need reccommendations for 5.0

dfin said:

im buying a 93 5.0 stang for about 3k, it has straightpipes and a 350 ratio for the rear. i am focused on 3 main things:

1. good suspension (springs/shocks or coilovers)
2. reliability (should i resurface the deck, any machinework (pistons, connecting rods to ensure dependability)) and how much would it cost?
3. horsepower

I am willing to put an additional 2500 into the car, but being a civic guy (heh) :damnit: i am totally in the dark as to what brands, the prices, etc. if anyone can help me out it would be much appreciated.

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1. I really have no input

2. Unless your 5.0 has a lot of miles on it, I wouldn't worry any about machine work. The 5.0 is a very dependable motor... it easily rivals the Civic when kept stop as far as lifespan. My dad F-150 5.0 has 180,000 miles on it and runs fine, the neighbors 5.0 has 255,000+ miles on and he still drives it to work everyday.

3. Horsepower. that all depends.. how much are you looking for? I would reccomend getting exhaust first thing before any work is done on the car. Not for a power standpoint, but from a *striaght pipes are too LOUD* standpoint.
If you are looking to spend 2,500 you should have enough money after the suspension to score a blower and be happy with the power you make.

First thing I would do is determine if and what work is needed to be done to the car.

You already are thinkng pistons and rods and such. I would be worried more about the basics first. Give the engine a complete once over. Compression check, leak down test, gaskets leaking, etc....

A stock 5.0 engine will support up to around 500 HP in good working order.

As far as suspension goes you will have to look at what you have currently and decide what is good and what needs to be replaced. Subframes are a great place to start if the car does not have them and would be first on my list.

Power wise depends on how well your engine is now and how much money you are willing to spend on it. Around 500 HP is the limit for the stock block.

BTW: I have never heard of 350 gears.? Maybe you meant 355?

Anyway good luck with it.

Maybe it just me but $2500 isn't a lot of money. You can get a nice suspension setup out of that but as far as motor work too I doubt it. You can easily spend over a grand for a set of heads and having any maching work done to a block and new internals can also come very close to exceeding your limit. I think your spreading that money out too thin with everything you want to do. I would focus on one thing at a time. good luck

First get teh car and drive it the way it is for a while. You are going to spend a couple hundred nickle and diming the car with the little things that are wrong. Next you are going to want to figure out if you want engine work done or if you want the suspention first. Then go from there.

How many miles are on the car?

dfin said:

the car has 98,000 miles on it, i was wondering what are some good brands for suspensino in terms of mustnags

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Check out http://www.maximummotorsports.com/

I just rebiult the rear suspension with the best parts I could afford. Check it out if you are going to do it your self, it'll save you some $$$. The link is in my sig...

poneypower89 said:

1. I really have no input

2. Unless your 5.0 has a lot of miles on it, I wouldn't worry any about machine work. The 5.0 is a very dependable motor... it easily rivals the Civic when kept stop as far as lifespan. My dad F-150 5.0 has 180,000 miles on it and runs fine, the neighbors 5.0 has 255,000+ miles on and he still drives it to work everyday.

3. Horsepower. that all depends.. how much are you looking for? I would reccomend getting exhaust first thing before any work is done on the car. Not for a power standpoint, but from a *striaght pipes are too LOUD* standpoint.
If you are looking to spend 2,500 you should have enough money after the suspension to score a blower and be happy with the power you make.

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Definitely go with the exhuast upgrade. I spent only $1000 on long tube headers, h-pipe and flowmaster american thunder cat-back system. It will add HP and make your car MUCH louder.

RUSH2112 said:

Definitely go with the exhuast upgrade. I spent only $1000 on long tube headers, h-pipe and flowmaster american thunder cat-back system. It will add HP and make your car MUCH louder.

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Louder? His car striaght pipes on it right now

But yes, the exhuast upgrade will make is sound ALOT better as striaght pipes make a stang sound like a beat of old school f-150 IMO.

First of all - what are you planning on doing with this car? Is it going to be your daily driver, track star, or auto x'er?

Really there's no one answer for all of the above. If it's going to be running at the track only, you can get by with a really cheap suspension (some people do well with just the stock suspension with drag shocks and struts), but if you are talking auto x'ing, then things can get really expensive because you'll want a very solid controllable chassis.

My suggestion if you are going with something between a daily driver and auto x'ing is to beef up your suspension (new bushings all around, subframes, strut tower brace, springs, then shocks and struts) then move on to your brakes (now's the time to upgrade to the 5-lugs if that's what you want to do). After this you probably won't have a lot of money left, so maybe get a new cat-back exhaust.

Welcome to the 5.0 world. I upgraded from Hondas too. Even though these cars are totally different, they're pretty straightforward once you get to know them, and they're easy to work on.

As others are saying, unless the engine is totally shot, I wouldn't worry about doing any rebuilding just yet. The 5.0's internals really are just as durable as any Honda engine's, they're known to go for a long time and take a lot of abuse before finally wearing out. If you keep up on maintenance these cars are really pretty reliable, despite what most import guys think. I'd just make sure any little problems are fixed first... do a full tune up, check your cooling system, check the brakes and steering. Make sure the car is in perfect stock condition before you get serious about modding, otherwise you'll just run into big headaches later on.

For the suspension, do you want something drag oriented or handling oriented? Either way, get subframe connectors first. These weld into your frame rails and stiffen the entire chassis. About $75-125 + install. I probably wouldn't bother with coilovers for your budget, just a good set of springs and shocks/struts. Bilstein, Koni and Tokico make good handling focused shocks/struts ($350-$550). Look at Eibach, H&R, and Ford Racing for springs ($150-250). When lowering these cars caster/camber plates are usually needed to help get your alignment set up right ($130-190). I'm not too well read on drag suspensions, but I see a lot of people having good results with the Eibach drag springs and Lakewood or Strange shocks/struts. If you're going for drag you'll probably want some beefier rear control arms to handle hard launches, at least the lower arms anyway. Make sure to inspect all of your bushings and replace anything that's worn out- with the age of the car most of them probably will be. Might want to just get a complete kit from somewhere like Energy Suspension and replace everything with urethane stuff.

All of the above will net you a very good basic setup. Most guys don't go any further for a street 5.0, but if you want to make it handle even better you can look into a panhard bar, and maybe even a torque arm for the rear suspension- check out Maximum Motorsports, their stuff is as good as anything out there & their site does a good job explaning how these parts work. Expensive but worth it if you want the best handling possbile.

For making horsepower you have even more options. Most people get a heads/cam/intake combo. You can spend anywhere from $750 for ported stock heads and intake with the stock cam, to $2000 or more for aftermarket heads and intake and a custom ground cam. And that's not including the new gaskets you'll need, nor bigger injectors, mass air flow sensor and throttle body, possibly a fuel pump and a fuel pressure regulator to support the new air & fuel needs. Boost is always another option, there are many different bolt-on supercharger kits avalible for these cars, and turbo setups are becoming more and more popular.

Assuming you spend roughly about $1000 on a nice suspension setup and have $1500 left to go fast, I'd probably look into either a ported stock heads/intake setup or a GT40 heads & Cobra/5.0 Explorer intake combo, with an off the shelf cam. Properly done, either can produce a 12 second car. Again, you'll need all the correct fuel & airflow parts that we call the 'supporting hardware', and all the 'little things' like bolts and gaskets. Then there's also the cost of shipping, and possibly install costs for some certain things depending on your skill level. Plan ahead, because that stuff can really add up. It's much better to wait a bit longer and make sure you get absolutely everything you'll need ahead of time- It beats tearing your car apart only to realize you're missing something major or the parts you have won't work together.

The best thing you can do is figure out some specific goals and budget ahead of time, and then read up as much as you possibly can. This site is a good resource... try doing searches for whatever topics you want to learn about, it's a good way to find a lot of very helpful information quickly. I'd also think about buying the book 'How to Tune and Modify Your Ford 5.0-Liter Mustang' by Steve Turner- it's a good overall primer on what you can do to these cars, well worth $20 IMO. Sometimes we get so in depth here that I think newbies can be a little confused by all the specifics.