New Toy...project

[BlackTigers]

My dad and I are both car guys, and right now I drive an sExcort and he rocks the Caravan,
so we really don't get a chance to do anything worthwhile.

We've been talking, and throwing the idea of putting together a car, so we started targeting.

Last night we both went in half for a '92 5.0 hatch. Black and grey... Plans to build the hell up out of the motor this winter, we've been researching to see what we can do to this beast.

The exterior isn't bad, some rust, but we'll work it out. The interior is great, just some wiring issues with the stereo (idiot kid).

Anyway, this should be fun. I think we're going to get it on Friday, not sure. Anything really important to do to it, powertrain wise? My dad want's to throw a line lock on it...I'm not sure it's a good idea to give a 18 year old kid a line lock button though, ahah.

 

[SearchMaster]

Well, you were able to put a manual trans in the sExcort so working on the Mustang should be child's play.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[CRXican]

nice, I was looking at notchbacks for a while

 

[fbrdphreak]

Very cool :thumbsup:

Those little tin-cans can be made fast for cheap. And I *LOVE* the sound of the good ol' 5.0L.

A great condition interior is important, IMO. It's a PITA & costly to fix up an interior. Pretty much anything that old will need paint and you can do a lot of the prep-work yourself to save the dough.

 

[BlackTigers]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Very cool :thumbsup:

Those little tin-cans can be made fast for cheap. And I *LOVE* the sound of the good ol' 5.0L.

A great condition interior is important, IMO. It's a PITA & costly to fix up an interior. Pretty much anything that old will need paint and you can do a lot of the prep-work yourself to save the dough.

Oh, we know they can be fast. My dad had an '86 5L and it snapped necks, and cost nothing, even back then.

I figure i've replaced a transmission and two engines on FWD cars, so this is going to be a walk in the park.

I've never actually built an engine up though, so doing that's going to be interesting. Cam gears is as far as I've gone in that respect.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Sit down and decide what your goal for the car is first. If you want this car to tear it up at the drag strip, plan on spending a LOT of money. If you're looking for something to leave a smile on your face each time a light turns green, you can build up a 5.0 fairly easily and without investing a ton.

The first thing I'd do is figure out what the rear gear ratio is. With a T5 (5 speed manual), 3.73s should give you nice acceleration. Your fuel economy will, of course, suck. You could go for shorter 4.11s for better acceleration, but your highway RPM will be quite high, or you can go for a taller 3.55 or 3.23 (IIRC), which will give better economy but worse acceleration.

As far as the engine, the sky is the limit. I've done most of my research for carbed motors, so I can't comment on the EFI stuff. However, you can get a nice ~20-50 HP boost just by doing intake, cam, and exhaust (headers, possibly catback as well), as well as a tune. Beyond that you can look into heads, superchargers, turbo setups, stroker kits, etc. Just be sure not to slap a S/C or turbo on a stock motor; for that, you should really take it to a machine shop for balancing and blueprinting, get forged pistons, rods, and crank, etc. For probably $300-500 or so, you could be running around with 240-280 horses under the hood, and for another $1-2k, 300-350 isn't difficult. Beyond that, you'll need to look into getting a beefier transmission, strengthening the chassis, suspension mods, etc. and the costs will start to skyrocket.

All in all, the fox body Mustangs are a great way to go fast for dirt cheap. Check out Summit Racing for performance parts, or Mustangs Unlimited for Mustang-specific parts. Both have a great selection, though MU tends to be a bit on the high side for generic parts like heads, cams, etc.

The best part about building up a 5.0 is people tend to have parts laying around everywhere. Check local swap meets, junk yards, and craigslist to see what you can find; In my case, I found someone with a complete aluminized exhaust setup (headers to exhaust tips) from a '66 Shelby GT350 with minor surface rust for only $150. A brand new setup would have cost me $800-1500 or more.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: BlackTigers

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
Very cool :thumbsup:

Those little tin-cans can be made fast for cheap. And I *LOVE* the sound of the good ol' 5.0L.

A great condition interior is important, IMO. It's a PITA & costly to fix up an interior. Pretty much anything that old will need paint and you can do a lot of the prep-work yourself to save the dough.

Oh, we know they can be fast. My dad had an '86 5L and it snapped necks, and cost nothing, even back then.

I figure i've replaced a transmission and two engines on FWD cars, so this is going to be a walk in the park.

I've never actually built an engine up though, so doing that's going to be interesting. Cam gears is as far as I've gone in that respect.

replacing tranny and engines are nothing compared to an engine build.

 

[MyThirdEye]

Very cool car.