kazman1

Hey Ford guys. A GM Tech here. I am going to be doing an engine overhaul for a customer of mine. It is a 5.0 in a 1988 Mustang. He has given me a budget for parts / machining of $700, above and beyond the normal gaskets, rings and bearings. He is looking to gain some low and mid range power. Any suggestions of how to spend his money wisely?

Car currently has an oversized throttle (not sure the size), aftermarket upper plenum, headers and a cold air intake.

Any suggestions would be great, thanks !

barnett468

700.00 for parts AND machine work?

either way you need to mill the heads .028" from stock AND deck the block so the pistons are .005" in the hole.

compression = free hp, torque and increased mileage. basically you want around 9.7:1 - 10.0:1 static compression.

poscket port the heads.

back cut the intake valves for improved flow.

just do the std chev high perf stuff to it.

if he runs a roller cam he might want around a comp xe264hr - xe268hr max.

get a cam with an lsa of 110 - 112.

mjr46

About all 700.00 would get a customer for more low end grunt would be a swift kick in the **** from my foot letting them know they need to upgrade the 1970's budget to the 21st century......................I wouldn't waste any time milling or porting anything on stock heads...why? you'll hardly notice it. Been there done it and the time it takes to do it will quickly use his budget up........Look for a set of used gt-40 or gt-40p heads = 200-400 bucks and add a set of roller rockers to such = some used pedastal mount ones = 100-150 bucks. If the car is still speed density, I'd try and DO a mass air conversion, However, parts alone and time to do it could easily hit his 700 budget. Without a mass air conversion you will not want a CAM IN THE 110 LSA RANGE! More like the 114 range to play is safe. An aggressive cam will play mind games with the MAP sensor, if you do a maf conversion , look for a used tfs stage 1 cam 100-150 range in price.......Over on the corral.net you can find a lot of this stuff in the classified section............But Imo, I'd use the 700.00 to buy a marketing campaign to try and convince your customer that 700.00 is an absurd budget for his azzometer to even feel any gains except from the one my foot would give him!!

kazman1

Thanks for the reply.
Good info.
Just be clear, I have $700 after the gaskets, bearings, rings.
Not looking to build a street killer. So it seems your suggestions are more machining to get the compression up and let it breathe. Cool.

barnett468

sure no prob:

these redcomendations are cheap and necessary if any increase in bottom end is desired.

pocket porting is not complete porting but will give the biggest increase in flow. i'm not talking about hogging the heads out 1/2", lol.

it should also be balanced.

if you are doing the machine work, head rebuild and engine assembly for $700.00, i need to send you same engines, lol.

kazman1

" I'd use the 700.00 to buy a marketing campaign to try and convince your customer that 700.00 is an absurd budget for his azzometer to even feel any gains except from the one my foot would give him!!"
REALLY mjr46 . He is not trying to build some street monster. Sounds like you are telling me the 5.0 is only capable of some moderate gains by spending $1,500 and up. HMMM. No wonder I work for Chevy.

kazman1

LOL. No I just doing the R & R. The 700 is not labor, bearings, gaskets, etc. The $700 is extra to get him a little more. Thanks.

dawson1112

My suggestion is to drop a set of 3.73 or 4.10 gears in the rear diff.

Honestly for that budget is the biggest bang for the buck .

mjr46

you think those recommendations would make it a street monster ..........?? And yes 700.00 will barely get you any noticable gains in the azzometer, read my post again, where did I mention 1500.00........heck that'll hardly get you anything either, unless you know how to match the stuff, which I could...... You want the honest truth from someone who has soley messed with the 5.0 for 20+ years.........the green car in my sig, I pulled of a set of stock E7 heads and replaced them with a set of "pocket ported e7 heads" = bowls cleaned up, exhaust humps removed and so forth, paid a guy 200.00 at the time for such.....took it to the track to see if it helped, I even put a small cam in at the same time, It ran the same times and wasn't any faster......And that isn't the only example I have as proof.....if the 700.00 is for parts only......Source a set of gt-40 heads they have larger valves 1.84/1.54 to the stock 1.78/1.46....then if you want to pocket port those go for it, and buy him a set of gears as dawson stated......if the car is SPEED DENSITY, don't add a cam if you don't know how to select one for SD.......After head purchase and gear purchase I doubt there is enough left to add mass air conversion........with left over you could mill the gt-40 heads a tad..............Messing with the oem heads will not even yield a noticable gain unless they are hogged way out, have larger valves added then milled. Been that route plenty.

tinman

Decent balancing job will cost $200 of that budget......