lxwithlaundry

Hey guys new to the forums here.. Glad to be here.. finding alot of much needed info and hope to find alot more.. so chat away if you will.. I'm sure i'll need it along this journey.....

On to the project:

Picked it up 6/3/11

I was told the car was running high 5's in the 1/8th on a 302 and 2 stages of nitrous.. and that had to be one scarry ride the way the car was put together.

Picked up this 89 lx Mustang for $1,400 and have been told it has 4.11 gears and a fresh rearend (come from a gear and axle shop) new tires on the weld skinnys in the front and some turd tires on the rear welds, looks to have trick springs front and rear and a outlaw 6" lift off hood and thats pretty much all worth speaking of. Oh yeah and hardly any rust at all..

Here's how it was straight off the trailer...







So the radiator support was pretty beat up and I knew it was gonna be a slow project so I decided to re build the front. Tube it out some and hopefully make so extra needed room for the turbo, radiator, intercooler, etc.. so I've started that process.. and cleaning a little like the cowl panal so i can make a delete plate for the hood hinge areas and others...



So yesterday 6/18/11 I picked up a 5.3 from a 2000 model suburban, had been rolled and stripped.. they hacked the harness and took the ecu but i got a ecu already from a z71..

lxwithlaundry

And here it is.. was told it had 126k on the odo. 2 of the coil packs are busted, the starter is busted and the harness was all cut up and thats pretty much the worst of it. got it as you see it for $330 so still aint to bad.

fat tony157

iTrader: (12)

Looks like a fun project. Keep us updated

lxwithlaundry

right now my plans are:

1. Finish the tubeing the front end.
2. Make engine mounts and tranny crossmember so I can start mocking up.
3. Pick up parts busted on the engine and the harness.
4. Figure out what to do about the fuel tank and lines to support the 5.3 efi???

So thats kinda where I stand at the moment.. I've got to get back to researching but in the meantime feel free to guide me

lxwithlaundry

Thanks Fat Tony, Hopefully i'll make good progress this week.. Will try my best to keep it updated though

fat tony157

iTrader: (12)

From what it looks like, you could use the fuel lines that the previous guy had installed. Just run a different regulator and high pressure pump. Is it already a return style?

lxwithlaundry

@Fat Tony - Its has been changed to a holley fuel pump (prolly high volume / low pressure) because it was on a carbed motor.. and it looks like the return line was pulled at the tank. so i'll have to redo that it seems..

I got around to cleaning the motor up some today.. and I happened to have a set of 3.8 mustang mounts that almost fit the 5.3 perfect.. should be able to modify them easily to drop the engine in. I been thinking about the alternator bracket and location and it sits high on that big truck mount.. so i want to look into maybe doing something different and dropping the alt lower.. maybe ls1 mounts/tensioners?

trav-tech

iTrader: (1)

where is the roll cage if it was a high 5 sec car? gotta have a cert'd cage to go faster than 6.39 at least in my neck of the woods.

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

Stock kmember, quad shocks, and power steering rack too

lxwithlaundry

yeah around here at our 1/8th mile track they dont care about anything.. even let motorcycle riders race without helmets.. no leathers.. theres a monte carlo that is as clean as any show car, the guy turns his system wide open and has the car windows shaking, pre stages and holds his beer can up and tips it to the guy he runs and runs 5.30's on slicks, 6's on street tires sideways when he goes through the trap... he just now recently but a 6 point in because he wanted to run pinks and he backed the power down and still run a 9.60 and they disqualified him because of the cage.. but he said he want cutting his interior up anymore.. you can eat off of every part of his car.. amazing..

trav-tech

iTrader: (1)

That track sounds pretty red neck and i'm glad I don't have to race there next to all those unsafe people. "Hey Jeffro, hold my beer and watch this"

ponjohn

That's great if you're the only one racing.

That's a steal for 1400.

trav-tech

iTrader: (1)

What are your plans as far as the Turbo setup?

lxwithlaundry

@ponjohn - yea I was happy with it..

and yea its a rough track but with the new owners its starting to come around.. I'm gonna test there but I'm gonna run mostly 1/4 mile..

My plans as far as the turbo set up goes is to turn the manifolds around and make a crossover tube to a t4 flange.. bolt up a 76mm cxracing turbo, wastegate @ 8lbs, hptuners tune and thats pretty much it.. non intercooled... I've used a cxracing turbo on my drift car before and got what i needed out of it.. and im not gonna drive this car alot on the street so it should last..

Tig

Nice man.
Were did you pick up the 5.3? I'm looking for a complete 5.3 for the parts I'm lacking on mine.
Thanks

lxwithlaundry

at the metal scrap yard here.. i just keep checking to see what cars get brought in every few days and happened to run across it.. I'm shopping online now for a few parts i need

9389coupe

iTrader: (5)

Where are you at in SC? I'm at the gathering parts stage for mine now. I'm from Chesnee, SC.

lxwithlaundry

I'm in Dillon, SC right on I-95 @ the NC/SC line where the big amusment center called South of the Border is lol

TraMotorsports

iTrader: (1)

Im basically doing the exact same swap as we speak. 'cept 62mm turbo.

lxwithlaundry

do you have a build thread? I'm slowly getting stuff done and I'm sure it'll be first of the year before I get everything I need.. mainly just saving up for a hptuners vsm right now..