If You Had.....

[santos]

if you had a 92, with 185,xxx on the clock, usual bolt ons except heads and cam, and a budget of 8-10K, what would you do? i plan on keeping this car forever, will see mainly street, occasional track time (very little) and i would like more power, of course. Im starting to gather ideas, and doing research on what would be best to do (crate, rebuild, stroker, ????) and i would like your ideas

thanks!

 

[25thmustang]

How's the chassis and suspension? Any work done, stock brakes, etc? As much as my initial thought is more power, I think I'd start with a brake upgrade, wheels and tires would have to be done also and then maybe a mild rebuild, HCI if there's money for it.

 

[RonBurgandy]

With 8-10k in cash I'd find some suspension parts on the forums for cheap and redo it to your liking. Street/strip auto x road course etc. Then I'd grab a ford racing 347. Good intake long tubes injectors and other supporting mods and a nice supercharger. With the last little bit a dyno tune

 

[GroverDill]

LSx swap

 

[A5literMan]

With that budget and mileage on the engine I'd overhaul the 302 and throw a H/C/I on it for around 3-4k. Upgrade the brakes,suspension,wheels&tires with the rest. If there's money left over it would go into cosmetics. If you're resourceful you can find a lot of good used parts on the cheap. As far as stroker engines/blowers/etc go it's real hard to do with that budget(I know there are plenty of people have thrown boost at 185,000 mile engines-I wouldn't). Also remember all the extras that go into the engine upgrade ie fuel system,exhaust,ignition,tune etc.

 

[rbohm]

with up to a 10K budget, i would start with the chassis and sort that fully with something like kenny browns subframe connectors, extreme matrix brace, and jacking rails. i would also install battle boxes to reinforce the rear suspension mounting points.

then i would move to the suspension starting in the rear where i would go with a torque arm suspension with a panhard bar, and koni or tokico shocks.

then move to the front suspension where i would swap the K member for one that would use factory suspension parts, but had upgraded suspension geometry. i would use the sn95 suspension arms along with 94-95 spindles and cobra brakes. i would also add something like eibach variable rate springs on all four corners.

for the drive train, i would upgrade everything, starting with a crate 331 topped with a proper supercharger pushing about 10psi boost. of course the trans, rear end, and drive shaft would all be properly upgraded to handle the power.

 

[A5literMan]

with up to a 10K budget, i would start with the chassis and sort that fully with something like kenny browns subframe connectors, extreme matrix brace, and jacking rails. i would also install battle boxes to reinforce the rear suspension mounting points.

then i would move to the suspension starting in the rear where i would go with a torque arm suspension with a panhard bar, and koni or tokico shocks.

then move to the front suspension where i would swap the K member for one that would use factory suspension parts, but had upgraded suspension geometry. i would use the sn95 suspension arms along with 94-95 spindles and cobra brakes. i would also add something like eibach variable rate springs on all four corners.

for the drive train, i would upgrade everything, starting with a crate 331 topped with a proper supercharger pushing about 10psi boost. of course the trans, rear end, and drive shaft would all be properly upgraded to handle the power.

All this for 10k?? I have over 1k in suspension without a kmember,1k in rearend,1k in brakes,ignition,fuel system(without injectors),750$ in new tires all in parts(no labor) in the last year. That totals close to 4k. A crate engine and blower for 6k?! Yeah right.

 

[santos]

i was just thinking the same thing LOL

 

[84Ttop]

LSx swap

Booooo......

 

[NIKwoaC]

If you have a pile of money sitting around, I say go ahead and do big ticket items first. The shortblock, top of the engine, and transmission are 3 areas that will consume a bunch of money all at once, and can't really be broken down into smaller purchases. Everything else like brakes and suspension can be done piecemeal- few hundred dollars here and there as time and money permit.

 

[reldla1996]

I like Nikowac's approach. I'd definitely rebuild the engine, and it's almost silly not to stroke it at the same time - the cost differential is not that great. Next is the 351 versus 302 decision. You're going to need to make the supercharge or NA decision early on because that impacts so many other decisions, especially compression ratio. The factory 351 block can take more power than the factory 302 block, which makes it cheaper for some builds. That said, when faced with similar decisions, I went with the Dart big bore 302 block stroked to a 369 and stayed NA. I still rethink the 302 versus 351 and the supercharge decisions from time to time...but overall I really enjoy my end product.

 

[rbohm]

All this for 10k?? I have over 1k in suspension without a kmember,1k in rearend,1k in brakes,ignition,fuel system(without injectors),750$ in new tires all in parts(no labor) in the last year. That totals close to 4k. A crate engine and blower for 6k?! Yeah right.

if you buy all new parts and dont shop around, perhaps you wont be able to do the job for $10k. i personally like to shop around to get the best price, and i am not averse to buying used parts either. perhaps you are though.

also i am not averse to actually MAKING some of the parts needed. for instance you dont have to buy a torque arm, you can make it. same with the subframe connectors, the jacking rails, and the extreme matrix brace. come on people think outside the box and use that creative energy that some of you think you have.

 

[84Ttop]

if you buy all new parts and dont shop around, perhaps you wont be able to do the job for $10k. i personally like to shop around to get the best price, and i am not averse to buying used parts either. perhaps you are though.

also i am not averse to actually MAKING some of the parts needed. for instance you dont have to buy a torque arm, you can make it. same with the subframe connectors, the jacking rails, and the extreme matrix brace. come on people think outside the box and use that creative energy that some of you think you have.

I totally hear where you are coming from, and agree that a ton of money can be saved by building certain things on your own. I also realize that not everyone has the facilities to create such things regardless of their ability to think outside the box or not.

 

[A5literMan]

if you buy all new parts and dont shop around, perhaps you wont be able to do the job for $10k. i personally like to shop around to get the best price, and i am not averse to buying used parts either. perhaps you are though.

also i am not averse to actually MAKING some of the parts needed. for instance you dont have to buy a torque arm, you can make it. same with the subframe connectors, the jacking rails, and the extreme matrix brace. come on people think outside the box and use that creative energy that some of you think you have.

Completely agree with shopping around and buying used parts(that's why I said it in my earlier post). You also mentioned a "crate" engine and a supercharger. A crate moter alone is going to eat up a ton of this budget. Not trying to start a pissing match. I just think you were waaaay under on the costs of your advise. Just saying

 

[rbohm]

a 331 stroker crate engine from summit racing can be as little as $3200;

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/mll-bp3314ct/overview/make/ford

find a used supercharger kit for around a $1000 along with other used parts bought cheap and you can be in the project with everything i suggested for less than $10,000. like i said shop around, and dont be afriad to buy used parts, and dont be afraid to make your own parts.

 

[84Ttop]

Don't be afraid of some used parts, lets clarify... Be very afraid of used cylinder heads, engines, transmissions and especially Superchargers!!!

 

[rbohm]

Don't be afraid of some used parts, lets clarify... Be very afraid of used cylinder heads, engines, transmissions and especially Superchargers!!!

if you look them over carefully you should have no issues.

 

[Grabbin' Asphalt]

sounds like a job for a 750hp shot of Nawz and take the change to club

 

[84Ttop]

if you look them over carefully you should have no issues.

I respectly could not disagree more. Used blowers are very hit or miss a lot of factors needs to be acounted for. Not exactly simple imho

 

[rbohm]

I respectly could not disagree more. Used blowers are very hit or miss a lot of factors needs to be acounted for. Not exactly simple imho

in other words you dont like doing proper inspections. you would rather waste money on all new parts. thats fine for you, but not everyone can afford to always buy new parts, so they put the time into inspection and replacing parts that need replacing.