Beginning mods...

[CornerCarvin67]

Every other month I read thru a ton of existing threads on combo choices and
suggestions. I especially read the ones with low budgets because that's where I'm at. The truth is there are plenty of options that are all viable. I've looked at power adders and just don't feel comfortable with them. I think I'm a HCI combo guy. I don't want to fiddle with NOS. The car at times can be a daily driver as well. I don't want to fool myself with a set of gears. The 3.08's aren't ideal... but they're okay for now. I'm not a 1/4 mile guy.

I've got myself a 92' survivor. Still has the factory headers. I've changed the exhaust and put all my money thus far into handling features. I haven't touched the engine except removal of the box and short belted it. The car has only 45k miles on it.

Well now I just found out my neighbor friend is going to pick up his new to him 2001 Bullitt. How can I keep up?

A top end kit like the TFS is around $2500. Plus there are other costs involved like the TB and some shorty headers. So it's looking like $3k plus.

Sorry to all the bone yard pickers and craigslist geniuses that can make all that used stuff work. I don't have the time to fiddle with that route nor do I trust the components used.

So here's the golden question.... considering what I mentioned to be above as a $3k kit. In what order would you put it together if you had to piece it all a bit at a time.... say $500-$800 at a time. Maybe two purchases per year.

What makes the most sense as far as an order. Cuz no... I don't want to save up for two or three years to do it all at once if I can help it. What parts would work best with the stock parts until time and money could be used for the next upgrade?

In other words... with what's in a typical top end kit... what would make the most sense to buy first..... then second.... etc.

Sorry for the long read... but thanks in advance.

 

[XStanger]

Buy a set of 3.73's and some headers. With good tires and driver that will put you car into the 13's and should easily keep up with your neighbors bullitt. It would be hard for me to dish out 3k for new stuff, when most likely you only spent 6 to 7k on the car. I would cruise the classifieds and buy a combo from a respected member on this site. You will save a significant amount of money.

 

[time only]

Gear,tires,anywhere you could reduce parasitic lost and put that Mustang on a diet.

 

[jrichker]

Low budget and high performance are two opposites. If you want to go fast for cheap, you have to be willing to buy used stuff and install & repair it. If that is out of your league, be prepared to spend some big $$$.


On a budget? do the junkyard upgrade...

Gears - 87-88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe rear axle - 10.5" vented disc brakes and 3.55 or 3.73 gears in one package for $125-$300. Uses the stock 4 bolt lug pattern. Add another $100-$200 or so to complete the brake upgrade.

94-95 Mustang GT MAF - $40-$100. It is 70 MM instead of the stock 55 MM on regular stangs built prior to 94. It uses a slip on duct on the side that goes to the throttle body and a 4 bolt flange on the other. You need a flange adapter to fit the stock slip on air ducting that goes to the air box. Wiring plugs right in with no changes. *1 *2

95-97 Ford Explorer intake manifold & throttle body $150-$300. The intake manifold flows 220 CFM +, much better than stock. Throttle body is 65 MM, bigger than the 60 MM on stock stangs. I got a 96 with EGR passages that match the stock setup, so my smog gear works just like factory. You’ll need a 65 MM EGR spacer & new gaskets for $65-$90 so you have a place to mount the EGR & throttle linkage.

3G alternator from 94-95 Mustangs or other Ford. $20-$120. A must have to make the electrical system work like it should or if you have an electric fan. You’ll need a 4 gauge power wire and a 125-135 amp fuse to go with it - about $25- $50 for the wire, fuse holder and fuse.

Lincoln MK VIII electric fan -$40-$160. Free up some HP by not having to drive the stock fan. The 3G alternator upgrade is a must have prerequisite before you do the MK VIII fan. You won’t have enough electrical power if you don’t do the 3G upgrade.

Aluminum driveshaft: (courtesy of shawn13) It needs to be from a 92-95 AeroStar AWD or Electric 4 wheel drive. It measures 45 ½” center of the front U-joint to center of the rear U-joint. You will need the U-joint, part #PUJ353 from NAPA. The Canadian NAPA pat number is 1-0134BF. It should bolt right up after the U-joint swap.

bhuff30b’s input: However, no information was given for the 96-97 AWD aerostar driveshaft. I picked up one of these this weekend, for about 20$ from the local scrap yard. It already has the proper 27/28 spline yoke and needs no modification to install on a mustang. Also, the ends are securely welded on, as opposed to previous driveshafts which were pressed on. I'm not sure if the 92-95 driveshaft is pressed or welded though.

Note: This driveshaft is not an exact duplicate of the Ford Racing part. It is 3” in diameter while the Ford Racing part is 3.5” in diameter.

*1.) Metal flange adapter Kurtz Kustomz Motorsports, Inc. KKM Buy the TR70 for $44.95. Or spend some time on eBay looking for one that may fit.
Try AutoZone and ask for 81413 - Spectre / 3 in. Aluminum Intake Mass Air Flow Sensor Adapter at $12.00. You may have to order it online.

*2.) MAF & sensor interchange
The 94-95 Mustang 5.0 MAF & sensor is also found on:
1994-95 Mustang 3.8L F2VF-12B579-A2A,
1992-94 Crown Victoria 4.6L F2VF-12B579-A2A,
1994-95 Mustang, Mustang Cobra 5.0L F2VF-12B579-A2A,
1992-94 Town Car 4.6L F2VF-12B579-A2A,
1992-94 Grand Marquis 4.6L F2VF-12B579-A2A,
Evidently the –A1A, -A2A, AA, etc. on the end of the part number is a minor variant that did not change the operating specs. You should be able to ignore it and have everything work good.

 

[2000xp8]

Buy the heads first if you plan on doing the h/c/i setup.
Once you get them out of the way the high dollar part is purchased.
Doing all the other parts without the heads yields very little gain in performance.

 

[Rick 91GT]

Buy the heads first if you plan on doing the h/c/i setup.
Once you get them out of the way the high dollar part is purchased.
Doing all the other parts without the heads yields very little gain in performance.

The heads will give you the best bang for the buck, I'd do the cam as well...then you will not have to tear open the motor to put the other goodies on, just "bolt them on" as you go.

Now, swapping heads and cam mean (rockers, pushrods, possibly lifters, valve covers or stock valve cover modification, timing gasket set, timing chain, intake gasket set, head gaskets, water pump) plus fluids, spark plugs and some other small stuff.

 

[cjrpony]

Buy the heads first if you plan on doing the h/c/i setup.
Once you get them out of the way the high dollar part is purchased.
Doing all the other parts without the heads yields very little gain in performance.

+2 on heads and cam first.

Don't be afraid of the used stuff. Alot of my combo was bought off Ebay/Craigslist. I got the Edelbrock RPM heads new in the box for 600, for example. If you are on a budget, there are a lot of good deals out there. You say you don't have time for that but it sounds like you will be saving up for months at a time to buy piece by piece, so there is your time to look. As far as trust, I have yet to be screwed and with Craigslist you can check the stuff out before hand. Maybe you don't buy everything used, but any money you save can be put toward more stuff

 

[time only]

Word of caution if you are buying used parts. Intake,cyllinder heads,rearend gear etc could be eyeball to judge the conditions it is in. But I will be careful about buying used cam and Nitrous bottle,as the cam could be drop and the Ntrous bottle might had been heated with a butine torch.

 

[cammed89lx]

To be honest it wont take much to keep up with him. You weigh much lighter than him. So to keep up with him. I would do headers, cold air, 70mm TB. and 373's. Bang u would be keeping up/ beating him. After that if you want some real power, get some afr heads. They are one of the most respectable heads in the business.

 

[CornerCarvin67]

Hey... thanks for your time guys!

So would the consensus be that nice aluminum heads/cam working with the stock intake and TB would be better than stock heads/cam with aftermarket intake and TB?

I've considered the gears.... I just don't want to go that route. Thanks though.

I have all winter to kick these ideas and suggestions around. So don't be surprised if I keep asking questions. Thanks again!!

 

[2000xp8]

Understand this.

Technically to get max power, you need all the parts.

The reason i say do the heads is because by far they are the most expensive and give the most power.
So if you can't muster up enough cash for them, buying the rest of the parts is near worthless.
Once you spend the grand or so on the heads, the rest of the parts you can find cheap and used.

Would i put the heads on alone?
Probably not, i'd put them in the garage and make them my starting point for collecting parts though.
Besides, if buy a larger intake TB and cam, and then land up with a cheap set of iron heads, now your parts mismatch.

 

[CornerCarvin67]

Obviously all those parts will work best when put together.... understood.

My point was that if I had $800-$1000 to spend what part of that bundle would/should I put together first? I tried to lay that plan out initially... my bad. No to gears, no to NOS.

Heads

or

TB/Intake/Headers/maybe 1.7's??

Thanks again for anyone's time!!

 

[2000xp8]

Heads for sure.
Heads are a bulk $1000.
The other little parts you can compile when you get a few extra bucks in your paycheck or some OT. That was my point.

At one point i had every mod other than heads, and honestly, it wasn't that much faster than stock.
I would not do it that way again.
Besides, when i did get the heads, i had to buy all new better supporting parts anyway.

 

[Sicarius428]

Cobra/explorer/gt40 intake. Get the lower ported by tmoss.
TFS or AFR heads
TFS or E303 cam
Exhaust is the least bang for the buck thing out there IMO. You can spend 1k on a full exhaust which will net you a 1% power increase... Heads will run you around a grand and net you more than 10%
Kevin