Should I get an SVO?

[slaterd]

Hey guys, I didn't see anything asking about the svo so here we go. My dad's buddy is looking at getting rid of his svo. He wants about 2k for it but would give me a discounted price since he's friend of the family.
Anybody have any experiences with the svo? I used to own 2 sn95 mustangs, one was a v6 and the other was the 98 4.6 cobra. The thought of a 2.3 turbo mustang makes me kinda nervous but thinking about it brings up suspicions that it has alot of potential to be an awesome car.
So would anybody vouche for this car and advise me to get it?
Pic for references

[der affe]

Turboed pinto motor. Pretty hard to blow up, it is a tank motor like a 4 cylinder m30.
your can throw a lot of boost at it in stock form and it will taken it like a champ.

I could be wrong, but it is the same motor the volvo 240 turbo cars use basically, so there is a lot of stuff out there for them.

There is also a ton of used fox body stuff floating around cheap if you want to start getting into the suspension.

Is it still stock ? If not what has been modded??

[z31maniac]

Do it, just make sure to keep a few spare ignition modules in the car. Common failure item.

Other than that, tons of potential and HUGE aftermarket support for that chassis.

[slaterd]

He said it was all stock other than just some maintenance. Needs quite a bit of tlc. Entire suspension needs to be rebuilt along with the rear end. He said it feels like the shocks are solid steel rods but when it turns it rolls like it's on cinammon rolls. Motor is stock, odometer has turned over 1 time and sits at 40k as of now, so about 140k miles. Any thoughts on these things offroad??? They seem to have a pretty high clearance and an lsd.

[Chrisv006]

I would get one....interesting car, faster than the v8 of its day...

Don't think I would off road it though. Probably set it up stock+, some suspension and maybe dial up the crack..err..boost.

[mikeedler]

sounds like a money pit to me. they aren't ver nice looking cars either.

[slaterd]

Couldn't be more of a money pit than any e30 right now. At least I'll have a turbo setup ready to be tinkered with. I think they look pretty cool too.

[MonkeyMadness]

One of my all time Favorite cars..
they used to run these in GTP and I always wanted to build one to look line the 1981 Miller GTP SVO! child hood dream car.... Still makes me drool......

[SpeicherBimmer]

Turbos were high tech back then and American cars aren't exactly known for that kind of stuff...but for $2k or less I think it's be a fun toy. I'd imagine it's going to feed on your bank account though...

[N2MYE30]

I had an 84 as my first project car 20 years ago.


I had little knowledge of how to work on it but it was offered to me and I had money in my pocket so I went for it. IIRC it came with 12lbs of boost but mine was upgraded to 17lbs. Turbo lag was insane but one it hit 2K, hold on! It handled pretty good from what I remember but I was also DD a 84 civic. Mine came to a sorry end when the pinion gear on the distributer stripped out in the engine. At the time it was pricey to fix and limited fundage couldnt bring it back.

I had a great time driving it. Just dont do it in the rain! The Recaros are a nice touch and the tranny was pure mustang. Smiles just thinking about it. :)

[frankenbeemer]

As der affe said, much better handling and engine (and engineering) than its siblings. Should be fun if it's decently maintained. It looks a little dated to me with it's 80's angularity, but at least it's a rarer and therefore cooler version of the fox stangs. What year? Pics of the actual car?

Link to SVO Club of America FAQ. I would have posted it but they have a statement prohibiting that.

http://www.svoca.com/FAQ/

So how about some more info on the car in question?

[der affe]

if you pick it up, get in touch with me. i have mustang connections ;)

[brutus87]

Get it get it get it.


My dad used to have one. Awesome cars for their time!
Still remember that turbo :)

[FunfGan]

I'm going to be that guy and say anything other than a v8 in a Mustang is just, well, wrong.

[nickflic3]

Dude these things are so awesome! I was reading in to them for a couple weeks in March; looks like they even had a switch that told the computer what kind of octane you were using and the hp varied accordingly (late models only?)

They also take well to 14b and 20g Mitsu turbos