Operation Thunderhoof is Underway!!!!!!!!!!!

well after a dismal start to my summer, I'm finally at a point where I can start my fox body project.

I purchased a 93 Mustang GT in June and am finally getting to mod it. Shortly after buying it I bought a used 351 Windsor block that came out of a 75 Ford Vehicle of some sorts (not sure what) for $200.

I had to give the car a tune up when I first got it, and that ate $1,000 up alone.

New upper/lower radiator hoses
new alternator (went bad a week after the tune-up)
new starter (went bad during the tune-up)
new distributor cap
new rotor
new plugs
new wires
fuel filter
new battery
oil change
air filter
New positive battery cable
New vehicle ground and negative battery cable
thermostat
radiator flush

Then 2 weeks later it started overheating, and the radiator was going bad. Tried to order one, but the one I wanted was out of stock, so had to wait 2 weeks for some more to come in, then was able to order it finally. Then I had to wait 3 weeks before my dad and I could find time to install it and a new waterpump.

Got that all fixed, then the damn turn signals quit working, and spent a week trying to find out the problem before finally figuring out it was the turn signal flasher fuse in the glovebox that was bad.

At this point I was ready to pull my hair out and sell the damn thing, but things are getting better, i've paid my last 3 remaining debts off, and have now freed up some more money to play with every month.

Yesterday I was finally able to send the block off to the machine shop for

magnafluxing
boiling
boring
align honing
new freeze plugs

and it will be painted silver.

Ordering a Forged Rotating Assembly this week, and then gotta order my camshaft and a timing chain, so the shop can install it all and check all of the tolerances to make sure no problems.

Scat 4340 Forged Crank (Internally Balanced)
Scat 4340 Forged H-Beam Connecting Rods
Probe Dish Pistons
Rod Bearings
Main Bearings

Today I ordered a

MAC Performance 2.5" Offroad H-Pipe
Pair of Flowmaster 40 Series Dual Chamber Mufflers

and I also picked up a complete 8.8" 5 lug, disc brake rear diff/axle for $200 that came out of a 96 Mustang GT. Local guy had one for sale, I went and looked at it, liked what I saw, and I paid him $20 to drop it off at my house, cause I didn't have a truck, but he said it was no problem. So I gotta buy a brake booster, proportioning valve, and a master cylinder, and then find my front brake conversion kit, and then buy some 5 lug wheels and tires.

Car will be going for new Window Tint this week or next.

after that it will need a

sunroof seal
a/c compressor clutch
and im putting in an armrest delete from 50resto.com (because im tired of the lid on the armrest rattling, and all they do is break anyhow).

So my project is underway, but I'm not going to reveal too much about my engine till it's ready to go in the car! Probably be a year, year and a half before I get it all done, but a fun project nonetheless.

I have plans for the rearend already.

Moser 3.73 gears
Timken Bearing Kit
Solid Crush Sleeve
Moser 31 Spline forged rear axles
new axle bearings and seals
arp studs
Cobra 31 spline Limited Slip Differential
Trick Flow Diff Cover

I'm also going to take a circular wire brush bit and an electric drill and knock all the rust off the rearend and get it cleaned up, and then send it off to be powdercoated.

Fun fun fun!! Stay Tuned for more updates! Pics to come as things happen!

351W Block



pics of the rearend and my new engine stand I bought from Harbor Freight.

Looks like you will be busy for several months. Will be a very nice car when done. Good Luck.

sweet build, keep those pics coming!

yeah I'm building a 351w stroker for my 93 LX too. Hey if you need anything let me know I may have it. I have a whole parts car and misc other odds and ends. We should make this the "tennessee fox builders thread".

stopped by the machine shop to snap a couple pics of the progress. he got the block magnafluxed, and bored out the cylinder in the worst condition to make sure we weren't going to have to sleeve it. it came out ok, so I'll be ordering my forged rotating assembly on monday looks like!!






MAC O/R H-Pipe arrived today as well! Yeah Baby!

Good luck, can't wait to see the finished project...

thx Eddie. I should be able to give all the stock and lightly modded 03/04 terminators around a real run for their money with this setup!!!

GET A SET OF EXPLORER HEADS, THEY ARE GT-40'S CHEAP AND MURDER STOCK PORTED HEADS. PUT SOME GOOD VALVES AND LET ER RIP!!!!!

youll need to shoot for 450hp(crankshaft). use a large roller cam conversion and gt-40 heads with a good single plane intake. stay away from hydraulic flat tappet cams. 1 3/4" longtubes, no smaller. 800 cfm carb.

sorry Bill, I'm going with Edelbrock Victor Jr. Heads, TFS 351-R Upper and Lower Intake, and a moderate cam that will be in between mild and aggressive.

oh and there will be no carb going on this, going EFI.

ordered some more parts today.

Sunroof Glass Seal
Sunroof Body Seal
Driver side replacement foglight
Armrest Delete Kit

as soon as all that arrives, I'm gonna pull the headliner out, and apply some spray adhesive and re-roll the section of the damn headliner that has come loose.

put in the new sunroof seals, and replace the driver side foglight.

finally!! Forged Rotating Assembly Stroker Kit has been ordered!

Crank (Internally Balanced)
Pistons
Rods
Rod Bearings
Main Bearings

are on the way! As soon as it arrives, I'll have some pics up! Then off to the machine shop it goes!

Big thanks to Jim over at FordStrokers.com!!!!!

He's also gonna get me setup with a custom ground cam and some link lifter bars to convert this block to a roller block so we can use a hydraulic roller cam, but it'll be a month or so on that.

sunroofs seals, armrest delete and driver side replacement foglight have arrived!



my flowmasters showed up today, but the bastards sent the wrong ones, then had the nerve to charge me shipping to send them back, and $13 to send out my new ones.

offroad h-pipe should be going in this friday or saturday.

windows are getting tinted this weekend as well.

have to wait on the flowmasters till next week. dammit!

new sunroofs seals are in, new driver side foglight is on and windows are tinted.







got the replacement a/c compressor in, but I gotta take it to a shop to have the system evacuated of the R-12, so the R-134A will work correctly.

Tried to take it to a couple places today, but they were jam packed full, so I have an appointment Wed @ 7 am to get it evacuated and re-filled.

god damn UPS was supposed to have been here 4 hours ago with my flowmasters, and they have yet to show up. fucking pricks can never be depended on. Exhaust shop is closed, so my exhaust will have to wait until Wednesday as well.

School starts tomorrow, so I'll be in school all from 8 - 5. sucks, so no play time tomorrow.

headliner will have to wait for another day.

ordered some LX 5.0 taillights
opel grey interior paint to paint the armrest delete
titanium silver paint to paint the wheels to freshen them up

and I just got a helluva deal tonight.

Just picked up a pair of 95 gt front brakes, 5 lug disc rotors, with calipers, pads, brackets, and lines for $50 shipped.

everything I need to convert from 4 lug to 5 lug in the front.


forged rotating assembly will be here tomorrow, I'll take some pics when it gets here, then I gotta get it up to the machine shop so they can start putting it all together.

and the exhaust is on!!!!!!!! it sounds awesome!! Love that throaty Flowmaster V-8 growl.



got a pic of the new h-pipe and the old flowmasters and catback, but forgot to get one of the new flowmasters after they were welded on, but I'll get a pic of it next time it's up on the rack. It doesn't have a catback on it anymore, but I took the 2.5" pipes off a buddy's old catback and ran them from the mufflers to the h-pipe, and then we put 2.5" 45* angle turndowns on the back, and it really helped the sound out tremendously. The old catback was 2.25" and the old flows were shot, which is why it sounded like crap when I put the MAC O/R H-Pipe on it but, she sounds like a mustang now!!



a/c system was evacuated and re-charged this morning, and now it blows ice cold!!!

and the good stuff has finally arrived!!!!!

Forged Rotating Assembly complete with crank, pistons, rods, pison rings, main bearings, and rod bearings.

took a much better exhaust video today. not so much background noise from the highway.



got the new taillights put on.

nice car. just got done rebuilding mine 2 months ago. now having another block prepped for a winter build, its amazing the time and money you can tie up getting one the way you want it. cant wait to see it when your done.

ok bit the bullet and decided to do my car audio...i gotta have tunes in the stang.

Bought a brand new Pioneer DEH-5100UB AM/FM/CD/MP3 Head Unit
INFINITY REFERENCE 3032CF,3-1/2"2-WAY SPEAKERS (for the dash)
JL AUDIO TR525-CXi 5-1/4" CAR COAXIAL SPEAKER TR-525CXi (for the doors)
JL Audio TR570-CXi 5X7" (for the rear)

and I will put my Alpine MRP-M850 500W Monoblock Class D Amp and 12" Kickers that I had in my 02 GT, in the hatch. Should be rocking here before long!

sound system will be going in next weekend. got a sub box for dual 12's from Best Buy for $80. Already have my own amp, subs, and wiring kit. new speakers and head unit should be here next week.

keep the pics and details coming, I love following your progress! You building the engine yourself?

Couldn't find anyone with 4 lug wheels and tires that I could borrow, so I took reefers advice and broke out a deck of playing cards, and stuck them between the wheel and the tire and cleaned up the wheels, and repainted them. got a slight run on the driver front, but I'll get some high grit sandpaper and wetsand the runs out.

came out pretty good.







Also decided to put a fresh coat of paint on my subs to make them look new again as well. I didn't even bother to tape them off though.


I think I've invented a new wheel style. Y'all like the way I roll?






Before


After






Center caps and subs are still drying, I gotta go get a can of clear to put a protection finish on them and some 2000 grit sandpaper to fix the run in the driver front. More pics when I get it all done.

-----

Front Dash and Door Speakers and the Pioneer Head Unit arrived today, so after I got done messing with the wheels, I spent a few hours measuring, drilling, mounting, and wiring up the speakers and head unit.

had to do a little grinding on the speaker mounting circles because JL Audio put a raised section with their logo on it, and the darn speaker grilles on the doors wouldn't go on right, but I finally got it to go.

Still waiting on the rear speakers to get here, but once they're in, the entire thing should sound much better, but it is sounding pretty good already.

Gotta get an amp wiring kit, and some RCA plugs so I can install the amp and subs. might venture out to Audiomasters and see how much they wanna price gouge me for that. Swore I'd never go back in there after that abomination of a face plate they made on my old subwoofer box, but not like I have many other options.

JL Audio 5.25


JL Audio 5.25


Infinity 3.5's




Pioneer P5100. sounds a hell of a lot better than it did before.

tarafied1 wrote:keep the pics and details coming, I love following your progress! You building the engine yourself?

the bottom end is being done by Neal's Machine Shop, my dad and I are doing the top end and installing the engine. :*drive*:

The JL Audio 5x7's finally showed up yesterday. Just got done installing them, and had to install a 30 amp self-resetting fuse relay for my power inverter.



Subs and amp are in and wired. Just need to fine tune the amp settings and the head unit settings but I can't do it here at the house, because I already got yelled at by old half dead couple that live next door while I was trying to do it today. Claimed they couldn't hear their own tv over my subs, which must mean it's louder than I thought cause, their tv is a good 300 feet from where I was working on my car.

looks like next thursday I will be ordering my cam, timing chain and gears, and my damper/balancer.

this will allow the machine shop to finish up the block, make sure everything is balanced and get the timing set, then i can pay them the final balance, and get the block home and on the engine stand. Should have it back by the middle of October.

then it's time to get to work on the 8.8. I'm going to pull the 8.8 I have in the garage apart, and start ordering my Moser 3.73 gears, Moser 31 spline axles, Northco Race brackets, FRPP 31 spline rear diff, timken bearing kit, and solid crush sleeve, and new axle bearings and seals. Once I get the diff apart, I will clean it up and get all the rust off of it, take it over to Essentially Offroad and have them weld my axle tubes to the diff housing. Then it will go off to be powdercoated, then it will go off to get all the gears, diff, and bearing kit installed. Once I get it back I'll order my upper and lower control arms, and my rear shocks, and that should complete the rearend. I'll also go ahead and order my front struts so that when I do the 5 lug conversion I can install the new shocks and struts all at once.

Then I'll have to get my 94/95 GT front spindles and dust shields, and then I can convert the entire car to 5 lug, and put the new 8.8 in.

Still waiting to hear from slow50h95 to get these bullitt wheels off of him to get me by until I can get brand new FR500's and tires.

This should run me up to New Years, maybe a little past. Then come the new year, I'll have $1150 + my tax return ($300-$400?) to play with. I'm thinking it'll be time to buy my Vic Jr. heads.

Once I drop the cam, timing chain and gears and balancer off, I'll snap a few pics of the block and post 'em up. Probably a few weeks away before I get up there.