Trying to wake up an old 89' vert for a friend

[capri2race]

Well here I go again playing around with someone else's car. A buddy of mine bought an 89 GT Convertible and wants me to "wake it up" on a very minimal budget. Any suggestions??? This thing is an old dog lol.

[gregpro50]

Gears.

[Mazlem]

Well, what's the actual budget and the condition of the car?

[Poole]

Exhaust. Some of the biggest 'seat of the pants' gains can be made by letting the car breath

[capri2race]

All good suggestions. I have about a $700.00 cap for parts to throw at it. I was thinking about stabbing an alphabet cam at it too just wasn't sure of which one to use with the bottom end remaining stock.

[bwguardian]

All good suggestions. I have about a $700.00 cap for parts to throw at it. I was thinking about stabbing an alphabet cam at it too just wasn't sure of which one to use with the bottom end remaining stock.

You should be fine with a B & E cam and possibly an F cam. If still fuel injection, you might look at just putting in some 1.72 roller rockers on that stock cam. Then a little intake, good exhaust and set of 3:55's or 3:73's should do the trick.

It would be best to know the condition of the short block to start with. With the above plan your buddy could take it a step further later and do heads and cam.

[Johnny]

I agree, gears and exhaust. Some other stuff, E303, Cold Air Intake, Small Nitrous kit!!

[LilRed86coupe]

Depends on how many miles are on those stock valve springs if your gonna do a cam swap. It will float the valves if they have a ton of miles on them. CAI,bigger mass air meter,off-road H-pipe,cat-back exhaust is what i would buy. But do the free stuff first like bumped timing and removing fender snorkel. A fresh tune-up along with a new fuel filter and fresh fluids(oil,coolant) is a must if it has been sitting a long time.

[Hemlock]

http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...ghlight=budget

Hope this helps,
Robert

[horsepowerjunkie]

Gears, Exhaust, Explorer intake, GT40p heads with new springs if money permits. Cam would be the last thing I'd do!

[1fst86]

Gears, exhaust.. That's all ull have a budget for.

[capri2race]

Well I went and picked this thing up from Bob last night. For starters I have to fix the top on it. The damn thing won't close. Made for a chilly ride driving from Davenport to Rock Island.
I appreciate everyone's input on this. So far I have managed to scrape up a GT-40 intake with an BBk 70 mm TB for it for a Hundo!!! excellent deal there. A set of slightly used BBK Shorty Ceramic coated headers with 1 3/4 inch primarys for another hundo. I think the cam idea is out for the moment since this thing already has 90k on it. Kinda forgot to consider valve float.
Need to get rid of the stupid Glass packs on it too. What idiot did that is beyond me. Sounds horrible. And I had an old set of 3.55 laying around to swap with those 3.08 gears. I just hope the AOD holds up for a while longer. Gonna drop the fluid and check it out too.

Thanks for all suggestions. I appreciate it.

[bwguardian]

Well I went and picked this thing up from Bob last night. For starters I have to fix the top on it. The damn thing won't close. Made for a chilly ride driving from Davenport to Rock Island.
I appreciate everyone's input on this. So far I have managed to scrape up a GT-40 intake with an BBk 70 mm TB for it for a Hundo!!! excellent deal there. A set of slightly used BBK Shorty Ceramic coated headers with 1 3/4 inch primarys for another hundo. I think the cam idea is out for the moment since this thing already has 90k on it. Kinda forgot to consider valve float.
Need to get rid of the stupid Glass packs on it too. What idiot did that is beyond me. Sounds horrible. And I had an old set of 3.55 laying around to swap with those 3.08 gears. I just hope the AOD holds up for a while longer. Gonna drop the fluid and check it out too.

Thanks for all suggestions. I appreciate it.

That would be the next item to resolve right there...put a 5 speed in it!

[LilRed86coupe]

Well I went and picked this thing up from Bob last night. For starters I have to fix the top on it. The damn thing won't close. Made for a chilly ride driving from Davenport to Rock Island.
I appreciate everyone's input on this. So far I have managed to scrape up a GT-40 intake with an BBk 70 mm TB for it for a Hundo!!! excellent deal there. A set of slightly used BBK Shorty Ceramic coated headers with 1 3/4 inch primarys for another hundo. I think the cam idea is out for the moment since this thing already has 90k on it. Kinda forgot to consider valve float.
Need to get rid of the stupid Glass packs on it too. What idiot did that is beyond me. Sounds horrible. And I had an old set of 3.55 laying around to swap with those 3.08 gears. I just hope the AOD holds up for a while longer. Gonna drop the fluid and check it out too.

Thanks for all suggestions. I appreciate it.

Good parts list, now just get a used bigger mass air meter(C&L 73mm-76mm),CAI,pulley kit for the engine and call it done under the hood. Now finish off the exhaust with a used off-road H or X pipe and a decent cat-back. If there's a few bucks left a bigger 190lph fuel pump would help because of all the extra airflow going on. Now top it off with a fresh tune-up,bumped timing and new fuel filter.