Hey fellow SN95 guys! I am new to the forum but not new to mustangs! Im having a little trouble deciding what to do so I thought I would introduce myself here and ask for some opinions and maybe get some advice from anyone who has done it before.
I have a 2004 Competition Orange v6 Mustang. She was my first vehicle bought brand new when I was 16 and was my first real love affair with a car. Her biggest claim to fame is the great color and the Mach 1000 audio system and while she isn't the rarest or fastest car the fact she was my first, that I learned to drive a manual with it, and the hours I spent making small mods with my dad make her worth her weight in gold to me.
Unfortunately for the car life just got too busy to keep up with her. Thankfully I still have it but it has sat in the weather for years and currently needs a fuel pump to even get going. My wife and I just had our first baby and the one thing I always wanted to do with my dad and now with my son was to do a total restoration an older mustang (like from barn find to show room) and I hope to do so one day but money and experience wise the work I need to do on this car will be much less but enough to get me some great experience so I am going to get it in shape first and hopefully give it to my son.
Ok enough with the sappy stuff, that's just the background of why I want to work on this car. I really want the car to be a good combination of show/drag car with the racing being extremely minimal maybe only a time or two a year. I am a planner so I want to have a set path for the car but trying to plan that out I am really unsure of what to do drivetrain wise. I am not sure since I am leaning towards making it a show/"collector" car for my son to keep the v6 and just milk it for what I can (stroked, supercharger/turbo?) or do a v8 swap with perhaps a DOHC 4.6 from a Mach 1 (just because I loved that car) or perhaps a crate engine with some of the newer coyote stuff (or really any crate motor since there are so many options). But enough of that let me know what you think! What would you do if it were your car? How would you stack the pros and cons to each path? Have you done something similar yourself? Should I definitely swap for the classic muscle car v8 or do I need to realize my complex from high school of it being "only a v6" is silly and keep it closer to how it was from the factory. Let me know! All opinions will be valuable!
I have a 2004 Competition Orange v6 Mustang. She was my first vehicle bought brand new when I was 16 and was my first real love affair with a car. Her biggest claim to fame is the great color and the Mach 1000 audio system and while she isn't the rarest or fastest car the fact she was my first, that I learned to drive a manual with it, and the hours I spent making small mods with my dad make her worth her weight in gold to me.
Unfortunately for the car life just got too busy to keep up with her. Thankfully I still have it but it has sat in the weather for years and currently needs a fuel pump to even get going. My wife and I just had our first baby and the one thing I always wanted to do with my dad and now with my son was to do a total restoration an older mustang (like from barn find to show room) and I hope to do so one day but money and experience wise the work I need to do on this car will be much less but enough to get me some great experience so I am going to get it in shape first and hopefully give it to my son.
Ok enough with the sappy stuff, that's just the background of why I want to work on this car. I really want the car to be a good combination of show/drag car with the racing being extremely minimal maybe only a time or two a year. I am a planner so I want to have a set path for the car but trying to plan that out I am really unsure of what to do drivetrain wise. I am not sure since I am leaning towards making it a show/"collector" car for my son to keep the v6 and just milk it for what I can (stroked, supercharger/turbo?) or do a v8 swap with perhaps a DOHC 4.6 from a Mach 1 (just because I loved that car) or perhaps a crate engine with some of the newer coyote stuff (or really any crate motor since there are so many options). But enough of that let me know what you think! What would you do if it were your car? How would you stack the pros and cons to each path? Have you done something similar yourself? Should I definitely swap for the classic muscle car v8 or do I need to realize my complex from high school of it being "only a v6" is silly and keep it closer to how it was from the factory. Let me know! All opinions will be valuable!