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Author
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Topic: Building a 306 on a budget
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revcor
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Member # 13604
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posted
 
 
Hey guys, new to this site and trying to get as much information and suggestions on this build before I start it. I have an '89 5.0 LX with a 5spd and 3.73 gears. It has 150k miles and leaks some oil, so I am picking up a fresh 306 tomorrow, and plan on building that while it's out of the car and then swapping it in. My dad is a mechanic and I have a decent basic knowledge of cars, but he's a Mopar guy and I've never built a Ford motor before so I'm open to all the input and experience from others I can get.
My budget is about $5000-ish (a little leeway). The car is my daily driver first and foremost but I take it to the dragstrip on wednesdays during the season, and it needs to be able to pass CA smog.
One route I've heard is the Trickflow top end kit (which seems to be suggested frequently on forums). Another route suggested by some Mustang guys my dad works with via my dad is the Edelbrock Performer 5.0 heads and intake. My dad suggested since i'm on a budget, keeping it a low end torquey motor that will stay below 6000rpm. With this latter combo I'd need a cam (have heard the comp cams Xe264hr recommended), and with any combo I'd do the clutch and exhaust, and I assume I would be best off having a shop dynotune the car after all is said and done, although I'm not sure what my options are there.
I realize this is a pretty open ended post, but you have my budget (~$5000) and my requirements (daily driver, race it on wednesdays, CA smoggable), and I would love to hear you guys' input, suggestions, experience, etc.
Thanks in advance,
Jonathan
[ 2015-01-11, 04:48 PM: Message edited by: revcor ]
Posts: 12 | From: Bay Area | Registered: May 2014
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wilit
Mustang Messiah
Member # 3367
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posted
For $5k, I'd do a 331 or 347 instead of a 306. Look in the classified section here, you can find good strokers for cheap.
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"If a man hasn't found something worth dying for, he isn't fit to live." - Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 4793 | From: 37.78514° North 122.40100° West | Registered: Oct 2003
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SLOW95GTS
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Member # 10365
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posted
your better off using the 5k on you original motor, unless your motor has high miles or has low compression. Building a stroker requires a bit more than 5k unless you get a short block for cheap.
Your best bet is doing a h/c/I and do a power adder then you can get a stroker after you blow the original 302.
Trick flow heads, Holley intake, and a smog legal cam will get you around the 300rwhp range and should be a 12sec street car while, with the stock h-pipe can pass smog.
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1995 Mustang GTS 5.0 - "minor mods"
Posts: 1199 | From: East Bay | Registered: Oct 2010
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revcor
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Member # 13604
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posted
quote:
Originally posted by SLOW95GTS:
your better off using the 5k on you original motor, unless your motor has high miles or has low compression. Building a stroker requires a bit more than 5k unless you get a short block for cheap.
Your best bet is doing a h/c/I and do a power adder then you can get a stroker after you blow the original 302.
Trick flow heads, Holley intake, and a smog legal cam will get you around the 300rwhp range and should be a 12sec street car while, with the stock h-pipe can pass smog.
My current motor does have a lot of miles, so tomorrow I am picking up a fresh motor that has been rebuilt and bored .030 over already from a family friend. So I want to stick with that bottom end and focus on h/c/i. As far as your suggestion, do you recommend the TFS heads/holly intake combo over that top end kit that TFS sells?
Posts: 12 | From: Bay Area | Registered: May 2014
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NEIGHT
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Member # 8741
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The TFS top end kit is a good kit but all that stuff can be bought for way less if you piece it together with patience online. Sometimes you find on Corral people trying to sell their new never used parts for a good price.
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-Savage Habits-
1992 Summer Edition
1986 Hatch- catfish killer
1964 Impala hard top
Posts: 18528 | From: EA$T $IDE REDWOOD CITY | Registered: Nov 2008
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JohnB
Tech Moderator
Member # 969
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As stated, if you take your time you can find all this stuff online from private sellers relatively cheap. A word of caution though- check everything. What may seem like a screaming deal on a set of TFS heads may not be as good as you think if you start having to invest $ just to get them to a usable state. Camshafts and intakes are fairly easy to check, but with cylinder heads, springs and valves could be an issue. Be prepared to have them torn down and checked if they don't come with any sort of paperwork attesting to their condition.
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1965 Shelby Cobra
1993 Cobra
2012 F150 Raptor
2020 GT500
Posts: 6523 | From: Orlando FL/Redding CA | Registered: Mar 2002
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SLOW95GTS
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Member # 10365
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posted
I've seen and done swap with the tfs heads and Holley intake with different cams and always netted around the 300-330 hp. I personally like the Holley intake over the trick flow ones.
How much are you getting the 306 for?
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1995 Mustang GTS 5.0 - "minor mods"
Posts: 1199 | From: East Bay | Registered: Oct 2010
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revcor
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Member # 13604
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posted
Especially with heads i'd rather just buy new ones for exactly that reason. I'm picking up the rebuilt 306 longblock for 700 today.
Say I were to build it with the TFS heads and Holley intake, any cam suggestions? the only two specific suggestions i've heard from people are the ford e303 and the comp cams xe264hr
Posts: 12 | From: Bay Area | Registered: May 2014
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Pure Stang
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Member # 7251
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posted
Afr 185's, custom (legal) cam and rpm2 intake. you wont regret it. and you still have cash left over for gears and some suspension. those top end sets by trick flow are ok, but you wont get the most out of it. seen plenty of people slap the tfs kit on and not break 300.
Posts: 6497 | From: San Jose | Registered: Nov 2006
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Pure Stang
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Member # 7251
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posted
custom cam is only 300 bucks btw
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HEART BREAKER
R.I.P Willie Guzman (5ltrsvt) you will be missed brother.
04/24/87 - 11/23/2012
90 lx 347 RIP
86 gt
89 lx- next project
Posts: 6497 | From: San Jose | Registered: Nov 2006
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NEIGHT
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Member # 8741
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posted
Never, I repeat never go with E303 cam. Pure garbage IMO.
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-Savage Habits-
1992 Summer Edition
1986 Hatch- catfish killer
1964 Impala hard top
Posts: 18528 | From: EA$T $IDE REDWOOD CITY | Registered: Nov 2008
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revcor
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Member # 13604
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posted
any recommendations on who to talk to about custom cams?
Posts: 12 | From: Bay Area | Registered: May 2014
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BLACKOUTLAW
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Member # 6821
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posted
Flowtech Induction his the man,ED Curtis ![[worship]](graemlins/worship.gif)
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THE HEART BEAT STOPS HERE!
Posts: 476 | From: SOL CAL | Registered: May 2006
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revcor
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Member # 13604
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quote:
Originally posted by BLACKOUTLAW:
Flowtech Induction his the man,ED Curtis
he's been recommended by a lot of people, is the benefit over going with an off the shelf cam with a carb number really that great? and can he be sure it will smog
Posts: 12 | From: Bay Area | Registered: May 2014
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Pure Stang
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Member # 7251
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posted
quote:
Originally posted by revcor:
quote:
Originally posted by BLACKOUTLAW:
Flowtech Induction his the man,ED Curtis
he's been recommended by a lot of people, is the benefit over going with an off the shelf cam with a carb number really that great? and can he be sure it will smog
It will pass smog if you tell him to. It will stay within legal specs make more power and do what you want it to. I told my local builder what I wanted to be done and it does exactly that, great drivability and pulls to 6500. Off the shelf cams are 200+ Why not spend 100 more and get something better... I've seen as much as 20-30rwhp from a e303 to a custom cam.
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HEART BREAKER
R.I.P Willie Guzman (5ltrsvt) you will be missed brother.
04/24/87 - 11/23/2012
90 lx 347 RIP
86 gt
89 lx- next project
Posts: 6497 | From: San Jose | Registered: Nov 2006
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Secnd2nun64
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Member # 1431
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posted
What are your power goals?
Posts: 1460 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2002
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revcor
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Member # 13604
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posted
quote:
Originally posted by Secnd2nun64:
What are your power goals?
i don't really have "power goals" per se, i more have a budget and want to spend it in the ideal way for a DD/strip car while keeping it smoggable. so i want as much usable-across-the-rpm-range power as possible for my budget
Posts: 12 | From: Bay Area | Registered: May 2014
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Camara90
1%
Member # 134
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posted
Little bit of advice on your build, if you are going to order your cam through Ed let him setup your heads. Even with a smog legal cam in order to get the extra power from a custom cam grind it will have aggressive lobes that cause issues with most off the shelf valvetrain components. Just order your heads through him, it will be worth it in the end.
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92GT,stock short block,9:1 TFS 170's,perf rpm,custom cam,1 5/8 shorties,C4 trans.
std. 356hp, 350tq
11.85@111.9mph on motor.
Posts: 2351 | From: 707 | Registered: Jan 2001
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revcor
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Member # 13604
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posted
quote:
Originally posted by Camara90:
Little bit of advice on your build, if you are going to order your cam through Ed let him setup your heads. Even with a smog legal cam in order to get the extra power from a custom cam grind it will have aggressive lobes that cause issues with most off the shelf valvetrain components. Just order your heads through him, it will be worth it in the end.
he sells heads too? i'll look into it but i've actually been leaning towards tryna find some decent used heads if i can, my budget is getting eaten up quicker than i thought.
Posts: 12 | From: Bay Area | Registered: May 2014
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92_5.0
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Member # 7624
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posted
another option..run the stock (rebuilt) longblock and buy a Vortech S-trim kit with supporting mods and tune with those 3:73 gears you'll have a nice smoggable/street friendly set up ![[patriot]](graemlins/patriot.gif)
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Infineon/Sears point? same difference!
11.8 @ 115 mph @ Sac Raceway
411 rwhp 402 trq (old set up)
540 rwhp 517 rwtrq (new set up)
ET's to come
Posts: 1629 | From: bay area | Registered: May 2007
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ed650
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Member # 9897
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posted
306 with gt40 heads intake and custom cam with a $1600 on3 turbo kit. Youll be like 400-450rwhp for under 4k..
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410w Hatch
306Ci Coupe
Posts: 1744 | From: menlo park | Registered: Apr 2010
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revcor
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Member # 13604
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posted
quote:
Originally posted by 92_5.0:
another option..run the stock (rebuilt) longblock and buy a Vortech S-trim kit with supporting mods and tune with those 3:73 gears you'll have a nice smoggable/street friendly set up
well my long term goal is to build an all-motor motor as much for the learning process and experience of the project as for the performance. but what ive actually been thinking about doing is finding a used Vortech kit and putting it on the motor currently in my 5.0, and building the new block over time. so speaking of which if anyone hears of anyone with a vortech kit for sale let me know
Posts: 12 | From: Bay Area | Registered: May 2014
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92_5.0
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Member # 7624
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posted
Good choice. Run the current motor til it goes. In the meantime build up a motor that suits your wants and needs by taking your time and doing it right the first time.
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Infineon/Sears point? same difference!
11.8 @ 115 mph @ Sac Raceway
411 rwhp 402 trq (old set up)
540 rwhp 517 rwtrq (new set up)
ET's to come
Posts: 1629 | From: bay area | Registered: May 2007
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revcor
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Member # 13604
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posted
Exactly. With the entry level vortech kits do you need a bigger fuel pump and injectors or is that only for the 7+ psi kits?
Posts: 12 | From: Bay Area | Registered: May 2014
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