I’m not a mechanical person yet! What I do know is that my 302 needs a full rebuild. I’ve been looking at the Edelbrock Performer Packages and wonder if it is worth it? That or just stay with what I have and just repair/rebuild around it making changes as I go along?

The wife gave me 3,000 to start my project and I’m curious if I should dump most of that in the motor or start looking into maybe rack & pinion steering or changing out the suspension. I like the resto mod style and something I can turn into a daily driver.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

 

You can get the Performer RPM packages for under $2k still, right? Get some good rocker arms and clean up your Holley 4 barrel carb and you'll have a nice running machine. That set up was my first upgrade to my stock 289. It was the first pimp thing that I did to my car, 8 years ago. You can easily do that in your garage. Make sure your brake fuel lines don't leak. I would start with safety first...if I were to do it again or if I were responding to a forum question.

I've had mine for eight years, it's my only car and daily driver. I have coil overs, rack in pinion steering, TKO 600 5 speed, 22 gallon gas tank, power disc x4 brakes, LED sequential brake lights, MSD ignition, tri-bar halogen head lights, fog lights, new floor pan, cowls, glass, carpet, working 8-track with a hidden amp and by-pass for my iPhone, Be Cool radiator with two huge fans, AC and heat, Pro-comp gauges, fiberglass hood and much more.

My paint still looks like crap though. I have a four step process that I followed. My vision was also for a reliable daily driver with some drive to it.

Safety
Drivability and handling
Power
Cosmetics


I'm in the power phase right now, I just dropped in a 428 this weekend....I eat romen noodle to afford car parts....

James

 

sit down and inspect your car, carefully, suspension, brakes, cooling system. Safety items have priority. Mustang monthly has a good read on top 10 items to do on your mustang. Its a good reference. Mustangmonthly.com.... Be careful, $3000 seems like alot, but you can blow through it very quickly in todays market. Get your money's worth and fix the necessary items first. Just my opinion. Also consider buying tools, and roll around tool box. The biggest dollar savings is doing the work yourself, but you need to have the tools to do it.

 

I plan on doing all the work with the help of several friends/family as I go along. My dad has loaned me all the tools I need.

Cooling is good I believe it runs hot sometimes in the summer, but I believe that has to do with the motor more then anything. It needs a valve job really bad it's doing nothing, but sucking air up both tailpipes.

Suspension I believe is ok, but I will have to get a second opinion on that.

Break are solid, but I do need to replace the Master Cylinder, because it is leaking.

 

If the engine is sound, good compression, doesn't burn oil, etc. then replacement heads and cam not only give you good valves guides guide seals and rockers but a boost in power which adds to the fun. If the engine burns oil and you are not experienced or don't have the friends that are, you can waste a bunch of bucks. Either a long block (with heads) or a used good post '87 302 with roller cam would be more cost efficient. Remember, if you make it breath better, you also must make the exhaust better with a set of headers. If you are not experienced with Holley power blocks, Holley has a neat Throttle Body Injection unit that bolts on and ends all that mixture mumbo jumbo and learns the engine so you don't even need to program it.
No matter what, remember that anything you break can be fixed so have fun and learn.

 

hello;

you need to determine if your pistons are dished or flat top.

if they are dished you can not run that set up sucessfully.

 

I've decided that this weekend I will start to break everything down. I will find out what the shape of everything is and then order from there. That will give me time to find a good machine shop and get the block checked.

Thanks!