Hey there!
This may be a rather lengthy post, but I want to get my situation / questions out there. I've been reading so many posts on this forum the last few weeks, very helpful! I'd like to start off by saying that this forum is great! So much quick feedback and help from the community is very encouraging. If you find yourself reading this and are interested to give feed back, I'd like to thank you now for your time and help! I'd also like to say that I'm a Fox Mustang enthusiast, not an expert. I have some goals in mind and things I would like to do that I will outline below. I take constructive criticism very well. If I say something that sounds crazy, unnecessary or foolish.. I'd love to know what it is and why it wont work. I'm an open book and still learning.
My goal with the car - Make a reliable / fast street car. I have no intention of drag racing at a track or otherwise. It would be nice to crush some souls around town though.
Small back story, I've owned a few fox's as a teen (I'm 32 now) and they have for a long time been my "dream car".. I've always wanted another but the opportunity never really presented itself. Finally, the opportunity did and I bought one blind-ish. Let me explain. My boss had one that he was on the fence about selling it for about a year. He drove it maybe twice that year, but one of those times he let me drive it, and I got the itch. Fast forward to now, him and I are both deployed to Afghanistan and he finds out he is moving and is willing to sell the car. I jumped on the opportunity and bought it, and here we are.
What I purchased, a 91 GT for $3,500. The car has near perfect interior, and few spots on the body that could use minor repair / new paint. As far as the engine and drive train, below I'll list what I know from what he told me. He is no mustang expert, and the things he did tell me about the car seemed like second hand knowledge from the previous owner. He was given a dyno sheet showing 560 RWHP. How accurate that is, I don't know. I know that number is in the danger zone for the block, where in lies most of my concern. I'm worried that someone set this up to just jam a bunch of air and NOS into a stock engine, and I have a may-pop. The two issues that I know of with the car currently are 1) there is white smoke coming from the right bank at idle. From my research, this could be a bad valve seal. He told me it does it at start up and if you drive the piss out of it for an hour or so. There is no oil in the coolant or vise versa. 2) It has a crazy high idle in my opinion. I made a post about this yesterday and got some good feedback for tackling that. Beyond that, the car runs very strong and feels great driving it.
- 5.0 302 (From what I know, was planning at looking at the piston heads / cylinders when I check the heads)
- Aftermarket Headers and exhaust
- V-2 Vortech supercharger (He thinks is pushing 10-12 psi boost currently)
- Unknown Tune system
- 100 shot Nitrous set up
- Electric radiator fans
- Heads are painted red but are unknown until I get home and tear it down. (My thinking was, if the heads have been off, they could be upgraded)
- Stock intake manifold (Upper and lower)
- Unknown rear end gear ratio (He says he spins tires in 3rd gear still, which makes me think they could be stock 2.73's. Unless my understanding of rear end gears are off)
Below I will make a list of the things / upgrades I think are a priority, and where I will likely need the most feedback.
- New upper and lower intake manifold (I did a lot of research and purchased both. I settled on the 1993 cobra upper and lower. From what I've found, these are perfectly fine for a street car and is a decent upgrade over stock. I got them both for $400)
- GT40 or equivalent heads (if not already installed)
- Trick flow stage 1 or E/B/F cam (there is a lot out there on these and I honestly don't know which is best or what I have in it now (its hard to tell with the idle so high))
- 65-70mm throttle body (depending on what it has now)
- Sub frame connectors
- Check rear end gears and upgrade or change depending on the feedback from this forum
- 36 lb fuel injectors / upgraded fuel pump if not already installed (The car runs great currently so very well could be)
- A little mud and new paint
- install 1.7 roller rockers (if not already installed)
- Retune the car after upgrades? (Honestly, I know nothing about tuning or how to do it *NEED HELP*)
Basically, I'm considering these upgrades because they are what I think (definitely not know for sure) are necessary to optimize power and make the boost / fuel flow through the engine safe and more efficiently. If I'm off the mark or missing anything, please say so and why! I'm posting this for help and all feedback.
In closing, I'm just looking for honest feedback and help to get me on the right track with the car I've waited a long time to own! I want to do it right and clean. I have mechanical experience and plan to do this all myself with the help of a friend or two. I'm not exactly on a budget but the warden isn't going to let me throw everything at it right off. This will be done over the next year or so I imagine. Sorry for a post this long, I figured if I tell you everything I know it will help with getting the best feedback sooner. Thank you again for any time and help!!
This may be a rather lengthy post, but I want to get my situation / questions out there. I've been reading so many posts on this forum the last few weeks, very helpful! I'd like to start off by saying that this forum is great! So much quick feedback and help from the community is very encouraging. If you find yourself reading this and are interested to give feed back, I'd like to thank you now for your time and help! I'd also like to say that I'm a Fox Mustang enthusiast, not an expert. I have some goals in mind and things I would like to do that I will outline below. I take constructive criticism very well. If I say something that sounds crazy, unnecessary or foolish.. I'd love to know what it is and why it wont work. I'm an open book and still learning.
My goal with the car - Make a reliable / fast street car. I have no intention of drag racing at a track or otherwise. It would be nice to crush some souls around town though.
Small back story, I've owned a few fox's as a teen (I'm 32 now) and they have for a long time been my "dream car".. I've always wanted another but the opportunity never really presented itself. Finally, the opportunity did and I bought one blind-ish. Let me explain. My boss had one that he was on the fence about selling it for about a year. He drove it maybe twice that year, but one of those times he let me drive it, and I got the itch. Fast forward to now, him and I are both deployed to Afghanistan and he finds out he is moving and is willing to sell the car. I jumped on the opportunity and bought it, and here we are.
What I purchased, a 91 GT for $3,500. The car has near perfect interior, and few spots on the body that could use minor repair / new paint. As far as the engine and drive train, below I'll list what I know from what he told me. He is no mustang expert, and the things he did tell me about the car seemed like second hand knowledge from the previous owner. He was given a dyno sheet showing 560 RWHP. How accurate that is, I don't know. I know that number is in the danger zone for the block, where in lies most of my concern. I'm worried that someone set this up to just jam a bunch of air and NOS into a stock engine, and I have a may-pop. The two issues that I know of with the car currently are 1) there is white smoke coming from the right bank at idle. From my research, this could be a bad valve seal. He told me it does it at start up and if you drive the piss out of it for an hour or so. There is no oil in the coolant or vise versa. 2) It has a crazy high idle in my opinion. I made a post about this yesterday and got some good feedback for tackling that. Beyond that, the car runs very strong and feels great driving it.
- 5.0 302 (From what I know, was planning at looking at the piston heads / cylinders when I check the heads)
- Aftermarket Headers and exhaust
- V-2 Vortech supercharger (He thinks is pushing 10-12 psi boost currently)
- Unknown Tune system
- 100 shot Nitrous set up
- Electric radiator fans
- Heads are painted red but are unknown until I get home and tear it down. (My thinking was, if the heads have been off, they could be upgraded)
- Stock intake manifold (Upper and lower)
- Unknown rear end gear ratio (He says he spins tires in 3rd gear still, which makes me think they could be stock 2.73's. Unless my understanding of rear end gears are off)
Below I will make a list of the things / upgrades I think are a priority, and where I will likely need the most feedback.
- New upper and lower intake manifold (I did a lot of research and purchased both. I settled on the 1993 cobra upper and lower. From what I've found, these are perfectly fine for a street car and is a decent upgrade over stock. I got them both for $400)
- GT40 or equivalent heads (if not already installed)
- Trick flow stage 1 or E/B/F cam (there is a lot out there on these and I honestly don't know which is best or what I have in it now (its hard to tell with the idle so high))
- 65-70mm throttle body (depending on what it has now)
- Sub frame connectors
- Check rear end gears and upgrade or change depending on the feedback from this forum
- 36 lb fuel injectors / upgraded fuel pump if not already installed (The car runs great currently so very well could be)
- A little mud and new paint
- install 1.7 roller rockers (if not already installed)
- Retune the car after upgrades? (Honestly, I know nothing about tuning or how to do it *NEED HELP*)
Basically, I'm considering these upgrades because they are what I think (definitely not know for sure) are necessary to optimize power and make the boost / fuel flow through the engine safe and more efficiently. If I'm off the mark or missing anything, please say so and why! I'm posting this for help and all feedback.
In closing, I'm just looking for honest feedback and help to get me on the right track with the car I've waited a long time to own! I want to do it right and clean. I have mechanical experience and plan to do this all myself with the help of a friend or two. I'm not exactly on a budget but the warden isn't going to let me throw everything at it right off. This will be done over the next year or so I imagine. Sorry for a post this long, I figured if I tell you everything I know it will help with getting the best feedback sooner. Thank you again for any time and help!!