buy a doner car or buy peices at a time for my 5.0 conversion

[MrMustangVert]

just need to know if it would be any cheaper if i bought a whole car or buy the engin and trans together and also buy that wiring harness sepreatly

conversion is for my 66 mustang

 

[bsedwebt70-5.0]

You will want to put all new performance stuff together no matter what you do - Ford Motorsport sells the harness for 200.00 out of their catalog and all the supporting harnesses to do the swap as well as a sensor kit and computer. You will want to get several custom pieces to make life nice like a trans mount, motor mounts, headers to fit around the steeering box, a regular 302 oil pan and pump assembly, big block/air conditioned radiator with properly positioned inlets and outlets, electric fan, under drive pullies, battery repositioning kit, clutch cable or hydrolic system, speedo cable w/ VSS, high pressure in line electric fuel pump & connectors/tubes, smog elimination stuff for cannister purge, thermactor, etc... You will want to see www.ronmorrisperformance.com as well as www.fordfuelinjection.com and several other sites dedicated to this. I highly suggest buying all of your stuff at one time from one source that you trust - like I trust Ron Morris as everything he does is right on the mark and you may get a break in price? Don't forget to take a look at the bearings while you have the pan off - go ahead and replace them on the crank and rods just for good measure - it is cheap and easy since you have to swap pans and oil pump anyway. It all depends on what kind of parts car you can get - Salvage yards are coming up slim these days for 5.0 HO engines etc... You may want to think about finding somebody's wrecked 5.0 that they have done all the performance stuff to already and save your money on having to mod it later - besides you can talk to them about the history and what you should do before dropping it in. There is not a whole lot you will end up using off the doner car - engine, trans, computer, sensors, wires, computer are about it.

 

[MrMustangVert]

cool

 

[351LX]

I don't know the details of what you are doing but I have had good luck on a couple of vehicles by purchasing a total loss vehicle from an insurance company and parting out what I don't need.If you are thinking of going that route, do some research first as to the saleable items on the vehicle by checking out the want ads on internet enthusiast sites, checking the completed auctions on ebay and visiting a wrecking yard and seeing which parts seem to be removed first.That way you can strip the car quickly of the valuable parts and get rid of it rather than hanging on to the hulk.I purchased an 88 5.0 LX Mustang a few years back that had an interior fire for $450 and by the time I parted it out I had basically a free engine,rear end and set of wheels.

 

[Hack]

If you enjoy doing the work and have the patience to go the slow way, I say buy a donor car. I bought a Fox Mustang for $400 last winter, drove it for 5 months, then tore it apart.

I got a trac-loc rear end that will work in my car, a T5 tranny, strong running 302.. you get the idea.

Hmmm, this gets me thinking.. I am going to run my car carbureted, so I sold the A9L on eBay. I still have many of the other parts you need. Maybe we can work something out.

If you're looking for the upper and lower intakes, throttle body, etc. fire me off a message. I still have most of the parts that just came off the car a month or so ago.

Anyway - I do recommend the donor car method as you get something complete and you have an example of how everything goes together right in front of you. It's just more work to do - but the work is fun, right? That's why we call it a hobby!!

 

[ADub64]

Where are you guys finding fox bodies so cheap. I have been considering the donor car option. The cheapest car I have found so far was 1250 not running.

 

[65mistress]

I agree with Hack, not to mention the little odds and ends that you don't realize you need will be right there on the donor car.
You can check with the tow yards, they sometimes have really good deals in there.

 

[68rustang]

Donor is the way to go. I bought a wrecked running (drove it onto the trailer) 95 GT for $1600.00. I have sold most of what I didn't need, still have tons of parts to get rid of and kept thousands of dollars worth of parts for my 68 (if bought separately) and have made nearly $600.00 over what I paid on the deal so far.

 

[67efivert]

i love the donar idea for a person without any spare efi stuff laying around

 

[Hack]

Where are you guys finding fox bodies so cheap. I have been considering the donor car option. The cheapest car I have found so far was 1250 not running.

I don't know where you live, because you haven't filled it out. I am in the rust belt. I got lucky, I know that. But if you are patient you should be able to find something. I got a car that was really badly rusted, that no one would consider trying to save the body. Many people would probably not have driven it because it looked so bad. I personally love the idea of driving a junker and not being afraid that it will break.

Oh the interior was crap, too. The dash was beat, no headliner, the seats leaned and were all crusty. The swaybar had torn away a huge chunk of one of the front subframes.

The drivetrain was great and that's all I cared about. I found it on a local Mustang forum. Try some internet searches for Mustang forums in your area. You'll find all sorts of opportunities to buy parts and cars.

 

[cougar_68]

I bought a 90 mustang with 53k miles that was wrecked in the front, but still ran well for $1300. I sold a lot of the parts and only ended up a couple hundred in the hole.

I don't think anyone mentioned how fun it is to tear a car apart when you know you don't have to put it back together.