Looks really good man! That is going to be a good little combo for sure.
ARP sells the water pump/timing cover bolts if you ever want to replace the stock ones. Also, you can use studs on the lower intake to the heads and it works alot better than bolts. Believe I got them from OReillys and they are 5/16 coarse thread on one end and 5/16 fine thread on the other. I also used case hardened steel washers on the intake as recommended by my engine builder. I also used stainless steel hex socket studs with stainless washers and nuts for the valve covers.
It’s been a long time coming (like 20 years of dreaming), but I just completed an engine rebuild on my 5.0. It’s the original block with .30 over Wiseco forged pistons, forged rods, stock crank, and Trickflow 11R 170cc heads. It also has a Trickflow street burner intake, MAF conversion, and TFS stage 1 cam. Should really add some fun to how it drives. It was a fun build, but very drawn out due to all the parts availability issues these days. The machine shop guy couldn’t believe how little wear/clean my 200k mile short block was. If it didn’t start eating it’s cam bearings, it might still be trucking along, lol. Ford powa!
I’ve made a couple of really amateur YouTube videos of how it came along if you want to check it out.
So when you take all the parts to a machine shop they will most likely have to resize the rod ends, turn the crank on the rods and mains, and hopefully you are going to have them press in new rod bolts and get new main bolts or studs. Hopefully they will line hone the block and torque plate when cleaning the cylinders up. The they will assemble the rotating assembly with your new pistons and balance it.
Go look at a 331 or 347 rotating assembly that your stock flex plate or fly wheel will bolt to and tell me how much you are saving by NOT ??? going with a striker short block.
Sure it will not perform like it would with a better cam and induction system but you can always put a cam in it now for the better induction and it will run better than a 0.030” over 302. Save yourself the headache and just stroke it now with a game plan to upgrade the induction later. I did it with my 93 Coupe and do not regret it.
My thought process was “A 306 with really good induction would outperform a stroked engine with average induction”. I can’t afford to do both right now. I figured I could build something more serious later on and swap the top end over onto. I have an old tired ‘87 truck with a 302 my T-bird original short block would then go into.
Another thought I’d had was that if I stroke it, would I not have to most likely change to 0 internal balance or 28 oz imbalance (meaning aftermarket flywheel and balancer) to make it easier/more cost effective to balance? That was always my understanding anyways. Again, I’m no expert just been around and listened to other dudes that have done this stuff. I will be getting a new balancer most likely anyway. Clutch and flywheel probably don’t have 5,000 miles on them.
We have a really good machine shop nearby, they did the machine work and put the bottom end together on the sbc in my Chevelle last winter, that I will be talking with and using for this build as well. They build everything from stock to sprint car motors. It’s hard to find a good small town machine shop these days!
I’ve finally got to the point I’m going to have to do a rebuild on my original 200k mile 5.0. It’s been using more oil and developed a coolant leak around the timing cover, so I decided to just pull and and slowly rebuild it over the next several months. I’d like to get it reliable, as I do like to take this car on long trips to things like the Hot Rod Power Tour (if it even happens this year, thanks COVID).
Anyway, I think I’ve dialed back the idea of doing a stroker. I don’t race the car, it’s mainly a fun cruiser at this point. I just want something reliable that has decent power so I can half way keep up with all my buddies who have newer ‘Vettes and Mustangs. In the past my car has had its tongue hanging out trying to keep up on road trips. Lol.
Here’s my plan and I am open to suggestions;
Stock block bored .30 Stock crank, stock rods Pistons?? Open to suggestions! I’d like to see somewhere around 10.5:1 Systemax II intake 70mm throttle body Trick flow top end kit; https://www.trickflow.com/parts/tfs-k525-432-370 Use my current BBK 1 5/8” shorty headers I have a 190 Lph fuel pump (enough?) and a bbk fpr 30 lbs injectors
As far as the computer, I am really leaning towards going mega or micro squirt instead of going MAF/a stock computer. I like the idea of tuning it myself (always wanted to learn) and being able to have lots of room for upgrades down the road. I could see myself eventually building a 347 or something 351w based someday when I have more of a flexible budget to work with.
I’ve been preparing the car for more HP for years so I shouldn’t need to do anything else “supporting mod”-wise. Cooling, brakes, exhaust, suspension, trans, rear ended, etc should all be covered! Looking forward to seeing what you guys think!
Hey everyone, haven’t checked into the forums in quite some time. I think I started posting here while I was still in college (2004?). I’ve still got my old turd, and drive it occasionally. It’s still the same basic setup. The only things I’ve done in recent years were finding a sweet perfect set of headlights/marker lamps and I finally got the courage to take my tail lights apart to clean/polish/reseal them. Oh and last summer I did put new Cooper tires on it. The old ones weren’t wore out, just dry rotted and shook like crazy (first time I’ve had to get new tires due to age, not wear lol).
Lately my interest have been on other projects. I have an ‘87 F250 4x4 that I literally replaced the entire body on except the cab (an arguably should’ve done it too). I learned a lot about welding and fab work as I replaced a lot of metal in the cab. The same guy that painted my Thunderbird then painted it for me in his garage. It’s a good “driver quality” fun truck. It was a local truck that I’ve know since I was a kid. Dad bought it in ’06 to use as a farm truck and I got it from him after selling an antique John Deere tractor I had.
Sadly my Dad passed a couple of years ago and I was thrown into working full time and taking care of his cattle farm by myself. That went on for about a year before I gave it up and we sold his cows 😢. That was a hard day as I grew up around farming and cows. My Mom knew I was having a hard time giving up the cows and in missing my Dad, so she decided to pass his Chevelle on to me. It was quite the project as the car had basically sat idle in their pole barn for my entire life (other than I few years I got it running in my teens/early 20’s).
I got it running, fixed the brakes (went from drums to disks), new torq thrust wheels and BFG’s, and last winter had a huge project of pulling the original 350 and doing my first engine build. It’s now a 355 with 9.5:1 pistons and Edelbrock performer RPM top end. Dad always said he wished it had a 4 speed and bucket seats like his original Chevelle had, so I installed new carpet, Procar bucket seats, and the crowning jewel; swapped from TH350 auto to Muncie 4 speed! Of course when I pulled the carpet I found some small rust holes in the floor pan, so my floor pan repair skills learned on the ‘87 Ford came in handy.
I also bought a ‘14 Mustang 5.0 (6 speed) about a week before Covid hit, so I’ve been enjoying it as well. It’s stock other than magnaflow lers, CAI and a tune.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. I always really enjoyed this form and the family feel of it. Fox birds/cougars will always be my favorite cars and I’m glad we have a close nit community like this one. I’ve really noticed in the last couple of years that these things are getting sooooo scarce. It’s sad really!
What’s up guys? I have not been very active on the forums lately. Mostly because 1. I changed jobs from a “office” job where I had time to check forums during the day to a utility worker job 2. Our laptop at home ped out and I honestly lothe trying to navigate/type forums on my smartphone.
Anywho, I’m trying to make an effort to check in here more often.
So is anyone planning on doing Hot Rod Power Tour this year? I think it starts out in Bowling Green and ends up in GA somewhere. I did not attend in 2016, and only made one stop in 2017 but have been every other year since ‘07. This year a group of car guys from my area are planning on making at least 3 or 4 stops.
I too was hesitant to hack off my factory "consolette" and cut a big hole in the floor when I went from column shift AOD to T-5 manual. In the end it was a really fun project that greatly improved the fun-to-drive aspect of my car (even with a stock 302 with the HO upgrade)! I have a 93 Mustang "world class" T-5 with a steeda shifter and its a slick shifting transmission.
My vote; do it! As much as I hate to admit it, It's not like these cars are highly sought after or "super rare". So to me modding it really doesn't bother me at all.
eBay (search NOS parts), swap meets, junkyards. ...there are basically no "new" parts made for these cars. You have to really scrounge and search to find stuff. It's the price you pay for daring to be different and not driving a Mustang!
