An 86 Mudstain 5.0 5 speed run 14.70 in stock form?

[Kern Dog]

Chrysler had nothing a real car guy wanted during those dark years... Yeah I know some point to the Shelby FWD stuff but FWD simply sucks so the choice was Chevy/Pontiac/Buick or Ford & of those choices Ford was the only option IMO...

I sold new cars in 1985. More accurate would be to state that I didn't sell enough new cars because from 1986 to present, I've been a Carpenter.
I sold Dodge, Chrysler/Plymouth, Chevrolet, Ford, VW/Renault/AMC/Jeep and Mitsubishi. The Mustang was the only worthy Ford of that era. The Camaro and Monte Carlo were the cool Chevrolet cars to own. I recall the HP wars of the mid to late 80s....Ma Mopar was pushing the FWD tin cans. I knew a guy that had an '85 Shelby Charger. Yeah, it was faster than my stock 350 73 Camaro but that wasn't any real accomplishment.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I sold new cars in 1985. More accurate would be to state that I didn't sell enough new cars because from 1986 to present, I've been a Carpenter.
I sold Dodge, Chrysler/Plymouth, Chevrolet, Ford, VW/Renault/AMC/Jeep and Mitsubishi. The Mustang was the only worthy Ford of that era. The Camaro and Monte Carlo were the cool Chevrolet cars to own. I recall the HP wars of the mid to late 80s....Ma Mopar was pushing the FWD tin cans. I knew a guy that had an '85 Shelby Charger. Yeah, it was faster than my stock 350 73 Camaro but that wasn't any real accomplishment.

Actually I kinda liked the small Fox Bodied LTD... Not the full sized boat, though at the time they were decent cars, And the T birds were decent cars too....

 

[WileE]

To the OP' s question, yes. Secondly, I won't red x anyone, but I have to disagree with most here. I owned 3 FWD shelby Daytonas, including a new 87. Best reliable car I ever owned. To keep up with the Fox cars, I modded them, the first with nitrous, the last with "extra" boost with numerous mods too lengthy to list here. The kiddies in their Mustangs got a good view of my taillights. And, that one would probably blow away most cars here. I don't intend to sound mean here, but when I read/hear "Mopar" people condescending the FWD cars, I like to share my experiences. Worst part was the torque steer, but the best part was the smile on my face after I left snotface in the dust.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Now lets mod the Mustang & try that again.....

Not to mention the noise a V8 makes vs a 4 cylinder FWD...

 

[Mike67]

That sounds about right, I had an 86 we used to take to EastTex drag strip. 14.7-8s consistently once you got the hang of not spinning w/ the 5spd.

 

[vintage chromoly]

My 91 went 14.90’s 4 days after I picked it up off the showroom floor.

a K&N filter, some more timing and a Hurst shifter, and the car was 14.60’s

Say what you want about Ford and the Fox body cars, but they carried the high performance torch through the dark days.

GM and their turbo cars were junk. Fast when they held together, but always broken.

chrysler was a joke during that time period.

 

[sam dupont]

The 1991 Stealth R/T was fun. They advertised 13.90's

 

[Mike67]

My 91 went 14.90’s 4 days after I picked it up off the showroom floor.

a K&N filter, some more timing and a Hurst shifter, and the car was 14.60’s

Say what you want about Ford and the Fox body cars, but they carried the high performance torch through the dark days.

GM and their turbo cars were junk. Fast when they held together, but always broken.

chrysler was a joke during that time period.

I was just about to say that with some improvements you could dip into mid14s.
I swapped to JBA headers and under driven pulleys.
I don't know about the rest of the nation, but around 85-86 really started the 5.0 wars with Buick and Ford down here.
Texas Turbos and Ken Belle were big players back in the day.
As much as I hate to admit it I think they actually revived the muscle car era.

 

[beanhead]

The super coupe T-bird was no slouch either, at least it felt that way. That was a fun car and looked infinitely better than most everything else out in '89. Only a 6 but supercharged. I think it was faster than the 5.0 version of the same car. Ours would run down the neighbor's IROC-Z with ease..
Like most of you here I don't care for the fords but you'd be crazy to not give them the respect due....they were the first to have the nuts to bring back the 'retro' styling we all love with the 2000s T-Bird and Mustang...
Had those not been successful, the new Challenger and possibly the crazy new muscle in general may not exist..

 

[moparedtn]

The super coupe T-bird was no slouch either, at least it felt that way. That was a fun car and looked infinitely better than most everything else out in '89. Only a 6 but supercharged. I think it was faster than the 5.0 version of the same car. Ours would run down the neighbor's IROC-Z with ease..
Like most of you here I don't care for the fords but you'd be crazy to not give them the respect due....they were the first to have the nuts to bring back the 'retro' styling we all love with the 2000s T-Bird and Mustang...
Had those not been successful, the new Challenger and possibly the crazy new muscle in general may not exist..

The "Super Chickens" as we called them had a modern, turbo version of the old Pinto 4 banger in them in '89. Brother-in-law bought one of those new about the same time I got my 5.0 and kept it a long time; he loved the thing and thought it
was the fastest critter...
He found out a couple times with me in mine, though.

To the OP' s question, yes. Secondly, I won't red x anyone, but I have to disagree with most here. I owned 3 FWD shelby Daytonas, including a new 87. Best reliable car I ever owned. To keep up with the Fox cars, I modded them, the first with nitrous, the last with "extra" boost with numerous mods too lengthy to list here. The kiddies in their Mustangs got a good view of my taillights. And, that one would probably blow away most cars here. I don't intend to sound mean here, but when I read/hear "Mopar" people condescending the FWD cars, I like to share my experiences. Worst part was the torque steer, but the best part was the smile on my face after I left snotface in the dust.

With nitrous? I'd certainly hope they would, sheesh.
Hey, nobody then wanted more than me for Ma's stuff to be worthwhile - it just wasn't.
You can't expect cars put together like that to withstand the beatings a conventional RWD V8 could - and
they didn't.
I repeat though - when the car wasn't in the shop, it was a BLAST to drive, massive torque steer and all.
Handled like it was on rails, ate Gatorbacks like candy - and when you launched the dang thing, you'd
best have the front wheels pointed where you wanted to go, because it was GOING to go there, hell or
high water.

When they came out with the GLHS after mine and used the Getrag transaxle, that cured some of the
problems with grenading final drives; intercooling the Garrett made more power, too.
My friend bought an '86 GLHS and his was probably worse than mine for taking abuse, but the dang
thing was seriously quick when it wasn't in the shop, too. It ate head gaskets regularly.
BOTH of us got the official "no more warranty for you" notices from Chrysler, though - not because
of what we were doing with the cars (which was tame compared to what you were, apparently) but
because we'd just had so many claims!

Point is, we desperately tried to stay all Mopar (which I'd been up to that point and returned to after
the 5.0); the products they had just wouldn't let us in the end.
I thought it important to support Ma so that the old performance parts would keep flowing from Chrysler,
but you can only tell your boss so many times the reason you missed work was because your shiny
new ride was in the shop AGAIN....
and it took a long time before Chrysler built anything I wanted again.
Pickups and Grand Cherokees (both ) filled the daily chores up until the turn of the century for us.
Things are SO much better at Dodge now.

 

[beanhead]

The "Super Chickens" as we called them had a modern, turbo version of the old Pinto 4 banger in them in '89. Brother-in-law bought one of those new about the same time I got my 5.0 and kept it a long time; he loved the thing and thought it
was the fastest critter...
He found out a couple times with me in mine, though.


With nitrous? I'd certainly hope they would, sheesh.
Hey, nobody then wanted more than me for Ma's stuff to be worthwhile - it just wasn't.
You can't expect cars put together like that to withstand the beatings a conventional RWD V8 could - and
they didn't.
I repeat though - when the car wasn't in the shop, it was a BLAST to drive, massive torque steer and all.
Handled like it was on rails, ate Gatorbacks like candy - and when you launched the dang thing, you'd
best have the front wheels pointed where you wanted to go, because it was GOING to go there, hell or
high water.

When they came out with the GLHS after mine and used the Getrag transaxle, that cured some of the
problems with grenading final drives; intercooling the Garrett made more power, too.
My friend bought an '86 GLHS and his was probably worse than mine for taking abuse, but the dang
thing was seriously quick when it wasn't in the shop, too. It ate head gaskets regularly.
BOTH of us got the official "no more warranty for you" notices from Chrysler, though - not because
of what we were doing with the cars (which was tame compared to what you were, apparently) but
because we'd just had so many claims!

Point is, we desperately tried to stay all Mopar (which I'd been up to that point and returned to after
the 5.0); the products they had just wouldn't let us in the end.
I thought it important to support Ma so that the old performance parts would keep flowing from Chrysler,
but you can only tell your boss so many times the reason you missed work was because your shiny
new ride was in the shop AGAIN....
and it took a long time before Chrysler built anything I wanted again.
Pickups and Grand Cherokees (both ) filled the daily chores up until the turn of the century for us.
Things are SO much better at Dodge now.

Ours had the turbo 6....a WHOPPING 210-ish HP or something thereabouts..mom loved driving that thing.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

The "Super Chickens" as we called them had a modern, turbo version of the old Pinto 4 banger in them in '89.

88 was the last year of the Turbo Coupe, 89 was a Supercharged V-6..

 

[threewood]

To the OP' s question, yes. Secondly, I won't red x anyone, but I have to disagree with most here. I owned 3 FWD shelby Daytonas, including a new 87. Best reliable car I ever owned. To keep up with the Fox cars, I modded them, the first with nitrous, the last with "extra" boost with numerous mods too lengthy to list here. The kiddies in their Mustangs got a good view of my taillights. And, that one would probably blow away most cars here. I don't intend to sound mean here, but when I read/hear "Mopar" people condescending the FWD cars, I like to share my experiences. Worst part was the torque steer, but the best part was the smile on my face after I left snotface in the dust.

I had two, an 85 GLH-T and an 87 GLHS. The weakest part of those cars was the 525 transaxle. They would flex and deflect the ring and pinion. And they were rod shifted, which would wear and pop off. The later fwd cars had an upgraded version, either the 523, 555 or 568, with cable shift and better case/gears.

I didn't keep them stock long so all the broken parts to follow were my own fault lol.

 

[Mike67]

The GN/GNXs and T Types were feared and rightfully so on the street down here. There were 4 of them that ran in a pack down here and were true 12 sec steet cars. It took the trailer queens to give them any competion.
Turbos,Fuel injection, almost 300 hp from a V6??? What satanic works were we watching? These destroyed big blocks with ease.
I remember when my buddy worked for Hennessy they had a Stealth RT in and did a lot of work to it. He took me for a ride in it, AWD, twin turbos...that thing was a rocket! I think it was putting down about 450.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I had two, an 85 GLH-T and an 87 GLHS. The weakest part of those cars was the 525 transaxle. They would flex and deflect the ring and pinion. And they were rod shifted, which would wear and pop off. The later fwd cars had an upgraded version, either the 523, 555 or 568, with cable shift and better case/gears.

I didn't keep them stock long so all the broken parts to follow were my own fault lol.

And the Mustang had a T-5 trans & an 8.8 axle.. Both will take a lot of abuse...

 

[moparedtn]

And the Mustang had a T-5 trans & an 8.8 axle.. Both will take a lot of abuse...

Testify!
The boys at the track couldn't figure out how I won the SSGT championship two years running with mine,
yet never broke anything in the driveline.
I'd just say "I know how to drive a stick, fellas".
Pissed 'em off every time...

 

[moparedtn]

The GN/GNXs and T Types were feared and rightfully so on the street down here. There were 4 of them that ran in a pack down here and were true 12 sec steet cars. It took the trailer queens to give them any competion.
Turbos,Fuel injection, almost 300 hp from a V6??? What satanic works were we watching? These destroyed big blocks with ease.
I remember when my buddy worked for Hennessy they had a Stealth RT in and did a lot of work to it. He took me for a ride in it, AWD, twin turbos...that thing was a rocket! I think it was putting down about 450.

Those were strong contenders for my new car dollars at one time, the "Darth Vaders"...
Problem was, dealers were seriously proud of them (I'd have chosen the T-Type, since the GN was all gingerbready),
not to mention - no stick available.
Pass....

 

[Cranky]

Man, had no idea this thread would morph into this LOL. A dealer buddy used to come over with all the latest/greatest stuff from Mom and it was fun driving them. One was a new GLHS cracker box (Omni) and well, torque steer was a bit fun to say the least. Took on a new Camaro but it was no competition as the 'box' took it with ease. Took off kinda easy in 1st but power shifted it into 2nd once the R's came up and then fought the wheel from 10 to 2 then 9 to 3 and well put it in 3rd and it lined out. Heard about and felt torque steer but not like this thing did. Later on bought a 95 Intrepid with all the bells and whistles and it was a nice car but it was still FWD with very little torque steer due to traction control but still, that just doesn't go over with me all that good. The only other FWD car we had was a 87 Shadow non turbo and it served us well until we bought a new 2000 Durango and FWD cars were history. We got the Shadow 2dr dirt cheap (got caught in a fire) with 30k miles on it and put 75k on it before sending it on with a leaking head gasket....but one of the huge pluses was when my dealer friend came over with a Viper!!! Now those were cool to the max. Over the next few years he come over with 6 or 7 of them! Only down side to them is they sit too low for every day drivers.

 

[33 IMP]

I had an 83 5.0, with the five speed and a holley. It was fun, and dependable, but not fast. The 83 had the non world class t5, and only the 7.5 rear. I bought it used for next to nothing, with 100k, and put another 125k on it. I loved that car, except for it being black.
What i found interesting was that even with factory air, it was lighter than my V8 vega. There is a reason the fox mustangs are the go-to body for street racers. Gut the doors, gut the bumpers, use a notchback, throw in an all aluminum LS, with nitrous, and you have a 700hp car that weighs 2600 lbs, or less.

 

[Cranky]

I had an 83 5.0, with the five speed and a holley. It was fun, and dependable, but not fast. The 83 had the non world class t5, and only the 7.5 rear. I bought it used for next to nothing, with 100k, and put another 125k on it. I loved that car, except for it being black.
What i found interesting was that even with factory air, it was lighter than my V8 vega. There is a reason the fox mustangs are the go-to body for street racers. Gut the doors, gut the bumpers, use a notchback, throw in an all aluminum LS, with nitrous, and you have a 700hp car that weighs 2600 lbs, or less.

Hey, it wasn't hard to get my 66 Belvedere down to 2950 with the factory AC still on it and I've taken a good bunch more out of it over the last several years....