need some opinions

[7000rpmisheaven]

My wife and i decided that we want to take out a personal loan to build the car of our dreams. So I need some ideas. I want to keep the loan between 5 and 10K. but I want to refresh as much of the car as possible. We'll be working on the car in my signature.

Here's what I want. I would like to get a 351 from a junk yard and rebuild it with forged crank rods and pistons. I want it to be a daily driver. Since we are taking a loan for it I would like it to last a while. I would hate for it to come time for another rebuild and we're not done paying the loan. I would like around 300rwhp n/a and possibly a small shot of nitrous, maybe 100hp. I want all the driveline parts to be able to handle this power pretty easily.
I want to upgrade or renew everything. Steering, suspension, engine, transmission, rear.

If you were me what would your setup be.

[Fox Body]

First of all, what year Mustang do you want to put it in? Makes a small difference on restoration.

1) Good idea to get it from a junkyard and rebuild. I got mine from a junkyard for $150, a friend and I pulled it. Got it from a Marshall's Dept (police) '87 Crown Vic. I feel getting it from a former police car is a good choice, b/c even though they maybe beat hard, they are serviced regularly, also have oil coolers and transmission coolers on them. A rebuild to the motor the way you want it shouldn't cost over $800 (+ you can port your heads or get better flowing ones for $1500. )

2) Get yourself a C4 (that's if you want one-- I dunno, you may want an AOD) from a junkyard or used (~$100-$200, depending on the shape that it's in) and rebuild with shift kit, stock torque converter and some extra clutches. Should be around $700-$800 for rebuild, which is considerably cheap compared to newer vehicle tranny rebuilds.

3) Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, Flowmaster American Thunder exhaust system (3 chamber mufflers), MAC shorty headers , 650 cfm Holley carb (all for ~$1100).

4) Make sure you got 8.8 inch rear end with at least some 3.08s. (The steepest would be 3.73s)

There's a lot more... I hope this helps a little just to get you thinking as to what exact setup you want. All mentioned above comes to about $3000. With a mechanic of decent price service, you can get MOST of what you want done for (parts plus service) $5000 or less. This does not include paint, aesthetics, roll cage install, and other major suspension upgrades. And it also depends (whether it'll be cheaper or more expensive) on what you already have or what you want, etc, etc.

With good traction and decent suspension, w/ a 100hp shot nitrous, you should be running at least very low 13s to high 12s.

[7000rpmisheaven]

I would be putting it in my 85 mustang. If a c4 is more up to the task than a T5 or a tremec then I would want to do that. Most of the mechanic work I would do myself. I do have an 8.8 rear but it has the stock 2.73 and I would like to put 3.73's in. I am not going to mess with the rear cause I've never done one before. A friend of mine is a painter and he is going to give me a real nice paint job for under 1000. I want new coil springs and new shocks and strut, and polyurethane all around. I am fond of the pony rims, so I'll get a set of those. I'd like a decent set of street tires but some cheap wheels and slicks for the track.

[Fox Body]

Sorry, I missed that part about you working on the car in your sig.

A C4 is more up to the task for less money. But of course, it only has 3 speeds. Not really ideal for daily driven, long trips, frequent-hwy-driven type of car. You may want to go with the 5 speed manual, it'll just cost you a lot more if you want it built to last.

What do you have in there now? T5 or AOD?

[7000rpmisheaven]

I have a T5. but I read somewhere that the T5 has a torque rating of 300-350 ft/lbs. I forget the exact number but it was between those. I want to be able to step on it and not worry about blowing things up.

[MustangDanny]

Get the heavy Duty T5-Z... it's rated to handle 375 ft-lbs of torque, but can easily handle even more than that. If that's too little, than spend the extra cash and go for a Tremec 3550.