Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests 1986 Mustang GT

Found a mustang gt today...1986. It has 136000 on the clock, and a brand new transmission that was just installed. Said the only thing that it needed was the speedo cable replaced which he has already, just never installed it, and he said the power steering pump was installed incorrectly and needs to be adjusted. Brand new paint job, and I don't see any rust under it. Hes asking 3000, but i'll offer 2 grand. Does the engine have a decent amount of life in it with 136k on the clock?..i know it depends on how he treated it, but just give me an idea of how long they usually last so I can make an offer or just forget about it. Thanks guys.

I had an '85 with 175,000ish on it. But I bought it off a Roush mechanic and it was all tricked out. Paid 1200 for it in 1999. It was rusted to hell tho.

how long did the engine last?

Just like anything else. Depends on how he's maintained it, how hard he's driven it etc etc. Mine was pushing 100k when it was traded in and it ran like new. It was very well looked after though.

302 can last a looong time, but i would be prepared to do some rings and valve seals. also, fwiw, 86 was the first year for EFI and was the slowest of the generation. you may want to consider going carb on it if you want to go fast. it was the last of the open headlight body style, which is kind of cool imo.

enjoy!

I have a 1986 Mustang GT 5.0 5-speed.

My Mustang has been remarkably reliable. It currently has 207K miles (I'm the second owner; bought it in '88 with 29K miles on it). The engine crankcase has never been opened. The alternator, starter and entire power steering system are original. I replaced the clutch at a little over 200K miles - and was shocked to discover it was still in good shape. The original brake drums and rotors went over 200K miles (yeah, lots of commuter miles). The transmission has never been opened - some synchros aren't as smooth as they used to be, but it still drives fine. Even my radiator and heater core (which is noted for failure) are still original.

I've put a few sets of struts in it over the years. The struts are reasonable to do yourself: The spring is mounted separately, so no spring compressor required.

Most of my paint is even still original ('87 was the first year for Ford's problematic clear-coat paints).

I have replaced a few non-regular-maintenance items: The water pump's backing plate began seeping at 125K miles; the pump itself was OK, but I replaced it anyway while dealing with the backing plate. The TFI module (ignition module on the distributor cap) failed (common failure; there was a class action suit on this, but mine failed over 100K miles, which was the suit cutoff). I replaced the fuel pump (which is in the gas tank, but still a reasonable DIY job).

Yes, '86 was the first year for the multi-point EFI 5.0 in a Mustang. The horsepower rating was dropped slightly over the '85 carb models (210 to 200, IIRC). The stock '86 heads are more restrictive than later years; if you're out for absolute horsepower, most upgrades don't make sense until the heads have been upgraded. I decided 200 HP was enough; since it was my only daily driver for a number of years, I didn't wan't to sacrifice reliability for horsepower.

I believe much of my good fortune with this car is due to fluid changes: I've always kept up with oil changes, etc. I switched over to synthetic oil after about 130K miles (BTW, no increase in oil consumption due to the switch).

If the car has been well maintained, I wouldn't let high mileage scare you away - but look for written documentation and try to get a feel for how the car was driven. I've seen far too many Mustangs that have lived a very hard life.

what kind of gas mileage do you guys get? I understand its a V-8, just curious how bad it is...and it doesn't require premium gas right?

Yeah....86' was pretty enemic w/FI....too bad it didn't have the "last" of the Holley 4-BBl's. If worse comes to worse, have the engine rebuilt and bored .30 over and upgrade to an MAF system. That should be fairly inexpensive...at least compared to a crate engine.

The T-5's are fairly resilient on Mustangs, but not on Z-28's for some reason....bellhousing and internals maybe??

BTW, my 92 notchback with a TCI-prepped AOD and 3.73's, BBK headers, Xpipe and american thunder Flowmaster cat-back got 12 MPG on a good day( I beat the crap out of it, though)

IIRC, I could squeeze about 18 mpg on the highway.