[lt1ignited]

Hello everyone. My girl is getting a '95 Mustang GT for FREE! from her brother. It's got black paint which is in mediocre condition and a pretty beat interior. The seats are tan leather but all cracked and ripped. It's got over 100k miles and a manual transmission. It also needs a few things... tires, brake pads, rotors, and the ORY needs to be replaced or touched up by an exhaust shop. It also needs a new heater core and driver's seat motor. Her brother said both the engine and tranny are healthy. He also just replaced the clutch and installed new torque arms.

Well anyways, I drive an f-body so I don't exactly know where to begin with these cars. I figure we should start with a cold air intake. Which brand will give her the most bang for her buck? We'll then probably put the stock cats back on to make her car legal, then get a cat-back. Any suggestions on further mods? Also where can we get a seat motor?

Pics to come soon... after we wash it. Been sitting a looooong time.

[Fijistudios]

gt40 set of heads (found at a local junk yard) and a matching gt40 intake. Those are going to liven the engine up with little hit to the checkbook. But work on the whole "legal" thing first imo

[lt1ignited]

Originally Posted by Fijistudios a new gt40 set of heads (found at a local junk yard) and a matching gt40 intake. Those are going to liven the engine up with little hit to the checkbook. But work on the whole "legal" thing first imo

Are you being serious?

[Fijistudios]

about puting on cobra heads and an intake? yes... i am using them currently and they perform great.
edit: im talking about used heads yanked at a junkyard for cheap. Then i would buy underdrive pullies and a cold air kit.

[lt1ignited]

Ah... ok. Remember, I don't know anything about these cars yet, so you have to dumb it down for me a bit... lol. I looked up what a GT40 was and got confused.

[Fijistudios]

Originally Posted by lt1ignited Ah... ok. Remember, I don't know anything about these cars yet, so you have to dumb it down for me a bit... lol. I looked up what a GT40 was and got confused.

ahhh, so the gt40 heads/intake are stock cobra parts. They are efficient and now relativly cheap. Plus the intakes look sexaay

Also, gears are often a favorite. They cost about 450-500$ installed. The idea behind it is confusing/complicated but basically it allows the torque to build quicker from my simple understanding.

With a rear wheel v8, tires are a MUST. Invest in a nice pair and you wont regret the purchase.

[lt1ignited]

Are GT40 parts off an Explorer just as good/the same as Cobra parts? And what are fair prices for a used intake or heads?

[95BlackStang]

some of the explores came with gt40p, witch are an upgraded gt40's, but with p's will need specific headers to clear the plugs

[Bullitt95]

Originally Posted by Fijistudios gt40 set of heads (found at a local junk yard) and a matching gt40 intake. Those are going to liven the engine up with little hit to the checkbook. But work on the whole "legal" thing first imo

Not a bad idea getting the GT40P heads and upper/lower intake from a '98-'00 5.0 Explorer (cheap in ebay) but I think his priorities should be to get the car fixed up first. My Stang desperately needed fixing up when I bought it, but I took a holistic approach by looking for upgrades for parts that I had to replace to build more reliability and better performance into the car.

Originally Posted by lt1ignited My girl is getting a '95 Mustang GT for FREE! from her brother. It's got black paint which is in mediocre condition and a pretty beat interior. The seats are tan leather but all cracked and ripped. It's got over 100k miles and a manual transmission. It also needs a few things... tires, brake pads, rotors, and the ORY needs to be replaced or touched up by an exhaust shop. It also needs a new heater core and driver's seat motor. Her brother said both the engine and tranny are healthy. He also just replaced the clutch and installed new torque arms.

Here's what I suggest you do and get the most bang for your buck:

1. Rear seat delete. Unless you really need the rear seats, remove them and replace with either an aftermarket delete kit or make your own. The 30-35lb weight saving won't be bad either.

2. Replace the front seats with lighter versions and use a manual seat track on the driver's side. I just recently replaced mine with a pair of retrimmed 2001 Jeep Cherokee front seats (24lb weight saving, photo in my garage) and they fit great. The only modification required was to weld steel plates at the seat base and drill bolt holes to accept the Mustang seat tracks. You can use a manual seat track from a passenger side seat on the driver's side for a further 6lb weight saving. I managed to shave 60lb altogether with my interior mods.

3. Since you need to replace brake parts, I suggest you replace the front ones with '94-'98 Mustang Cobra units. I did that with good used junkyard parts and it works great. For the rears, you only need the Cobra rotors, caliper brackets, and pads. The Cobra calipers are the same as the GT's so no need to replace those.

4. Unless you really need the heater function, you can bypass the heater core altogether by linking the heater hoses with a U-shaped length of pipe. Another alternative is to remove the heater hard lines altogether as I did and install an ECT sensor elbow kit instead.

5. Don't forget the freebie HP-increasing mods and some easy weight reduction mods.

[lt1ignited]

What about the upper & lower intake on a Saleen? I found a good deal on those.

Also I found GT40P heads, GT40 upper & lower intake w/ injectors, and a 65mm t/b all for $300.

[1FastFox]

Originally Posted by lt1ignited What about the upper & lower intake on a Saleen? I found a good deal on those. Also I found GT40P heads, GT40 upper & lower intake w/ injectors, and a 65mm t/b all for $300.

You better hop on that... but then agian I would imagine you would like to keep your car faster than hers.


Im just playing, welcome to the site, you should be able to get that thing in good shape with some good advice from here.

[96gtponyred]

save up for aluminum heads... start off short shifter and gears huge difference!

[lt1ignited]

Originally Posted by 1FastFox You better hop on that... but then agian I would imagine you would like to keep your car faster than hers. Im just playing, welcome to the site, you should be able to get that thing in good shape with some good advice from here.

lol... I actually told her that. She already gets enough attention without driving a 5.0, I don't even wanna know what it would be like if her car was faster than mine... haha. Thanks for the welcome, this forum already led me in the right direction and I was able to research a lot of stuff.

[Fijistudios]

Originally Posted by Bullitt95 Not a bad idea getting the GT40P heads and upper/lower intake from a '98-'00 5.0 Explorer (cheap in ebay) but I think his priorities should be to get the car fixed up first. Here's what I suggest you do and get the most bang for your buck: 1. Rear seat delete. Unless you really need the rear seats, remove them and replace with either an aftermarket delete kit or make your own. The 30-35lb weight saving won't be bad either. ].

agreed but i would rather have a completly functional car with performance improvements than a stripped racer. I removed my smog pump, ac, heater, ect. but i would keep all the stock parts in/on the car and just make the engine more free flowing. my 2 cents tho

[Fijistudios]

I just read the "best bang for the buck" statement in your post and its 100% accurate and has good information. But i personally value functionality over the almighty dollar. The goal for the car would be helpful.

IMO make it A. reliable and B. tasteful. Think of trying to resell a car with no backseats, ac, or heater.

[Bullitt95]

Originally Posted by Fijistudios agreed but i would rather have a completly functional car with performance improvements than a stripped racer. I removed my smog pump, ac, heater, ect. but i would keep all the stock parts in/on the car and just make the engine more free flowing. my 2 cents tho

Oh I wasn't talking about making his car a stripped out racer. If you look at mine you'll see that I've retained my creature comforts (except for the heater which I don't need 'cause I live in a hot country). I couldn't live without the AC so that's definitely staying in.
Just remove what you don't need and keep the things you do, so basically you're just trimming off the fat but keeping the meat and bones. As for the rear seats or any other stock parts, I've kept all of them in case I need to put them back in so most of my mods are easily reversible, and that's the key here.

[WildWill]

It sounds like you've made yourself a good list of things already... You need to focus on getting the car fixed up and running as well and safely as it can before you start dumping money into mods. You need to drive it for awhile and work out all the kinks... For example, if you dump $500 into getting gears installed, the next week you might find out that you need a whole new rear end or something stupid like that. So just keep that in mind before you start spending stupid money on stuff like a cold air intake.