We Just picked up a new project today. It's not a DSM, but I thought it would make a fun little race car. Then Evan seen it and showed some interest. So being the cool dad that I am, Evan will get to drive this car for a while. Then when he's done, we can get all kinds of serious about making into a track bullet.

Here are some rough pictures of the project as it exists:





The power plant is the key to this project value. Don't worry the hood will be one of the first things to go.

looks like a nice father son project!

small block ford power plant? auto trans?

302 and a 5-speed!

some heads on that thing and some flat black paint.

Nice, 302 should rev like a 4G63! And you can't beat a 5 speed! lucky kid

not tooo lucky... after all he still has to contend with ODT being is poepah!

Freakin' sweet! Way to go, E. Have some fun with that. Maybe you can hone in on your driving skills and get your dad to start road racing his Talon.

Looks like fun, nice find. If you need any help with the ol 302, lemme know

Could it have a smaller air cleaner! Got to be like breathing through a straw running up hill!

I think they did that because of hood clearance and they were probably being cheap.

The hood clearance appears to be a big problem with this model and carbeurated engines. The Sitzmore boys tell me there is 302 intake that will lower the carb and air cleaner by about 3/4 of an inch. I'd like to get a stock hood back on this thing, and the TII hood with the factory scoop may just do it.

Hell, keep the scoop and add a blow through turbo system.

That hood is hideous. Plus it weighs like 200 pounds. The previous owner fabricated it himself and it's a little rough.

For right now the naturally aspirated engine will remain besides some clean-up and corrections of silly shit like the massive GM HEI distributor on a Ford engine. Supposedly this engine came out of a 1983 Mustang GT which put out a whopping 160HP when new. I think that is more than enough power for a 17 year old who is moving up from the fun-like-a-go-kart, FWD Saturn that has no more than 80HP.

There has been talk of dropping in a fuel injected 5.0 roller motor with a single turbo kit. The sick part about that idea is that you could run a single exhaust out the back with a fart can and no one would know better when it was at idle. You can barely hear Josh's tubo mustang at idle. Then it's a whole different story when the hammer is dropped.

But I digress. Those are possible future plans.

Yeah, don't give him anymore ideas, Kicks. It's bad enough his father is all about modifying cars to the point of sick. He doesn't need to know what can be done. Ha Ha Ha!!!

That's such a sweet chassis. It makes me pine for another RWD car

Cool little project...

BTW 302 FI roller motors are all over the place, so sourcing one can't be too difficult.

They are VERY plentiful - That's the beauty of it. And with the Sitzmore bros helping with their years of making fox bodies run, this should work out quite well.

That looks like all kinds of fun. Congrats Evan. You're lucky you got your Dad's expertise to learn from and help you out. Enjoy!

I have a (what looks to be) low rise dual plane alum intake, standard 4bbl, taking up space in my garage. You're welcome to it if you think it'll work. Fit OK under the hood of the Mustang II. Will try and find out what my dad used on his, the II's had a lot more clearance issues than the fox chassis.

If you want it let me know and I'll bring it along Saturday.

edit: think I also have an MSD box/distributor for Ford if you're interested.

Evan and I took advantage of the warm day to get started on the RX-7. Like any low buy-in project we expected to find many rig jobs and needed repairs. We found plenty.

We pulled the 7 into Joshes shop and gave it a quick look over. The starter was missing as I stated before but the upper mounting bolt and part of the starter was still left attached to the transmission and the power cable connector was broke. We put a new end on the cable and mounted up the new starter.

We found a rything nest of wires that started in the rear where the battery was relocated and eventually figured out that the previous owner(s) had wired up all basic essentials to run an engine through old school manual switches.

With a little help from Josh's jump pack and a jump from my truck we got the 302 to start and run. Unfortunately it is now obvious that there is a catastrophic failure internally. It sounds like a rod bearing is out because the engine is hammering during any running time.

So it's a bit of a set back. The low price still makes this project a deal, just not as good as I had originally hoped. We will now begin to check the traders and e-bay to decide what the new power plant will be.

We could open up this engine and put in a cheap crank kit or we could just find a cheap, used 5.0 roller engine. LS1 with a t-56 comes to mind, Evan has mention the 350 and LT1 GM engines as well as an RB-26.

We will probably stick with the 5.0 because all of the mounting hardware is already in place. Pulling the engine will allow us to get rid of all the unnecesary crap and clean up the mess. I don't want to use an old non-roller 302 or one out of a truck or Lincoln, because we want it to have as much potential as possible for the cheapest price.

Let me know if anyone knows of a cheap power plant that might work and then keep a look out for the next installment.

"Evan has mention the 350 and LT1 GM engines as well as an RB-26"

I have a spare lt1 floating around, but personally Id stay with the ford power plant.

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/pts/1021413508.html

I looked at the st. louis craisglist. There are a few more on there, too. I did a search for "Ford 302" in the auto parts section.

There was a guy who had a long block for $200 but needed it gone by today. Another close to me for $150 but with 200,000 miles on it.

I agree with you Dan.

J - Thanks, but the reason I don't want a truck or Lincoln 5.0 is because they have the weaker pistons, probably do not have roller cams, and the heads are probably more restrictive.

Eventually things like heads will be upgraded, but I want the short block to be as capable as possible and that means the better pistons and roller cam set-up.

Keep your eyes open for me. With the unfortunate state of unenployment there will probably be a lot of nice toys going up for sale.

How bout a 4G63?

Yeah, use my Nova project thread. Swap everthing from a doner with a turbo 350 behind it and go to town!

Heh, That thought actually crossed my mind last night too. Oh the humanity!

Check with the local Junk Yards, and just look for a 5.0HO long block (i'd shoot for 89-93 mustang). You can also use this site:

autopartsearch.com

It searches via all the regional/national junkyards that are listed on it (I know at least a couple of the peoria area ones are on there), so it's worth a try too. If I hear of anything else around will let you know.

A couple of weeks ago I located a running 5.0 for an excellent price, pulled it out of the vehicle and put it on the engine stand.

Today Evan and I removed the old 302 out of the RX-7 as well as the trans . I yanked out the kobbled-up single Flowmaster muffled exhaust and put it in the scrap pile.

We will be transferring the serpentine equipment from the blown up 302 over to the running one along with an intake and cam upgrade. The running motor came with modern Ford ignition and a new alternator.

Now I've got 2 newer Edelbrock carburators, two aluminum intake manifolds and a GM HEI to sell.

Josh will go through the T-5 and make sure it's up to snuff.

Evan & I plan to have this puppy on the track for Slo Pny Drag Day in July.

Beyond the power train I'd like to locate some decent front seats and a real hood.

I'll try and get some pics of my seats for you, They're a nice set of racing buckets that cost me like... 110 for the set i think? Unfortunately the guy i got them from is slooooooow, took me a month to get the first seat, 4 months on the 2nd ><

If you need any help with the Pony power, lemme know Think I also might have a set of short tube headers that you could try if you want, not sure they'd fit though. Will check when I'm in Fairbury this weekend.

Mayne you should stick a 4g63 in it and revive the project!

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/hangout/22...l#post151784101