Newbie saying hello and have questions

Hi guys! New to the site but been lurking for a while. Now first off cut me some slack because I am only 16 yrs old and don't know jack but am learning and have a desire to learn. I want to start a project to learn on. I have my dad to help who is pretty handy and can usually fix anything but has to learn his way through it. He also said he would help me with purchasing parts but he was going to make me earn every part of it because he done bought me a daily driver and this is going to be a toy.

My dad gave me a 460 block that's already been in the machine shop and is ready to go. We found a guy local with some parts for sale such as a internally balanced scat stroker kit ( new) to make it a 532. He wanted $2000 for it with a new set of pro comp aluminum heads. Yeah I know from reading the pro comps are junk but I need heads and am getting them for basically nothing. I also paid him another $125 for a used edelbrock performer intake. I will keep an eye out for a deal on an air gap or better intake but I may go together with this one if something else doesn't pop up. Will also keep an eye out for heads but because of budget I may be stuck with these for a while. Does anyone have any recommendations on a cam lifters and rockers for this 532? How about intake and carb? Will probably run a c6 tranny but have no idea what size stall? I figure this will be a street motor 80% of the time and strip the other 20%. I am more interested in car shows and cruising thandrag racing but would like to run it a little.

Next dilemma , what do I put this motor in? I love fairlanes and galaxies but man people are wanting a bunch for them cars now. my dad has a 68 mustang coupe 6 banger car that's almost rust free that I could build. I have been looking at mustang 2 suspension kits and keeping my eye out for a 9". Doing the mustang 2 kit would get me to 5 lug, disk brakes, power steering, and engine compartment room to accomadate the 532.

I also kinda had I invisioned a pro street ford lightning 98 model. I haven't seen any of those on the web but I thought a back halved 98 lightning would be really trick looking. I just wonder how much of a pain it would be wiring wise to have a carbed 532 in a modern truck . I did find a 98 short bed f150 with a bad v6 for $ 450 and found a step side bed for it for another $400.

The trucks suspension could be modified as I go along, the mustang will have to be stripped and basically be rebuilt from the get go. Making the big block work in the mustang won't be that bad after I get the mustang 2 suspension in but I also need to tie the frame rails and do a rear and and cal trap bars. The truck seems like I could get it on the road quicker but I guess I am just ranting because I can't make up my mind which way to go!!!!

Anyways, howdy and thanks in advance for any advice I ever receive from this great forum!

Welcome to the site

I like the late 60's mustangs but I am also a truck guy myself. On a cam wait until you make your mind up on what you going to put it in. Then get a custom cam made that way you can get the most out of it with out guessing which will work the best. We have some great cam builders on here that knows how to make a BBF run.

My .02, I have restored 2 mustangs myself 68 coupe -390, 72 mach 1- 460. I can tell you from experience, no matter how good that body is on the stang. You're going to spend some serious cash getting it to look and drive in real life like it does in your mind. I think the truck is a cool idea myself. I wouldn't recommend diving into back halfing it right off the bat. It will take forever to finish. Get it running with the new engine, then do little chunks at a time. Maybe a basic lowering job and wheels , tires, trim, etc. Saving the paint for last.

Don't get me wrong, I am a mustang man all the way I've owned the '68 for 22 years now. But Something unique is always cool too. I still miss my old maverick. I had a lot of fun back in the day with my old '75 F-150/460 smoking camaros. Quick story- cruising down the highway minding my own business. Guy pulls up beside me in an IROC Z-28, he gooses it a few times. when I look over we both nod and he guns it. Before that car even kicked back into passing gear I was pulling away! I got about 5-6 cars out on him and he pulled over. So I circled back to see if he needed a ride since it would have been a few miles to walk to the nearest payphone (cell phones were still kinda new) when I pulled up beside him his buddy was still laughing at him in the passenger seat!! The car was fine! My point is It doesn't have to be a muscle car to have fun.

Having a truck makes more sense at this point. You will be cursing and throwing wrenches trying to make the old Mustang accommodate the big motor, been there done that. And although it is a great learning experience, the truck offers a full frame, a 9" inch rear at the least, heavy duty components, plus room to work on it under the hood!!

But don't rule out other vehicles too. I recently seen a clean El Camino for sale that was without the motor/trans. A big block Ford in a Chevy like that would be sweet!!

^^^...and Country Girls like Trucks

Thanks for the responses and opinions guys!

I like all year ford trucks but what I had in mind was a 97 - 03 f150 . For some reason I just think that body style in a roush or lightening themed pro street truck would look pretty trick. Not many people modding them trucks unless they are lightnings. I have searched all over looking for someone who has dropped a 385 series motor in one and found 1 thread of a guy doing so. He had to cut out the firewall and start of the trans tunnel but sure would have thought there was room.

I have pretty well decided to build the 68 mustang. We are looking at doing the heigts mustang II kit just for the extra room. It's also cost effective because it's a 6 cyl 4 log car with now ps or pb. It will cost just as much to gather all the parts needed to convert to 5 lug, disk brakes , power steering, springs and rebuilding the other steering and suspension parts as buying the m2 kit. I know there are a lot of people that talk negative about those kits but there are also a lot that think they benefited . I don't care to much about how fast I can turn a corner, I just want to take it to some cruise nights, maybe some shows and occasionally to the strip. Maybe I will hate it in the end but I really want this stroker motor and I really hast the coupe to just sit and go to waste.


Torino- it would be great to see someone hiding a bbf under the hood of a gm car but I just don't think I could see the road well when driving with a sack over my head!

I guess you heeeard that! That boy aint drivin' no damn chubby!

J
I would rather ride a moped or a hefty chick in public than drive a Chevy!