Noobie With Some Questions

mredwards0421 · Nov 16, 2014

How's it going guys!?I'd like to start by saying that I have been reading up about the car to ingest as much information as possible since I bought the car. I know that there are many knowledgeable folks when it comes to the Foxbody platform, and I would like to pick your brains if possible. I purchased an 89 5.0 this weekend, it was built about 3,000 miles ago down at Panhandle Performance in Florida. It has a built motor(not sure of the internals), transmission is built as well, 9 inch rear end, trick flow heads and cam, a paxton supercharger, bigger injectors(i'm unsure of size) and it's running methanol (it doesn't have a charge cooler). First, what oil/weight do you recommend for the S/C motor, I have read that some use 10w 30 in summer and 5w 30 in winter. Also, what spark plugs/gap do you recommend? I have some boosted experience having owned two Mitsubishi Evolutions but i can already see the differences in turbo and s/c cars. Next, what size injectors/fuel pump do you recommend for about 600hp on pump gas? Is running E-85 fuel common? Which charge cooler's do you recommend? I'm sure I have more questions but if you could help out with these i'd greatly appreciate it.

madspeed · Nov 16, 2014

thread moved to talk....

mikestang63 · Nov 16, 2014

welcome.

I suggest you contact Panhandle for the builsheet and ask them what their recommendations are. For spark plugs, generally you want to start about 2 steps colder in a plug, read the plugs and go from there. For oil, 10w30 is fine year round.

What block are you running that you are talking about 600hp? Dart. R302? Certainly not a stock one. You will need a least 60lb injectors, aftermarket fuel rails, lines, and at least a 34olph in tank pump, I'd feel better with either a Glenn's performance or Aeromotive setup.

you left out some key pieces of information like auto or stick, what rear gears, and of course pictures.

FoxMustangLvr · Nov 16, 2014

^^^What he said! Does the car also have the mandatory minimum of subframe connectors and torque box reinforcements? Does the car run well just as you bought it?

What kind of computer programming does it have? AKA what kind of tune?
What boost are you pushing?
Do you have wideband O2 sensores?

TOOLOW91 · Nov 17, 2014

For plugs assuming you are running Trick flow TW head -Autolite AR3933 with.032 gap works. Thats what was recommended to me and i haven't had an issue.

mredwards0421 · Nov 17, 2014

Madspeed, Sorry about the misplacement of the post.

I really appreciate all the input and I am taking notes.

Mikestang63 I have contacted Panhandle Performance to inquire about the cars build information, unfortunately they need the owners name who brought the car to them and I don't know who that is (I am trying to figure that out). ***If anyone knows how to find the last few owners names that would help*** From my knowledge its a built motor(again no details other than "built") I will post pictures of the car and engine bay that may help, I am sure that the injectors aren't stock but fuel lines look stock. I guess I'd have to drop the tank to figure out what the pump is. The car is a 5 Speed, not sure on the gears though I was just told its a built 9" Ford.

Foxmustanglvr the car does drive well, but I want to do a tune up on it and get the tune dialed in a bit more. I do not think it has any reinforcements for the subframe connectors or torque box, but I will add that to the list of things to look for. It has the stock ECU, and the previous tuner left the chip from the last tune in the glovebox. It is on 10lbs of boost. It was previously tuned without O2 sensors, I found that they did come with the car and will be installed prior to the next tune.

Toolow91 I'll have to see exactly which Intake manifold it has. It's powdercoated black, I looked online and they have multiple combos where the Upper Intake manifold is coated . Thanks.

mikestang63 · Nov 17, 2014

mredwards0421 said:
Madspeed, Sorry about the misplacement of the post.

I really appreciate all the input and I am taking notes.

Mikestang63 I have contacted Panhandle Performance to inquire about the cars build information, unfortunately they need the owners name who brought the car to them and I don't know who that is (I am trying to figure that out). ***If anyone knows how to find the last few owners names that would help*** From my knowledge its a built motor(again no details other than "built") I will post pictures of the car and engine bay that may help, I am sure that the injectors aren't stock but fuel lines look stock. I guess I'd have to drop the tank to figure out what the pump is. The car is a 5 Speed, not sure on the gears though I was just told its a built 9" Ford.

Wait, you bought the car but don't know the prior owner's last name? How many owners ago was this? Did you ask the person you bought it from for any documentation or are you just taking his word? Do you have any idea when this work was done? Man that is sketchy. A 'built motor" with no documentation is a huge red flag IMO and I hope you priced the car accordingly and did not pay top dollar. A built motor will not have stock injectors.

Take some pictures of the car and engine and send it to Panhandle. If they did the work , I am sure they will remember the car, especially if they did it 3000 miles ago. Tell them the prior owner gave you nothing and can they at least tell you what was done to the engine.. Perhaps give you a copy of the receipt with the prior owners information redacted.

Not trying to be harsh, but I don' t get how you buy a car and not know what gears it has or get any supporting documents on the build. It's better and easier to find out beforehand. Hope this turns out for the best.

You really need to post some pics of the car so we can help further.

FoxMustangLvr · Nov 17, 2014

I'm with @mikestang63

When buying a vehicle, especially a 5.0, If the seller can't prove it and you can't see it then it doesn't exist.

I'm investing heavily in a lot of new parts, trust me, I have my receipts and documentation in a file folder.

jrichker · Nov 17, 2014

Give the Dept. of Motor Vehicles in your state with the car's VIN. On Fox body Mustangs it is on the drivers' side and can be clearly seen through the bottom of the windshield.
The DMV should be able to tell you who has owned the car in the past.

CarFax ( http://www.carfax.com/ ) can also be of help in tracing a vehicle's past history.

2000xp8 · Nov 17, 2014

First thing to do is figure out if you have some type of 4 bolt block. If you don't, whether it's built or not is irrelevant, it's only going to put up with 500hp and less.

For the rear, while I do believe there were 8 inch rears that installed from the front, i'd find it unlikely one make into a fox. So if you look under the back end of the car and you see a diff cover you have an 8.8, if you don't you do probably have a 9 inch.

If the car is already done, why would you need to mess with the injectors? What color are yours?

I'd also be shocked if a car this built up didn't have subs on it already, but I've seen stranger things.

Take some pics and post them, most things we can identify.

mikestang63 · Nov 17, 2014

jrichker said:
Give the Dept. of Motor Vehicles in your state with the car's VIN. On Fox body Mustangs it is on the drivers' side and can be clearly seen through the bottom of the windshield.
The DMV should be able to tell you who has owned the car in the past.

CarFax ( http://www.carfax.com/ ) can also be of help in tracing a vehicle's past history.

Given the strict DPPA laws these days, I highly doubt you can obtain prior owner information from either the DMV or Carfax. But again, he just bought this car, why not get this information from the seller?

mredwards0421 · Nov 17, 2014

I am realizing now that I made a huge mistake not making the seller prove what has been done to the car, the records were much more important than I initially thought. Hindsight is always 20/20. Don't worry about hurting my feelings, i'm in the Army and I can take criticism. It's had at least 3 owners that I know of, I know the last two names but not beyond that(which is when it was built). I am working on getting the past owners names, I contacted the DMV out here and as was previously stated they were hesitant to give me names for the past owners. I did get them to send me a form to request the past owners information formally. I also reached out to the folks at carfax to see if they provide the past owners info with a purchased Carfax report. Unfortunately the shop says they can only find the records for the car based on the customers name, but I am going to keep bugging them to try and get more help from them. I did pay $6,250 for the car, I guess when I finally find all all that was done to the car i'll know if I made out alright. From this point forward I'll be recording everything done to the car. I took some pics of the engine bay, I'll have to get more during the day when its better light out.

2000xp8 · Nov 17, 2014

If the car runs right and looks good, $6200 isn't bad.
If it was completely built up like an R or dart block that number would have probably been much higher.

Take it to a dyno shop and see what it puts down and where the air fuel is. You may not have to mess with much.

mikestang63 · Nov 17, 2014

Take some picture of the front of the heads. I can't tell if they are aluminum or not. There are some decent parts on there. You can call Paxton with the serial number and ask if it has ever been serviced. Also, cap the two bungs off the EGR spacer as you are sucking in unmetered air. Nothing on that motor jumps out at me and says it is making anywhere near 500hp. That intake and the stock fuel rail won't support it for starters.

Where is the methanol injection system?

2000xp8 · Nov 17, 2014

mikestang63 said:
Nothing on that motor jumps out at me and says it is making anywhere near 500hp. That intake and the stock fuel rail won't support it for starters.

Did you mean 600hp?
That intake and fuel rails will easily support 500rwhp.

GroverDill · Nov 17, 2014

Pretty sure thats coolant runs in the uncapped vac port not air but should cap em anyhow

santos · Nov 18, 2014

yep coolant runs through there, just cap them off

mredwards0421 · Nov 19, 2014

Update**
I got a hold of a form from the Dept. of AL Revenue, I can request the the last 10 year title history and/or registration record. So I will have the build information soon.

I bought rubber vacuum caps for the ports on the EGR. I did find out some info on the car by having a buddy look over the engine bay and rear end. The rear end is an 8.8, I will open it up and see what gears it has tomorrow.

Close-up Pic of one of the Heads

A peek inside the valvecover, its kind of hard to see.

My Car, 1989 Mustang Lx 5.0

GroverDill · Nov 19, 2014

Good H/C/I set up with a Novi 2k could be over 500 rwhp easy.

No reason to open the rear end really, get a buddy to pace you at 65 and record the RPMs and you should be able to figure out what gears are in it. ( assuming a T5 trans)

Looks like a pretty damn decent car

TOOLOW91 · Nov 19, 2014

Scorpion RR . trick flow upper and lower and trick flow Tw head is a pretty stout little car so far !

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