Ok, I honestly do not have the most car-smarts as the next guy, so bear with me please.

I have a '66 Mustang with a 302 in it. It is, at the moment, in the shop getting rewired. I plan to rebuild the motor and beef it up a little. Being that I am a 19 year old part-time student with a full time job in a factory (eww), I don't exactly have the fattest wallet around. What parts could I buy to give her a boost with $1000 - $1200 being the maximum amount spent? Give me your best guesses. They would be greatly appreciated.

And as a side note, labor charges are not included in that spending range. I have a payment plan set up with my mechanic, as he is completely restoring the car for me. He's going to be a rich man by the time he's done.

Thanks a lot!

 

is it fuel injected or does it have a carb?? Headers would be one of the first things I would do. the next thing I would look at are the heads then the carb.

 

for 1000ish dollars, get your self headers, an intake/carb, and maybe a cam. That aughta wake her right up

If you can do work yourself, might wanna port and polish the heads too

 

Yeah. Carb, intake, cam, and headers. Maybe electronic ignition conversion (if it don't already have it) if you want to splurge.

My advice: do as much as you can yourself, and if you can't, pick up a book, talk to the pros, whatever, and LEARN about it.

 

You not only save money by doing it yourself, you learn tons just from doing it hands on. I didnt know jack about cars until i started fooling around with em and trying to replace parts. Get a shop manual too, it helps when you get stuck

 

Is the 302 built any already??? or is it a 5.0??

 

The 302 is complete right now. I could go to the shop and start it right now. It just doesn't drive worth a crap anymore. When I bought the car two years ago, the guy who had it didn't even know how many miles were on it. Part of the problem is that I had idiot (aka my ex boyfriend) mess with it for a long time. He liked to rig things up just enough that they would work for awhile. That's why the wiring had to come first. With all the taped off wires and toggle switches, it was a rolling electrical fire hazard.

I got an Edelbrock books off a friend of mine yesterday and looked through it. They had a thing in the front that showed how to squeeze 387 (don't quote me) horses out of a 302 like mine. Hydraulic roller cam, intake, and 750 carb. Would a 750 be too big for mine? I have a 600 on it right now.

And the only thing with doing it myself is when I goof up, I really goof up.

Can't you port and polish the heads yourself with a drummel (probably spelled wrong) tool or something? Humor me, it's been awhile since I've heard anyone intelligent talk about cars. Hehe. Thanks again!

 

My brother in law did that with his buddy's Escort...but I wouldnt advise it with your mustang...

Sounds like you should just get it to some where for a tune up...get it running and driving like a top first, then start modifing. I have a 500cfm Edelbrock for my 289...its a good size I think...but definately get go aftermarket for intake, carb, cam,....but if you want to stretch your budget a couple hundred dollars....get some new Cylinder heads!!!

 

Personally, if I were getting a new carb, I'd get a 650 Speed Demon from Barry Grant.

 

aluminum heads would take up your whole budget, depending on where you want your power, if you want high end horsepower go with a very free flowing intake, high end cam, and headers(shorty or full) , but if you want low-end beastlyness then 750cfm is way to much carb for your 302, get shorty headers, crane cams 272D, and an edelbrock performer intake.
just my 2 cents welcome to TMS!

 

Shorty headers are a waste. They might as well be called "better-looking stock replacement manifolds" IMO. Well, that is, all the but the best designed ones (read: most expensive)...

You'd be better off with a set of Tri-Ys w/ some sort of thermal coating.

 

I have always wondered what the differences between headers are....tri-ys seem to be the least expensive...how do I know what I'me getting?

 

Lol, I just deleted this whole big post on doing a GT40p top end with a Edelbrock Performer RPM AIR-GAP, Holley Street Avenger carb, some Tri-Y headers by Stan (fits GT40p) and hadn't got around to looking at cams.

This is the deal though, it would make a nice street motor and put you in the 320 to 350hp range, but to set everything up correctly it would more than likely triple your budget - I can tell you that just for the carb, intake, cam, lifters, valves, springs, rocker arms, retainers, guide plates, valve springs, rocker arm studs and a few other itmes would set you back about 1600.00 and thats before machine work, convert the heads to an adjustable valvetrain and setup everything else would probably add another 1,000.00 to that - so you'd be at nearly 3,000 for a set of nice stockers along with having the carb, intake, cam and lifters. (if you dont wanna go to a retro hydraulic roller setup) add another 400.00 for headers plus maybe another 2-400.00 for miscellaneous expenses and fixes and your up to nearly 4,000 dollars. I can tell you its really fun to sit down and plan out your own motor and then get all the machine work done and slap it all together, time the motor, turn it over and let it fire up (especially the awesome joy of open headers rattling incandescent bulbs out of thier fixtures as you break in the cam) Its a really awesome experience - no matter how good or bad the motor is, its like all the best first times rolled up into one.

That said, your probably better off saving some more money and looking at some nice crate motors. Dollar for dollar, you'll end up saving in the end.

 

Depends, tri-y's have a rep for boosting bottom end torque, funny thing is, while researching FE engines I came across an FE forum and one of the guys had a dyno at his disposal, the Tri-y's actually gave up torque to the 4 into 1 headers but ended up besting said headers in the horsepower department. Go figure

 

For your budget I'd say an intake, headers, a cam, and if you want, a carb. The 600 should be more than enough for a warm 302 for street use. Ask your mechanic to try to match up the carb, intake, and cam to get the most for your money.

 

Carb = 575 Speed Demon (~ $400)
Intake = Edelbrock Performer (~ $200)
Cam = Comp XE256H (~ $200)
Headers = Hooker Super Comp 1-5/8" (~ $400)

 

i mite do it if a dif payment plan could be arranged ( gets my face slapped ) .. if the motor is reasonably fresh i would put in a small cam with good aftermarket valve springs and keepers and give it a 100 shot of nitrous

 

Ricer juice?

 

take a look at her profile pic .. the mustang is shown a lot bigger .. that looks like a HiPo 289 emblem on the fender . could the dear girl have a" k" car and not know it

 

on another site in a thread about what is rice it was pointed out to me that my car fits most of the criteria set forth to be judged as rice
big useless wing ( check )
stickers ( check )
gawdy stripes ( check )
big usless scoop ( check )
and now the fact that i have a 200 shot of ( ricer juice ) confirms it