New guy who wants a fox

[franco802]

Hello everyone, awesome forum you guys and gals have here. I'll just give everyone a quick rundown on who I am, what I have done.

I live in southern California and have been a gearhead since I was 13. Always been a Chevy guy all my life. But have grown to love all muscle cars as I got older, now 35.

I have built a couple of my own engines and have been racing 1/4 mile and roadcourse since I was 16. I have had old Chevys with stroked out 383's up to 6.0L supercharged 05/06 GTO's. Been out of the game for a while now. My truck is almost paid off, so I am not about to go and buy a new 5.0 Mustang (even though my sis just got a 12' v6 stang which is pretty awesome!).

So, I am here. I want to buy a fox body. I have always loved the fox bodies. Even though I was always a Chevy guy, with all my Chevy buddies, I had a secret place in my heart that no one knew about, that loved the fox body Mustangs.

Here are my goals:

I want to achieve 400+ rwhp. If I have to go forced induction, so be it. I was going to buy a decent looking fox for under 5k, if I can find one. Pull the engine out, have a reputable shop build me the engine with forged internals and go to town from there. The car must be a 5 speed, tired of autos. I will drag race once in a while, but not much. Just want a reliable street car I can still go cruising with, maybe even a road trip to Vegas once in a while.

My questions:

What would you guys do as far as the engine goes? I am not rich, but I make a pretty ok living.

What year fox should I be looking for? I was thinking 88-93?

Now for the big one.......the car HAS to be CALIFORNIA SMOG LEGAL!!!

Are my goals achievable?

 

[ViperPunk]

what would i do? i wanna do the trickflow topend and a 100-150 shot of nitrous. 89and up is mass air so that would save some hassle and i was told 89's had forged pistons?? and someone else can help on smog but i know there are plenty of guys that have them in cali and my 89 came with 4 cats so should be fine

 

[Cobra912]

what's the budget as far as upgrades go? sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't but maybe buying a car already done might be the answer, if you add up all the costs for parts, machine work, and supplies it adds up quick!!!! I have built three motors in the past three years and I can tell you first hand it gets real expensive real quick

 

[ViperPunk]

cobra912 has a point i have seen some slick cars for sale on here that have alot of stuff done to them that cost alot more money that what the asking price is! might at least try to find one for sale with a 5 lug swap already done to it

 

[franco802]

what's the budget as far as upgrades go? sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't but maybe buying a car already done might be the answer, if you add up all the costs for parts, machine work, and supplies it adds up quick!!!! I have built three motors in the past three years and I can tell you first hand it gets real expensive real quick

I agree with you Cobra. I have nickle and dimed myself to death on projects before as well. I was thinking about a 3-4k budget as far as mods go. Or try to find an already modded one with 400whp under 6k.

 

[5.0Droptop]

Times are tough now... people are selling and you can get some really good deals......watch the forums classifieds and good old craigslist.

 

[TenorPlayinGuy]

Or maybe a PM