CHEAP 302 Doner Car?

[ks65stang]

I'm bouncing around the idea of buying a running 302 car as a doner for my 65 coupe. Pulling the 302 installing new bearings & rings, new cam, new distributer, removing the EFI, installing an intake & carb. Strip the car of its drivetrain and sell (or give) the body to a salvage yard. I do not need a rear end but I know the Jeep guys are always looking for 8.8's. I also prefer a doner car w/ an AOD till I can swap in a T5. A T5 car would be awesome but that means a Fox Mustang which I cant find for less than $1,500-2,000 in trashed condition.

Any idea what would be a good CHEAP doner w/ best sellable additional parts: LTD, Crown Vic, Explorer, Lincolns? I'm watching Craigs List for a deal. I might even drive the beater till 30 day tags run out. Opinions? Thanks!

 

[pyroman]

I would think the explorer would have the most amount of sellable parts. Off the top of my head

-Driveshaft
-Rear axle
-Intake
-Heads (if you weren't going to keep them)

There are probably more things you could sell.

As far as the cheapest donor car, I would think the Grand Marquis would fit that pretty well. Only thing is I'm not sure what you could sell off of it.

 

[tx65coupe]

If your going to keep it carbureted, which I would, you will probably want a vacuum module controlled AOD not a computer controlled one. I would look at Crown Vics and Grand Marquis first.

 

[zookeeper]

Be patient and keep looking. I recently bought an '89 Mustang GT for $600 off the local craigslist. It had brand new (as in ZERO miles) Cobra R wheels and tires that I used on my '88 GT, and the T5 will go into my fastback. Lots of other stuff has sold on ebay or was sold locally and I've already sold about $600 worth of stuff. The Fox-bodied Mustangs have a real following and there's lots of little parts on them that are getting hard to find.

 

[tx65coupe]

I agree about that. The fox body Mustangs really do have a huge following. I'm a fan of them myself.

 

[gregski]

I think you need to redefine your goal is your goal to get an engine for your Mustang, or buy a cheap car to drive around, and part out, sounds like you are sort of caught up in the latter, I know the feeling

if I had $2,000 to spend I would skip the hassle of buying a donor car and buy a crate engine at least a short block, a solid one I could build on.

parting out a vehicle is harder than you think, you have to compete with Pick n Pull, or you are left with only the Craigslist cheap @sses, trust me I have tried this before

heck you could buy a cheap 302 on Craigslist and use the rest of the money to rebuild it

 

[woodsnake]

I think parts cars are the way to go, if you can afford the space and time to get your money back. I've been through a few of them over the years, and always done well at it.

 

[ks65stang]

I found a running Grand Marquee for $500 w/ an AOD, but I'm having second thoughts on a donor car. My wife is gonna bitch till its gutted & gone and I will still have to rebuild the 302 sooner or later. I'm kinda leaning toward rebuilding the 289.

I already have the Performer 289 intake w/ Edelbrock 600CFM carb, I just need to buy the cam. My local speed shop which did my 9" gears verbally quoted me around about $600 for machine work on the block and crank. I really need their expertise to know this is done correctly and they will help me order the correct pistons, bearings ect. Is this reasonable? I've found rebuild kits w/ gaskets, bearings, pistons, ect for about $350-$400. My father and I can do all disassembly and reassembly as we did a few when I was younger.

I'm on the fence to either buy a running 302 for $500-$700 and drop it in or rebuild. I need to start gathering parts a my budget allows for mid-summer.

Anybody have any opinions on these Ebay budget heads? They been selling for about $440.00. Think it would be better to rebuild the stock heads or gamble on these?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...witem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_710wt_1165

Sorry I know I'm getting off topic on the donor idea.

 

[Decurion]

I would pass on the crown vic. They have terrible heads, lousy intakes, smaller cams than the H.O., not to mention a different firing order if you wanted to keep/sell the fuel injection harness. There are very few parts that have good resale value on a crown vic. Go for either a fox mustang or 96-01 explorer.

 

[tx65coupe]

I think it would be cool to keep the 289. You could build it up like a HiPo.