On March 21st, 2009 I picked up yet another project car.
I had an eye out for a Mustang SVO car for years and found this one at
an affordable price. With a total of 9,844 SVO's produced in three years
they are not on every corner but are actually reasonably easy to locate
still. This one has been owned by the same person since 1990 so parting
with it was not an easy choice. The car is showing 98xxx on the odo. At
some point in it's history the original wheels were stolen thus the 15
inch steelies. For whatever reason I picked up a set of SVO wheels that
were apparently headed to the recycler some time ago an stuffed them
away thinking I would find a car for them someday and finally did.
Current plans call for a slow restore with getting the engine / trans
back in running shape the first project.
Engine BEFORE on the Left - AFTER on the Right
08/16/2009
On the road with the car - it drives under it's own power. Albeit
without the exhaust hooked up since some rats apparently made a home in
the exhaust over the past 10 years.
Small sampling of what has been done up through 08/16/2009 Engine wise:
 |
Freed up the Turbocharger with lots of cleaner and lube in the bearing race |
|
Pulled the valve cover, blasted and re-painted with wrinkle paint |
|
Pulled upper and lower intake, media blasted. Painted injector rail and regulator |
|
Replacement injector harness - old one ate by rats |
|
New timing belt |
|
Replacement alternator |
|
Pulled all pulleys, blasted and painted |
|
Silver coated "E6" exhaust manifold and turbo outlet, old unit cacked |
|
Repainted Intercooler |
|
Pulled, cleaned, checked VAM |
|
Blasted and painted air cleaner housing |
|
Cleaned and painted passenger side of engine bay |
|
Replacement radiator and hoses |
|
Replacement heater hard lines from THESVOTRUST |
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Stainless oil cooler to heater core line |
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New cooling fan motor - old one is frozen up |
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New water pump and thermostat housing |
|
New Injector O ring kit |
|
and more.... |
On
the way home from Wichita Falls Texas on 03/21/2009
Updates and Pictures
10/18/2009 - Console, cargo bay, Wheels
Total SVO Production
| Year | U.S. | Canada | Export DSO-90s | Total |
| 1984 | 4263 | 222 | 23 | 4508 |
| 1985 | 1498 | 17 | 0 | 1515 |
| 1985.5 | 427 | 10 | 2 | 439 |
| 1986 | 3314 | 58 | 10 | 3382 |
| Total | 9502 | 307 | 35 | 9844 |
These numbers were published in the second issue of The Turbo
Times (Vol. 1, No. 2 - May 1990).
Information from
http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/svooa/index.html
Based on the production numbers above this is one of 1,515 produced that year. 541 of those, the majority, were black so those are the most often spotted.
This car was built on 02/18/1985 and was the only black (1C) car built that day out of 29. It was the 927th built in 1985 and the 5,434th of the total 9844 built.
Based on the previous owner, this car was originally a California car and was purchased off a car lot in 1990. It was driven until 1999 when the turbo was pulled due to whine and smoke and was never re-assembled.
SVO Links
| Old SVO Video Clips and other great info - http://www.cygnus-x1.com/SVO/MustangSVO.htm |
| The SVO Club of America - http://www.SVOCA.com and their forums - http://www.SVOCA.com/Forum |
| SVO Parts on 50Resto.com/LateModelRestoration.com |
| Forced4.com SVO Store |
| SVUP.com (SVOPaul) Store |
Other Fox Body Links
| Replacing Interior Seat Covers |
Car at home on 03/22/2009 - Side and center markers need polished out or
replaced but are there
One small dent in right quarter and a hand full of hail dents but other
wise pretty solid.
Car was spun and bumped in the back by previous owner BUT brand new in
the box tail light lenses came with the car!
A car for my wheels - Had the SVO wheels for a while now - finally have
the car to do with them! Not the best angle but you get the idea.