Looking to upgrade my fox cheap its a 1987 stock i was thinking of aimming for low 13 and high 12. Its a auto with exhaust and cai. Would gears and nos get me to where i want.
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For cheap? HCI upgrade. 3.73s in the rear will make it quick. Personally I'm iffy about bottling my car, if set up correctly it'll run smoother than diarrhea. If not, your problems will have problems. Good luck with the build!
Bolt on parts and cheap mods are not going to put you where you want to be, but they are a start.
A full exhaust, under drive pulleys, a Cobra manifold (ported and polished if possible), a cam swap, an upgrade to the ignition system, shift kit for the trans, and 4.10 gears will give you more power than the 1999-2004 Modular Motor GT has stock. That is a big improvement for a Fox.
I would port and polish the heads, and have a valve job done if I swapped the cam for better lift.
The next step is not as expensive as it sounds on the 302cid. If you really want to wake the old 5.0 up you can drop the oil pan while the heads are off and pull the crank and pistons. Have the cylinders bored a few thousandth and install a striker kit for more cubic inches.
My uncle had an old 5.0 when it was new and in its prime and glory. Coming from a car nerd background, stock was never enough. I remember pulling the engine out of that car at least once a month to do the mods I listed.
Now start reducing weight with lighter wheels, remove the back seat, add a lighter drive shaft, etc and you will shock the Modular Mustang guys.
I have a special love for the old Fox 5.0 platform. I would love to have one to park with my 02 GT.
What I'm going to say comes from my own experience helping other friends with their Fox Body cars for street and strip.
First...there is No Cheap Way of turning a 15 second car into a low 13 or high 12 second car. Without slicks you won't get there, even with NO2...and NO2 is probably the cheapest way to scatter the motor.
You have an automatic and with that comes the one issue, torque converter and without a stall converter you aren't going to be able to use any HP you add.
Here is what I would do and it's been done since the 90's;
28x8" slicks...not street drag radials
Remove all loose items in the car, spare tire, jack...etc.
Remove the front sway bar at the track
Without a stall converter 3:73's are about as far as I'd go although I start out with you stock gears and go from there...my guess would be 3:50's
Short Accessory belt
Under drive pulleys
Headers, prefer longtube as shorty headers will not do anything for the strip
Off-road exhaust
If a Mass-Air car use a larger sensor
65mm TB with matching EGR plate
Remove the clutch fan at the track
Advance the timing approximately 10/13 degrees
Good tune, new plugs, wires and rotor
Air bag on the passenger side rear spring
Move the battery to the rear trunk
Synthetic lubricants everywhere, engine, trans, rearend
Light weight skinny tires/rims up front. We used to use the aluminum spare tire from the 96/97 Mustang Cobra as the tire is rated for much more than 55
Personally I'd box the upper/lower control arms and use Urethene bushings
I've seen and helped build more than one Fox Body with these mods and they have all been in the low 13's or high 12's...and this was 20 years ago.
One last thing...if you are afraid of breaking the motor you aren't going to get to where you need to be...you need to have "balls"!
The key to drag racing is the launch...and as hard as possible. For you, you'll only be able to foot brake and even with a line-lock the stall is going to be too low for a hard launch.
Good luck and more important have fun and use this as a learning experience.
Its an 87 car so if stock it'll need mass air swapped.
Olerodder pretty much nailed it tho. Subframes are pretty much required for these cars and hopefully its in good shape. Finding one now in good shape pretty much means you find a 4 banger with 70k miles that was garaged for 30 years out of an estate sale or something... And then swap it.
Honestly... and ppl don't like hearing this, get a 96/97 donor car and modfox swap it. The 96/97 cars are very similar electronics wise and everything just bolts right up pretty much if you have a donor. Swap the harness, computer, engine, trans and have to repin a few things for the gauges and that's it. PI swap the 4.6L and do aftermarket cams and you are at a very solid 300+ to the wheels for stupid cheap.
Not sure if you wanted to go that route but that's what I'd be doing.
I know this is a Ford site but as Recon mentioned...If I was going to make a wicked fast Fox Body I'd be looking for a LS motor and trans...the LS has far more potential than any newer N/A Ford motor except the Coyote...for a lot less $$$$. Then assuming you had the chassis to handle the power you could have an 11 second DD.
Everyone has painted a picture I'm sure the OP didn't want to hear and as I mentioned earlier...if you want to go fast you're going to have to dig into your pockets...the faster you want to go the more $$$$ it takes and if you want to have your DD become a street strip car...good luck...if the motor/trans/rearend comes apart you just need to be ready to replace it...or as we said some 50 years ago, "If it don't go...Chrome it".
True, a Hemi isn't cheap. The engine in my Dodge let go a year ago (I did put 300,000 miles on it).I still haven't found one I can afford. I keep finding used engine's for $2000. That is nuts for a scrap yard power plant.
Honestly any swap for a Fox minus the modfox you might as well just get a diff. car. You can still get a F body in good shape for less than the Fox and what it would cost to swap it, a Coyote swap you might as well buy a 11/12 base model GT with low miles for $17k.
Hell even for a modular you can get a real nice SN95 for stupid cheap. 96-98 are actually really underrated because those are actually faster with a PI swap than a 99-04 car is.
To put an LS in a Fox Body is cheap...at least here on the West Coast LS motors are a dime a dozen and I personally like the looks of a Notch Back Fox Body better than any newer Mustang...well...maybe the SS looks better...IMHO
Yeah it is cheap to put one in but then if you are going to get any sort of decent V8 starter fox you'll be paying a decent amount of $$$ these days. Not like in the late 90s/early 2000s when you could get a 5.0 that wasn't beat to everliving **** for $3-$4k.
I would not touch a fox convertible with someone else's ****.
I have seen 4 banger hatches with like... blue or red interiors and blown engines in good shape in the $2k range which does=perfect candidate for a modfox since any 96/97 GT will have ALL the stuff to bolt right up to it to make it V8/modular spec including all the 5 lug swap stuff, better brakes, better fuel, better electronics etc... Why its so popular with a PI swap and aftermarket cams. Dirt *** cheap 300+ rwhp vehicle.
IMO bro, regardless of what route u take, if you aren't doing the wrench work yourself, you'll definitely hafta have some deep pockets. Parts are one thing, labor is a whole diff ball game unless u know a guy that knows a guy
Find the nearest Mustang club in your area and contact them or hang out at your local drag strip and do some networking...over the coarse of my life I've helped hundreds of guys just like you through Mustang Clubs/Drag racing/Sports car racing clubs. Also the network can point you in the right direction when it comes time you really need a good shop to have work on that won't break the bank...IMHO
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