gonesurfing

So I've had my 89 lx for 2 years now but moneys been tight and I havent really driven it much at all. I finally have some time and money to start working on it but before I start changing things I want to make sure the basics are covered first.

Some basic car info to start, I have an 89 lx the was originally a 4 banger but now has a 5.0, t5, driveshaft, and 8.8 from an 87 gt. So my powertrain is set! What else should I change in addition to whats been done with the swap? I know the stock 5.0 brakes suck. I'm not sure if they were different from what came on a 4 cylinder lx. Does anyone know what other things I should make sure have been swapped?

The suspension thats on there right now is pretty shot, so that is going to be one of the first upgrades. I know summit has a kit (I think they call it value spec?) that has springs, adjustable shocks and struts, and caster camber plates. Its somewhere around $800-$900. Has anyone used this kit? There was a write up on it in an issue of muscle mustangs like 2 years ago. It seems like a decent kit and its cheap.

And last but not least in the start up fixes is going to be my rear gears. I just cant decide between 3.73s or 4.10s. It seems 3.73 are the common choice for t5s and the 4.10s are the way to go for the AOD. My car is just going to be to cruise around town and take to the strip from time to time so I dont really care about gas millage or rpms at highway speeds. With that said would I see a big difference off the line with the 4.10s with my t5 vs the 3.73? How much "streetability" goes away with the higher gears?

Sorry for the long post! Thanks everyone!!!

Bubba 95SN

Around town 4.10 get some M/T or Nitto 05 so will grab pavement.

nitrous_bob

1st off, i am not a fan of summit parts. tried some and never will again

second, some of what you talk about is really un needed unless your into cornering... in which you should NOT be into str8 line. they just dont mix... typically 1 takes away from the other... tight rear suspension=crappy weight transfer=crappy launch... see what i mean ???

with that being said.... hpm mega bite jrs are top notch and all i will ever use. they are 1 thing that helps with handling while help dig in too.

i have the eibach springs and they dont seem to hurt my launch either. on a previous car i had the energy suspension full poly bushing kit... it was unbelievable. stiff like i was driving a vette almost

no need for adjustable shocks... just decent ones. that same car with the ES poly kit had non-adj kyb and it really did not need to be any better for a non-road race car

for a drag car you want drag struts and drag shocks.. they help with weight transfer and handle TERRIBLE !!! but they do their job very well. 90/10 up front and 50/50 on back is very streetable

bottom line is you will be dissapointed with 3.73 and grin from ear to ear with 4.10

on the virtually the same setup my buddy and i went to the track... him 3.73, me 4.10... both notchbacks... both 5 -speeds

he still bogged when he hooked good, i did not

he ran something like 14.20 and i ran 13.60

YES... it makes THAT much of a diff. and as far as rpms go... you will tach 250 more on 4.10 over 3.73 thats it. as little as it is... on the launch it makes a lot of difference. mileage diff is nill as well.... 1 mpg ??? tops??? just drive 250 more rpms than usual for a whole tank and see what it did... maybe next to nothing

here are some myth busters for what peeps will try to tell you. why do they do it ?? probably cuz they have 3.55 or 3.73 and dont want you to be faster than them cuz they were dumb enuff to listen to someone else who gave advice and never drove a 4.10 car b4.

anyways... abig one is that you will have to shift into 5th in the 1/4 mile.
ABSOLUTELY false... you will trap about 5300 going through the lights on a 26" tall tire

you will tach 3000 doing 65
F@$KING false again... you will tach about 3k doing 75-80 on a 26" tire

there are a bunch more....probably all false too... but i just wanted to keep all the 3.55 guys from slapping around their gums who will tell you "but 3.55 is way better than stock"

of course it is... and like i will repeat 100 times... a rotten whopper is f@cking delicious to an ethiopian... but i dont wanna eat it... i'd rather a nice t-bone

good luck wit ur build !!

nitrous_bob

oh $h!t another cali homeboy

i spent 5 in fresno..... go here. mostly bay guys... all cool as he!!

http://www.californiafords.com

tell 'em nitrous bob sent ya, i think im member #77 there

gonesurfing

Nitrous you are the man! Thanks for all the info!

Ive been searching for the control arms and I'm having trouble finding someone who sells them. Where did you grab yours from and about how much were they?

Blown408

Like Nitrous Bob said, it really depends on what your common use for the car is. If it's a straight line and you are using taller tires for the drag strip I would go with the 4.10's. If you are going to be mainly streeting it and have your usual common pick of street tires you might want to go with the 3.73's. Speaking from personal experience I had two foxes that I bought that I ripped the gears out of them with in the first two days of owning them. Went from the slouchy 3.08's immediately to 4.10's. Its always the first thing any owner should look at is changing the gears to accomidate what you want to do with the car. Changing the gears wakes up anything, I dont care what you drive-a yugo or a mustang. The thing will feel like you put a 100 shot on it when you change to such a higher gear. But back to speaking from experience here, and this is only my opinion, when I went to the 4.10's on both of those cars I thought that the gear was to steep for the street tires that I had on. When I went to a taller drag tire is when I thought the gear worked perfectly. My third fox that I bought came with a 3.73 in it and had your off the shelf 245/45/17's on the back and to tell ya the truth that gear felt perfect for the street as opposed to the 4.10's. But when I put on a taller tire it didnt feel right at the drag strip. Had to push that car a lot harder to get the times I wanted. So it is just personal preferance on what I am saying but if you are going to have strictly a drag car then I would go with the 4.10's. If you are going to have a street car with smaller street tires then I would go with 3.73's. If you do the math anyways the 3.73's feel like a 4.10 when you have smaller tires on it. Keep in mind that all of my cars were manuals that I am talking about too. All in all I wouldn't go any lower than 3.73's.

Blown408

And No I wouldn't purchase Summit control arms or anything like that. There is a reason why cheap is cheap. You get what you pay for on suspension pieces. Shell out the money and buy the right stuff. You will thank yourself when you get those first time slips. And also don't be afraid to post when building your car man!! If I would have had this type of support when I first started building cars I would have saved my *** tons of money!! I have learned the hard way on building cars before. You get what you pay for when you cheap out on buying stuff for your car. Its alright to buy used stuff, just make sure you examine and do your homework before buying!! But when you buy catalog parts, there is a reason why it is cheaply priced, thats why you save and buy the right stuff first because nine times out of ten you are gonna go back and buy the right stuff that you should have bought the first time!! Being patient definately pays off!!

nitrous_bob

try here.... motorsport bought the rights i think....thats svt or whatever to the new skool boys

http://www.livernoismotorsports.com/...t.phtml?p=1072