'84 SVO?

[thesameguy]

A friend of mine has been trying for years to buy my XR, which of course I'm not gonna sell, but on Sunday he gave up and bought an SVO:



Crazily, this is a owner car - it's clearly old, but it's in great shape top to bottom. Paint is faded, but everything is 100% intact.

It was a stark comparison to my XR - with street suspension, '80s Ford interior (GAH!!!), and '80s Ford NVH qualities. What REALLY struck me, though, was the engine - it drove like a total '80s turbo car with crazy lag followed by booooooost. It reminded me of my 1980 Saab! It made the whole car feel heavy and lethargic, and made me appreciate how far I've come with the XR. Even on 12 pounds of boost, my XR is dynamic and responsive and feels like it weighs 1000lbs less. Guess Kurt has a lot of work to do!

Anyway, the '84 is definitely the "old" 2.3t, with the non-dished valve cover, straight (vs square) intake manifold, E3 exhaust, etc. The seller believed it had a different transmission, too - not a T5... does anyone know about that?

[my8950]

The T5 used in the SVO had different gearing than most others, either V8 ones or the T-Bird. I believe 3.50 was first gear.
Unless they swapped something different in it, it would be a T5.

[thesameguy]

Yeah, I know there was a unique SVO T5, but this guy's assertion was the '84 SVO didn't have a T5.... I don't think that's true, unless maybe it was a T45?

[my8950]

T45 didnt come out until the 96 and I think was, nah, probably 96 Mustang and Cobra. I was thinking only Cobra, but not sure why. Who knows...Easy enough to crawl under the car and check it out. Either way, if it runs and drives, its all fun and games from there. Work on it as he goes...

[thesameguy]

Yeah, everything I've found says it's the same T5 w/ Hurst shifter. The car came with a spare 2.3t bellhousing for a transmission swap and I just don't know why. Maybe something about the clutch? So weird.