Senior project car

Well, since I did this exact same topic for my senior project I would say don't listen to all the negativity. I had a blast doing all the new mods with my friends in my garage. I would say set realistic goals for you and your car. Don't say your going to do a engine swap. Maybe something a long the lines of full exhaust, intake manifold, pulleys, cold air intake, throttle body. Do a lot of documentation, be very thorough, Take WAY to many pictures of every step. I think you should have a specific goal for this project like, you want to enhance the performance of your car in a quarter mile. If you do this you really need to get the car and set a baseline run at the strip then after the mods go back and do it again. You're going to have a blast.

matador91 said:

Well, since I did this exact same topic for my senior project I would say don't listen to all the negativity. I had a blast doing all the new mods with my friends in my garage. I would say set realistic goals for you and your car. Don't say your going to do a engine swap. Maybe something a long the lines of full exhaust, intake manifold, pulleys, cold air intake, throttle body. Do a lot of documentation, be very thorough, Take WAY to many pictures of every step. I think you should have a specific goal for this project like, you want to enhance the performance of your car in a quarter mile. If you do this you really need to get the car and set a baseline run at the strip then after the mods go back and do it again. You're going to have a blast.

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yeah definitely, i had tons of fun with mine. call the project, how to make your car get really really good gas mileage or something rediculous, as long as you come up with some bull**** theories yo'll pass with an A+++, and those tools will think your trying to be green, they love that.

I am a little dumbfounded. On what premise are you guys basing your advice? "Do not mod a fox..." We all do it and dont get so much as a pat on the back and this kid will be earning credit for school... How is that worse than what we do? We get squat for it but our own satisfaction. Go for it kid, and enjoy.

RedFoxGT said:

Buying a car and spending thousands to of dollars, (not to mention time) in mods in the course of a year just to get an "A" is not worth it IMO. That same "A" could have been achieved with much less work, money, and stress involved.

If I was going to build a fox I would much rather take my time and spend the money at my own pace rather than be under the pressure of trying to piece together a car in a year.

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Point made. I have spent 6 years on mine and haven't finished, but then again in the words of someone on this forum "A project car is only finished when it is sold."

That being said, I would set realistic expectations for the project then. Like what was said earlier do things that make it more fuel efficient. Do a CAI, cat back, x pipe and tune up parts etc and go tank for tank beginning and end. Those are easy, will only take a couple days total and you will have a fox and get an A!

Even for a beginner setting those goals might be tough. I have started projects only to come back to them weeks later. With turning what you WANT to do (mod your car) into something you HAVE to do (school project) could make your love and passion for cars, turn into a nightmare and a headache. Also the money issue comes into play. A $4500 budget for the car and mods isn't much. Just trying to get a good starting point, strong running car will take up half if not more of that money.

I guess it was just something I would have NEVER thought to do. But then again I was going to school for Engineering, and cars had nothing to do with it.

I'm not trying to discourage you. I love my foxes, I really do. But starting something like this a year before you leave for college isn't something I'd do. Once/if you finish the project in high school, you'll soon get bored with your power level, performance. Trust me. I got bored with ~350 RWHP and 425 ft.lb torque, and got bored with it pretty quickly. And hell, now I'm going to be building a race motor just to get what I want now. Then I'll get bored again, and change it up.

Foxes are money pits, and time pits. Just talk to some of the guys who have done the smoothed engine bays. 120 hours of labor just of a bay!

I'm not trying to discourage you, I'm just being honest with you. Now, if you're set on doing this, the mods that I'd say you should stick to are as follows:

Headers
x/h pipe
cat-back/dumps
new MAF and TB

and call it a year. Don't get in over your head with college prep coming. If you enjoy it and get addicted like most of us have, you'll have plenty of time to do more.