Old motor head re-energized by project fox body

SHOme

Active Member
Nov 16, 2018
63
40
28
Maryland
Hello. I joined this forum because most of my google searches for mustang questions lead me here. I just bought a 92 GT that runs and drives but the T-5 sounds like someone dropped a box of marbles in it. The synchronizers are gone in 1-3. The gentleman I bought it from didn't know a lot about it, like nothing really. he said he bought it 4 years ago and didn't drive it much because of the transmission. He took it to a "shop" and they put in a new clutch recently. He showed me the receipt. He and the "shop" thought that would fix the problem. It didn't obviously, so he put it up for sale He knows nothing about cars. Here is the skinny. I took the car and put it up on a lift to check it out. There is little to no rust other than the shock towers and that looks to be minimal. I cant poke a knife through it. There are no dents or repairs that I can see so far. It has what looks like home made sub frame connectors. It needs all new door, window, sunroof seals, and headliner. Under the hood I see a Cobra intake and headers. He could not tell me what was done to the engine. I can tell you this thing rips. When I drove it home I rolled into the throttle from a stop and then punched it and proceeded to smoke the tires through 3 gears. Now as I write this it is making me smile all over again. There in lies the problem. I bought this car as a project my son and I could work on though the winter to get ready for him to drive next spring. He is 16 yesterday and in Maryland cant get his license until 16 and 9 mos. After driving it home I am having second thoughts. I need to de-tune it. I have thought about a rev limiter but I am leaning toward putting a stock cam in it. I will be pulling the motor to address the shock towers and I figured this would be a good time to do it. If I had to guess I would say along with the cobra intake there are GT40 heads and semi radical cam.

My background-- When I was 15 my dad and i bought a 54 ford pickup. We redid the entire brake system and pulled the Flathead. We adapted at 302 and C4 to it and that's what I drove until I didn't have time or money to mess with it. I pulled the engine and put it in a 74 Comet GT and this became my driver. It was about 300HP. I'm no stranger to turning wrenches but have been out of the game for a while. I have owned many fast Fords over the years. I am 50 years old now so I drive a Livernois tuned SHO. I am going to lean on you all for help. Ill start a build thread once we get started. First question I have is how would you de-tune the car? is it possible to put a stock cam in it if it has the cobra intake and head work? Thanks for reading
 
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welcome to stangnet, you came to the right place. start your progress thread with some pictures and what your goals are, we can help you with most any questions and advise you on what you need for rebuilding your father/son project.
 
Yes, you can toss a stock cam in there. However it's not going to reduce the power that much. What you lose in top end HP, you'll gain in low end torque. Car will be more driveable, but a torquey V8 can still get you in trouble.

If you really want to limit the power, you'll have to swap back to the e7 heads. But be warned..even a stock 5.0 Mustang is a pretty quick car.

However, have some faith in your son. My fox body was my first car at age 16 and I learned to respect the power. I still have it now at age 37. There are 4-door sedans out there now quicker than a stock 5.0 foxbody.
 
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