Tips on buying an 87 GT(is it really a GT?)
 

Well on sunday it looks like I will be driving about an hour and a half away to hopefully purchase an 87 GT. The seller did not have pictures but told me everything about it he could through emails. He says the car was a shell when he got it but that it was an original GT 5spd car which would be just how I want it and he put in a 84 GT T5 and 87 HO motor.Yea I know 84 T5 isnt the best but if it breaks I'll save for tremec :)

Anyhow I figured I should at least find out the cold hard factuals on how to make positive that it was originally a 5.0 GT 5 spd from factory. Is there any tell tale things I should look for without looking at the vin and door tag, and also whats the best resource for vin and door tag info that will help me determine. One resource I found listed a 87 GT with the same body code as an 87 LX hatch which would not help anything because it just means the car was a hatch and does not prove it was a GT. I just wanna make sure I dont get the wool pulled over my eyes for a 4bang GT body convert because I have seen plenty of them on corral and stangnet.

Would a foglight switch and harness be conclusive? Did all the 87 up GT cars come with the sporty type seats with adjustable lumbar and all that? Any of this kind of info would help.

i believe the 87 GT's had a different interior than the lx's.
I used to own an 88LX 5.0 and it was basically the same thing as the 4cyl aside from teh engine trans rear end etc.

all i can suggest is try to search for interior pics from an 87lx and an 87 GT.
their has to be something in teh vin that indicates whether it was an orig. 5.0 car or not.

Why do you care if it was origanlly a GT or a 4 banger? The car has been chopped and thrown back together either way.

If you give me the VIN (should be on a plate thats visable in the lower right part of the windshield), I can tell you exactly what the car is.

Well actually it was not chopped and thrown back together. Unless I misunderstood it merely had the motor and tranny missing and replaced. The reason I care is that a 4bang had a bunch of undesireable parts that may not be obvious to most people(me). Sure I would be able to tell if it had an 8.8 or not but when it comes to suspension and brakes and what not it would be hard to tell. I dont have the vin yet but from what I read the engine code on door tag should read either E or M for 5.0HO which would basically prove it to be a V8 car to start with whether LX or GT because thats no big deal. I guess I can just look at a basic Ford vin decoder to get an idea as well. Was kind of hoping for a resource that would explain all the stuff. Every once in a while one of the stang mags puts one out. I had one but I think I tossed it.

When I heard "Shell" I normally think of a car completely stripped of its running gear.

Well he told me shell but said it had front suspension and rear end in it with 4.10s.

My humble opinion is that it doesnt matter what it used to be, it matter what it is now. Most of the factory stuff 4cyl/8cyl is crap and gets replaced very fast by the owners. If this stang has mods then the previous owner did some of your work for you =)

That said....

I owned an 87 LX 5.0 and a 91 gt 5.0 and they are _identical_. I took both cars apart to BITS AND PIECES and all the bits and pieces are exactly the same. The only difference is some ground fx and a light bar for the GT and the GT seats have a little lumbar motors in them only. The foglight switch, if it is an actual switch and not a dummy fake switch, is also only in the GT's but the switches burn out all the time and most stangers have gone through a couple replacements, usually getting the double switch along the way. That's about it. All mustangs come pre-wired for all accessories even if not installed. I found random empty harnesses all over my 87 lx 5.0. Probably if it has cruise control, it was a GT originally.

Now...

The 4 banger had different springs up front and a weaker rear axle (7.9 inch?) BUT if it has 4.10's then I assume it was upgrded to an 8.8 since I dont think the 7.9(?) has many gear kits for it. I think the 4 banger also had a smaller swaybar. Bottom line: does the body roll and does the suspension feel right? I used the 4 cyl t-5 for years and whaled on it. It will hold for quite a while if you dont put stickies on it. As for the engine controls, if it has the 5.0 HO motor, then it has the ECU and all necessary sensors and wiring.

Yea a guy I know has been running a T5 behind a gt40 setup on a 351w on small shot of juice and yea they break but it seemed to hold up for a while and that was with drag radials. Hoping it would be ok for a while.

I bet the steering wheels are different :p . In 1990 they started putting air bags in them.

Also, my LX has lumbar motors, so that was not exclusive to the GT (I wasn't sure if that is what you were saying or not, or if you were just mentioning the fact that your GT had them).

The main thing I was trying to say is not the diff of LX versus GT but rather 4cyl LX versus GT. I just figured on some kind of stuff that would absolutely only appear on a 2.3 car that would set it off from an 5.0 car. Here is a good question though. I just got done looking at an 89 GT in town and it only had the 85 mph speedo. I thought 89 started the 140 or was it that in 89 they began using the 140 after they ran out of 85's. I think I remember hearing that.

Anyhow I guess its not really worth worrying about because what are the chances they would have done such a thing and then go through all the trouble of fibbing about it. I seriously doubt it but I just feel that it would be foolish to not at least entertain the notion.