Whats The Diff 85-86
 

Whats the differance from 85-86? Can I use a off-road X-pipe made for a 86 on an 85? What about lights fore and aft, are 85 & 86 compatible? PLEASE HELP!!!:confused: :confused:

'85 GT's had CFI fuel injection,the ones that had automatics,The one's that had 5-speeds had carburators.

All 85's had 7.5 rear-ends

'86 GT's was the first year of EFI along with the bigger 8.8 rear-ends

Bodywise,they are the same,the headlights are the same,cant remember bout the tailights off-hand,if I remember right they are the same as well.

I believe that exhaust wise for what you're looking for is that the '85's had dual, single, dual exhaust (went to Y-pipe under crossmember and back out to two outlets) whereas '86 was the first year of true dual exhaust. You may have to change the transmission crossmember if it doesn't have 2 "humps" for pipe clearance. an easy way to tell this is to look at it and if one side looks similar to the other, then it's dual hump, if the right side (i believe) is flat, then it's a single hump crossmember. You may also have to get the matching hanger for the H-pipe. They made a different hangers that bolted in between the crossmember and trans that are specific to either a manual or automatic trans. The stock one you might be able to use, but it will only support the left side exhaust pipe if it is for single systems.
Ford racing sells a dual hump crossmember kit, also it's pretty cheap to find at junkyards if you don't want to pay for a new one. Also the exhaust hanger is easy to find as well. When i converted my '84 LX i bought it all for something like $35 dollars.
Good luck, hope this helps.

If the crossover pipe hanger for the '85 is like the one that came on my '79, you may just need to have one end of the hanger bracket cut and flipped over and then re-welded to make the two bushings the same height instead of one lower than the other. Worked like a charm when I put my true dual exhaust on.

Thank you all for your help. I cant wait to get this thing together, I've been building the engine in my basement and cant wait to get it in the car...just waitin to find the right k-member and coil-over conversion. I'm looking to have her screamin next summer. NOT SOON E-NUF!!!!