help decide what direction my car should go in

[fivespeedsteed]

long post warning:

ive had this 90 gt since high school and im not selling it. im at a crossroads as to what i want to do with it and what i want to accomplish with it. im going to list out what ive done to it, what bothers me about it, throw out ideas, ect and see what opinions you all have to offer. after looking through grover dills progress thread on his dd lx, i understand the importance of simplicity. i always have, never have i wanted this car to be complex and confusing. id like this thread to be more so of a, if i were to sell this car to the person posting a reply (thats you) what couple things would you do to it right off the bat, then save for in the long run.

for instance, and using grover dills build as a reference, he wanted it to have cobra brakes, his recaro's in it, ect, with this car i feel as though im making negative progress. it seems as though as soon as i "fix" something theres always something more that it needs. typical mustang, and hobby i know, but id like to be in a place that im happy with it and know which direction im taking.

goal for the car: id like to be able to take it where ever. drive it from va to myrtle beach for mustang week, auto cross it, open track hpde day it, head off to the drag strip and rip a couple passes, drive it around on a cool summer night with the windows down.

whats been done:

exterior:
repainted light dark titanium
new headlights
lx tails
50%/35% window tint

interior:
billet interior stuff
new weatherstripping
viper 3305v alarm, fixed door locks, ect
new floor matts

engine:
K&N air filter / removed silencer
C&L mass air 76mm
C&L inlet tube 76mm
flowmaster force II catback
mgw short throw shifter
prothane motor and trans mounts

suspension:
MM Road & Track Springs
MM Caster/Camber Plates
Bilstein HD shocks/struts
Front and rear Urethane Spring Isolators
Urethane Pinion Snubber (solid axle Mustangs)
griggs weld in subframe connectors
MM 4-Point K-Member Brace
MM Extreme-duty Rear Lower Control Arms, adjustable, with sway bar mount
MM Solid Steering rack Bushings
Front Swaybar bushings
Front Swaybar end links prothane
Front control arm bushings, urethane
new rack
new pump
new tie rods

brakes:
95 v6 spindles/hubs
-calipers
-rotors
-pads
-hoses
new sn95 moog balljoints
ranger rear axles and drums

wheels:
oem 03-04 bullitts
sumitumo tires 50% tread left

stuff that bothers me in no particular order:
-dash board making noise, those stupid mounting tabs for the gauge pod, have made replacements, doesn't hold dash board tight.
-clicking in steering, almost sure its my steering shaft u joint clicking
-really bad fox body lean. typically a quarter inch lower driver side in front and at least a half inch lower driver side in the rear, and that's with the adjustable control arms about a half inch higher on the driver side
-i rear ended someone a while back, need front bumper painted, and finessed in there to fit right. might need new header pannel, ect
-headlights way out of aim and no idea how to aim them
-motor leaks oil in most gaskets. mostly rear main and oil pan, but front main, valve covers, water pump gaskets all guilty of leaking too
-with ac on, on a hot day, temp likes to climb. doesn't seem to overheat but nerve racking none the less
-95 brake stuff with my stock master cyl and booster gives a squishy pedal. seems to stop fine, but doing emergency stopping kinda scares me.

parts i have laying around to go on:
new upper control arm bushings
magnaflow cats to go into an offroad h pipe
cobra calipers/pads, NRC brackets and parking brake cables

so all in all it would take about 700 dollars to get my brakes done (cobra brakes all the way around)

and my motor plan is some sort of HCI. i wanna fix all the gaskets when i pull the motor. cant decide on tfs kit or piece together gt40x's, b cam, ect, ect.

i got about 3 months of summer left, then im leaving it behind at home this winter to start buying parts again. my truck is doing great, have a solid dd.

my dad thinks i should be fixing my leaks first. im leaning towards fixing the front bumper damage, then doing cobra brakes.

suggestions. if this were your car and you could fix a couple random things what would they be?

 

[281pony]

you state you want to be able to drive it anywhere, autocross it, drag strip, ect. i see two major issues with this; your engine setup and the brakes.

its getting warm and leaking all over. address that and your h/c/i combo at the same time while its apart. put it back together, clean up the engine bay some. maybe hide the harness, or just degrease it, ect. make it run strong. it looks clean outside, but the brakes would be a nice upgrade after the engine imo.

i am/was in the same boat. i did my interior, engine runs good, i have actually just been driving and enjoying my car. i put myself through hell a few times that nearly cost me the car, it was doing unnecessary stuff too. i got a wild hair up my ass to do cobra brakes, it was a nightmare.

just address what needs fixing. figure out what really bugs you about it, and fix it. thats what i'd do..

 

[seedeezy]

We always want what we don't have. It seems like we only appreciate what we have for a while and then it fades somewhere and then we need some other reason to be happy about our rides or anything really. Your mustang is so clean in comparison to many i have seen yet to you, you mainly recognize what it lacks. What is bugging you the most, you only know, and I say to rectify the thing that bugs you the most, sounds like the front clip. There's nothing stopping you from driving it across the US as it sits right now unless you know something about it I don't. To me a fox is one of the most reliable cars on the road...

I bought my first fox was 900 dollar car, Joe was leaving to become a marine and this thing needed some hardcore love, almost had to push it home. It needed a ignition switch, a new ground cable, had a sticky fuel pump relay, first time i filled it up all the way it dumped the top 1/4 out on the ground due to a mis installed seal on the filler neck. I bought it to use the tranny in an older ride, but with all that work i put into it i figured I'd drive it around and keep it alive for a while and see how things went. To keep a long story short I fell in love with foxes in the mean time. I love the reliablity and the reward they give you when you work on them not to mention the low end power. I have been used to working on 45 year old cars that need many many hours before they even hint at rewarding you. With my 90, I spend and hour on the car and I'm making progress. Plus almost every system on the car works decent from the factory. Take for example a leaky couple wheel cylinders on a 65 mustang. I've done it so many times, the front drum brakes on these cars, yet it still takes me forever and it's not very fun. And when your done with the entire front brake job, the brakes still suck because its a 1 puddle master and thats just the best it can do. So when I hear about people clowning on these fox mustangs brakes being ****ty, its all relative because for me, that 90 i had never needed any brake maintenance and they work 3 times as good as what i have been used to. Needless to say I was blown away at how much car you can get for 900 bucks and to this day I think the fox mustang is the most underappreciated car out there and am on standby waiting for the day everyone finds out how cool they really are and their values go into outer orbit.

My point is is that after i dropped about 100 bucks on the 90 i drove it around daily, rain or shine. I was instantly surprised by the low end power, and eventually fell in love with its reliability, startability and overall feel i had when i was mashing through the gears. I would take that thing anywhere including driving from portland to tacoma and back loving the 25mpg. This car turned out to be as reliable and maintenance free for the time I had it, as a honda accord. Its hard for me not to want to share the energy i have for these cars with others that are trapped by cars that don't love them back.

Guess Thats a little off topic but from where i am, your ride is already where so many others are trying to get to. You say you want help with a direction, I say just enjoy driving it in the forward direction and keep an open mind. There will always be someone faster than you no matter how fast you go so I say go have fun ripping a couple passes at the strip right away. I rip low 14's all the time and I'm not ashamed because others are ripping faster times. If you get hung up on continuously wanting to go faster and faster, that is all you will ever be worried about and you will miss out on the fun of the sport and on many other things in life that are more important. Get your car to where your trust it again and enjoy its street friendly attitude and be at peace with owning a supercar even if noone else notices and drive it to the moon.

One long post deserves another. And to answer your question I would put 3.55 out back and be done.

 

[rbonella]

If that was my car, I would address the noisy dash or turn up the radio, fix all the leaks (nothin worse than a leaky car ) basically all the things that annoy you (it would annoy me too). Go get the headlights tweeked so you can see at night (most autoshops or tire alighnment shops can do this for you) make it a sound running car then add some power to it. Between the two options for h/c/i, Id go with a trick flow package, stage 2 cam, then enjoy it! I am in the process of tightning up my 88 GT, has plenty of power, but the suspension/undercarriage is a little loose and making the car a little blahhh to drive. Like mentioned above, you can address a couple leaks while doing the h/c/i swap. My opinion....I'd rather drive a sound 14 sec car that went down the road nicely, than a 500 hp car that felt like an aluminum pop can swirving all over the road leaking oil and over heating....that's me though
good luck! Nice car too

 

[fivespeedsteed]

you state you want to be able to drive it anywhere, autocross it, drag strip, ect. i see two major issues with this; your engine setup and the brakes.

its getting warm and leaking all over. address that and your h/c/i combo at the same time while its apart. put it back together, clean up the engine bay some. maybe hide the harness, or just degrease it, ect. make it run strong. it looks clean outside, but the brakes would be a nice upgrade after the engine imo.

how does cobra brakes and a simple hci not work for auto x and occasional strip runs? im not concerned about what time i run. it doesnt really leak allot, just seeps out of the gaskets slowly. i dont really have to add oil to it between oil changes its so minimal, but it does leak a couple drops a night.

If that was my car, I would address the noisy dash or turn up the radio, fix all the leaks (nothin worse than a leaky car ) basically all the things that annoy you (it would annoy me too). Go get the headlights tweeked so you can see at night (most autoshops or tire alighnment shops can do this for you) make it a sound running car then add some power to it. Between the two options for h/c/i, Id go with a trick flow package, stage 2 cam, then enjoy it! I am in the process of tightning up my 88 GT, has plenty of power, but the suspension/undercarriage is a little loose and making the car a little blahhh to drive. Like mentioned above, you can address a couple leaks while doing the h/c/i swap. My opinion....I'd rather drive a sound 14 sec car that went down the road nicely, than a 500 hp car that felt like an aluminum pop can swirving all over the road leaking oil and over heating....that's me though
good luck! Nice car too

im not worried about power at all, if i pull the motor though i wanted to just fix the gaskets and throw a simple hci at it while it was out. in all reality id like to pull the motor, do the gaskets, timing chain and put a b cam in it, then re install it with stock heads and intake. then save for gt40x's and some sort of intake. but if im gonna do all that i might as well just get a top end kit and wait to do it all at once.

i appreciate the replies. its come a long way, im just overwhelmed with little crap that bothers me. each problem is going to cost money, so i dont know what to attack first.

 

[stykthyn]

so you are saying you want to take your motor down twice? That's all you buddy. Leave the motor for last and take care of everything else first. Run the thing till it pukes out a bearing or seizes up then go for the gusto and put an H/C/I in there. Putting a b-cam in a stock motor will be a kick in the balls. Lumpy idle, no power, bad mileage, but hey it will sound nice

Take care of the small cheap things and then tackle the engine.

 

[281pony]

i meant that i'd address those 2 things first. nothing wrong with the choices.

i was tired like i am now from working all day, sorry.

 

[50foxbody]

just an idea on the clicking noise when you turn the wheel does it seem like its from your turn signal switch mine did that for a while then after about 2 months the blinker wouldnt click back i replaced it and it didnt do it any more just throwing that out there

 

[deftsound]

I think your car looks great and is damn clean for a fox. I wouldn't change a thing look-wise. The thing is, you will always see and have little knick knacks that are going to bother you about your car because its your car. I'm the same way about my 99 even though its in damn near perfect shape, to me, im always seeing this or that, thats broken or i want to fix when in reality its extremely minimal - borderline OCD.

 

[fivespeedsteed]

just an idea on the clicking noise when you turn the wheel does it seem like its from your turn signal switch mine did that for a while then after about 2 months the blinker wouldnt click back i replaced it and it didnt do it any more just throwing that out there

nah its more like a knock. if you sit still and hold the wheel at 12 o clock, and take it from 12 to 1 oclock, then through 12 to 11 o clock it clicks when you pass 12. i think its the steering shaft u joint. rag joint is great, but i thikn when you switch directions its got slack in it.