This is topic If you had to choose 1 car to keep as a toy in forum General Talk at Northern California Ford Owners  .


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Posted by Blind (Member # 3052) on :
 
Strictly hypothetical for you, may be a decision to come up soon for me.

I have 2 cars that most would consider to be toys.

My daily driver, is actually an $80 road bike, my commute to work is about 6-10 miles per day depending if I ride home for lunch, or bring it with me.

The 2 cars in question, are my `89 lx coupe that I put a lot of time into.

It has a stock forged bottom end `87 302 in it, with trick flow tw heads, trick flow stage 1 cam, edelbrock intake, ati procharger p1sc front mount intercooled supercharger, pullied for ~10psi, anderson powerpipe, canton 7qt road race oil pan with baffles, 1.6 rockers, hardened pushrods, arp headstuds, canton lower girdle with arp bolts, windage tray, high volume oil pump, explorer oil cooler, spec stage 2 clutch.
It has Griggs coil overs on Koni double-adjustable struts up front, sn95 steering rack, MM alloy rack bushings, MM FLSFC's, MM swaybar endlinks and bushings, MM strut brace, MM c/c plates, MM hybrid sn95 rack/fox steering column steering ragjoint, fluidyne radiator, 3g alternator, MM adj rear lca's, MM panhard bar, koni single adjustable rear shocks, MM torque arm rear springs, 3.73 gears with 03 cobra carbon friction discs in the diff, frpp aluminum driveshaft, T5, tri-ax shifter, all black interior w/hunsaker 5 point compatible race buckets, rear seat delete, trunk mount battery, 93 cobra brake booster and master cylinder, 04 mach1 13" front brakes on `95 spindles, northracecars.com rear cobra brake brackets for stock fox-length cobra 5 lug brakes, yukon hardened 5 lug fox length axles, dynomax black ceramic coated equal length headers, o/r 2.5" x-pipe, dynomax 2.5" superturbo catback...

Really there is too much to list, all it really needs to be finished up is for me to finish hiding the wiring in the fenders, finish laying sound deadoner through the interior, finish wiring up the gauge pod (boost, water temp, oil pressure, and 5" tach), have a 6pt cage built that can fit my 6'5" head in a helmet, and shell out for body work and a paint job.

Here's pics-








 

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Posted by Blind (Member # 3052) on :
 
the other car is my `97 gt coupe.
It has a 'b' headed dohc 32v motor, teksid block, `96 cobra top end with imrc deletes, stock intake and exhaust manifolds, BBK 2.5" o/r h-pipe, flowmaster IRS american thunder 2.5" catback, stock `00 gt radiator, bbk fenderwell cai w/K&N, t45, king cobra clutch, mgw shifter, 04 mach1 13" front brakes, 03/04 cobra front lower arms, MM alloy rack bushings, MM c/c plates, stock 96-98 cobra strut brace, stock 96-98 convertible lower X brace, MM swaybar endlinks & bushings, MM FLSFC's, 03/04 cobra IRS, billetflow IRS diff brace, MM poly IRS cradle bushings, 03/04 stock bilstein shocks and struts, 03/04 cobra spec'd IRS H&R Race springs w/MM poly isolators, `95 gt grey bucket seats and 2 tone black over grey door panels and rear panels (it had all grey stock), `04 cupholder center console w/`04 double din radio bezel, `00 gt leather shift knob, JL 6.5" components in the front doors and mach460 pods, no rear speakers (removed the mach460 rear speaker box/amps/wiring), kenwood 75wx2 rms amp for the front speakers, boston accustics 10" sub in a sealed box in the trunk with an mtx 300w rms amp. The trunk, doors, and some of the floor has been covered with sound deadoner.


Here's pics







The cars old solid rear axle had 4.30 gears in it, and I miss them, so I do have a brand new in the box set of ford racing 4.30 gears + installation kit ready for this car. The paint is far from perfect and it could use a new paintjob to make me happy, the stock hood is cracking right over the intake of the 4v motor so that would need to be addressed, I'd like to install drop motor mounts but haven't been able to find any that still utilize a bushing isolator...don't want the car to shake.


Which would you choose, if you had to keep only 1 toy car?  For what it's worth, I built both cars, no work has ever been done to them by anyone but myself and a couple friends lending hands a few times. I'm sure I missed LOTS of parts that both cars have on them, it's rather rediculous how deep I've gotten into both of them. Somedays I find myself really wanting just 1 project car to concentrate on.

The `97 is a much nicer overall car, but when I want to go on a long trip in a nice car, my wife and I will either take my Harley truck, or her `08 GT...

the `89 is a much FASTER overall car, and both can fit my 17x9 track wheels (knock off bullitt's w/ 275/40r17 nitto nt-01's), the `97 is easier to drive because of it having less torque.

Either car is basically a weekend track toy, now that I ride a bike to work...I just can't see owning both of them, I just have too many cars to take care of/wash/pay insurance/registration on that I don't drive. I'm definitely selling our Tahoe in the short term, but I really need to make a decision on one of these cars.

I'm going to post this on a foxbody centric, and on an sn95 centric forum as a poll to compare the answers
 

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Posted by JohnCM (Member # 1076) on :
 
Foxbody for sure. You put way too much time and effort into that one. I remember when you got it as a 4 cyl. back in the day

It's come a long way, you'd probably regret getting rid of that one for sure
 

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Posted by phonso302 (Member # 9260) on :
 
Front plates are visible on the last picture
 

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Posted by fstryde3 (Member # 8436) on :
 
You gotta ask yourself which one is more practical, money mileage insurance maintanence and go from there. Sometimes just cause we love a car doesn't mean we can keep it. Your car man and if you get rid of it don't look back with regret shit will drive you crazy.
 

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Posted by Blind (Member # 3052) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by phonso302:
Front plates are visible on the last picture

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quote:

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Originally posted by JohnCM:
Foxbody for sure. You put way too much time and effort into that one. I remember when you got it as a 4 cyl. back in the day

It's come a long way, you'd probably regret getting rid of that one for sure

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Agreed... Seems like uve put more into the fox... And also, if its just a toy, who cares how much torque it has? U wont drive it everyday...
 

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Posted by Zeke (Member # 9432) on :
 
With the amount of work that you've put into that car, I think the '89 LX is the one that should be your toy car. Being that this car would be your "weekend track toy" you already have a pretty good platform to work with, with your '89.
 

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Posted by Greasy (Member # 5258) on :
 
Keep the fox, easy to work on, parts are cheap, registration and insurance are cheap. Plus it'll put a lot of other cars in their place.
 

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Posted by Luke87GT (Member # 21) on :
 
Kevin, most folks here will probably tell you to keep the fox. And they would have a good point. It's lighter, has the most desireable body style of the fox years, and has more work into it.

If it were me, and the "toy" was really a race car, I'd probably keep the fox. If you are looking for an all around toy that you can race or drive on the street frequently, the SN95 platform is without question superior.

If it were me, I'd probably sell the fox and get a blower for the DOHC.

I am 100% in agreement with you that owning 2 "toys" that sit around is excessive...
 

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Posted by Blind (Member # 3052) on :
 
My biggest issue with keeping the fox is smog, although everything has a CARB #, is setup legally, I always have trouble passing visual, the last time I smogged it the first place failed me because of the SFI balancer and 'they couldn't read the timing marks', apparently a polished billet balancer is hard to read the marks, lol. I got passed that by painting it black and sticking a timing strip sticker on it...but it's always something!

The 97 goes through smog like stock and its originally from NV, so it doesnt even have to pass the obd2 check, if it has a lit CEL it can be cleared right before the test and if the sniffer is clean it passes. It's nice to not worry about which smog tech is working that day whether it will pass smog...
 

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Posted by 1RaW93SvT (Member # 9151) on :
 
FOXBODY
 

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Posted by JohnCM (Member # 1076) on :
 
Put some chalk on the balancer and call it a day
 

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Posted by turbo50 (Member # 6700) on :
 
I have a 2006 Harley bagger, nice as fuck.

I have a 66 dodge charger, work in progress.

I have a 69 camaro nice as fuck.

I have bought and sold over 40 foxbody mustangs in my lifetime and I keep coming back to them.

There is no second thinking this for me.

Hands down the fox body.

Dan
 

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Posted by losbadgts (Member # 4394) on :
 
Nether just my two cents. California Fucking sucks with smog laws and modified cars. It's not fun fixing up cars anymore. Buy something new that its fast and fun to drive stock. Or and old school pre smog

[ July 06, 2011, 11:53 PM: Message edited by: losbadgts ]
 

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Posted by stangin' (Member # 514) on :
 
definitely keep the fox coupe.
 

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Posted by hilltim54 (Member # 10655) on :
 
Just askin, if u were to sell the fox.. How much would u ask for it??
 

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Posted by NavidR (Member # 3164) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by stangin':
definitely keep the fox coupe.

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quote:

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Originally posted by NavidR:

quote:

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Originally posted by stangin':
definitely keep the fox coupe.

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+1

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quote:

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Originally posted by 04 S281:
I'm gonna have to go against the grain here and vote for the SN95.

You yourself said the 97 is a nicer overall car, and easier to drive on-track due to the predictable torque low down in the mod motors RPM range.

The fox may be faster overall, but which one do you enjoy driving most? Which one is more rewarding at the limit on-track?

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I say the sn95 is nicer, because it has awesome A/C, the heater works great, the ABS is nice to have, it's much quieter and it rides a lot nicer on the freeway.

But that's the thing, one has IRS and no torque, even back with the old SRA and 4.30 gears I always wanted more torque out of it, like it needed 4.56 gears or something, it's even worse now with 3.55's or whatever the 03/04 cobra IRS has stock...the other car has a 3 link and is a complete animal, like a 500hp gokart. Around the track I don't have the skills to really drive it as fast as it could be driven, the sn95 is easier to drive, no question about it. It's easy to be smooth. But getting the lines right with the fox and putting all the power down...nothing that I've driven can compare, and I've taken rides / driven in a lot of different cars out at track days. The only thing close was a friends z06 corvette, but that felt slow and huge compared to my fox.

I've put ~30k miles onto the sn95 as a daily driver for the past 3 years and it's never had a problem, I've taken it to the autox/track once a month for the past 2 years while I took the foxbody apart and was building the engine up. It's a super reliable car, returns 18-26mpg depending how I drive it, can rev to 7200rpm anytime I want it to, and with ~300rwhp and being fairly light, it's really fast enough to have a lot of fun in, especially with how well the total package of parts on the car handle.

Now that I bike to work, and the foxbody is nearly done, I find less of a need to keep both cars.

it's going to be a tough choice, I really love driving both cars, and since both started out with motor swaps, I've really put a lot of time into both of them...
 

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Posted by Notch_notch (Member # 8902) on :
 
im keep my fox body coupe forever. Fox body FTW peiord.
 

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Posted by cali95gt (Member # 8940) on :
 
Ok, yes people say keep the fox because it's so unique, bullcrap... This is what I'd do bro.. Sell the fox to some idiot on here that pay top dollar for it, say $7000...

Then take that $7000 and do this:
$2600 MMR900 shortblock
$3000 Vortech/Procharger/Paxton blower
$1400- tranny or a tune...

You'd have a realiable blown 4v with the IRS to hit the twisties. Now that is something truly unique. O yea that would be worth more realistically/ make more power/ be able to take longer trips than the fox.
 

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Posted by 87MclarenMustang (Member # 10695) on :
 
Keep the fox, sell the sn95 and paint the coupe.
 

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Posted by M&M Performance *BlownMach1* (Member # 5400) on :
 
The notch duh!!! Lol and this is coming from a person who swears by 4v motors!
 

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Posted by Smoked50 (Member # 9592) on :
 
Keep the coupe. Those head lights on the SN look mean though lol
 

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Posted by SF Coupe (Member # 1810) on :
 
It looks like you have a lot more money into the fox. Financially it makes more sense to sell the SN95 because you stand to lose a lot more by selling the fox. However, it sounds like your goal is a streetable track toy. The SN95 is a better car for that. If you're building an all out race car either car can be made identically fast for about the same money. The only drawbacks I see on those cars for the track is the IRS on the SN95 causing heat issues and eating diffs, and the blower on the fox causing overheating issues.
 

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Posted by Blind (Member # 3052) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by SF Coupe:
It looks like you have a lot more money into the fox. Financially it makes more sense to sell the SN95 because you stand to lose a lot more by selling the fox. However, it sounds like your goal is a streetable track toy. The SN95 is a better car for that. If you're building an all out race car either car can be made identically fast for about the same money. The only drawbacks I see on those cars for the track is the IRS on the SN95 causing heat issues and eating diffs, and the blower on the fox causing overheating issues.

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