1990 Ford Mustang GT with 180K Miles Hits the Dyno (LMR)
How much horsepower does a high mileage fox-body Mustang make?
The Fox-Body Mustang debuted in 1979 with a production run that ran until 1993. This legendary vehicle brought the Ford Mustang into the modern age and saw massive changes in the Mustang’s design and appeal. Today, the Fox-Body Mustang is an affordable collectible with low mileage examples seeing small growth in value while used Fox-Bodies remain affordable. To see how healthy a high mileage Mustang really is, the team at LMR put their Fox-Body Mustang on the dyno to see how much horsepower was lost over the years.
The subject Mustang in LMR’s video is a 1990 Ford Mustang GT with over 180,000 miles. This vehicle is used as LMR’s shop car and has not had the easiest life with multiple dyno runs and constant work performed for videos on LMR’s YouTube channel. In stock trim, the 1990 Mustang GT was rated at 225 horsepower and 300 ft-lb of torque, which may seem laughable in today’s world of 760 horsepower Shelby GT500s but in the early 1990s, it was more than enough.
LMR’s dyno run shows that even after 180,000 miles of use and 20 years of constant use the Fox-Body remains stout. The dyno run shows 223 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque, which is right in line with Ford’s stock claim. The car used by LMR is not 100% stock, and benefited from a more aggressive rear-end gear ratio of 3.73 when compared to the stock car’s 2.73 ratios as well as a freer-flowing exhaust.
