88 cougar 302 setup questions

[mcb82gt]

Need some help with my 88 SO 5.0

Currently is all stock with 113K. My goal is mostly driver with good performance, must have ALOT of torque and stock drivability.

I have most pieces for the HO upgrade, but E7 heads,

Do I 1. Use SO block and put on E7 heads (stock Mustang headers) Do I do some home porting on the heads? Will this benefit with the stock HO cam? Do I do any porting of the HO intakes? Again, will this benefit with the HO cam?

(I will be swapping to a 2.5" offroad H-pipe and some aftermarket mufflers also.)

Do I 2. Buy a used 5.0 HO motor (notched forged pistons) and upgrade the heads to GT40/GT40P along with Cobra/Explorer intakes?

Should I spend money on shorty headers, or use the stock Mustang?

I guess it comes down to......what is the most torque/dollar way to go? I plan on keeping this car for a long time and dont anticipate forced induction any time soon. LOL, but I would like to do it right the first time.

I plan on eventually going to 3.27 or 3.45 gears in the 7.5 rear.

I know this thread is long, I just need some advise from you guys who have done this before with these cars. Thank you, I also posted over at fox tbird/cougar site.


I guess, will the stock HO cam utilize the increased airflow of the cobra intakes and gt40 heads??

Mike

[5.0 bird]

I would go with option 2 since the SO flat tops limit the cam and heads you can put in. With SO flat tops about all you can do is E7s and a HO cam. Porting the heads and intake would help some even with a HO cam. It just depends on how much power you wanna make. With valve reliefs in the pistons you can do a lot more though.