Iraq Vet's '94/5.0 Needs To Be Goosed!

[RickCoMatic]

Hey, Hot-Rod Guys!

My nephew came home from Iraq and scored a decent '94, 5.0, 302, F/I, w/Air & CAI.
I've been coaching him over-the-phone, and driving over to help-out take the kinks out and get this baby running half-way decent.
We had to do:
Right Front Hub and Caliper, Water Pump, Timing Cover Gasket and Ft Main Seal, Oil Pressure Sender, Wires, Plugs and a Cooling System Flush.

Is there a "List" of stuff to do ... as money is available ... to add a little-bit more "GO"
to this Mustang like there is for this old-man's Monte' Carlo?
Just a few things we ought to do to it ... to make him get to the next red-light right along-side or ahead of the other guys?

We don't need shiny-looking new parts ... a place where we can score some used stuff would be fine.
Happy Summer.
Uncle Rick

(Base '04 Chevy Monte' Bone Stock ... too old to Mod)

 

[Shaolin Crane]

i would look on the classifieds on here for good deals on used parts

 

[1991notchbackLX]

Depending on the size of your budget and extent of your mechanical skills you might want to start with the junkyard checklist over in the tech section. Most people start off with a free flowing exhaust, i.e. headers, mid-pipe (X or H depending on personal preference) and a set of chambered mufflers (also based on personal preference). The next best "bang for the buck" modification would be gears, either 3:73s if it's a manual car or 4:10s if it's an automatic. After those comes a short throw shifter (assuming it's a T5), chassis stiffening, heads/cam/intake swap, aluminum driveshaft, electric fan... full cage, back-half the car, twin turbo Dart based 347 stroker. I got carried away but you get the idea!

 

[strtrcr50]

Used vortech s trim ftw..

 

[1991notchbackLX]

Used vortech s trim ftw..

a lot of people say that as a first recommendation, but i don't necessarily get why... what if the motor's so tired it's only making 180 HP?? then you just spent $1500 on a supercharger and fuel system upgrades to make 250 horsepower, and you'll have bottlenecks like stock exhaust and stock gear ratio, and a wet noodle for a chassis... supporting mods first, chassis stiffening and suspension, gears, exhaust, etc. should always come first IMO

 

[Shaolin Crane]

a lot of people say that as a first recommendation, but i don't necessarily get why... what if the motor's so tired it's only making 180 HP?? then you just spent $1500 on a supercharger and fuel system upgrades to make 250 horsepower, and you'll have bottlenecks like stock exhaust and stock gear ratio, and a wet noodle for a chassis... supporting mods first, chassis stiffening and suspension, gears, exhaust, etc. should always come first IMO

much agreed, master Turner has a saying "defeat is caused by da feet" work from the ground up ftw

 

[ThePumpkin]

3.73 gears will help it's acceleration out a lot. If your looking to spend a little play money, do that... and get the speedometer calibrated. It will feel like you gained a 100 hp

 

[91ghp5.0]

My reccomended list:

Gears (3.73, 4.10, or 3.55 if it's going to be on the highway a lot)
Exaust (Headers [I like longtubes], H or X Pipe, and a "catback" [Flowmaster, Borla, Bassani, Magnaflow, etc.]
Electric fan
Shifter (shift kit for an automatic?)
If you want all motor power, Heads/Cam/Intake
Nitrous if you want power cheap (it becomes more expensive as time goes on)
Supercharger (Vortech S trim, Paxton Novi 2000, Procharger PS1-C)
Supporting fuel modifications
Chassis work (aka upper/lower control arms, springs, shocks/struts, caster camber plates (almost a must of the car is lowered), etc.
Brake/wheel swap

That's just off the top of my head. Keep us updated on the progress!

 

[strtrcr50]

a lot of people say that as a first recommendation, but i don't necessarily get why... what if the motor's so tired it's only making 180 HP?? then you just spent $1500 on a supercharger and fuel system upgrades to make 250 horsepower, and you'll have bottlenecks like stock exhaust and stock gear ratio, and a wet noodle for a chassis... supporting mods first, chassis stiffening and suspension, gears, exhaust, etc. should always come first IMO

At least on my part, I assume that subframe connectors, gears and a cat back are already installed. I say that because as far as bang for the buck mods go, there is nothing you can do for that kind of money to get that kind of increase. Also, an s trim or novi 1200/2000 will grow with you. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Shaolin Crane]

you could copy this guys setup New times for my 9:1 compression 331 with AFR 185 comp heads - Corral Forums