New Owner of '86 Mustang

[Teacher]

Hello, Mustang people. I must admit I do not know that much about Mustangs. I ride a Harley and do most of the maintenance. I've worked on cars before but most of them have been Chevy Camaros. So now, maybe I've seen the light. What I need to find out is what do I have here? This Mustang is a 1986 "LX" Vin #1FABP28M7GF325491. Can any of you experts help to make me understand the code and let me know what I have? I didn't have to pay much for this car, but I know I will have to spend some money to get it running good. The hatchback is really rusting. Do they make a fiberglass replacement? When I put it into gear it clangs pretty good and makes a squeek squeek squeek until I get up in speed. Could that be U-joints? I thought it was a wheel bearing at first, but if I take it out of gear while rolling the squeek stops.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, Teacher

[UglyFast88]

Hello, Teacher.

I'm pretty new to the 'Stangs as well, but not to cars. I can't believe it took me this long to get a 'Stang, though. Regarding your hatch problem, I just finished replacing mine today, with one from a donor car. Being in Texas, it should be easier for you to find one in good shape than it was for me, in Michigan... I did take the spoiler off, (if you have one, you may want to do the same) and sanded the surface rust off and prime underneath it. There are stoppers around the spoiler to keep it lifted slightly to let water out, and under vibration, they quickly wear the hatch down to metal. Also, look for rust on the roof in the channel right in front of the hinges for the hatch. It looked perfest from outside, but it was actually rusted through once I got the hatch off. Plus, if you get a donor hatch, you probably get an extra set of bolts for the hinges, and an extra set of hardware (license plate lights, spacers, and shims) as well... Good luck!

Joe

[gtsr515]

Grats! on your purchase, my first stang was an 86, I don't the ability to decifer your VIN but I CAN tell you a bit about the car, it has a 58mm throttle body compared to 60mm on 87 and up, also the E6TE heads are not as good as the E7TE's found on later models, you do have the good 8.8 rear end though.

I think your squeak is a bad throw out bearing.

[Teacher]

Thanks for the input. Can someone tell me what year hatchback will fit the '86? Just '86 or will other year hatchbacks work? I didn't mention this in my first thread but my tranny, I believe, is an AOD.
Thanks, Teacher

[1BadCobra]

You can buy a fiberglass back hatch. Just pick up a mustang magazine (MM&FF or something) and look for the hood adds. Most of them sell back hatches. I believe the back hatch is the same for 85 thru 93.

[kelso50]

Your VIN decodes as:
1FABP - USA, Ford Passenger Car, Active Seatbelts
28 - 3-door Hatchback (L/GL/GLX/LX/GT Series)
M - V8, 5.0 Liter, 302 (EFI) Engine
7 - VIN internal check digit
G - 1986 model year
F - Dearborn Assembly Plant
325491 - Consecutive build number

There is also a tag on the door. The codes on that tag will tell you what type of transmission, axle ratios, paint color, etc. Post that information and I'll decode it for you. Or follow this link and decode it yourself (this link gives tons of useful information on the various years and the differences and so on).

http://www.mustanggt.org/forms/86decode.htm#vin

[Teacher]

Thanks a lot Kelso50. Good info. I will check that site out.
Teacher

[LX5liter]

Welcome to the "Works" Teacher.
I'm assuming your car is an automatic since you say it clunks when you put it in gear. The clunking and the squeaking are most likely U-joints as you first suspected.
I have seen fiberglass hatches advertised in magazines so they are out there somewhere.

[Teacher]

LX5Liter, thanks on that info. Another thing, did these Mustangs come with stock headers? They look very rusted and I thought at first they were bent up looking around where they bolt up to the heads. Information please.
Teacher

[Dark_5.0]

Yes you are describing the stock headers.

Welcome

[84LX89GT]

The stock headers are better than the usual log type manifolds because of the direction of flow they have and the scavenging....they look like they were bent by a junior high shop student with a standard tube bender, aftermarket ones are much better, but being stock i guess it's better than what they had before.
The hatch from any '79 to '93 mustang will fit and the aftermarket ones i've heard are pretty easy to mount up.
Also the intake manifold flowed less, the throttle body was smaller as mentioned 58mm, which i believe is the diameter of the mass air flow sensors in '89 - '93 mustangs....just some useless fact
Also the pistons didn't have valve reliefs and the mustangs had the "high swirl" inefficient cylinder heads that came on most of the passanger vehicles. If you want to put in a big cam or larger valves, chances are you'll have to have reliefs machined into the pistons. Those heads basically can go in the garbage, they flow horrible and i've heard that they swirl the air/fuel so much to the point where the fuel gets slung out of suspension and alot of it ends up on the cylinder walls where it cools down and doesn't get burnt. Getting a set of E7TE castings from '87-'93 mustangs are actually a big improvement.
now the positives, it's the first year of multi-port fuel injection and as such get better gas mileage, faster throttle response and more lowend torque than previous models with carburetion and throttle body fuel injection (CFI). Those cars are still fun and in my opinion are the best looking mustangs of the early to mid 80's, with the '82 GT's coming in 2nd.
I hope this helped a little bit and i also hope that it's accurate as well.

[86GT]

Welcome to the Mustangworks. Its always good to see another quad light owner on here. This board is the best around, with some of the most knowledgable people in the mustang scene.

The 86 has the 8.8" rear end, terrible heads, and poor upper intake and throttle body. Changing to an 87-93 heads and upper intake and throttle body really woke up my car a few years ago. 86's are also the first year for the 10.5" clutch. If you decide to change the heads, you might as well get the pistons flycut, since they are flat top forged pistons.

[Teacher]

Thanks, guys. I really do appreciate all the info you are passing on to me. I guess I'll start slow and build this little Mustang up into a real groundpounder! I'm just surprised how easily it is to start spinning the tires. I'm doing about 25 and just tromp it and man they start screaming! I think this is going to be a fun car to play with.
Talk later, Teacher