Lets see some pics!!

[ill advised]

OMG, I am loving this look. Amazing what a set of wheels, springs and tint will do far a car's personality. I'm sure the quality of the pics makes a difference but I think the chrome wheels look 10x better against the white paint. And I rarely prefer chrome.

Baby gots new shoes! Not sure what set I like better on the car.
View attachment 326384

Booooriiing!

 

[9350coupe]

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Here's the engine i started out with:

Here's similar to what it is today, i don't have anything recent:

 

[MikeROD16]

YO glowstang, real nice 2.3 Im jealous lol. mine is nowhere near that good looking.

and as for the people with the carbed 5.0's. how much was it to convert it. and what r the pros and cons? i want to buy an lx and carb it

 

[MikeROD16]

Here's similar to what it is today, i don't have anything recent:

VERY big improvement. props to you

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

YO glowstang, real nice 2.3 Im jealous lol. mine is nowhere near that good looking.

and as for the people with the carbed 5.0's. how much was it to convert it. and what r the pros and cons? i want to buy an lx and carb it

Mine's stock, but to convert from EFI would cost you about:


$320 for a decent carb
$175 for a Wieand Stealth intake (the only one i'd ever run unless you build a full race engine)
$100+ for a fuel pump, this really depends on how you go about doing it..you could even swap the timing cover and run a mechanical pump...
For ignition you have a LOT of options..you can go with an MSD or equivalent, a stock Duraspark II ignition that was used on the carb cars, or even a low dollar yet awesome performing GM HEI conversion which will cost you about $20 and put out as much spark power as any MSD. You can even get an HEI distributor for a 302...like i said lots of options there.

So...depending on what you want, it could cost you ~$500 or you could go with used parts and cut that in half, or you could build it up racier and spend more. I bought my Stealth intake for $80, hit it with some chemical paint stripper and it looks brand new (that intake in the pic above is used...). You could search the classifieds and find a decent 4 barrel carb for as little as $20 (search craigslist or go to swap meets, even a junkyard) and do a rebuild on it and have yourself a good running carb for next to nothing. You can find stock 4180 Holleys that came on the carbed cars in junkyards, they also came on a number of other trucks and vans, and with some tricks they make awesome street carbs. You shouldn't have any problem finding a good 650 double pumper for around $100 and put a $50 rebuild kit on it and it'll be good as new.

So...going with used parts...
$75-100 for an intake
$50-100 for a carb
Stock timing cover to accept a mechanical pump, maybe $20 at a junkyard
Stock mechanical fuel pump, good for at least 300rwhp, $20 or so at Autozone/Advanced

That brings you down to around $250 or less plus the price of gaskets to do the whole swap. It all depends on what you wanna do and how resourceful you are at finding parts.

 

[MikeROD16]

well, carb is easy to get for me, i know a place where i can get a holley double pumper 640 for about 200 bucks or so. and my bro has a highrise intake he took off his '71 mustang. he said its better if he has a regular one cause the highrise is for higher rpm's. so we have a highrise sitting around. but w/e ill probably buy an 85 or so gt and start there instead of converting it.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

well, carb is easy to get for me, i know a place where i can get a holley double pumper 640 for about 200 bucks or so. and my bro has a highrise intake he took off his '71 mustang. he said its better if he has a regular one cause the highrise is for higher rpm's. so we have a highrise sitting around. but w/e ill probably buy an 85 or so gt and start there instead of converting it.

That's the smartest way to do it...go with a car that was already carbed. That way you have the correct sumped gas tank and none of the extra EFI wiring and junk to deal with.

Two things if you really wanna play with a carb....don't get suckered into the bigger is better carb mentality. The stock 575cfm 4180 Holley that they came with is an excellent size carb for a 302 and in most cases (even some 347s) a 600cfm carb will be perfect. Going bigger than that, even a 650 like i've got is only going to make your bottom end softer and you'll have to tune it to find a balance between rich and lean idle and high RPM. If you're strictly drag racing then you can get away with larger carbs since your engine spends most of its time at WOT, but it's going to suck on the street. I bought my 650 for a 351w that i never got and was too cheap to buy another one, and back then i didn't know how capable the stock carb could be with some tuning and trick parts.

Also as far as intakes, stay away from that high rise...like you said, its purpose is to increase the RPMs and unless you're only racing or building a race engine you don't need it and it'll hurt performance down low a LOT. I was running a single plane Edelbrock Victor Jr. for a while and it would scream up top but was a total dog below 4k RPM. My duel plane Stealth comes on from 1500 all the way to redline and doesn't give up anything to the Vic Jr, because that intake wakes up at 5k and runs clear up to 8k.

 

[MikeROD16]

yeah i get you. my plans for my cars are to have the 87 gt mildly modified, the 4 cyl lx, as a daily driver, and in the future, buy an 85 coupe, and completely go crazy on it. but ill start off with street mods. i wanna put a nice cam in it, heads, a edelbrock dual plane, with a holley 600 or 650 as a start. from there ill work my way up. ive always loved carb. ive been raised around it.

 

[RUNINAGT]

Alright i'll join
Here's my old 86GT

And now the current GT, she still only has 53K on it...

View attachment 326354

Good thing I only posted a few!!!!!

 

[woodyy24]

this thread needs more 4-eye

 

[MaxTheHooker]

That's the smartest way to do it...go with a car that was already carbed. That way you have the correct sumped gas tank and none of the extra EFI wiring and junk to deal with.

Two things if you really wanna play with a carb....don't get suckered into the bigger is better carb mentality. The stock 575cfm 4180 Holley that they came with is an excellent size carb for a 302 and in most cases (even some 347s) a 600cfm carb will be perfect. Going bigger than that, even a 650 like i've got is only going to make your bottom end softer and you'll have to tune it to find a balance between rich and lean idle and high RPM. If you're strictly drag racing then you can get away with larger carbs since your engine spends most of its time at WOT, but it's going to suck on the street. I bought my 650 for a 351w that i never got and was too cheap to buy another one, and back then i didn't know how capable the stock carb could be with some tuning and trick parts.

Also as far as intakes, stay away from that high rise...like you said, its purpose is to increase the RPMs and unless you're only racing or building a race engine you don't need it and it'll hurt performance down low a LOT. I was running a single plane Edelbrock Victor Jr. for a while and it would scream up top but was a total dog below 4k RPM. My duel plane Stealth comes on from 1500 all the way to redline and doesn't give up anything to the Vic Jr, because that intake wakes up at 5k and runs clear up to 8k.

hmmmm.. looks like i need me a different manifold .. my Performer RPM is the same exact way.. you say the weiand stealth would fix it?

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

hmmmm.. looks like i need me a different manifold .. my Performer RPM is the same exact way.. you say the weiand stealth would fix it?

Hey man, i don't wanna hijack this guy's thread with carb stuff, so check your PMs

 

[96stangRC]

 

[04gtboy]

 

[1991vert]

 

[8urchevy]

my old stang

 

[8urchevy]

current stang

 

[8urchevy]

 

[impulse001]

Well, okay...