Hey everyone. I’m new to the site and Mustangs. So I thought I would say hi. I am deployed onboard the USS Nimitz at the moment. I plan to buy a Mustang when I return from this deployment to the Arabian Gulf in a few months. Maybe sooner if my wife finds what we are looking for.

I would like to buy a Mustang built between ’87 and ’92. I would love a ’93 Cobra but I am a little lacking in the funds department as I have noticed they don’t come cheap. So a 5.0 LX or GT will do.

I do have a few questions with this post though. How smog friendly are Mustangs? I am stationed in California for the next few years so smog/CARB legality will be an issue. Second question, how expensive would it be to build a Cobra clone? Next question, should I stay away from speed density or no?

Thank you and take care.

 

well in california i think emmisions is a bit toughe that most places, but if you have an EFI 5.0 i dont think it would be a problem (hehe, my carb'd 2.8L almost failed, 3 points away! lol)

and about beulding a cobra clone? i think i've seen the entire body kit for like $1200 at Cervinis, my be wrong though....

well good luck bro, im in Cali too, and trust me, there are PLENTY of 5.0s to go around

and isnt speed densifty the thing that came before MAF? from what i;ve head MAF is better, more streetable. and if its an original Cali car, it will have MAF from 88 and up, 89 and up for other states

good luck!

oh and thank YOU! brave men and women like you, who risk their lives for slobs like me, deserve a good :usa:

 

Hello! Welcome to the site. I'm sure you'll find the right one out there! It's worth every minute of searching beleive me!



Thank you also, appreciate it also, best of luck to you!

 

I would only stay away from speed density if you are planning major mods. The cobra kit complete from cervinis isnt much, you could prolly have a complete cobra clone (minus the wheels) for 3k dollars (not including price of vehicle) Mustangs are smog friendly, as long as the cats stay on

 

Thank you all for the warm welcome. Also thank you for the info about speed density, I think I am going to stay away from it as I eventually plan to stroke the 302 out to a 347. The only problem I see is that most of, if not all stroker kits aren’t CARB legal. So I may have to wait a little while till I get out of Cali. And after talking to my wife I think we are just going to put the Cobra body kit on, and put Y2K Cobra rims on the car. Then maybe paint it silver with Ford blue racing stripes (I'm not too keen on the stripes though).

If I may, I would like to pose another question. There are so many choices for exhaust/headers that I get a little confused on choosing one, any recommendations?

future9er24, how far is Redwood City from Lemoore? When I get back from this deployment I will be stationed in Lemoore, about 45min south of Fresno.

Thank you again for all the info and take care.

 

hmmm Fresno is about 2 hours from here, so about 2 hours 45min to 3 hours i guess.

sory i cant help on exhaust, i have a mustang II and aftermarket headers dont fit well lol, so im staying stock for awhile..

i think a 347 would get past smog if you kept the cats and such, especially if the motor is a fuelie and besides, a stroker isnt the only way to get major ponies out of a 5.0

oh and since you're shopping for the mustang still, try out www.craigslist.com all the ads are local and you can ususally find a good deal. like ebay, without the bidding and traveling across the country for pickup in fact, thats how i bought my car

well good luck to you my friend

 

Well for an exhaust system if you still want to pass emissions testing, I'd do a cat back h-pipe, but you said you might leave california. I have an offroad h-pipe with mufflers. I have BBK shorty headers, and they're awesome, and the car isn't "too" loud, so I'd reccomend that offroad exhaust anywhere where smog emissions aren't so strict or aren't even taken..
i noticed you were going to switch to Cobra rims, my car had those before we bought it, and they looked horrible due to the fact the brakes were so small, so i'd do a brake upgrade to bigger disks, and maybe even a five lug conversion

 

welcome! and be safe. i belive a company called coast high performance makes a Cali. emissions legal 347 stroker kit. i would stick with big name manufacturers for exhaust kits and besure they have the CARB number for use on emission controlled vehicles(bassani,borla, bbk,magnaflo, flowmaster)

 

Thank you all for the info. I have been looking into BBK or Bassani. Any who I checked the site that future9er24 suggested and found this Mustang.

** 1990 25th Anniversary mustang 5.0 GT full horsepower $1800 - 1990 5.0 currently no pics yet, it's black with chrome ponies, can use a paint job that's it, motor is real hot, 303 cam, 373 gears in the rear end, 5 speed new clutch, 140 on dash and will do it, all it needs is paint, ent clean, 117, xxx miles on car, engine REAL strong. **

How does this sound? What about the 373 gears and the cam? Should they be ok for daily driving? I am not too knowledgeable about that stuff yet. And getting info out here on the ship is VERY hard as the internet on the ship is soooo slow. But I am willing to learn and am reading everything I can. Just curious what everyone else thinks of this Mustang.

future9er24, trust me I have pondered the bolted, blown or stroked dillema for quite some time. And to be truthful I still don’t know what I want to do. I have a modest goal of 300hp. I just read that with a 347 stroker 400hp is very possible, so I think a 347 is overkill at this point. I am still in the learning process, so I have TONS of questions, I just don’t want to bombard you all with them at once.

Conv_stang, thank you for suggesting Coast High performance. It took me a while to load the site, but they do indeed make a CARB legal stroker, but I am rethinking the stroker idea.

Time to head back to the drawing board I guess…

 

yea more than likely the car probably has either a B303 or the E303 which are pretty much mild cams just a step up from the factory, with the E303 you have a .498 lift
and for the gears, the 5 speed will love those 3.73 and so will you.
I had a E303 cam and 3.73 gears in my 93 lx and was still around 21-22 mpg

 

nice find dude! $1800 is not a bad deal at all. thats what i love about that site, there are plenty of good cars for sale for next to nothing lol.
well i hope you find everything alright, got your email sorry it tooke me a while to reply, been away for a bit.

the cam and gears shouldnt be too bad. very modest if you ask me, should be very streetable

remeber, post pics as soon as you find em

rock on

 

I reccommend a DSS 331 with a procharger P-1SC