[mopar-n-ford]

hey yall i just bought an 89 gt a couple days ago- all stock 5.0,t-5 trans. only thing done to it is a cf hood... doesnt exactly gain hp im very much looking forward to building a strong street cruiser, but im on a small budget as i am attending school full time. so im looking for some good affordable suggestions to start gaining some performance, i would like to know if there is stuff i can do to tweak the existing stock components and what some good bolt on items are(maybe throw in some dyno numbers from your projects), just to get me by in the mean time while i build the 351w ive got. who knows, if i get enough out of the 5.0 then ill just save the money and keep it rather than the 351w? thanks for all the help!

[428CJ]

You could start by bumping your timing to 12*, or 14* if your running 93 octane.

[ReverendDexter]

Hit up this thread: Destroying Dyno Myths... 56K Beware!

That'll get you started.

Most restrictive thing on a stock motor is the stock exhaust, then the heads. You can do little stuff, but you're not gonna see big gains until you get rid of those E7s.

Of course, I'm of the opposite mindset. Until you have the tires, suspension, and chassis that can handle it, power is useless. The first mod I recommend to anyone with a new fox-chassis car is full-length, weld-in subframe connectors. No, it's not a glory part, but it makes a huge difference in the feel of the car. Weight reduction is free, and helps every aspect of performance, not just acceleration.

[8850d]

I agree 14* timing a world of difference second I would say BBK off road h pipe or x pipe 150-179$ BBK equal length shortie headers or just shortie headers but equals will give u more hp BBK cold air intake 180ish$ MSD cap and rotor 35$ you can do a ac delete 120$ if u don't need to run ac or just buy a shorter belt and run it with out the ac pulley any of those will give u a noticeable difference. If u want to get way into it u can do a 75 mm throttle body bigger injectors fuel pump match the 75 mm throttle body with the mass air if you have and upper lower manifolds like trick flow track heat.

[SStang67]

Some good cheap stuff I did was, underdrive pulleys, cold air intake, dumped pollution pump and capped it off. A few things that were a little more expensive were xpipe with 2 (or none) cats. Upper and lower intake ($300+), bigger # injectors, bigger electric fuel pump. And new gears like 373s are pretty cheap but a little pricey to have put in. If you did all of this you would have a high 12s low 13s car for $1k in parts plus labor. Good luck.

[mopar-n-ford]

Thanks a lot for the quick response you guys I did already bump timing to 10 but I could go more, and ill look into the rest!)))

[mopar-n-ford]

And another issue is the t-5, what's a stronger alternative standard Transmission I could replace the weak t-5

[SloMo]

Finding an older explorer and taking the heads and intake off of them, small trick flow stage one cam, full exhaust and then get a program burned to a chip for it all. Get some sticky tires and that will give you a pretty good start. Plenty of power out of the little 302 and fairly inexpensive.

[mopar-n-ford]

ive got some nitto's under it wich provide plenty of traction for now, when i get the 351 droped in is when ill need to really beef up the chassis and all that, i really do agree with you on the cylinder heads ive been doing my research on the e7...yeah they are horrible, but also expensive to replace and im putting my money into the 351w. so ill clean em up in the shop as much as i can and do the exhaust. should be ok for what i want out of the 302.

[SloMo]

If you want to just play with them, take them off and try porting them yourself.

[1988 convertible]

Originally Posted by ReverendDexter Hit up this thread: Destroying Dyno Myths... 56K Beware! Of course, I'm of the opposite mindset. Until you have the tires, suspension, and chassis that can handle it, power is useless. The first mod I recommend to anyone with a new fox-chassis car is full-length, weld-in subframe connectors. No, it's not a glory part, but it makes a huge difference in the feel of the car. Weight reduction is free, and helps every aspect of performance, not just acceleration.

+1
work on the handling first
sabframe connectors
Brakes (fox brakes are just blergh)
suspension (lowering and stiffening, sway bars etc... better centre of gravity)

power is useless if your chassis is bending in half chewing it all up before its hit the ground...