...just have fun with it, build it,brake it,fix it repeat!

 

[Sawmill]

We ended up having to replace my fuel tank, the ethanol loosened all the crud and blocked the screen, etc. my wife's nearly identical car had zero junk in the tank. Maybe I fueled up at a bad place or something.
I know nothing about the aftermarket stuff, ignitions included. The stock ignition part I've had the most trouble with has been the pickup in the distributor, followed by the coil, which I've replaced once. I carry a plastic ammo box with a new coil, pickup, duraspark box, spark tester, and tools enough to swap these parts. If you've got them you won't need them.
Are you still in original paint etc?

 

[Felipedagreat]

We ended up having to replace my fuel tank, the ethanol loosened all the crud and blocked the screen, etc. my wife's nearly identical car had zero junk in the tank. Maybe I fueled up at a bad place or something.
I know nothing about the aftermarket stuff, ignitions included. The stock ignition part I've had the most trouble with has been the pickup in the distributor, followed by the coil, which I've replaced once. I carry a plastic ammo box with a new coil, pickup, duraspark box, spark tester, and tools enough to swap these parts. If you've got them you won't need them.
Are you still in original paint etc?

That's a great idea, carrying extra ignition parts. I was on summit racing website and I saw that msd offers a all in one distributor similar to the GM style have you ever known anyone who have used these? Also this car paint is horrible condition but it is original.

 

[Sawmill]

The only tricky part of replacing any of those ignition components is installing that tiny E clip that secures the pickup.
I thought the paint on mine was beyond saving, so I was surprised by how well the clay bar followed by Meguire's number 7 restored its appearance. I wish I knew how to link to the online article I followed at autogeekonline.
It can be difficult tracking down an ignition fault, particularly in the wiring. Swapping in good units won't help with a bad wire. A one piece unit might solve quite a few problems.

 

[Felipedagreat]

The only tricky part of replacing any of those ignition components is installing that tiny E clip that secures the pickup.
I thought the paint on mine was beyond saving, so I was surprised by how well the clay bar followed by Meguire's number 7 restored its appearance. I wish I knew how to link to the online article I followed at autogeekonline.
It can be difficult tracking down an ignition fault, particularly in the wiring. Swapping in good units won't help with a bad wire. A one piece unit might solve quite a few problems.

Thanks for the advice.....I plan to to get wheels and tires and a new coil this weekend and hopefully i can get this thing up and running

 

[Sawmill]

We will be standing by. Looks like your hood has the same rust under the scoop that mine has. The rear spoiler wasn't adequately painted under either. I got a flower pot's worth of leaf compost out from under it. I'm studying how to touch up small paint damages, but I think I will end up painting my hatch and hood.
Hope it fires right up!

 

[Felipedagreat]

We will be standing by. Looks like your hood has the same rust under the scoop that mine has. The rear spoiler wasn't adequately painted under either. I got a flower pot's worth of leaf compost out from under it. I'm studying how to touch up small paint damages, but I think I will end up painting my hatch and hood.
Hope it fires right up!

Yeah I hope she fire it up to.....I know it's a long road in ahead of me to get this car the way I want it. I will definitely keep you guys updated

 

[Felipedagreat]

Ok guys update from this weekend, I did some trouble shooting and found that my ignition switch was bad which lead to me not getting 12v to the ignition box. I replaced the switch and wouldn't you know it we have 12v. I then filled the bowls on the tired Holley carb hit the throttle a couple of times and turned the key and it started up and it sound very healthy. I'm still in the market for some wheels. I would love to get my hands on a set of black mesh style wheel.

 

[Sawmill]

I believe that type of wheel is still in production in specs that fit, and they do look right. Some of the more modern types I've seen look out of place.
Glad to hear that it's running. Looks like a long road ahead, but should be rewarding. Rockauto sometimes has parts at very good prices, but double check numbers in a couple places. Sometimes what they list doesn't actually fit the listed application.