Hey, I'm thinking of eventually (when I have the money and time) upgrading to the following:

94/95 Cobra Brakes (front and rear)
FRPP shorty headers 94/95 5.0L 1-5/8"
Magnaflow Tru-X X-Pipe (Catted)
Magnaflow "Magnapack" Cat-back
BBK cold air intake
FRPP 65mm throttle body
Granatelli "Chrome Bullet" 90mm Mass Air Sensor
BBK Aluminum 5.0L 3-Piece Underdrive Pulley Kit
Ford Racing EFI Intake Manifold (1993 Cobra Replica), Polished Finish
intake elbow adapter for '95
FRPP 24lb fuel injectors
Billet Adjustable Fuel Regulator

Any input on whether or not I'm off my rocker on any of that? I'd also consider GT-40X cylinder heads and a new Cam, but I'm a little worried about doing that with the engine still in the car... not much room and everything's pretty rusty.

 

Oh, I probably should have added more details about the car. :-)

1995 Mustang GT Convertible w/ 90000 miles on it. It's in pretty good shape now that I fixed the lift cylinders for the roof, replaced the headlights (ick!), replaced the driver side mirror (previous owner busted it off and glued it back on), and put new rims/tires on. I'll probably replace the roof itself next summer when it's nice and hot out.

 

94/95 Cobra Brakes (front and rear)
FRPP shorty headers 94/95 5.0L 1-5/8" crap, don't bother
Magnaflow Tru-X X-Pipe (Catted)
Magnaflow "Magnapack" Cat-back
BBK cold air intake
FRPP 65mm throttle body waste, don't bother
Granatelli "Chrome Bullet" 90mm Mass Air Sensor waste of money, stock is fine
BBK Aluminum 5.0L 3-Piece Underdrive Pulley Kit
Ford Racing EFI Intake Manifold (1993 Cobra Replica), Polished Finish minimal gains
intake elbow adapter for '95
FRPP 24lb fuel injectors I'd wait on these til yer makin more power
Billet Adjustable Fuel Regulator

I wouldn't bother with brakes until you are making more power and have some suspension mods...

Don't bother with a throttle body, you won't make much (if any) power...

The stock MAF can handle up to like 500-600 HP, so again don't bother...

Those headers suck... If you want to get shorties look at MAC equal length shorties...

Longtubes make the most power, but aren't always for everyone...

If you want to do heads and cam I say you do that... thats where you will make power... the other stuff won't make much extra power, ya'll just spend alot of money...

So look into heads and cam, find a nicer set of headers... the install isn't that hard... You will have to pull the radiator, which will free up more room then ya think...

and don't forget gears and suspension mods...

also you're gonna need to post some pics

 

There is nothing wrong with upgrading brakes at any time. The Cobra upgrade is a nice one and very easy to do. Go for it.

FRPP headers are great for what you're doing and will give you a noticable increase in mid-range and top-end power. Long-tubes will actually decrease the low-end torque output of a stock engine. They're great for a car with forced induction or big cubes, but big time overkill on a stockish car. Equal length shorties give a marginal improvement over unequals, but spark plug nightmares far outweigh any advantage in my mind. Also, my experience with Mac products has been very poor. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

I'll concur with waiting on the intake/throttle body/MAF until you do your heads and cam. Doing H/C/I with the engine in the car is not a problem at all. Removing the radiator gives you all the room you need. Now, the Cobra intake is an issue: I just installed one of the new, Chinese-made ones on my 93 and I can tell you that I wish I'd gone with the Edelbrock. The Cobra has some major quality issues that were a real PITA to sort out. It works great now that it's on the car, but if I'd known then what I know now, I would have gone a different route. Also, I had initially ordered the Granitelli unit for my combo as well, and found that it didn't fit worth crap so I returned it and got a C&L, which is working fine for me.

I have the BBK pullies on my 96 Cobra and a March kit on my 93. March makes a much nicer set of pullies and, if I wasn't getting ready to put a Kenne Bell on it, I'd swap the pullies on the 96.

The 24-pound injectors with give you absolutely no gain at all until you upgrade your heads, cam and intake. Save your money for that.

By far, the best bang for the buck performance-wise is to change the rear end gearing in your car. Having a set of 3.73 or 4.10 gears installed will make your ride feel like a completely different car.

 

I disagree on the FRPP headers... they are complete crap...

The MAC equal lengths that I ran I never had any problems with...

The FRPP show minimal gains...

I doubt he'd loose much torque with longtubes... he's going to keep the cats and the 302 make fantastic torque stock

 

if i was you i'd look into trickflow upper and lower manifolds, trick flow heads... and a cam...

I wouldn't bother with shorties...

If you don't want longtubes (on lowered cars they can scrape, they are big hard to install... then be sure to get an equal length header...

and this is the time to do injectors

and like wythors said... gears are the best bang for your buck

 

Well, couple things...

First, this is a daily driver. I'm not looking for 500 horses. I'm not supercharging anything. I'm also a little leery of sinking lots of cash into an engine with almost 100k miles on it. The block, heads, and headers all look seriously rusty, I'm doing all the work myself, and I'm a little woried that I'll get stuff half taken apart and then run into some bolts that just won't come out.

That being said, it's a mustang and I'm psyched! I also have a tendancy to bite off a little more than I can chew... but who doesn't. ;-)

Do you guys think it's worth doing H/C/I on a 90k+ engine? I think I want to do it all, so I hope the answer's yes.

PS - The brakes come first. My front roters are out-of-round and my pads are getting down there... No way am I taking the wheels off for new roters/pads and not upgrading the whole setup. ;-) Crappy looking, rusty components don't go back on once removed.

 

go for it start with brakes,wheels,tires git -R- done

 

well do what NEEDS to be done...

then, when your good and ready... do the H/C/I all at once, along with headers... Its a GREAT rebuild for a high milage engine since the engine already has 90k miles of wear and tear... this is also when you would do injectors and what not... and you want to dyno tune it as well...

your 302 has plenty of torque so don't worry about loosing any... just stay away from regular shorties... they will restrict flow from your heads...

Trick Flow makes a dern good kit and is streetable... and talk to a pro about the cam... You don't want to go all out on it for a daily driver street car...

As far as running into problems... PLAN ON IT... it happens... You will break bolts, strip stuff... its gonna happen... but thats what happens when ya work on cars... so don't expect to get all this done in a short amount of time...

Take your time... do some research, when you are good and ready go for it... you can handle it...

 

Greg, did you have to modify your spark plug wires for the equal length MAC headers? Most of the places that sell equal length headers online note that you might have spark plug wire problems...

Also, if I'm doing an exhaust upgrade well before the heads, cam, and intake, should I install the headers then? Or do you really think I should wait until I've got everything taken apart later on?

 

all I have to say is stay away from Granatelli branded anything. You'll regret it if you don't. Granachina is always crap.

 

no i didnt

HOWEVER!

I did need a new oil dipstick

 

A new oild dipstick, eh? I hadn't even thought about that... how far did it have to move, and what kind did you get? I'm probably gonna go with the MAC equal flow headers, they look pretty sweet for a bit less than I was gonna spend on the FRPP ones.