Please help: restoration

[Cole]

So while Im here in Aghanistan Im gona start restoring my ride I bought whilest in high school. Its been sitting for quite some time at my parents house as Iv been bouncing back from Germany, Iraq and Afghanistan. Im finally done paying off my college loans and now I can afford to spend money on my car.

The thing is I want to build the motor into a street light bruiser that is also functional. I dont want to drag race it, just lay down some tracks and chirp into second when appropriate. I dont want the dragster look, just something low and mean.

Heres the question...With a budget under 5K what can i get for my money. I know I need the motor rebuilt and I know I need the frame tied. I'll be having a shop to do the work for me because I happen to be in another continent and the Army has given me no free time to do it myself......

I attached a pic of the mustang and a pic of my new ride while im out here.

[mad max]

Should easily be able to accomplish what you want with that budget. Thank you for your service to our great nation. Hope you get to come home soon and enjoy your ride.

[Pitbull1052]

here's the first thing I've done to all of mine and i've been really happy...... 5 lug it get some 17's i prefer 18's, lower it, gear it, tie it, then let her breath.....


anything done to it currently

[bandit'sgirl]

we all support all you troops.

wheels is a must.

[motox159]

First off thank you for serving our country! I think with a 5k budget you can do quite a bit. You can get decent power with rebuild and some head work to the stock heads. Adding a few aftermarket parts, cam, intake and headers are reasonable priced parts with alot of different options to choose from. Do some reading and looking up builds online to get an idea of how many horses you want to be pushing and go from there. Looks like you have a solid start with the car being in good condition. Good luck!

[Cole]

So heres what I planned/budgeted so far...

Eng rebuild
convert to mass air
new gaskets
new rings
new bearings
enginne bolt kit
HP oil pump
HP water pump
smog pump delete
cam, maybe a E303 or something you think will work best
roller rockers(again what you think will work best)
headers (shorty or unequals, just no long tubes)
X-pipe
2 chamber flowmasters with LX tips
centerfoce clutch
3.73's in the rear
Subframes to tie up the frame

Considering Im in Afghanistan I'll be having my father go around to several shops for prices..Iv also left it open to some ideas from the shops if they want to add to the list. I didn't go to overboard because first I need some serious body work and paint done to bring the car up to par. If I go to overboard on the engine I wont have the money for the later. What I need from you guys is some suggestions of what shops to go to. Iv contacted Tom Dawson so far. I also need some suggestions of what body shops can do some good work at a decent price.. Any help would be appreciated.

LT Griggs

[mad max]

I would suggest gould & son or plated for the body work. Bruces shop number is 937-575-1585 . He does excellent work . You could call dayton perfomance about your motor work for a quote the number there is 937-396-2946. Hope this helps.

[Carl]

Nice to see another munitions guy around here. I'm Air Force Ammo... and I'm also in Afghanistan right now, Bagram to be exact.

The list your working sounds good, I wouldn't worry about the HP oil/water pump. For the headers I would stick with unequals, your not trying to make a powerhouse of a car and they should suit it just fine. I'm sure a lot of guy will have some input as well.

[motox159]

^^^ What usafstang said, the oil and water pump are not really necessary for your type of build. I'll toss my 2 cents in on a cam, I like Comp Cams and also their rockers. Your motor build sounds to be pretty similar to mine, not tryin to kill it but want some decent power.

[Cole]

Nice to see another munitions guy around here. I'm Air Force Ammo... and I'm also in Afghanistan right now, Bagram to be exact.

The list your working sounds good, I wouldn't worry about the HP oil/water pump. For the headers I would stick with unequals, your not trying to make a powerhouse of a car and they should suit it just fine. I'm sure a lot of guy will have some input as well.

Cool thanks for the advice, i thought that maybe the HP water and oil pump was a must but we'll see. Im down in RC south, out in the boonies near Kandahar City. Iv never been to Bagram before but I try to stay away from the big bases. I like doing my own thing out here in the boonies. But unfortunatly for me the roads suck here in Afghanistan!! Seriously my truck almost rolled today in a river just because the ground gave way. Granted I had a brand new driver today and he got a little close to the edge but the road just gave way. It took two 10ton wreckers to pull my truck out. As an LT my balls were on the chopping block if this thing rolled into the river, i was sweating bullets as my Batallion Commander was keeping an eye on it from an OP up on a mountain. Lucky we got it out. THe other one is just me being a smartass while the sheep go by. Thanks for the help guys. Anything more you have to add would be appreciated.

[Cole]

cant figure out how to load the pics

[Moody]

Hey I had stolly and 91boost do my car while I was going from BAF to Konduz. My project is duke nukem 91boost did everything to my car. The only thing original is part of a floor pan. And he did it at a better price with better pant then what a body shop would give you.

[Cole]

What about 5lug conversions and wheels? Does anyone know about a good place to get that done at?

[Pitbull1052]

What about 5lug conversions and wheels? Does anyone know about a good place to get that done at?




I think there's a few guys on here selling 5 lug swap stuff for pretty cheap, cheaper than when i'd done mine anyway. It's fairly easy to do

[NXcoupe]

cant figure out how to load the pics

Hey that's a max pro with the ISS on it! I used to work on those and a buddy of mine did the ISS swaps on some of them. Cool pic.