shain

So i sold my 2000 v6 3.8 mustang and my 1997 v6 3.8 mustang and have with the money finally bought my self a 1995 GT 5.0 v8. She is need of a lot of work though . Emblems are all missing, needs paint, rims suck, interior sucks, and the motor is stock with exception of a cold air intake and the distributor and wires. So this is my dream project vehicle, now that i have some money i wanted to know your opinions on what all should be done keep in mind i have only $8,000 to start with plus car. So what are the best performance mods out there such as gearing in rear end, locking differential, drive shaft, what should i do to the manual 5 speed transmission? and of course the all important motor???

jthorn9

Well lets start basic, I'm assuming this car is also your daily driver, so with that assumption in mind let's consider a few things.

1.) This car has to be reliable and in working order
2.) This car is 18 years old and obviously will need some restoration/repairs
3.) With the above two in mind the idea should also be to build value in the car, not destroy it.

Now with that out the way based off of what you said, performance, should be the absolute last thing you should be concerned with.

Firstly, I'd work on getting the body, and under body (yes I said that) restored back to factory condition. So yes, that means approximately $3000-4000 is gonna be gone right there. Having a fresh, high quality protective coat of paint (on all areas of the body) is a great way to restore some of the lost value in the car and help ensure it's longevity, rust is not your friend here.

Secondly work on fixing anything, interior or motor wise, that's broken. In simple broken isn't safe and needs to be fixed.

Lastly, take a look at the motor and see how much money you have left. By this point you will probably have around $3000 left to play with.

Personally here is what I would do, you probably won't like it, but it's the smartest thing to do.

1.) Pull the motor, transmission, and rear end.
2.) Have rebuild/restoration kits for the above
3.) Have a good shop rebuild the above three
4.) While the above work is getting done, carefully look over all the electrical harness and replace or repair as needed.
5.) Replace all of the basic sensors (TPS, MAF, OBD, Thermostat, AIT, AIC, etc.) this again will ensure that zero issues can occur.
6.) Reinstall everything and enjoy your freshly rebuilt ride.

Now yes, you can upgrade these components while having them rebuilt, however don't go over board. 5.0s work best and are most reliable in near factory form. All the issues I've ever seen have come because somebody put something other than factory components on the car and didn't maintain them, did poor install work, bought bad parts, or beat them over time.

So for the transmission I would try to find a heavy duty T5 repair kit. The T5 was, in my opinion, a p*ss port transmission due to the low torque loads it was designed to take. They do make very good heavy duty rebuild kits that elminate a lot of the problems the factory T5 was prone to.

For the rear end I'd just have the whole thing rebuilt and put in your choice of gears. 3.55 or 3.73s are daily driver friendly with a T5.

For the engine this is where you'll get a lot of different opinions so be very careful who you listen to here. Remember, I've been there and done this with my own 5.0 and learned what to do and what not to do. If it were me, and I had to do it all again I would rebuild the engine with either factory GT components, or factory GT-40 components and most importantly stick to the iron heads. No this won't make loads of horse power, however the car will maintain it's daily reliability and won't be as prone to repair as going too extreme with aftermarket mods. Like I said, many may disagree with the above, and that's fine, but cars work best for the longest time when in near factory condition.

shain

Thank you for your advice jthorn9, alot of the things you have said will be done such as the heavy duty rebuild on the T5, the car has an appointment to be completely painted outside and underneath $3,599 WOW. But i am also ordering other things at the moment such as a lowering kit springs and new shock which will drop it 2 inches, ford racing aluminum drive shaft, and 20 inch deep dish black rims with chrome lip(not decided on what brand yet), so with the remaining $2000 ill have could i bore the motor and throw bigger pistons in there and different heads,bigger cam?

jthorn9

I had a Ford Racing aluminum driveshaft (only because my stock one had issues) but honestly there isn't much there to be had. I'd put that money elsewhere unless your stock is rusted or damaged.

$2000 is not enough to do all that to the motor, well not to do it properly anyways. The worst mistake you can do is try to budget build everything because unless you're a mechanic with the means to do all the work yourself and right, your budget build will quickly become a money sink hole.

With the remaining $2000 I would focus on doing exactly what I mention earlier, rebuilding the motor and rear end to factory specs should be top priority.

You may be able to find some good used heads and intake off ebay/craigslist that you can use to add more power and pick up a Steeda # 19 camshaft but even that's pushing it as the cam is around $250, any intake will be $250-500, and the heads will be $500-1000 condition pending.

Remember, your objective should be to have a solid reliable running car. Performance can always be done down the road, but don't do like I did and attack performance too early cause all it will do is cause headaches down the road cause you didn't do A, B, C and started right at a D, E, F.