Its all motor. The guy keeps his combo pretty close to his chest, but I know that its a stroked 2.0, it spins to around 7,000 and its fast. I have heard stories about him racing gti's and such and when they are topped out in second he still has half of second gear left, also heard about him coming out of a parking lot at 7,000 and throwing it in to a full slide through a four lane intersection at about 55mph just because.

If you didnt care about turning you coulsd always stuff a 460 into a 67 musatng, thats what I was going to do untill I sold my car. Even a 351w with some low gears, high stall converter, home ported heads, cam, intake manifold, decent exhaust with headers, and a good 4bbl and you would be kickin ass and taking names.

Quoted: Here is what I would like to do.... Build a solid performing street car, putting as much emphasis on handling and horsepower. Keep total cost to under $4500 Build something a little or a whole lot unusual Keep it American made and probably a V8 Now I am wondering what to start with... and leaning toward a 75-78 mustang II. Its ugly, seldom thought of as a performance car, and can be had dirt cheap with a 302. I can pick them up from $600-1000 locally. Any of you done a cheap project like this?

93 Formula Firebird hardtop.

LT1 350...

You'll be starting far ahead of the old stuff....

It doesn't look like a Ford Esccort or VW Fox...

Plastic body panels -> less places for rust (ask DKProf about rust)...

There's alot more out there for the GM 350 than any other V8....

budget performance...These 2 words don't really go together.

Quoted: Quoted: Here is what I would like to do.... Build a solid performing street car, putting as much emphasis on handling and horsepower. Keep total cost to under $4500 Build something a little or a whole lot unusual Keep it American made and probably a V8 Now I am wondering what to start with... and leaning toward a 75-78 mustang II. Its ugly, seldom thought of as a performance car, and can be had dirt cheap with a 302. I can pick them up from $600-1000 locally. Any of you done a cheap project like this? 93 Formula Firebird hardtop. LT1 350... You'll be starting far ahead of the old stuff.... It doesn't look like a Ford Esccort or VW Fox... Plastic body panels -> less places for rust (ask DKProf about rust)... There's alot more out there for the GM 350 than any other V8....

That was my old car, but on his budget he may have to be stuck with the Mustang if he wants to put on any aftermarket goodies.

Ok I got to say it.


Dont bother, you will reck it or someone will do it for you.

Quoted: The Fox body mustangs would be a good choice, but they are real common here, I like to be different. I have no problem scrounging parts slowly and fabricating things to keep it cheap.

A Fairmont, Zephyr or the Fox chassis LTD might be better.  Less of them are hotrodded than the Fox chassis Mustangs & they're perfect for building a sleeper.  The 2 door Fairmont/Zephyr with the "basket handle" roofline looks better but the 4drs are stealthier.  Suspension upgrades the same as the Mustang.  Insurance should be cheaper also.  

Small block Chevy or turbo Buick V6 in a mid-late '80s S-10 truck might be an option.  I'm considering doing this to my S-10.  
There's the classic V8 Vega but finding one that hasn't rusted away to nothingness might be a problem.  
The '75-78 "Pinto-Stang" would be be neat if done right.  Probably would be better off with the later Mustang/Thunderbird turbo SVO 4cyl though.  

A friend here at work just built up a Datsun 280 with a 350 Chevy, forgot which transmission.
New interior, new wheels, and custom exhaust too.

His total cost - about $3500.  He sniped most of the parts off of Ebay.

Quoted: A friend here at work just built up a Datsun 280 with a 350 Chevy, forgot which transmission. New interior, new wheels, and custom exhaust too. His total cost - about $3500.  He sniped most of the parts off of Ebay.

I've got the manual on that from www.jagsthatrun.com

very well put together, and would make for a really fun car that can be assembled out of junkyard parts for the major items and the kit that JTR sells.