Will Mustang Fox Body/Foxbody guys hate me?

I need V8 power with accompanying manual transmission and drive shaft for a project I am about to start accumulating the parts for. The early 90's Ford 302 motors out of a Foxbody are very appealing. From what I've read, I can start with a stock setup for about 225HP and then start improving things to 300HP and still stay NA.

So I start trying to hunt around on Craigslist and stuff for local sources for a motor, accessories, and tranny. And I'm just not finding what I'm looking for. I must be looking in the wrong places.

So there is a very active local Mustang club. But I don't want to rude to people. If I show up at the club and start asking around where I can find these parts, how will they react? I don't want them to feel like I'm killing their babies!

It's becoming pretty tough to find unmolested Stang 5.0L motors/trannies any more. If you do find them, they're usually high mileage/have been beat on and most everything needs to be gone through. Hardly ever in the junkyards. Those guys typically buy the used short blocks out of Explorers and Mountaineers which are more commonly in the junkyard. Your best bet is probably to buy the whole car - extract the drivetrain parts and sell off the rest.

IMO, get an Explorer engine and a new transmission. At least locally, used transmissions seem to go for 75% of what you can buy a new T5 for from Summit. (Last I checked, you can get a new T5 for $1300) Then you just need to locate a bellhousing/clutch/flywheel (should not be difficult) and you'll have to have the driveshaft modified anyway, so anything is as good as anything else as a starting point. Heck, the local driveshaft shops won't shorten shafts, they just use the old one as a template and build a new one to spec. Not sure if this is universal or not.

Cop Crown Vic's are excellent aluminum driveshaft donors and are plentiful on eBay.

If you have one nearby - Pull A Part, U Pull It, etc. Any decent big Ford vehicle will probably work for you. Maybe a pick up truck? Only real way to tick off a Ford guy is to stuff a Chevy 350 into a Mustang. That drives 'em nuts.

ncjay wrote: Only real way to tick off a Ford guy is to stuff a Chevy 350 into a Mustang. That drives 'em nuts.

When I was in high school, about 1991-1992ish, auto shop teacher was a Ford guy. Had a bunch of Fords, all the engines we worked on were Fords, everything was Ford, we had to write everything in Ford Blue, etc.

So I showed him a picture in one of the latest issues of Car Craft. It was submitted to the magazine with no details, but it was an underhood shot of a Chevy TPI engine in a Mustang SVO.

(it is not much coincidence that every American car I have ever had was a Ford. I mean, come on! Bow ties are for little boys)

As stated Fox Mustangs and their parts are getting harder to find. The newest Mustang that came with a 5.0 was back in 1995! That's 19 years ago! That's the reason that some have posted to look at Explorers, etc. The 96-98 5.0's have either GT40 of GT40P heads and good intakes. A simple cam change, headers, and a few other minor mods and you should be knocking on the door of 300 HP. Up grade to aluminum heads, any of which are better then the OEM's, and your past 300HP!

Also avoids theb94 & 95 SN95 cars. The have different FEAD parts and routing. I don't know if its fixed now, but the whole time I owned mine (94-01) ever motor factor listed the water pump as the same as the Fox bodies, its not, it unique.

The Explorer had the GT40P heads which most Mustang people seek out as they are a better design than the stock E7 parts. Ditto the intake, the Explorer uses a GT40,lower but an even better upper. Explorer's make much better donor's

The fox body guys won't care because most of them are hacked up or slapped together using all kinds of parts from different cars.

Also I don't believe the fox body parts shortage. Two of my friends are big into fox bodies and I'm routinely in junkyards with them. We find all kinds of stuff and one of them has a whole garage full of fox body

my buddie had less in his entire engine build (new gt40s, explorer intake, egr delete, used cam, headers, 24lb injectors, tune, exhaust, and small stuff like accessories and new sensors) than I had in just my cam swap on a lt1.

Opti has it exactly right. The parts are still out there. Everywhere. And if you shop around pretty cheap. Foxbody guys are the ones to ask about parts as they usually squirrel all the parts away. I know before I got rid of my stash I had up to 3 spares for some parts on my car as I got them for good prices.

As many said before, the explorer parts are the way to go. You can get them cheap used. I've got $200 in the GT40p swap intake and heads on my car (including the upgraded valve springs) I bought the rebuilt T5 I swapped in my 91GT for $450 with the flywheel, bell and shifter included. All bought through the local mustang club here in Cincy.

The challenge with going Explorer is that the ecu/distributorless set up isn't nearly as mod-friendly as the A9L ecu in the foxbody Mustangs. So, the Explorers/Mountaineers are useful to get shortblocks, intakes, throttle bodies (works with minor mods) and heads off of for upgrades to a stock fox body 5.0L. But you've got a lot more flexibility for mods and tuning if you've got the A9L processor and efi/ignition set up from the Stang to start with.

1996 and early (first month or two of production) 1997 Exp/Mountaineers came with GT40 heads just like the Cobras and gen1 Lightnings. After that they came with GT40P heads which have slightly smaller chambers, more efficient chambers and a spark plug angle which wreaks havoc with most aftermarket headers.

Not sure what your project is, but I'd consider going the LS route. MUCH more plentiful in cast iron form with a lot more power/torque stock and a lot more potential. The 5.0L will be coming out of my Volvo -- and an LS3 will be going in. And when that happens - there'll be a nice fox body 5.0L motor available!

I did it, and the results are fantastic, BTW a 5.0 is way lighter than an LSx, I am within 20 lbs of the stock RX7 weight with 3 x the HP and 4 x the torque

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/rx50-project/33672/page1/

aussiesmg wrote: I did it, and the results are fantastic, BTW a 5.0 is way lighter than an LSx, I am within 20 lbs of the stock RX7 weight with 3 x the HP and 4 x the torque http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/rx50-project/33672/page1/

SA22? How much more does it weigh than the rotary? That is an awesome build.

I'll just read your thread instead of hijacking this, lol.

It is a 84 GSL FB, some of the weight saving is the PS and AC delete but overall the car is just 20lbs more than it was and just as balanced due to the battery relocation.

aussiesmg wrote: BTW a 5.0 is way lighter than an LSx,

Assuming both engines have the same accessories and induction systems, the cast iron LS with aluminum heads (almost all have aluminum heads) weighs about 25 lbs. more than a 5.0L with cast iron heads (E7, GT40, GT40P). The aluminum block LS weighs about 50 lbs. LESS than a 5.0L with cast iron heads. Which makes the aluminum block LS about the same weight as a 5.0L with aluminum heads. As you would expect, the cast iron LS weighs about the same as the 351C or 351W with aluminum heads.

Now if you're removing a/c and power steering with the swap and then comparing the car's weights before/after the swap....well, now we're comparing apples and oranges. The fact is that whether it's a 5.0L w/aluminum heads and deleted accessories or a cast iron LS - swapping it in to replace a rotary or a 4-cylinder affects the weight of the vehicle less than having your 200 lb. friend in the passenger seat.

In reply to MichaelYount: My research and my scales show differently but as it is not relevant to the thread I will take it further.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I get the virtues of the LS but it's not the way I want to go.

Somebody on CL just posted a '93 for sale and mentioned they had a second motor and tranny to throw in. Maybe they'll split up the pair for me.

And it's good to know I can probably ask around the Mustang club without necessarily being thought of as rude.

I'll add my 2 cents, as my 2 cents on this subject have cost me a hell of a lot more than 2 cents- when it comes to buying a T5 Mustang tranny the phrase "good used T5" is the ultimate contradiction in terms. You can bet 90% of the time if a T5 is no longer in a car it's because the synchros have been burnt out of it or worse, and short of disassembling it, there's really no way to tell until it's in the car.

I have never caught any flack from any mustang guys with my 302 e36.

I am in chicago, which might be far from you, but am selling pretty much my entire swap. I have got exactly zero interest so far, and would let this go for less than listed to a good home. You can even come drive it first if you like. (still running and driving).

I creeped on your profile and this looks like it might be right up your alley.

e36 SBF full swap for sale

I don't suggest looking for trannys on Craiglist.

ncjay wrote: If you have one nearby - Pull A Part, U Pull It, etc. Any decent big Ford vehicle will probably work for you. Maybe a pick up truck? Only real way to tick off a Ford guy is to stuff a Chevy 350 into a Mustang. That drives 'em nuts.

Which is what I've been wanting to do... well, an LSx anyway.

Where are you located? I bought a 1990 5.0 and T-5 drive line out of a friend's Mustang, running well and driving anywhere/everywhere, any day/every day. I'll sell it if you want it. Located in Kingston, MA 02364.

A very overlooked source of t-5's are the 99-2004 mustang V6 all you have to do is change the bell housing. The only real reason mustang and vintage guys over look them are because you can't use a mechanical speedo sensor on them but they make a convertor box or you can open the tans and add the gear.

The 94-98

In reply to TeamEvil:

PM sent.

Aeromoto wrote: I'll add my 2 cents, as my 2 cents on this subject have cost me a hell of a lot more than 2 cents- when it comes to buying a T5 Mustang tranny the phrase "good used T5" is the ultimate contradiction in terms. You can bet 90% of the time if a T5 is no longer in a car it's because the synchros have been burnt out of it or worse, and short of disassembling it, there's really no way to tell until it's in the car.

Thanks for the offer and GLWS, but I am over here near the Atlantic. Plus as you know, these things are no fun unless you torture yourself and blow the budget making it yourself.