Hi all, I needed a car to pick to work and saw a '93 Tbird for sale with the 5.0 HO engine so I just had to get it.

Tihs site seems to be mostly mustangs but its a fox body with a mustang engine so I thought it'd be okay to post, if not I can move on.

I bought from a buy here pay here place so you can imagine the kind of shape its in.  I've owned worse cars but this one is going to need some work.  For now its just a daily driver that I intend to fix up, once I have cash saved for a newer car I'd like to customize it a ***

Anyway, as it stands right now, there are two things that concern me and another that has a high priority for me.  First of all, I'm not sure about the brakes.  I've been driving a sentra for 3 years so I'm used to a small car, but these brakes seem kind of mushy.  I'm going to swing by Midas tomorrow and have them check it out.  I'm very unexperienced when it comes to brake work but I'm hoping its something simple like brake pads.  It seems that brakes tend to not be so great on this car so if anyone has any suggestions for replacement brakes I'm all ears.

Second is the transmission.  It shifts pretty smooth but when I floor it (avoid this as much as possible until I fix it up, just wanted to see how it responds), it doesn't seem to want to down shift.  It'll do it but it takes a while.  I'd really like to get my hands on a mustang transmission that will fit since I know these are more durable but I'm kind of new to the area and don't know where to look.

Other than that the car runs great.  The engine seems a little under powered, I had an '84 mustang with a 5.0 that was a LOT faster but it also had a huge carb and a stick.  I'm thinking a tune up will do wonders.

The clearcoat seems to be peeling in a couple spots but definatly nothing major.  I'm really impressed with the way this car's paint has survived for so long.

I may just get the tranny rebuilt if I can't find a good mustang version, not looking for any special performance, I just hate the 'soft shifting' of the stock tranny.

If anyone has any suggestions or knows of a good shop I'm all ears.  I'd like to work on it myself but I don't have a garage and live in an apartment complex.  

1993 T-Bird LX - it sounds like you've found yourself a decent car. The 1993 models are the last with 5-liter engine in them and the old style dash. These cars aren't Fox  bodies, but built on the MN12 platform and have fully independent suspension, so they ride real nice. They  are quite heavy, so that's probably why you feel the car is a bit more sluggish compared with your Mustang, but they still have 200 horsepower and you can hop up the engine with many Mustang parts. The transmission is the Ford AOD-E four-speed automatic. These trannys have very gentle shift calibrations from the factory as Ford designed them to maximize fuel economy, so they tend to upshift as soon as possible and are more hesitant to downshift. Still, I'd check the throttle valve cable -  it might need to be adjusted. If you want more aggressive shifting could also look at a shift kit - I'd suggest one from Trans Go or TCI if you were to go that route - a could Trans shop should be able to help you. Which part of the country do you live in, I can see if I can find a specialist shop in your area.  As for the paint, it had definitely held up well. Ford clearcoat finishes from that era tend to peel after about 10-12 years or so, but if the peeling is on the bumpers or some area that's easily susceptible to being hit, chances are that the bumpers have been repaired and the paint shop applied new clear coat over the old, which will cause the flaking.

Hope your brake inspection went okay - did they find anything?