Just bought (hopefully ;-) ) a '94 5-speed SC

[plev72]

Hey all, I (hopefully) have just purchased a stock '94 SC 5-speed. At the moment it will be my daily driver, but I also want it to be an ongoing project. It currently has 85k miles. Instead of building this thing piecemeal, I'd like to have a plan before I get started. What do you guys recommend? Some of the easy changes that I can do and am planning are on doing are:

1) Move battery to the trunk
2) Get K&N FilterCharger (or whatever they are calling it) I had the Dragon R on my '99 Cougar (which I wrecked) but I don't like dealing with that company
3) Chip (but I think I need to wait until I'm done with the other mods for this?)
4) Bigger MAF
5) Better Flowing Exhaust
6) Purchase of aftermarket dual-core cooler
7) Fiber-glass hood (for weight advantage?)
8) New gears (3.08 I guess??)
9) Short throw shifter
10) Improved brakes
11) 10% overdrive pulley for the charger
12) Underdrive pulley's for the other compenents (can I do this?)
13) Thinking about pulling the backseat (also for weight advantage)
14) Engine Rebuild (?) - (Guess there is some company in michigan that deals primarily with mustangs but also has improved engine components for the 3.8)
15) Bigger Injectors

Anyway, as you can see this is going to involve bunches o $$$$ so it won't be an overnight project. As I said, I figure the chip, even though it should provide one of the bigger HP/Torque increases needs to be done last in order to take advantage of the other improvements (otherwise I'll have to keep buying/recalibrating the cheap).

This is all keeping in mind that some of this will involve learning as I go ...

Anyway, thanks for any advice. Respond here or my email is paulslevine@caramail.com.

Thanks,
Paul

[fast Ed]

Paul, sounds like you're on the right track with most of this stuff. I'll just make the observation that you may want to keep in mind the rarity and (potential) future collectability of this car, being one of 722 produced that year with the manual trans. out of a total of 2647. Of the modifications you have planned, how many are not easily reversed ? In stock form the car may be worth more in the future, if that's a concern.

Having said that, it's your car, do whatever the heck you want with it !! I've tried to keep this in mind with my the mods to my 95 5-speed, mostly bolt-on stuff, but some things like trimming the rear fender lips for extra tire clearance aren't easily changed back. I guess the best plan is to figure out some long-term goals for you and the car, if you're intending on modifying it and keeping it forever, then go for it !!

cheers
Ed Nicholson
SCCoO

[plev72]

Thanks for the advice. Actually I do have a fairly good idea as to how tough it is to come by one of these cars. I've been looking for a '94 or '95 5-speed for a couple of months now (me and half the other users of the board that don't have one yet ;-) ) I think that most everything I'm planning for the car at this point (finances permitting) will be reversable, and I'll make sure to keep the stock parts. The other thing is, as it will be (along with my motorcycle) my daily driver and it already has fairly high miles on it, I'm not sure how much it will actually appreciate. I'll look forward to getting the chance to find out though.

Paul - Belgium (for the moment)

'99 Yamaha R6
Corbin Carbon Saddle
Two-Brother's Racing Oval Slip-on Pipe

'91 BMW 325ix (Eurospec)
Blown Gearbox

'99 Cougar - MTX
Dragon Ram Air
SuperChip
Unorthodox Racing Pulley (never installed)
Wrapped around a tree

[Kevin Varnes]

I would not consider 85k high miles. That said, why do you think the engine needs to be rebuilt? I have seen many and own a couple that have gone well beyond 160k with no need for a rebuild. I think you would be surprised at how light the back seat really is. Unless you have the fold down style. Either way it will be louder inside with the back seat removed. If you don't want to keep having a chip recalibrated for each change that you make, you could invest in an EEC-Tuner. This accomplishes the same thing as a chip except you can program it yourself. There are several around who can do the programming if you are not comfortable in that area. Also, one thing you may want to look at is the motor mounts. They usually fail at or before the mileage you have listed. If you let it go it will cause other larger problems. Good luck with your car and congratulations on the purchase.

[plev72]

Mm... sometimes I miss Michigan. Anywho, no, apparently for a '94 the mileage isn't high, I think it is actually about 83,500. I was thinking more along the lines of it being a collectors item. As a daily driver I would expect to see the mileage add up fairly quickly. Of course I've been used to driving in Europe - when you drive everywhere at 100mph the mileage adds up very quickly. The engine rebuild wasn't a matter of "need" per se... I was thinking along the lines of blueprinting. I haven't actually seen the car yet (I actually haven't seen the house I bought last January either since the previous tenants actually moved out of it), but I understand it leaks (apparently leaks and not burns) oil and tends to overheat rather quickly. As for pulling the seat... guess we'll see... I have all of these quality plans lined up, unfortunately they may have to wait until I get a quality budget to match the plans. I think I put earlier that the previous owner had kept VERY exact records of everything he ever did to the car ... so after I get a good look on that, I'll check out the engine mounts, thermostat, etc etc. Still want to move the battery to the trunk though probably and see about moving to a cold air intake of somekind. Otherwise, I figure on doing the upgrades as the factory stock stuff wears out... although I don't know, if I wait for an exhaust to wear out in Arizona I might never get to do it.

Paul
(off to Strausbourg and then Switzerland :-)