Budget minded build help

[Roxy89]

I just got a 1989 GT hatchback today. I will try and post pics as soon as I get them. I picked it up from a friend who had nowhere to store it. I got it for an unbelievable $400 and all that is messed up is a little fading on the front and rear bumper. The interior looks like it's off the showroom floor. Only 91k miles. The engine is completely stock except for some mac shorties, an o/r h-pipe and flowmasters. His dad had bought it new and unfortunately passed away last year. He had nothing else to do with it and offered it to me for $400. I went the next day w/cash and took it home. I plan on keeping the body original as well as the interior. I would like to mildly modify the engine for now. Maybe in the future I will do a decent engine build, but for now I would like to know a couple of things. And yes I used the search but haven't found specific answers to my questions.

1) is there any way to tell if the rear gears have been changed?
2) i don't really want to go through the work of changing the heads right now, so how difficult is it to just change the upper and lower intake? will it net me a noticeable gain w/out changing the stock heads? if so, what intake would be a good match for the stock heads?
3) I plan on doing the basic bolt ons. The car already has mac shorties, is it worth it to change to long tubes? I don't want to spend the money if it's not going to be a noticeable difference.
4) can someone please tell me the stock weight of a gt hatchback
5) what kind of rwhp results could i see from just doing the u/l intake and all the basic bolt ons?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

[BadAndy]

I think you can count how many times the rear tire goes around to the drive shaft [ jack up one wheel]-if you have a 350 gear the drive shaft will go around 3 1/2 times to 1 tire rev or remove the cover and count the gear teeth and divide them

2. very little if any performance diff from shorties to long tubes
3.Myself I would wait and do heads and intake, the diff of just an intake is very little

 

[jrichker]

On a budget? do the junkyard upgrade...

Gears - 87-88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe rear axle - disc brakes and 3.55 or 3.73 gears in one package for $125-$300. Add another $100-$200 or so to complete the brake upgrade.

94-95 Mustang GT MAF - $40-$100. It is 70 MM instead of the stock 55 MM on regular stangs built prior to 94. It uses a slip on duct on the side that goes to the throttle body and a 4 bolt flange on the other. You need a $25-$35 flange adapter from Pro-M to fit the stock slip on air ducting that goes to the air box. Wiring plugs right in with no changes. *1

95-97 Ford Explorer intake manifold & throttle body $150-$300. The intake manifold flows 220 CFM +, much better than stock. Throttle body is 65 MM, bigger than the 60 MM on stock stangs. I got a 96 with EGR passages that match the stock setup, so my smog gear works just like factory. You’ll need a 65 MM EGR spacer & new gaskets for $65-$90 so you have a place to mount the EGR & throttle linkage.

3G alternator from 94-95 Mustangs or other Ford. $20-$120. A must have to make the electrical system work like it should. You’ll need a 4 gauge power wire and a 125-135 amp fuse to go with it about $15- $30.

Lincoln MK VIII electric fan -$40-$160. Free up some HP by not having to drive the stock fan. The 3G alternator upgrade is a must have prerequisite before you do the MK VIII fan. You won’t have enough electrical power if you don’t do the 3G upgrade.

Aluminum driveshaft: (courtesy of shawn13) It needs to be from a 92-93-94 Aerostar AWD and you will need the u-joint, part #353 from NAPA. It should bolt right up after the u-joint swap.

*1.) metal flange adapter
http://www.kustomz.com/cat3.html

Buy the TR70 for $44.95.