[darionvowels@gmail.com]

so today i just bought an 89' lx coupe 2.3L automatic today for $1700 i think it was worth the money. im 16 just got a job starting it soon and i want to start fixing my 2.3 up. i dont know much about cars but i know enough to get me uy i believe. so things i see me wanting to do to this car is cold air intake, lower it "maybe", remove some wieght, exuast, and things around the engine so it could put me against my seat. i would love for ppl to tell me what you think about my car and tips and "how to's" on doing stuff like this to my car. so if you would like to write a little something about helping me make an intake or tips on making the car sound good go right ahead it would be much appriciated. wouldnt mind having tips to do other things to my car also just keep in mind i dont have much money im a full time student but still wanting to build on a budget

this is my car feel free to say what you want.


mustange-1.jpg picture by darionvowels123 - Photobucket

mustange-1.jpg picture by darionvowels123 - Photobucket

mustange-1.jpg picture by darionvowels123 - Photobucket

mustange-1.jpg picture by darionvowels123 - Photobucket

mustange-1.jpg picture by darionvowels123 - Photobucket

[akatagyourit]

Well lemme be the first to say welcome aboard. Lotta people here will be able to help you out i'm sure for whatever your looking for.

The mustang is very nice looking if I could find one in my area that clean looking for that price i'd scoop it up in a heart beat.

1. Weight, the model mustang you have is the lightest of em, coupes are the cream of the crop as i've been told since they retain the least amount of weight out of the 3 fox bodies.

2. Intakes are easy to make, people have used pvc pipe, aluminum piping whatever they have around. I bought my intake kit for my 89 lx 6 or so years ago from autozone for like 30 bucks, was a civic cai.

3. As for power, the motor you have there is setup for speed density. There is not a whole lot of tuning or leeway in that ecu/engine combo to make power unfortunately. Personally i'd do the minor stuff, maybe suspension mods with a few engine mods, but for putting you in the seat its not gonna happen less you want to put oodles of money into it. Guys here in Tampa,FL put a good couple of thousand into their motors for the dirt track out here to make power, but imho power to money ratio is not worth it. What alot of people do with the 2.3L Mustangs is find a donor car 84-86 mustang svo, 86-88 thunderbird turbocoupe, merkur xr4ti and i believe 1 other model and convert the car over to a 2.3L Turbo charged beast. When I made the switch I had the car putting down 230ish rwhp and 310ft-pds torque, it was sick and definately put you in the seat a nice bit. Ask any questions you have. If i have the information available i'll try to answer when I can. Working 60-80 hours a week sucks....

[darionvowels@gmail.com]

i just had this gut felling that is was going to be a good parchus only thing that really got to me that it isnt a 5 speed but i live in the city and just want to mess around with it do what i can with the money i have just somthing to have fun with around town. for now i have $40 left over because i havn't started my job yet i dont start till the 12th but think im gonna have to invest that $40 into that civic intake. now i have been looking around on the website and google wondering does my intake have a mass air flow sensor? and if so how do i go about moving it to the civic intake?

thank you so much for your help.

p.s. dont work your self to death we only live once

[akatagyourit]

There is no mass air flow sensor on your motor. That model runs off whats called speed density. Theres a sensor or 2 that connects to the intake system and it reads the airflow coming in. It then checks that airflow against is air/fuel table and gives it gas, unfortunately this that type of setup I have not seen any real good results modifying it. I didn't see a big gain when I did it on my 88 Mustang.

[darionvowels@gmail.com]

so should i still think about getting that intake for my car? and if so how do i go about with moving that sensor to the new intake? what if i gutted the stock intake and put a k&n filter in it?

[OHC230]

Darion, welcome to the forums and BTW nice looking ride. I agree with akatagyourit, you wont see much gain with the intake mod, but exhaust mods along with the right cam will really help. I've actually tried a handful of different intakes and filters on my car when it was on the dyno last winter and the stock air filter box, with a K&N filter element installed and the hot air tube from the exhaust removed put down the best numbers! This is one of those things that just doesn't have to make sense, it just has to work. Bang for the buck, I would go for a Speedflow header and a decent exhaust and build from there.

If you scan through this site, you will find that there is some helpful information regarding mods. You will also find that your transmission is a weak link on your car. Investing in a T-5 swap or some upgrades to your auto trans, should be on your list of things to do.

And one more thing, my car definitely will push you back in the seat and I don't have that much invested in it.

Craig.

[OHC230]

Oh I all most forgot, yes...do pull the intake muffler baffles out of the intake tube. If you look inside the intake muffler, you will be able to see the plastic baffles inside, grab them with some pliers and pull them out. It won't cost you anything for this mod, except a few minutes of your time.

Craig

[darionvowels@gmail.com]

thanks alot!!! really helps, so even keep the oval tude that says ford on it? or replace it with a striat tube? also how much would we be tlking for the trans? im starting an auto motive class this year for school it has a full shop so i have all kinds of tools i can use if i need them. should i romve wieght from the car as much as i can?

thanks alot

[92mustang04yfz]

By the way i REALLY like them wheels. If you ever decide to get rid of them for something else PLEASE let me know!

[OHC230]

Darion, you can find a t-5 in the wrecking yard out of a 4 cylinder Mustang, for around $75-$200. Of course you will need to grab a pedal assembly, clutch, flywheel and all of the other linkage if you want to do a swap. It is a straight forward bolt together deal. You indicated that you live in the City and may want to keep the auto trans. The auto trans in your car, can be modified to withstand a bit more power as well, but it's going to cost more $$ than a T-5.

so even keep the oval tude that says ford on it?

Yes, you just need to pull the baffles from the inside of it.

This header (Clink link below) BTW works really well on our cars. It's the best one I've tested so far.

2.3 Ford Pinto Late Model Headers







.

[darionvowels@gmail.com]

okay thanks alot im deffently gonna look into getting the header, not sure about the engine swap just yet think i might make that my sienour project though so shoul i get rid of the cats and put a straight pipe there?

92 mustang you might be in luck im thinking about getting new wheels after i have worked for the money so in a couple months i'll deffently get back to you qbout that

[OHC230]

It depends on what your state laws require. In my case, I had to weld nuts onto the header, one for the EGR tube and another for the O2 sensor and then I attached the first of 2 catalytic converters to the header collector and the second down stream: both converters are in the stock locations. A state smog referee reluctantly allowed me to do this after I showed him that the factory installed a similar header on 2.3 Ranger trucks, to which he asked: why didn't I just install the factory header. Not wanting to incriminate myself, I simply answered, "This one seems to work better"

The truth is, it works way better! I picked up 8 HP on the dyno, over the Ranger header and the factory Ranger was worth about 2-3 HP over the cast manifold.

[darionvowels@gmail.com]

thats a good difference think thats gonna be my second purchase, is it easy to install?

[lcorriveau3]

Welcome to the community you picked up a nice car. enjoy

[darionvowels@gmail.com]

thank you

[OHC230]

The header itself is an easy bolt on installation, but will require some welding to hook it up to the rest of the exhaust system. Most people with this set-up, will also upgrade the rest of the exhaust with at least a 2.5" diameter pipe coming off the header. The Speedflow header has a 3" outlet, so a reducer will be required to drop the pipe diameter down, in order to transition to a 2.5" diameter. Summit racing sells the pipe reducers, and Speedway motors sells a 3" exhaust elbow that fits over the end of the header, if you want to go that route.

Craig.

[91sleeper]

Welcome and very clean car.

[darionvowels@gmail.com]

so i just sold my old subs and i got $100 so what is the first thing i should do with that money?

[OHC230]

Well Darion, if it were my car, I would save up another $50 and get the header from Speedway Motors, or see how far your $$ will go in an local muffler shop, putting a larger diameter exhaust system in.

[darionvowels@gmail.com]

i just dont want to go to a shop because they will make me run cats