I know there are some turbo ford fans here and I have a question about one of the more rare turbo foxes, the SVO. How hard is it to find parts for an SVO? From what I remember they had a lot of model specific suspension and brake parts that were hard to get when the car was new. I haven't seen any turbo coupes or merkurs for sale lately but I did run across an SVO. Any chance of reviving one for daily driver use?
I dig 'em. Motors are stout, SVO zealots are rabid. Most of the unique parts can be replaced with aftermarket stuffs for "ordinary" foxbodies.
My favorite thing is the speedometer that skirts the legality of the "85mph speedo" requirement... it only shows numbers to 85, but the ticks go up to 140, hahaha.
ReverendDexter wrote: I dig 'em. Motors are stout, SVO zealots are rabid. Most of the unique parts can be replaced with aftermarket stuffs for "ordinary" foxbodies. My favorite thing is the speedometer that skirts the legality of the "85mph speedo" requirement... it only shows *numbers* to 85, but the ticks go up to 140, hahaha.
i've seen a couple of SVO speedos that were just blank without any markings at all after 85mph, with a sweep that looked like it went to about 140.
i'm not sure what all was done to the cars, but i saw a couple of SVO's in the early 90's that had all tubular control arms front and rear. i know the 5 lug brake rotors and wheels were stock on them, but that's easy enough to copy with Ranger and Aerostar parts.
rear control arms?
Have one and its for sale.
5 lug hubs, good brakes, longer suspension arms, konis.
Mine had an engine fire and was pulled from the crusher - PO had a rear ended GT so the SVO got the 302/T5 and wiring. Pisses off the SVO guys (is this my fault?) to no end. Great little cars.
Funny line: when someone asked Jack Rouch how much power the SVO Trans Am cars had he said: "250 . . . 250 per cylinder."
PM me if you want one.
85mph, with a sweep that looked like it went to about 140.
I dont think there was any kind of legal enforcement that the speedo couldnt go past 85. I think it was a voluntary arrangement for the OEMs. I know the 86 and 87 GLHS's just had a sticker applique stuck on the speedo that extended the MPH from 85 to 135. Incidentially, based on this, all us old k-car goofs know that when we get the speedo all the way back around to 5 mph, we're doing 135. 
Vigo wrote:85mph, with a sweep that looked like it went to about 140.I dont think there was any kind of legal enforcement that the speedo couldnt go past 85. I think it was a voluntary arrangement for the OEMs. I know the 86 and 87 GLHS's just had a sticker applique stuck on the speedo that extended the MPH from 85 to 135. Incidentially, based on this, all us old k-car goofs know that when we get the speedo all the way back around to 5 mph, we're doing 135.
it was a DOT regulation that came about in the late 70's some time.. the thought was that the only reason people sped was because they had speedometers that went well past 100mph. the slower speedos would cause people to slow down to save gas and save lives. how can you argue with that logic?? it wasn't a very big deal to most people since there weren't too many cars made from '75-'85 or so that could get up past 85mph in a reasonable period of time.
personally, i like 120mph speedos- that way, 60mph will be with the needle pointing straight up which makes it easier to maintain my regular 60mph cruising speed..
on the topic of the SVO Mustang- i read somewhere on teh internets that the SVO was the first car sold in the USA with plastic headlights. Ford wanted to go with the plastic headlights in the '84 Mustang, but the DOT said no.. they got a special DOT exemption for the SVO since it was a low volume limited edition car. that regulation was dropped after the '86 model year, and Ford quickly redesigned the Mustang to get the plastic headlights. i think that was also when the 85mph speedo regulation was dropped, too.
how can you argue with that logic??
So basically all numbers past 85 are like educating teenagers about birth control. I gotcha..
Well i wonder when that law ended. I can think of american cars at least back to 86 that had higher than 85 on the speedo. Maybe 85 was the last year.
novaderrik wrote: i read somewhere on teh internets that the SVO was the first car sold in the USA with plastic headlights. Ford wanted to go with the plastic headlights in the '84 Mustang, but the DOT said no.. they got a special DOT exemption for the SVO since it was a low volume limited edition car. that regulation was dropped after the '86 model year, and Ford quickly redesigned the Mustang to get the plastic headlights. i think that was also when the 85mph speedo regulation was dropped, too.
Meeep. Wrong. 84 Lincoln Mark VII.
And 84 Mustang SVO:
The SVO didn't get the flush plastic headlights until 85.
As for using them for DD's, almost all the body/trim parts are re-popped now. The 2.3 if left close to stock is pretty reliable and can net some good economy. The only real bad point is the suspension. The front lower control arms have a ball joint that is non-replaceable and they are impossible to find. There were a few vendors either modifying the arms to accept a standard ball joint or finagling in a different one. Most guys just replaced everything with SN95 Mustang stuff anyways as the braking parts were also getting tough to find. Original shocks are all used up as well, but that shouldn't matter as there's plenty of better aftermarket choices. RUN away from any "sunroof" cars.
I found sort of a home built version just the other day on CL. Here it is:
http://gainesville.craigslist.org/cto/2083449184.html
Im looking to sell or trade my 93 foxbody mustang with 87kmiles on body with a svo svo engine that has only 20k miles on it. this car is veryyy fasst at 20lbs of boost. its alot of fun to drive but gets loose very easily. the engine jsut had its headgaskets and seals replaced and its read for the street or strip. txt me if you wanna trade or buy 904.four four two.4703
I had a couple of them. The company that I worked for at the time had Eibach start winding a few sets of springs for possible resale.
There are a number of parts that are obsolete, but that wouldn't sway me from buying another one.
I ran across an '86 Jalapeno red one a few weeks ago for 1800.00.Deals are out there.
In reply to Javelin:
I believe that it was the '85.5 SVO that started the flush headlights.
DavidinDurango wrote: Have one and its for sale. 5 lug hubs, good brakes, longer suspension arms, konis. Mine had an engine fire and was pulled from the crusher - PO had a rear ended GT so the SVO got the 302/T5 and wiring. Pisses off the SVO guys (is this my fault?) to no end. Great little cars. Funny line: when someone asked Jack Rouch how much power the SVO Trans Am cars had he said: "250 . . . 250 per cylinder." PM me if you want one.
Id be inclined to believe old jack. I know the head engineer during the TA days, he said 1300 in qualifying...
I thought 87 was the 1st year for flush headlights? My 86 was a 4-eye
Grtechguy wrote: I thought 87 was the 1st year for flush headlights? My 86 was a 4-eye
For non-SVO Mustangs, you are correct.
Platinum90 wrote:DavidinDurango wrote: Funny line: when someone asked Jack Rouch how much power the SVO Trans Am cars had he said: "250 . . . 250 per cylinder."Id be inclined to believe old jack. I know the head engineer during the TA days, he said 1300 in qualifying...
It should be noted, however, that the Trans Am cars did not use even remotely close to the same engine. It's a completely-race-designed engine with many parts from Cosworth that shares 0 parts or dimensions with a production engine.
The Roush T/A team was also using Mercury Capri's with V8's. It was the IMSA GTO and GTU series that the turbo cars were in.
For those of you that know the year to year differences the car I came across is a first year, 1984 model. Does that make this a less reliable or desirable car?
I started doing some research on them last night and it looks like the 84's have a different steering rack, rear suspension, non-WC t5, a bunch of small differences that might add up to a real pain in the butt. It is also missing the head lights (not the turn signals) but they should be the easy to replace seal beams on this car.
Not really. There's no "real" differences between the SVO's. All 4 models (84, 85, 85.5, 86) had the 2.3/T5 with an intercooled T3 and an 8.8" rear axle w/LSD and 5-lug disc brakes. The "power" differences were pretty much in the computer and a Gillis valve with the boost at 15psi solves that. The 85.5-86 did get the plastic headlights. Interiors were basically the same. All should have the WC T5 (at least all the 84 and later 2.3T Turbo Coupe's did), though it wouldn't really matter much behind the 2.3 if it wasn't.
Just buy the best one, keep it close to stock, and enjoy it. IMO if you want to modify a fox-body a lot you are much better off with a plain V8 car (why change brakes, rear end, suspension, etc on the special SVO?).
All SVO's had 7.5" rears, early '84 cars had slapper bars.
'84's had 3.45 rear ratio, and hp was 175.
Sorry, my TC background coming out again. Yes, 7.5"s.
You want good entertainment/a fast message board ban? Go to the SVO fanboi site and say you are parting one out. Those guys think they are some kind of limited edition Ferrari signed by Enzo himself, but with a Ford logo. The SVO is a neat car (I drove one briefly when they were new...OMG was it fast then) but too many of the owners are a little too enthusiastic about them.
Javelin wrote:Platinum90 wrote:I helped out an independent team in the Trans Am race series from about 1987-1996. We raced an Ex Roush Mustang so our crew chief had regular contact with Roush Racing in buying spares, etc. I also made a trip to their shop with our crew chief in early 1989 after they stopped racing the Merkurs to pick up one of those rear spoilers they used on their race car to put on one of our crews street car. We asked how much horsepower they could make with the turbo 2.5L, they did stroke it to a full 2.5L, and were told 800 HP with out the SCCA mandated restrictors. No Turbo Ford in Trans Am racing ever made 1300 HP! SCCA required intake restrictors on all turbo engines. You can look it up! While it didn't use production parts as the head was aluminum with different port angles, size, etc. so did every other engine in the series use non-production engine parts! Our 358 Ford V8 was derived from a NASCAR engine with different compression and camshaft. The block, ours or the Turbo 4's were special castings but were available from Ford Racing. Roush never raced Capri's. Tom Gloy was the team that raced Capri in SCCA. Roush did race the Merkurs for Mercury though.DavidinDurango wrote: Funny line: when someone asked Jack Rouch how much power the SVO Trans Am cars had he said: "250 . . . 250 per cylinder."Id be inclined to believe old jack. I know the head engineer during the TA days, he said 1300 in qualifying...
Ignition module on the dizzy (I think I'm remembering this correctly), keep two of them with you at all times.
My uncle had a mint '85.5 from new until a few years ago when he sold it. Car only had like 45k miles on it, but he didn't drive it much because the module was notorious for lunching itself.
I was very angry when he sold it, I was in my senior year of college and in no position to buy it.
I know I miss my fake one.
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