1988 Mustang GT proud new owner

[loddyjr]

Well where do I start! This car has been a 10 yr dream of mine and I finally found the right car at the right price. However the engine has a knock which I'm not worried about I will pull the oil pan and check for play in the rods! I worry more about what the hell I'm going to do with the motor! I will be removing it in the coming weeks but I don't know what to go with? First off I will tell you what is on the motor when I purchased it then I will go into detail of my plans. The car has brand new interior plus alot of upgrades.

Current motor!

Stock 302
GT40 Aluminum heads
GT40 upper and lower intake
K&N Filter
E303 Cam
BBK headers
H-Pipe w/cats
Flow masters
3.55 gears
Center force clutch
MSD ignition


Option A

Hone the cylinders if possible, new rings and possibly new crank shaft since it knocks I hope for only a polish. I have heard not to turn them just buy a good one and have it pollished. New Rings, and bolt her back togeather!

Option B

Bore the cylinders and put a stroker kit in my reasearch tells me to go with a 331 since I want to drive her and it has to pass CA smog! I would go the extra mile with forged internals.

At the same time I will rebuild the T5 tranny just to be safe! I want a reliable build. The car has been sitting for 3 years and I'm not sure what else is going to pop up so I figure around 1500 for the motor and thats if I spend the money on the stroker kit. The best machine shop in town want 500 to prep the block other want 225. I would rather spend the extra money and get a block back that has been throughly gone through! Whats everyones take on this! Reliablility and power!! That is CA smog legal!

 

[5.0Droptop]

Congrats on the purchase. Welcome to the forums and to a new addiction.

1500.00 for a 331 stroker is a tight budget especially if you going forged. With the heads you have and other mods you already have I would go with a forged piston 306 and then go from there.

If you plan to stick with a stock rebuilt T5 be prepared for it to break behind a 331 stroker.

 

[87GT Drop Top]

Congratulations on the Stang!!

View attachment 217525

 

[281pony]

i agree.. build a budget 302/306 setup and spend the extra cash on better supporting mods.

 

[loddyjr]

so 306 with forged pistons, that was what I was thinking! Hopefully the crank is still good I will also need to get the heads cleaned up so I think this is my best bet! Plus The T5 will hold up hopefully

 

[loddyjr]

Pictures will be soon added hopefully by the end of the week! The wife is getting upset with all my computer time searching for the right setups etc! LOL

 

[loddyjr]

 

[68keyblr]

Welcome to the '88 GT club

Remember if you go 331, you are switching to a 28 oz external balance, so you'll have to change out the balancer and flywheel as well.

Having said that it was worth it for me, it's a great motor.

Good luck

 

[FoxGT87]

i would definately turn my head for a double take. nice looking car.

 

[loddyjr]

68keyblr,
Nice build with good detail! If the crank is bad on this motor wont know until I tear into her, I will probably go with the 331 stroker! Everything I have considered really depends on the shape of the block when I bread her down! If you go the budget route with a 331 stroker kit aka hyper pistons and steel crank what do you think the price would be! I'm still a littler Leary seeing how the car has run in about 3 yrs, with that said I plan on pulling the gas tank draining the fuel is already has a 255 fuel pump and with the other addons I mentions including I believe 30# injectors not 100% on that we will have to wait and see!! Can the T5 hold up with the 331 I do plan to beat on her from now and then but keep her straight with no tire hop! I did own a 89 when I was 17 that I did a motor swap on but I ordered an engine! This time I want to build the engine and clean the car up! It needs to be a classic again and the interior doesn't say classic to me right now it has monitors in the head rest and a system that are all going to be removed I'm going to relocate the AC controls to the ash tray area and just clean things up so I can put my guages in the place of the AC stuff, I got lots of plans hope to have her down by my b day at the end of august but I will keep you boys posted with pictures!! May have to get my best friend involved in the build just so we have something to remember!! Thanks for the welcoming looking forward to sharing my build with you all!!

 

[5.0W/5.0]

Nice....That thing was up on CL for awhile....Didn't sell, so he put it on Ebay.....Good pick up

 

[87GT Drop Top]

Looks good!!
How are you going to move the A/C controls to the ash tray?

 

[loddyjr]

I saw it on a feature mustang car it was silver, I would imagine I can cut and splice the wires to extend them also use the existing ash tray cover just mold it to be a solid piece. Use a hole saw and install the guages. Worse case I can on getting some interior parts from the junk yard if need be. But thats way down the road, Right now I just want to get the motor built, rebuild the tranny and clean the crap out of the engine bay! Going for a clean overall look, Iam considering having everything powder coated in black no in to the shinny stuff. Then again im just looking for a clean setup with great reliablility! Hoping to get by with a .030 over 306 build. Use my existing crank and rods just new forged pistons! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[NIKwoaC]

A 306 is 0.030 over. 0.010 over is closer to 303ci. That said, I don't know that .010 over is real common, or that I've ever even heard of it. It's usually just straight to 0.030.

Don't put a forged crank in it. A good cast crank will long outlast the stock 302 block, and save you some coin. Also, (and this seems to escape some people) the stock rods are forged pieces, and are pretty stout. If anything, you could throw some better fasteners on them and call it a day.

 

[loddyjr]

Opps sorry was just a quick update .030 messed that one up! I agree the rods are forged so are the pistons just aluminum I believe! A Cast crank was in the plans my local machinist recommended going with the hyper pistons said they can stand up to a light shot of NOS dont really have any plans for NOS or a blower but that type of fever can sneak up on you so I think forged pistons are a must at this point. I have pretty much made up my mind going with the 306 and forged pistons any other recommendations are appreciated!!

 

[68keyblr]

68keyblr,
If you go the budget route with a 331 stroker kit aka hyper pistons and steel crank what do you think the price would be!

Well, I put 6K into my "budget 331" LOL and that was using a nice set of ported GT-40 heads and a used cobra intake on ebay. I also got a used explorer 65 MM TB on craigslist.

I went with a new on everything else. I got a forged 331 short block from ebay that worked out well for me and only cost $1500.

Aside from heads and short block, you get nickle and dimed to death with gaskets, fasteners, oil pump, sensors, etc etc. If you reuse as much as possible you can save a lot of money, but sacrifice peace of mind.

I had my stock T-5 rebuilt and it's holding up fine...I don't abuse it though, I don't powershift and don't do too many hard launches.

Good luck on your build, it's alot of fun.