Why is it that so many domestic enthusiasts say idiotic things like this? You mean the Lotus Elise is crap? What about the Porsche 968 Turbo S, which was 305hp, 369 lb-ft of torque, and did 0-60 in 4.5 seconds, with a top speed of over 175mph. But I guess it's crap too because you can count the four cylinders on one hand.

The Offenhauser Indy engine was an engine for race cars, and it was 4cyl.

Most of the WRC cars are 4 cyl.

The BMW Turbo F1 engine is 4cyl, and developed 1400hp in qualification trim.

I seem to recall a certain 4 cyl turbocharged mustang in the 80's that was faster than hell.

Statements like that just make the poster look like he doesn't know jack about cars.

(edit)

Forgot to add. That mustang looks like a really fun project. It should keep you busy for a LONG time. Be sure to post progress pics for us!

Yup a bunch of people intercool them using Volvo intercoolers....it makes for a really fast car. Plus alot of people use the 2.3L's in pintos for drag racing.....

anyways...

I'm desperately hoping to be able to order my clutch and roller rocker valvetrain this week :) and maybe my starter and alternator.....I found a schweet tubular k member, a arm and coilover kit.......i think it would make it lighter and easier to work on anything........anybody else recommend it?

Nah the k member and coilovers aren't worth the $$$ with a mild motor. Spray it! Spray it! Those heavy ass TRW slugs will take a beating with a 150 shot, and even those stock con rods should be able to hold up. You just damn well better keep an eye on your fuel with that Edelbrock carb, they lean the hell out of those things from the factory. If you plan on taking it to the track, I'd sooner invest in a decent set of control arms. Stock lowers = wheel hop city.

I tend to prefer forced induction over nitrous. It's cheaper, and I never have to refill my supercharger to get any use out of it ;) Plus it's less likely that you'll grenade your engine, which you can do with NOS even when it's set up right. If your fuel pump or injector(s) decide to die when you're hitting the spray, you can kiss the motor goodbye.

I'm going to disagree with you on that one. When set up properly, you're not going to grenade your motor at any greater risk than you would with a blower. If an injector/pump craps out on you, you're going to do the same amount of damage if you were running boost levels comparable to that of the nitrous, not to mention the fact that you shouldn't have had an inadequate fuel setup to begin with. You can't immediately stop boost with a blower setup, whereas you can with a cutoff/microswitch with nitrous. You're also going to have a much cooler intake charge with spray than you would a blower. Not to mention that he already bought flat tops, which is going to make his compression kind of high to be able and run any decent boost without one hell of an intercooler.

I'm more than happy to spray a 175 shot on my 12:1 sbc without forged internals, and I've been doing so for the past two years, without a single failure to date. Am I pushing the envelope? Probably, but I'm confident that when something goes, its not because of a nitrous issue because I took the time to set it up properly. Same reason I'll be more than happy hitting the $10k 434 with a 400 fog every weekend :D

needs some work

Nice Hunk of junk..

- Wow thats seems like a lot of work to fix up an 84.. Is that a good year or something.. Considering everything needs repair? Everything meaning body and interior...

Well nice thing about older domestics is if I trash the body I can dump that engine in anything I want from and older mustang to a granada (yikes) The reason why i'm fixing it up is cause I love working on vehicles and it should be a nice quick car once i'm done with it :)

I'm not a Ford fan but i knew somene that had a 85 just like that with a 302 in it and that thing had some nuts! after he rebuilt engine that is:p

To each his own. There are other factors to a fast car IMO besides performance---Economy is not one of them. Nobody should skimp on the engine. If you don't want to pay for the gas, go buy a Civic (which, despite the opinions of many people around here, is NOT a race car). How about the sound? My buddy has a Nissan 240sx with no exhaust at the moment--as in pipe blown up right after the cat--and 2 weeks ago it was blwon up right BEFORE the cat, and it still sounds like a freaking sewing machine. It's a fun car, nonetheless, but I think this mustang or my 383 cu. in (~6.3L for the import guys) will smoke the living hell out of it when completed.

I suppose I could've worded my original statement better, should have read "it's not a DRAG race car". Sure, the Lotus and the Porsche are probably good in the quarter, but that's not what they were intended for. Shoehorn a massive V8 into a small car and chances are it's good for one thing--going real fast in a straight line. Which is what I assume the main purpose of this mustang is going to be for.

If I don't know anything about cars, I suppose we can overlook the fact that I'm rebuilding a car from the ground up that's older than me? Sounds good.

No wonder you prefer 4 bangers! Have you ever owned a car with a huge V8 torque monster and roasted the tires with it? And when that blown engine DOES break, better hope you kept the money you're saving by getting better gas mileage!!

Which brings me to a funny quote I remember hearing at one point or another. "You laugh because I have a N/A motor with no Nitrous. I laugh because I smoke you anyway."

So sue me. I have an opinion.

By the way, awesome job so far on the Stang. Can't wait to see the finished project. Got any old tires you're planning on blowing up?

Yay more pics......got some progress done....I still have to pick up my friggin block....been to lazy though.....i've been busy getting the little shit together for the block....anyways

Here are my heads i'm using they are D80E heads so they are stock...once I do some nice heavy porting I should have at least decent heads....They are totally rebuilt and I got them off of ebay for only $160 shipped....they will get me down the road
Hopefully I can use them with my camshaft I bought....I'm worried about valve spring bind...i'll take it in to the shop that did my block and have them double check it first.
http://www.oldweakandpathetic.com/me...Head/Heads.jpg
http://www.oldweakandpathetic.com/me...d/headdeck.jpg

As you can see by the pic of my exhaust ports that air injection bump will be ground out!!!

http://www.oldweakandpathetic.com/me...xhaustport.JPG

Ok here are some more........

My Waterpump/AC Elminator system.....A couple hours with a rough files and a fine one that Power Steering Bracket polished nicely :)
http://www.oldweakandpathetic.com/me...Parts/acps.jpg

My fully assembled distributor

http://www.oldweakandpathetic.com/me.../Parts/dis.jpg

Very cool. Can't wait to see the end product through a cloud of smoke.

And had you said that originally, I'd have most likely agreed with you.

BTW, that mustang will smoke a civic in a straight line any day of the week. I'll enjoy watching the mustang try to keep up in the twisties though ;)

Oh, and yes, I have owned a V8. Several in fact. I've owned just about every type of car other than an SUV. I found the V8 (mustang) that I owned to be a shitload of fun - in a straight line. Wasn't worth crap in the corners, damn near gave me heart failure at the gas pump, and when it came right down to it, my Civic Si was more fun to drive anyway. Note FUN TO DRIVE. I'm not racing my Civic. Never thought of it as a race car. Never bought it with the intention of racing it. I bought it because it's like driving an enclosed gokart, and I modify it because I enjoy making it more than it originally was.

I'm not one of those ricer idiots who slaps an intake on my Civic and thinks he can take on Vipers. What I mainly object to is that it seems that a lot of people think ANYONE who likes improving their civic is a ricer. Never occurs to them that some of us actually know how to make it faster and don't put fake shit on it. And if that thought does manage to penetrate the cracks, they then spout off about how "well it'll never be faster than my (insert American car here). Our response to that is, so the fuck what? We don't care. We want it to be faster than it was. If that makes it faster than your car, that's great. If not, who cares?

I'm just tired of all this domestic vs. import bullshit. You drive your car. I'll drive mine. I can appreciate the good points of your car, and if someone can't appreciate the good points of mine, it would be nice if they would kindly not make an ass of themselves by trying to prove that their car is somehow superior.

Well said Shakran...every car has it highs and lows

I should get my engine back this friday and then the engine will get a 3 coats of high temp old ford blue engine enamel.

Then I will put the cam in, the crank in and the pistons and rods...then once I find some replacement bolts for the ones I broke, the timing cover and water pump will be placed on the block

What are your plans for bodywork? Straight up restoration or do you have something unique in mind?

Yes I agree, some people build up there cars just for looks, some people do it for performance and others do it for both!

Well for bodywork I just want it to look stock....i'm not gonna hang a body kit or a big cowl induction hood. I like them stock....my doors are rotted out but I know a guy who owns a body shop and he'l probably swing me a deal since I do all his computer work for him. He said he can fix my doors and a couple of rust holes in my fender.

Another funny thing is my roomate keeps on giving me shit everytime I buy parts for it (today I bought a K&N airfilter) He keeps on saying why should I buy parts when I don't even have the car driveable......It's because I want to build it right the first time...sure I could hang a bunch of shit or half ass working parts on it to get it down the road....I just want a nice looking fun car that I can tinker with and if some punkass kid at a light that comes up to me and cocks off(in a camaro, honda bmw...make and model dont' friggin matter) I can toast his ass but...hopefully I will start building my engine next week.

Oh I loved it when I lived out west(B.C.) and when kids in there Honda's or Mustangs would pull up next to me and at that time I was driving a friend of the family's 1967 Chevy Camaro, with a 4 gear, 454 Big Block with a Wagner(sp) Supercharger, the blower sticking out of the hood....that thing had power...I would leave them behind....

Well I got some pulleys off of ebay for $56 they are blue and made of steel but they are underdrive ones...they will get me buy until i get those made by my friend...i have a bunch more stuff to be sent off to be powered coated. i can pick up my block on tuesday then i should have plenty more pics :)

Underdrive pulleys? never heard of those before.

Underdrive pulleys reduce how much your alternator, water pump and power steering turn so you free up more horsepower....less work they do = more hp

OH...but that means less power from alternator...right?

Yup less power from the alternator but I have to buy a bigger alternator cause mine is a 55 amp from the factory and there is no way it will power my electric fan, electric fuel pump, and a small decent stereo system all at once....

This is what I need to buy yet to get it finished
Motor mounts and transmission mounts
electric fuel pump
fuel filter
MSD 6al ignition box
2 gauge cable to move my battery to the trunk
hi torque starter
105 amp alternator
Battery box
Thermostat housing
Thermostatic switch to turn my electric fan on and off automatically
Relays for rewiring my power under the hood
Electric Fan
Roller Rocker arms
New Head bolts
Hose Clamps
Radiator clmap
lower radiator hose
water pump to intake manifold hose
synthetic atf
spark plug wires
power steering pump
u joint
4 gauge wire
fuel pump block off plate
cable ties
lots of oil 20qts+
oil filter
oil pressure sensor
clutch
steel input bearing retainer for my tranny
tranmission seals (might as well replace them why the tranny is out)
serpentine belt
ignition coil

WOW!

that is going to burn I nice hole in your pocket....must be nice to have that kinda money.....I hoping I can afford the get a loan soon!

Ok I just ordered a bunch of stuff, roller rockers, carb studs, arp head bolts, fuel pump blockoff plate, chrome thermostat housing.
I picked up my block, wow it's beautiful, some bastard put a 3.8 taurus engine on the stand that my friend loaned me so i'm gonna have to take the engine and chuck it outside. Hopefully this weekend I can get the engine on the stand, then I can start assembling.

Well I got my block on the stand and painted, I'll have to post pics of it. It took me about 1/2 hour to mask everything off but I had very very little overspray. I decided not to assemble till I have all my parts ready so I can assemble it in a day. I started to clean up the wiring in the engine compartment.....not to bad....I have alot of stuff I need to get rid of. Some of the stuff has been cut and spliced before....but shouldn't take me too long to clean up. I just have to double check what some of the wires are before cutting them. Then I can steam blast and paint it :)

Damn this is the fun part....I love putting engines back together!:D

w00t got some parts today my forged aluminum roller rockers came and my chrome thermostat housing :) also I bought a set of mechanical gauges :)

Update April 12th

I have to call the machine shop today and see if my heads are done.

No pics until next week. I loaned my camera to my roomate that will be on vacation for a week.

I started snipping wires....and I fucked up big time and lost my lights :( turns out the ammeter wire is tied in with the head lights...but it's easily fixable. I bought a dealer wiring manual on ebay. All my manuals have shitty wiring diagrams and some of the diagrams are the wrong color codes. Hopefully next week i'll start to make my custom gauge holder. I want to put quick disconnects on the headlight wiring so I can pull the harness back and steam blast all the paint off of all the sheet metal in my engine compartment. I was looking at my rubber fuel lines. One has some nice scarring on it. Thankfully I never drove the car. I'm gonna replace all the rubber lines.

Ok now i decided to buy a windage tray. I am pretty much buying one cause my dad highly recommended it. Hopefully after I rack in some more money next week I'll be able to buy my MSD 6AL box and a nice Optima red top battery. And luckily in a few weekends I can assemble my engine. Next week i'm gonna pull my car into the shop and start cleaning the engine compartment, it should look nice. My valve covers are done being power coated. I guess the guy told me they look just beautiful. Hopefully I can pick those up next week. I love trading computer work for car parts :)

Progress seems to be going along smooth....What colour are you going to paint the car...or are you not right now?

I dont have anything worth while to add to this other then how I completly love reading this!

Keep us updated with text and images please! :)

Not the best looking stangs, but I still wouldnt pass it up. :)

Yeah, you're right. Sorry dude, I was being a prick. Don't try to tell me you can't make a V8 car handle though---just takes a shitload of work.

I guess I'm stuck in that "support your own" frame of mind because of my family and the steel plant, etc. But I won't jack the trhead and go into that.

keep it up Merker, your car is gonna rock!

I gotta give you props dude, that must take some skill.

Thanks guys for you postive comments :)

About painting it, I probably won't paint it till next year I know a guy who runs an awesome body shop and if I do a majority of the prep work i'll save alot of $$$ I'll paint it the factory colors when I repaint it. It's kinda scary but I did an estimate and after I'm done getting it pretty nice shape I'll have over $7k in the car, but damn is it gonna be nice and it will be pretty custom. With gas prices the way they are thank god it's not my primary driver. Breaking it in is gonna be spendy though...lol oh well.....someday we'll tap that rich alaskan soil......

Factory paint.....oh man!:hmm:

w00t more progress.

I just ordered a milodon windage tray. Also i started to sand blast my factory air filter, timing tab, and radiator mounts. Also I'm going to send my intake to get powered coated clear. It's gonna look so purty!

also remember to take really good care of the T-Roof glass, they are hard to find!

I love reading this. I can't wait to see the engine fully painted.

Very interesting thread to be sure! I will have to follow the progress. The interior and exteririer will be a lot of work. Until then your car will be somewhat stealth.

Well i'm still waiting for my parts to come...they should be here this week and maybe during the weekend i'll prep for assembly. If anybody has a timing chaing cover they will sell i'll buy it.Yeah thats the plan the car looks ok...but no one is gonna believe how powerful it is for how shitty it looks.
Hopefully by the end of this week I will order an alternator, ignition box and ignition coil

This is so fun to read! Makes me motivated to go work on my car.... almost.
Keep up the good work and report back with engine pictures!

Engine pics would be sweet..even though this a Ford he is rebuilding....but I love watching projects come together!

Well the only parts i got this day are the windage tray installation kit...i'm so hoping my windage tray comes in. I found the easiest way for me to port and flow my heads. At a place I do computer work for they build stuff out of steel (I beams and such for buildings) and i'm gonna take a junk head i got for free and chop it into sections so I can see where the water jackets are.

why would you want to know where the water jackets are?

so when i grind away at the exhaust and intake runners in the head i don't grind to far and ruin a perfectly good set of heads

oh yes...thats why you get a machine shop to do that!:D

I don't think i'll pay a machine shop $60 an hour to do that...

well today I got some more parts.....electric fan relay kit, throwout bearing and a brand spanking new power steering pump.

My underdrive pulleys
http://www.oldweakandpathetic.com/me...ts/pulleys.jpg

I love checking up on your progress every so often. I can't wait to see this car come together

sweet keep those pickture comming

Well I picked up that old head from my friends place and i gutted the valves out of 2 combustion chambers.....and hopefully next week I'll be able to chop the head apart......i'm going to chop one exhaust runner and one intake runner then port and flow another and then chop those aparts, i'll turn the pieces into a display model for my friend that runs a performance part shop...Tonight I just picked up a universal wiper resevoir (so (I can get rid of the crappy windshield washer/coolant catch tank) I won a fram racing fuel filter assembly...it's used so I had to order replacement filter for it....

Got so more gaskets today that I ordered off of ebay.....got my fuel filter...I have to sandblast and repaint the housing and make a bracket for it....got my timing chain cover........

your going crazy...you should have that thing running before fall:thumbsup:

Well today I went to my parents and started to do more work. All I pretty much did was dry fit my timing cover, water pump and AC eliminator. I found out I need a newer style power steering pump bracket, at least I can find one of those easily. Also this week i'm going to move the block from my dad's shop down to my parents garage and start to assemble it there.

Well it's seem like my project was on hiatus for a while but I just ordered a bunch more parts!!!!!!

What i ordered

Spark plug wires, nice taylor 8mm wires, the separators for them (dont' want to burn them up on my headers) MSD 6AL box, MSD Blaster SS pump, holley blue electric fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator and got my whole clutch ordered....hopefully i will have some pics up soon!

Damn, must be nice to have your kinda money:p

80s mustangs = booboos

wtf???

Great looking work to this point!

What is the total dollar output to this point?
Just Curious.

Thanks...so far I have about $3k total into the car...that engine and accessories to get it running. Total I figure I will have into it will be about $9k when finished, but the car will be in nice condition with a tough drivetrain, great engine...good looks...and no rust at all....plus it will be totally custom inside and out.....yes I could of blown the money on a different car..but this will be my baby...

Update:
Well I started to clean up my radiator and some of the fins just crumbled into dust...so I need a new radiator.....well I priced out what to get for one...either I can spend the money for a factory one...or spend a little bit more and get a racing aluminum one that will look nice and last longer...I think i'm going to take that route instead of the factory one.

Definitely get the aluminum radiator. I would rather spend $9k on my own one-of-a-kind ride, then $9k on a used Honda. LOL!

I can't wait to see it finished.

Ya i would use the aluminum rad also....and it wont rust in the long run, because everything rust's!

Well I bought a book that tells me how to stiffen the chassis on my car, it has diagram and blueprints how to make subframe connectors, so next week I get to start chopping the body and welding it all together.

Also I got my heads back from the machine...holy shit they where fucked! One of the valves was really wore...the valve stem height was too high...and whoever owned the heads last took a belt sander to shave them.....they machined them down for me so now the a guarenteed to be a no hassles bolt on. I have a total of $280 into the heads...which isn't to bad I guess...

Good thing they got them fixed, because a new set would have put you back some big dollars, if you went Performance and brand new!

Why not just go AFR? Its only an extra grand plus a bit. lol Hey, it's what my cousin did.....

Must be nice to have your cusin's kinda money!

Yes it would! I just scrimped and saved to get my Centerforce clutch/flywheel in my car. But, he is looking at high 11's hopefully. I am only goin 12's. So, I guess its just how fast you want to go.

Nice job on the project merker. I love rebuilding cars. Good luck.

Ya I guess you will get nothing you want if you don't put the money forward

I feel like this is one of those discovery channel documentaries! this is so col! thanks for taking the time to show this to us :-D

I'm happy more progress today, I got my engine moved into the garage and then I put my camshaft in. I also bought a bunch of studs so that putting the timing chaing cover on without ruining the gasket will be a piece of cake.

Boy, did I find this late in the game. Sure is interesting though. I like your parts choices and how the project is going together. Like everyone else, I like the pics. It sure pays to cover all the details doesn't it? I have about 600 miles on my bike rebuild and it runs like a Swiss watch and I get compliments every where I go. Looks like yours will be the same kind of project.

Oh yes it pays for the details.

Well last night I tried fitting my windage tray....it didn't fit! I found out their are specific windage trays for 5.0 mustangs...so I made it fit. This week I should have my pistons, rods, and crank installed. Hopefully this week i'll order my alternator, the first thing I do when I buy my new alternator and gut it so I can get it powdercoated.

Here is a pic of my windage tray after I modified it. Notice how I studded the timing chain cover to make it a breeze to put the cover and waterpump on.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/M...indagetray.jpg

Looking good:thumbsup:

Well, 5 months later now, and STILL working on the engine...man are you slow;) jk

Looks like a fun project you got going there. Keep those pics coming!

Wee got the pistons and crank in....what a pain in the ass...lol

http://www.airstreamcomm.net/~southpark/shiny.jpg

Grrr...it seems some of my webhosting went down.....if you want I put all my pics on my ftp server...lots and lots of pics...

ftp:\\64.33.169.68 username: mustang password: all

ftp:\\mustang:all@64.33.169.68

It just warms the cockles of my heart to see a nice clean job like that. I also checked out your ftp site. Nice to see it all coming together.

Hopefully today i will get my timing chain cover all ready and get my oil pump and pickup tube mounted.....little by little but done right. Also today I found out one of my customers works at the local drag strip and he gave me an NHRA rule book and will help me get my car fully NHRA approved.

Cool thread you have going on here Merk. I was just wondering what is the reason for the blue powder coat on the engine?

The typical ford color is blue....I would of gone red to match the car but then it would look like a chevy engine....and red painted engines are way too common. Plus with the light blue color I can spot potential leaks easily. Also if I ever wreck that car (god I hope I don't) I can transplant it into another older ford.

Well I got my oil pump mounted, I need to pickup some bolts for the pickup tube tomorrow, and tomorrow i'll sandblast my timing chain cover. Also tomorrow i'll order some studs for the oil pan to make that simple to install. I might order some for the intake manifold to make that an idiot proof installation.

Well the bottom end is 100% complete now. I sandblasted and clear coated my timing chain cover and damn does it look nice. I just have to repaint my water pump and order some flange nuts so I can get the front end of the engine assemble. I'll order some head studs and alignment dowels for the heads so I can get that assemble next week also. My 140amp powermaster alternator should be in this week sometime. I also pulled my car out from the weeds so now I can start working on getting my wiring straightened out and reinforcing the body so it can actually handle the abuse the engine will put out.

This rocks, keep up the log entries. I can't wait to see the final product and its timestrips.

be sure to post pics of the old wiring and the new wiring...I want to see how bad and rotted the old stuff looks.

Well I ordered my head stud kit and the dowels for aligning the head to the block. By the end of this week I'll order the rest of my miscellenous nuts and bolts for the front of the engine. Hopefully I will get to start to work on my engine compartment since that takes a bunch work and I have barely started on it.

trust me the engine compartment is much easier to work on without the engine in the way...with out the engine you can just sit down in there.

Talking out loud here, but I was wondering if you could help me get some idea of cost / worth of a project. I was thinking of starting my own thread, but when it comes down to it, merkerguitars has the most experience with this.

My wife has a 5.0 1995 Mustang Convertable. It is a green / Blue with a camel top and interior. It has 104k miles on it, but Chasey (wife) drives it like a grandma and we really take good care to maintain it. Other than the fact that it burns oil pretty well and DEMANDS 91 octane (pings like shit at anything else) it is a very reliable car. The top is showing some wear and although it looks great (we just had it waxed) it has the normal tiny dings that any close to 10y/o car would have. Also, the seats are a little worn. No holes mind you / just worn from sun and use. We live on the beach in San Diego so it is a killer car to have.

The thing is that we are going to start a family soon and I know there is no way she will be able to reach the clutch with a belly. Plus it is not the best for toting around a kid.

She wants to sell it and buy something else. I can't realisticly switch vehicles with her I don't think since I use my Jeep Grand Cherokee for skiing which I take a major trip once a month at least. The problem I have is that selling this car does not get what it is "worth". What I mean is that we can get like $4000 or so for this thing which I think is a sin for what this car is.

I want to keep the car and just pay for the new one with other money we scrape together. Then put a cover on the car, leave it in the driveway and drive it from time to time / or give it to a friend to use if they come out for a weekend. As we get some spare money, maybe make some improvments. An overview of things over the next few years I would try to do.

1. New Top
2. Interior (I can send it to Mexico for a couple weeks and have it done over reliably and with very good craftsmanship)
3. Paintjob (Like a patriot blue / metalic)
4. Engine - What can be done here / should be done to a 10year old engine?

Finally - any strategies to convince her that this is not just the money pit that it looks like?

So far I have the "Where are we going to be able to get a powerful convertable that we can trust when we ever do decide to get one again? " and "This thing is not going to keep going down in value all that fast so if we need the money, it has already lost most of the value it is going to lose."

Thanks for the help.

1. New Top not sure about cost......

2. Interior
Thats the thing you have to love about living close to the border in mexico...you can get a new interior for cheap that is pretty high quality. I know a few people that have bought older muscle cars from arizona that have had mexican interiors....wow the quality and the price.

3. Paintjob (Like a patriot blue / metalic) That you will have to talk to you local body shop....repainting a car can be a little pricey...but will make it stand out from the crowd.

4. Engine - What can be done here / should be done to a 10year old engine? For the engine...the sky is the limit you could get a compression check at the local mechanics and that would give you an indicator how worn out the engine is...also is the 91 octane fuel you put in have ethanol in it? That might cause some troubles with knocking and pinging. The only problem with building an engine where you live is emissions. But pretty much every company that makes parts for a 5.0L mustang makes ones that are legal in all 50 states. So far I have about $2k into my engine so far but i'll have a really strong nice engine. Also you have to remember a car from California is easily worth dumping some money into than a car from Wisconsin since the cars over there don't rust as fast :) The only thing I can say to convince your wife to keep the car is you'll probably miss it. Plus also the value of your car from a local dealership around my area in wisconsin is about $7500.....it may not be worth putting engine parts and other guts in it...but it will be unique.

Well Mondak I don't see why your wife could use your Cherokee most of the time then when you go skiing swutch cars with you....and when I have gone skiing in the past I don't stay over a week, I think you wife could last a week with the Tang. If not rent a car or Mini-van! She will probably not be doing a lot of driving so it shouldn't be a big bill at all!

But thats just what I have done in the past.....She had the SUV I had the sport car I would go away for a weekend (4 days) of Skiing in B.C. most of the time she would use my car but when we had my daughter she couldn't drive the 5-spd so I rented her a mini-van:thumbsup:

Well next week I should have the engine fully assembled...the only things I have to do are the following:

Put on water pump and timing chain cover after I torque the camshaft sprocket.

Put on oil pan

Clean up gasket surfaces on heads and put on.

Assemble valvetrain

Put on valve covers

Prime it..

Once I get my car ready I can drop it in.

The best sound is when that baby roars to life!

Well after awhile of no updates i'm ready to post my progress.

First I did was install my head studs and then my heads. using the head studs where a breeze....Then I installed my valve train to make sure no collided with each other. Then I installed my water pump and timing chain cover...the studs made it such a breeze, then I temporarily installed the headers for looks.

http://www.oldweakandpathetic.com/me...y/engine11.JPG

*Copy weed pickup scene from Half Baked of orgasming wildly after seeing that picture*

That engine is looking sexy merkerguitars:thumbsup:

Sweet! When you first start it up, you're gonna do it with open headers, right? RIGHT? :D

Looks great!

Well eventually I want to get some electronic exhaust cutouts so when i'm driving in the country I can have the loud raspy sound.

Monday i'm ordering the rest of my parts to get my oil pan on so i can finally get some oil in the thing. Hopefully by the engine of the week the engine will be fully assembled :)

That engine really looks great!

Well after a long time of not reply I actually did get most stuff done to it. I bought an oil pan stud kit and installed my oil pan. I found out my stock valve cover do not fit over my roller rockers:( I picked up a newer style tensioner from the junkyard for $7. I'm hoping to have it done soon...i just keep on running into snags.

To bad your rockers didn't fit, they looked nice!

Damnit I meant stock valve covers...lol

Well thats what I meant to....rocker covers are the same as valve covers right?