New Here Looking For Some Great Advice!

[mikestang63]

Before you think about adding horsepower, you need to address the suspension, brakes.
Adding 200 hp to an otherwise stock Fox Body is a recipe for disaster.

 

[90sickfox]

Welcome to the forum !!!

The 351 will get you there. You'll still want a decent set of heads, camshaft, and intake to get you there.

The TKO 500 or 600 can get your gears turnin'.

The best coarse of action is to tackle brakes and suspension first. That way the car can handle it when you put power in it.

When I was young I didn't listen.

Its a straight forward swap to get better brakes. The 94 to 98 rear axles and brakes and the 94 - 04 front spindles and brakes all swap to fox mustangs. You'll need a upgraded brake power booster and master cylinder....but the car will stop way better than stock.

 

[Glock716]

this is the car i did find. Im heading to go look at it after thursday

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Mint green, unusual color.

 

[Glock716]

yea i would be painting it though lol dont really like that color option, but it is unique. But anyways..with all the feedback I've been getting from everyone, I'm going with some of the suggestions of just building a 302 motor around 350-400 which is cheaper than the 351 and build up the suspension and reinforce the undercarriage and brakes

 

[95BlueStallion]

If that '85 already has a 351, then keep it and liven it up. Dont go back to a 302 platform. The expensive part is already done, the swap itself. Rebuilding it wont be any more than a 302, being that its carbed.

 

[RaggedGT]

I won’t lie- I dig that color..

 

[General karthief]

What raggedy said and I ain't crazy 'bout green cars

 

[cleanLX]

that color is very interesting, "i" would leave it if it's in good shape.
I'd also agree that if it's already got a 351 swap, "I'd" build on that rather than going back to a 302 based motor... unless you are going all out with an R or Dart block and going 363.

Anxious for Thursday, keep us posted.

 

[billison]

Before you buy it, I’d calculate the cost of a good paint job vs the motor swap. That said, that car would be a great sleeper and not just another red or black or cobalt blue fox

 

[7991LXnSHO]

So, are you willing to learn about EFI? How much did Pappy teach you about tuning carbs? Working on the car has to cross your mind.

If that 85 came as a carburetor car, (the last year, I think), it is less likely they did a super hack job on the wiring. The 85 GT carb had a dual snorkel filter housing that took air in from both inner fenders. It is a cool system I retrofit on my 79. And it should be there if it was a factory 5.0 with carburetor, or at least the holes and hose hook up holes on both sides.
If you see an 86 or 87 on up with a carb, be wary. Most of them were poorly switched because they did not access to jrichker's diagnostic steps on here or any Ford manual.
In short, reliability is questionable on them and a fire is more possible from half witted wiring.
I'd like to see more pictures of that car. T-tops are cool, especially if they have not been allowed to leak and rust the inside of the car.

 

[Glock716]

So guys, it's been a while, got married and had lots of money issues, I'm back now, with a different approach and more friends to help me. I just bought a 351w shortblock. My first thing is to get it cleaned up and bored .30 over, next is to strike it to a 408ci, full forged internals, afr heads, still deciding on what intake and carb. Still going with a foxbody mustang. I'm going to take my time in building the motor and saving up for the transmission I want. I'm going with a TCI streetfighter 3 speed auto/man, with a TCI outlaw shifter.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

So guys, it's been a while, got married and had lots of money issues, I'm back now, with a different approach and more friends to help me. I just bought a 351w shortblock. My first thing is to get it cleaned up and bored .30 over, next is to strike it to a 408ci, full forged internals, afr heads, still deciding on what intake and carb. Still going with a foxbody mustang. I'm going to take my time in building the motor and saving up for the transmission I want. I'm going with a TCI streetfighter 3 speed auto/man, with a TCI outlaw shifter.

Did you buy the car you were looking at, or are you just building an engine for some "future car?"

A 3 speed is a drag strip only transmission. Are you building a drag car?

 

[Glock716]

I'm trying to figure out how to delete my other thread I got confused and forgot about this thread. And to reply to Carmichael from the other thread, I did find a 89 mustang 5.0 body has no rust garage kept, went to look at it and seems in nice condition. The guy only want 1500.00 for it he says that the fuel pump doesn't want to come on and has no spark? Easy fix?

 

[General karthief]

Yes

 

[billison]

A little harder than deleting a post, but nothing hard.

 

[Glock716]

Okay, I have another post on here that im wanting to delete, how do you actually delete a thread that you made?

 

[General karthief]

Done

 

[Glock716]

Thanks guys for deleting the last thread. I'm still new to all this and wanting to soak up any information I can from experienced people here.

 

[Glock716]

So guys, basically still new to this. I still have no car right now, money is tight, newly married now. I'm going to be saving and looking hard for a foxbody mustang. The motor plan that I have is a 85 model 351w out of a mustang that i just bought last week. Nothing has been done to this block at all. My overall plan is to have a mustang that produces around at least 450hp. I do not want anything to crazy. I have an 06 srt8 that has roughly 425hp which is my daily driver. I know that the mustang will be a lot lighter than it.The reason for my build will be to have a car to drive on the weekends, for events, and cruises with the guys. So i want it to be streetable and not to crazy to handle. I have read forums where people are changing out the brake systems in foxbodys with 94-95 gt brake systems and going with old explorer 8.8 rear ends. The motor build that I have in my head depending on budget will be a stroked 351w. Im just trying to decide on which stroke everyone seems to like better. My plan for a transmission, is i want an auto transmission, like from TCI, so i can drive auto or when i want to get a little crazy use the slap shift option. What do you guys think. I know im going in every direction here, im just passionate about this because, my wife finally gave me the go ahead lol