Well, now I've done it. But how could I resist? I bought this thing tonight, and got a big box of brand new turbo stuff in the deal.
http://baltimore.craigslist.org/cto/2802826956.html
Very little rust, freshly over built motor. It even has a great interior. A bit of throw-out bearing noise and some sorting and I should be on the road by spring.
Always, always, always wanted one of these things...
Ooo! A blue '87 GT was my first car many moons ago.
Step 1: poke around for rust in the tops of the rear strut towers. The rear window seals leak into the THICK padding over the towers, rusting them to dust, and eventually eating the rear footwell. In my experience, it's easiest to just pull the plastics from inside the hatch to inspect for this issue. Don't wait.
Step 2: throw the stock suspension away. All of it. The sag looks like the rear springs have already snapped off a coil, I'm told they all do this. Mine did on both sides. I don't have suggestions for replacements as I haven't looked at parts for these for a decade, but springs and struts were available then. Prepare for massive wheelspin off the line and snap oversteer, the camber change up front in transition from WOT to braking is incredible.
Step 3: Consider replacement seats. The backs break on these and EXPs(same seat, different frame height), dumping you flat on your back without warning. The rear seats can be folded down(neat mechanism, btw) to hold the fronts upright. I've autocrossed this way; it's less than ideal.
And boooooooost! Neat car, you'll like it overall.
i haven't seen one of those on the road in my corner of the country for probably a decade. they all rusted and returned to the earth sometime in the mid 90's.
i recently saw a granny fresh 4 door Escort of that vintage in a Wal Mart parking lot - it was actually a few years older than that one, since it had sealed beam headlights and a chrome grille- and i had to just look at it for a minute. it was baby blue inside and out and had a 4 speed..
Sunroof? Sweet.
Nice little car! Looks like its in decent shape.
We approve of this purchase.
If the seats suck, look at swapping in some ZX2 seats from the salvage yard.
I've owned 2 first gen GTs and an 86 EXP. Received my first 5 tickets in one!
Bruce
I have no idea why I want that car. But, I do. Nice buy. Keep us informed of your mods and turboing.
1st Gen GT ftw! Only thing better is to boost the living begeebers out of it. Always loved the look, hated the chassis. As prosaic as the 2nd Gen body is, I really like the idea of this engine boosted in a second gen wagon.
pstrbrc wrote: 1st Gen GT ftw! Only thing better is to boost the living begeebers out of it. Always loved the look, hated the chassis. As prosaic as the 2nd Gen body is, I really like the idea of this engine boosted in a second gen wagon.
The 2nd gen wagon had... almost the same engine.
Had an '89 GT as my first car, suprisingly fun.
Too bad I couldn't see at a 4 way intersection and pulled out in front of a truck a few months after getting my license. Thankfully he T-boned the passenger side.
Great information from the board!
The seats in this car are shockingly comfy and in really good shape. But it sounds like they have a well deserved bad reputation. Better have a serious look at that early on. The car has amazingly little rust, but I will check those rear shock towers. The wheels have zero curb rash--it's amazing.
The question of boost is really a conundrum. The PO bought a Chinese turbo kit on eBay. It's huge, it's new, and it looks like a lot of work. I have this box of manifold bends and collectors, tubes, clamps, etc. This looks like a lot of mockup and welding work. While the engine has been built like crazy (to a compression ratio of 8.5:1) I am a little wary about this. Fuel management frightens me. While there is no doubt about the cool factor, this project significantly exceeds my experience and skill set.
And of course, if I sell the turbo stuff that would bring my investment down to around $1,500. That would allow me to get the rest of the car sorted so that I could place 37th in the Challenge with a top-10 concours score. And who could argue with that?
Aaron
AaronBalto wrote: Great information from the board! The seats in this car are shockingly comfy and in really good shape. But it sounds like they have a well deserved bad reputation. Better have a serious look at that early on. The car has amazingly little rust, but I will check those rear shock towers. The wheels have zero curb rash--it's amazing. The question of boost is really a conundrum. The PO bought a Chinese turbo kit on eBay. It's huge, it's new, and it looks like a lot of work. I have this box of manifold bends and collectors, tubes, clamps, etc. This looks like a lot of mockup and welding work. While the engine has been built like crazy (to a compression ratio of 8.5:1) I am a little wary about this. Fuel management frightens me. While there is no doubt about the cool factor, this project significantly exceeds my experience and skill set. And of course, if I sell the turbo stuff that would bring my investment down to around $1,500. That would allow me to get the rest of the car sorted so that I could place 37th in the Challenge with a top-10 concours score. And who could argue with that? Aaron
FMU setups on low-ish boost are pretty common with these cars.
I believe there's also a tuning program out there that will work with the factory ECU.
Or.... 5th injector setup?
I had an '86 GT. Not Fords best, quality wise. Timing belt and exhast, rust spot in middle of door at 4yrs. Then I traded for a '90 GT. Much better car.
My mom had an '89 GT. I would shift for her from stoplights while she would put makeup on. 
I could confidently drive a RHD car, before I knew how to drive. 
ValuePack wrote: Step 2: throw the stock suspension away. All of it.
QFT. The trailing arm rear suspension also has a ton of toe change through its travel, which contributes to the snap oversteer problem. Be prepared to do something about that, but I'm not sure exactly what can be done without starting over. Maybe swapping in a beam axle from a Golf or a Sentra?
My '91 Escort had the vastly better Mazda-based strut rear suspension.
I live in Big 3-land and those things were everywhere in the 80s and early 90s, but I honestly don't think I've seen one on the road in at least 10 years.
I know the GRM tradition is to love all the unloved cars, and I don't want to diss the OP's purchase, but based on what's been said so far in this thread, why would you bother with one of these cars? The suspension is horrible, they rust, they were poorly built, the engine wans't much good in stock form... What makes it worthy of trying to save, other than having some emotional connection to them based on past ownership or something.
Then again, maybe I'm showing my bias, becasue the thing I remember most about them was a friend of a friend dying in one after he hit a telephone pole at high speed while street racing when we were in high school. 
I've seen 1 or 2 GTs from the mid '90s in the last few months, tho none on CL. ANY escort from the '80s seems to have disappeared. My guess? When that timing belt broke suddenly, folks just "threw the car away" rather than spend the money for a re-built engine.
i looked at buying an '89 GT back when they were new, but couldn't get comfortable behind the wheel. Wound up with an '89 Civic DX sedan instead. That car nearly made it to 130K with no problems...til some dingleberry plowed into me at a busy intersection without stopping.
integraguy wrote: I've seen 1 or 2 GTs from the mid '90s in the last few months, tho none on CL. ANY escort from the '80s seems to have disappeared. My guess? When that timing belt broke suddenly, folks just "threw the car away" rather than spend the money for a re-built engine. i looked at buying an '89 GT back when they were new, but couldn't get comfortable behind the wheel. Wound up with an '89 Civic DX sedan instead. That car nearly made it to 130K with no problems...til some dingleberry plowed into me at a busy intersection without stopping.
You should buy one of those mid 90s GTs. They're kinda cool.
In reply to Tom_Spangler:
Compare it to an 80s Camaro. They aren't the best at anything, or the best looking, they have a mullet rep, etc, but they're a laugh riot to hoon. The same suspension that sucks on the street makes you look like Colin McRae(crashes included) on a dirt back road. Instant tire smoke at WOT in 1st or 2nd in a tight corner, every time. Not the fastest thing, but fun in a hooligan sense.
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:integraguy wrote: I've seen 1 or 2 GTs from the mid '90s in the last few months, tho none on CL. ANY escort from the '80s seems to have disappeared. My guess? When that timing belt broke suddenly, folks just "threw the car away" rather than spend the money for a re-built engine. i looked at buying an '89 GT back when they were new, but couldn't get comfortable behind the wheel. Wound up with an '89 Civic DX sedan instead. That car nearly made it to 130K with no problems...til some dingleberry plowed into me at a busy intersection without stopping.You should buy one of those mid 90s GTs. They're kinda cool.
Indeed.
ValuePack wrote: In reply to Tom_Spangler: Compare it to an 80s Camaro. They aren't the best at anything, or the best looking, they have a mullet rep, etc, but they're a laugh riot to hoon. The same suspension that sucks on the street makes you look like Colin McRae(crashes included) on a dirt back road. Instant tire smoke at WOT in 1st or 2nd in a tight corner, every time. Not the fastest thing, but fun in a hooligan sense.
Yeah, but a third-gen F-body at least has a V8, rear drive, a big aftermarket, places it can be raced, etc. Like I said, I don't want to be Negatve Guy, and there was a time when I would have happily rocked an 80s Escort GT, but that time ended in about 1992..... 
But whatever. If it's fun for you, then go nuts.
jstein77 wrote:92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:integraguy wrote: I've seen 1 or 2 GTs from the mid '90s in the last few months, tho none on CL. ANY escort from the '80s seems to have disappeared. My guess? When that timing belt broke suddenly, folks just "threw the car away" rather than spend the money for a re-built engine. i looked at buying an '89 GT back when they were new, but couldn't get comfortable behind the wheel. Wound up with an '89 Civic DX sedan instead. That car nearly made it to 130K with no problems...til some dingleberry plowed into me at a busy intersection without stopping.You should buy one of those mid 90s GTs. They're kinda cool.
Ooooooo a Caymen!
Tom_Spangler wrote: I live in Big 3-land and those things were everywhere in the 80s and early 90s, but I honestly don't think I've seen one on the road in at least 10 years. I know the GRM tradition is to love all the unloved cars, and I don't want to diss the OP's purchase, but based on what's been said so far in this thread, why would you bother with one of these cars? The suspension is horrible, they rust, they were poorly built, the engine wans't much good in stock form... What makes it worthy of trying to save, other than having some emotional connection to them based on past ownership or something. Then again, maybe I'm showing my bias, becasue the thing I remember most about them was a friend of a friend dying in one after he hit a telephone pole at high speed while street racing when we were in high school.
Hey, those are all very good points. But if any of us had any sense we would all be driving Camrys instead of the crap that we love.
I'd point out a couple of things.
First, this car augments a stable that includes a Lexus is300 5-speed, a Volvo 940 Turbo wagon, the Volvo 122s that GRM built for the magazine back in the day, and a '66 Ducati cafe racer. I've got lots of cars that do a lot things well.
But I don't have a super light FWD toss-around POS with ground effects and a fresh overbuilt motor.
But beyond that, consider the humble Escort. It was one of the top three selling cars in the US every year in the 80's. They sold a zillion of these things. And now? All gone. They rusted, they blew up, and they were worthless in terms of safety. But that's a huge part of our American automotive legacy. Honestly, if I could find a nice AMC Gremlin, I'd be just as happy. Well, almost.
Lastly, this car just looks cool. It's one of those things where when you see it, you stop and pause. Not because it's a great handling car, or because it's some engineering marvel. But just because it represents the pinnacle of a design that was once ubiquitous and is now nearly extinct. It does not have to pull 1g on the skidpad or make 300 hp to make you smile.
And at the end of the day, that's what it's about. Grassroots Therapy.
^Well said. I had heaps of fun in mine, got into plenty of things and places I shouldn't, lost my license once, burned though plenty of front tires and rear struts, lost every cent I spent on it... It may be a crapcan, but it's a fun crapcan.
Looking forward to seeing more of this rig.
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