All Posts by endless

Sounds like an alternator/battery issue. Check to make sure your alternator is charging correctly and that your battery is good. Also check that your belts are not loose. If your alternator drive belt is loose than it may slip under acceleration, causing your battery to provide all the juice and making your bulbs dim. See if it isn't one of those things, as they are the most likely.

Bulitts were specialty mustangs built in limited numbers. As such expect a higher resell value than a standard mustang. I agree you need to check out the blue book value, and suggest a mustang trader mag to see comparable cars and what they go for.

Don't let it go for less than it is worth, there is a market for these cars.

No problem, hope I can help.

Tubbing it is cool and all, but you're estimating approx. 600hp, right? A high number sure, but tubbing gets expensive between the special rear, assembly, fabbing, wheels, and (gulp) tires. You can get really good tires for street/strip with much less modification, things like rolling the fenderwells getting appropriate wheels and such, that would be sufficent for you're combo. Unless of course you just want a tubbed Mach .

If you plan on this as a regularly driven street car (hopefully not your daily driver, lol) tubbing is even less attractive. The tires you'd use cost a fortune and roads eat them up. Maintanence costs will be extreme.

Also I'd be more concerned with driveability and longevity than peak HP numbers for a regularly driven car. You never know, but setting it up for a few less HP and lb/ft could make it much more mannered and longer lasting. After all, if this builders challenge was concerned with peak HP then it didn't have to last any longer than the dyno pull. Assuming you are not Bill Gates I'd really put a lot of wieght on this fact.

Is the car an auto? If so it can be even harder. You have to keep the tranny cool, and traffic with a monster motor up front will make that hard. You'd need a cooler and a deeper pan for starters, likely more. Also if it is for street/strip duty then you'd want a higher stall converter, which would be far from ideal on the street. Gearing will be a factor as well. Say you throw 4.56:1 gears in the rear (9" I assume?), which would be a likely choice, then you have the higher continuous RPM from them and the higher stall converter working to make lots of heat and abuse.

I guess all in all the most important advice I could give would be to focus on the street side first. A street car can perform well on the strip, but a strip car has a much harder time on the street. Focus on longevity and durability (I'd use all forged internals, no stock parts, preferably a billet steel crank and forged H-beam rods, windage tray, main stud girdle, blueprinted oil pump, the usual list). Hope that helps, and any questions I'll try to answer, ok? Good luck and upload some pics when you build this thing, sounds badass!

I'm not familiar at all really with big blocks or carbs (hey, I grew up with EFI), but I know a bit about engines in general, so...a few questions.

Is this for a street car, drag car, road racer, show car, etc.? Not being familar with this engine builders challenge I don't know what they built it for, see?

What parts you use, weight of the mach, transmission type, hell a whole list of things determine what would be best for what you need. 8O

So, give some more info and we'll see what we can come up with, cool?

I'm an assistant service manager for a nationwide chain, and have worked as a manager and mechanic in the automotive field for years now. Pretty regularly you get a chance to snag up someone's car cheap because they don't have the money/time/desire to fix them. Today a mint '01 3.8L w/ an exhaust, rims, and that huge poney thing on the sides, and best of all 55k miles.

Now I'm a die hard 5.0L guy and normally laugh at people trying to hot rod a V6, but it occured to me that it may be two slugs short of a full house, but people sure do make parts for them, they're cheap, and there is the all important sleeper factor.

So I was wondering, anyone ever get the urge to try and make a helluva sleeper V6? You'd be under the radar, unexpected, and underrated. Think about that next time some kid in his Civic revs his engine at you (He's got a muffler...look out). Wouldn't it be nice to have a Mustang and not have everyone with a car try to race you? Better yet, throw a few bucks at it and you could really have a decent street ride.

Keep in mind this is just an idle thought, if I'm gonna spend the money it will be on a V8, but it is food for thought, no? What do you guys think?

The SVOs were special editions, like SVTs, so you'd expect upgrades on them. I think the '93 Cobra might have been 5 lug (anyone? Not sure), keeping the theme of better features on special cars. So...maybe that explains why they had five.

As to why the standard Foxs had four...money, maybe? I'd imagine it has to be cheaper to use four per wheel, 16 per car, than five per wheel, 20 per car. That is why they claimed the switch from forged pistons in '93, right? Gotta save a buck somewhere I suppose.

Anyway...that's my guess, might be completely wrong.

I'm not so familiar with the mod motors as I am with the 302s, but I am pretty sure you also need the PI intake manifold. You likely know that, but since you didn't mention it I thought I would just in case.

The 4.6 has those hyperyoublowit pistons that suck so much, but I don't think such a small jump in compression, given that the stock ratio is not that high, would require premium fuel. I'd check around more but I don't think you'd need anything more than the minimum octane rating. Premium is actually worse than regular unless you have the need for it.

The injectors sound too big if all you're doing is a head/cam swap. If you plan on (and use how likely this is when you judge what you plan on as we all "plan on" having a pro stock daily driver) adding N2O or a turbo/blower then now is as good a time as any to upgrade the injectors, but otherwise, why bother?

I'm not sure about the MAF from a Cobra, but in any event it would have to be calibrated for the injectors, in which case you may as well just get a Pro-M or C&L, etc. as the MAF from a Cobra (except the '03-'04, which I know has bigger injectors, but dunno if it'd work with a SOHC) would not be calibrated for those injectors and would require a new MAF. So...just start with the new MAF.

Hope I helped.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure that whatever chip you have (generic or custom tune) would need to be updated. Check with the manufacturer.

Ok, smoking how? If it's a vapor type smoke (i.e. not smoke per se but vapor) and smells like coolant then it likely has head issues. BUT if the smoke is actual smoke and black or blueish then it is oil. If it is burning oil that is either the result of worn out piston rings (requiring a rebuild) causing blow-by, or leaking valve seals, requiring a valve job.

As to the stalling issue: The fuel filter is an unlikely culprit. Changing it would do you good just on general maintanance grounds, but I'd highly doubt it is causing stalling when going uphill, because if it were the fuel filter it would have a constant effect rather than one that only happens when going uphill.

I'd suggest taking it to a local repair shop and asking for a block test. If it is the head gasket leaking that could cause hesitation/stalling when under load, and a block test can answer your question in a few seconds for virtually no money. Find out if it is even worth repairing and what the problem is before anything. Cool?

Well, since you have two different vehicle parts working together here, I'd recommend a Haynes or Chilton's manual for both. Those will give you specs on everything front front to back and top to bottom.

I'm new to this site, so correct me if this is a model year specific column, but first the year/engine would be needed to determine what products are available . I know Mac makes matched sets of long tubes and cat H/X pipes. I had Mac long tubes with matching off-road (non-cat) H-pipe on my '91 5.0 and had no complaints. I'm sure Bassani offers one, though this is just a guess. I'd think BBK probably does as well. Just check around their sites or ads in mags. You'll find it.