Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Topic: Purchased another Fox Body Today. (Read 5473 times) previous topic - next topic

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

July 15, 2007, 05:26:08 PM

Well it's a four door Fox Body but it's still kind of cool. It's a 1985 LTD LX. They made over 200,000 LTD in 1985 but only about 3,000 was the LX.

The LX had bucket seats, council, floor shifter (auto), 302 HO engine, front and rear sway bars, and 3.27 posi rear end (7.5 inch).

This is an old guy that purchased it from the original owner and it has 37k miles on it. The guy advertised it last week for $3500 but no one came. He advertised it this week for $2,000 and I called (no one else did). I got over there and he told me he was moving in a week and had to get rid of it. He said he could not drive anymore and it has not been driven for 3 years. I offered him $1,200 but he said no less than $1,500 so I said I better take it for a ride.

It runs good on the test drive but will not shift out of 1st till 4,000 rpm and then once in 2nd stays there. The brakes are also bad, the left front is almost locked up from sitting. So I take it back to him and gives him the bad news. You could tell that he did not know, it ran good 3 years ago when he parked it. I told him that with the bad transmission I could not go over $400 and he accepted the deal.

Now what do I do? I can pull the tranny and bring it over to my friend to re-do and use it for a daily driver. Or I can put a caddy in her and make it into a very nice sleeper, like I have time to do that. But I do have a very nice 72 engine, a rebuilt short tail trans, a 8.8 2.73 posi all ready to go. According to the book this car weighs about 2,904 where the turbo coupe is 3,380 base weight. But my Turbo coupe was a couple hundred pounds more than this for some reason.

I think for now I will redo the trans and brakes and get her rolling.

Kind of a neat car even if it is a four door.

TED

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #1 – July 15, 2007, 05:44:59 PM

Here's some more info about them, sounds like they are a pretty rare car.

http://www.ltdlx.org/index.html He claims that there were only about 3,260 made for both model years combined, 84&85.

TED

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #2 – July 15, 2007, 05:48:07 PM

LTD LX's are cool. check out http://www.foureyedpride.com
there are LTD LX faithful over there that can help ya out. i can tell ya though, they may not be too keen on a caddy swap

good luck with it, nice car!

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #3 – July 15, 2007, 06:15:17 PM

Id just fix it up, throw some 10 holes on it, and cruise.

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #4 – July 15, 2007, 06:39:14 PM

Dang ive always wanted one of those.

Check the TV cable?

I say keep it fairly original. $400 was a steal.

Also, curb weight is 3300lbs for the LX, 2900 i would guess is the 2.3 model.

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #5 – July 15, 2007, 08:04:01 PM

I will replace the wheels, these are ugly base line caps. 10 hole was an option for these but I think I rather go with some 16 or something. Time will tell.

I think that dual exhaust would also be cool. I have a set of stock Mustang headers and I just took off the tail pipes and turbos off the T-bird, so all I need is an h-pipe from Summit or Jegs.

Maybe some spings and shocks and it will be ready to go.

Maybe I will take it down to Mike and let him work his magic on the paint to clean it up. I wonder what he would charge me?

Going to be a nice daily driver. I have a son that will turn 15 next month but he could not see any reason to drive it. These kids just don't know a good car when they see it.

The interior is very nice and never been smoked in.

You can sure tell that the floor shifter was an after thought. The hole they cut look like they did it with a plasma cutter, very rough hole for the factory.

My friend that does trannies told me to check the TV hook-up (just like you guys), if that's ok then put it reverse and work it back and forth at an idle. If that does not work pull the valve body and clean it, and as last pull the tail and check the govenor. He thinks that the tranny can be fixed without pulling it. This would be good, I will try.

TED

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #6 – July 15, 2007, 08:09:17 PM

yeah, shifting like that sounds like it's getting no throttle feed from the tv..... hopefully it'll be a cheap fix.... that's a great find

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #7 – July 15, 2007, 08:17:18 PM

You , that's a ****ing steal!

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #8 – July 15, 2007, 08:20:15 PM

yeah, nice find!

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #9 – July 15, 2007, 08:29:44 PM

Ted,

Shoot me an email about the paint. It would take 2-3 days so a Friday drop-off/Sunday pick-up would work. Price depends on how crazy you want me to get and what kind of shape it's in.

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #10 – July 15, 2007, 09:16:22 PM

Make it driveable, slap 10 holes on it, and piss off a bunch of ricers.

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #11 – July 15, 2007, 10:14:47 PM

Sweet. I'd love to have an LTD LX. Rare as hell.

As for the tranny - I'd bet money that the lever for the TV cable at the transmission is seized up. The first time you floored it the cable pulled all the way and stuck in the WOT position because the spring is not strong enough to pull it back. That same thing happened to my '88 Cougar and '87 Sport, and BOTH were cars that had sat for a long time. Get under the car with some penetrating oil and work that TV cable lever back and forth until it's free, then lube it with something more permanent.

I got my Cougar dirt cheap because of that problem. I bought it from the dealership I worked at. They were asking $1500. I took it for a test drive and it had the same symptoms (first 'til redline, then second). I thought the tranny was screwed and told the manager of the dealership. He told me "$800 and it's yours". I brought it into the shop, put it on the hoist, and noticed the car had a lot of surface rust everywhere, and that the shift linkage was stiff (noticed that on the test drive). I started spraying the WD-40 to it and then noticed the TV lever. After a good lubing the tranny shifted like new :D

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #12 – July 15, 2007, 10:43:11 PM

Thats nice! Are those valve covers stock?

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #13 – July 15, 2007, 11:53:03 PM

Now I really feel guilty (well at least kind of). I checked the TV rod (on this one it's a rod instead of an cable) and it was unhooked, I hooked it back up and the transmission works perfect. Been driving it around and it runs perfect except for the front left caliper is dragging. Nothing that a brake job won't fix.

Won't tear any shaving cuts open but it takes off pretty good for a mid-eighties car.

I'm I going to hell?

The valve covers are stock and so is the air cleaner, really cool. In fact this car is just how it came from the factory in every respect.

I think this car is worth some new wheels instead of 10 holes, the question is what kind should i get? And what size?

TED

Purchased another Fox Body Today.

Reply #14 – July 16, 2007, 12:23:53 AM

Sweet... I believe the LX got the same detuned HO as the '84-'85 Automatic Mustangs...

There is a guy that runs true street at the FFW events that has a baby LTD(not a LX)... But none the less, I've seen it run some high 11s...