1982 5.0 in CO

[Mastermind46]

Hello,

My dad and I picked up a 1982 Mustang GT for a project car. Body is in great shape minus the missing front bumper. The interior is rough and missing pretty much everything but seats and a butchered dashboard. But... the engine is somewhat built and was just installed.

0.40 over flat top pistons
Polyurethane motor mounts
Victor jr air-gap intake
Holley 750 double pumper
SVT drag springs
Shorty headers
New distributor
Underdrive pulleys
MSD Streetfire plug wires
MSD 6A (Not connected, previous owner never got around to it).

I have never owned a cfi vehicle or built anything over a 4 cyl before so this is going to be a huge learning experience. Our goals are 400-500hp weekend warrior that we can spin tires and have fun with. We are here to learn and are not very knowledgeable with this platform so any ideas or suggestions are very welcomed. Oh, and I think the carb is too large... read a few posts on here that lead me to believe that is the case. Immediate plans are to get new exhaust since it only has shorty headers and a new, smaller carb.

[grabbergreen84]

Welcome! You can probably find a lower bumper cover here.

First advice is to ditch the flex fan. OEM clutch setup is better than that, and even better would be an Electric fan out of a Taurus, or other Ford.

750 is too much carb, unless it's stroked and built to run mainly at high RPMs.

[STANGMAN116]

Hey I seen that car for sale out here!!! Congrats on the purchase amd Welcome to FEP!!!

[Mastermind46]

Alright, I will look into the flex fan/electric fan. Already got a new carb and waiting on exhaust work so we can start driving it.

@STANGMAN116; oh nice!

My mom and Dad owned a lot of mustangs, the first being a 4-eyed so we thought it would be a good choice as our first non-honda build together.

[TopGear85]

Welcome to FEP, that 82 looks like a great platform for a father son build. 82GT's are one of the best looking four eyed cars built and a site favorite. Have fun and ask a ton of questions, we are all here to help each other out and learn from one another.

Welcome to the group!

[wraithracing]

Welcome to FEP!

Congrats on the new to you 82 GT! Looks like a great project to start with. Also looks like a twin to my 82 GT just minus the T-tops.

I live over in Grand Junction, but I do happen to have an OEM lower air dam if you need one. Just send me a PM if you are interested.

Trey

[Mastermind46]

Alright... a little update... Previous owner and whoever built the engine was a hack. This has been a very painful and costly experience but my dad and I learned a lot through it.

Let's start with every single bolt on the thing being loose. Headers, suspension, motor mounts, you name it and I bet it was loose. Just towing it home we lost a handful of bolts. Then we noticed some metal shavings in the oil when we changed it. Cam was destroyed. All of the lobes were ground off, lifters were wrecked, pushrods bent. We have spent the last few months rebuilding the engine putting in proper flat tappet parts. We plan to fire it for the first time this weekend so I will be spending this time researching proper start-up since the first 20 mins can ruin a flat tappet cam.

Any advice or if you can point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated!

[STANGMAN116]

WOW!!! Man sorry to hear that, hack work sucks!!! Some people. Glad to see you got it all going tho.. keep up the good work.

[Mastermind46]

Hey thanks. It is running and break-in was very successful. But now the tach went out. We plan to just wire in a separate one and call it a day. Still need to adjust the carb better. This is so different from tuning my Mazda.
This has been a very good learning experience for us so all in all a positive. We now know to not buy a "built" flat tappet engine from anyone we don't know/trust but also how to build an engine ourselves. Just need to get some more power out of the car and a new transmission (stock 4 speed). The gearing is terrible in that when partnered with the 8.8" rear end (gears are 3.71 iirc).