97 GT project

[MaxA]

Hey everybody my name is max, I'm 14, and just bought my first car. The car is a 97 laser red GT, 5-speed, with 136,000 miles. I picked it up over the summer off craigslist for 1300$. The paint is pretty faded, leather seats are in pretty good condition. Here's the story, the guy I bought it from daily drove it from 98 to about 2008. He parked it and had been sitting in his driveway ever since. He did a couple mods including magna flow cat back, lowered 2 inches, cobra r hood, under drive pulleys, and 373 gears. We brought the car home and it wasn't getting any gas. From sitting for so long, the fuel pump was shot. I dropped the tank and cleaned it, put a new fuel pump in, new sending unit, and a filler grommet. Put it back in the car, it fired up, and we took it for a test-drive. All the freeze plugs were rusted out At the bottom, and coolant was everywhere. Now it's time to drop the engine. My dad and I knocked it out in 2 weekends on and off. What we found was not pretty. Here's a list of what it needs so far. New freeze plugs, had a cracked intake, a water pump, valve cover, a clutch, and new motor mounts. Right now the engine is on the stand with the intake off. I'm not sure where I want to go with this yet. I'm only 14 so I have a while until I need to drive it. And I am on a pretty small budget since all I do for money is flip outboard motors. This forum has saved me a couple times already, and has tons of great info, thanks. I live in Florida and its finally starting to cool down, so it shouldn't be to long till work begins. Thanks, Max

 

[evilcw311]

Wow............wish that was my car when I was your age!!!!! Lol

My first car that I got when I turned 16 was a 89 Mercury Tracer hatchback!!!!!

I'm no mod guy so I don't have much to contribute. Sorry


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[Cpotts13]

Nice ride man. Being a young guy myself (20) its good to see the next generation into working on cars. Most kids your age think cars need blinker fluid. Haha.

Define small budget.. You can definitely PI swap it with the engine out. Which would also give you a chance to go through everything and freshen the motor up.

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[lwarrior1016]

Hey Max, welcome to the forum. It's really cool that you went with a mustang at 14. I bought my fist car at 14 and it was a 1978 Pontiac firebird! Rust bucket though lol. Anyway, if you are looking to get this thing back on the road quickly you can find engines out of crown vic's all over the place and they are pretty cheap too. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Everyone is here to help.

 

[5.0l cory]

nice car it is in good shape

 

[MaxA]

Thanks everybody for the kind words

I bought my fist car at 14 and it was a 1978 Pontiac fire bird! Rust bucket though lol.

Funny you say that, that was on my list of possibilities. I was looking for a 77-81 trans am, GTA trans am, or a sn95. And the sn95 was the winner!

Define small budget.. You can definitely PI swap it with the engine out. Which would also give you a chance to go through everything and freshen the motor up.

As for my budget, i would like to stay around 500 on the engine, because it will still need tires, breaks, registration, etc. I'm not sure if i want to go full pi, or just pi heads for the compression bump. In a perfect world i would like to go supercharged, but i don't think it will be anytime soon, so im leaning towards the pi heads. Any input appreciated.

 

[lwarrior1016]

If you have the tools and ability (or someone to help you) I would definitely recommend tearing down the short bock and replacing rings and bearings. They are pretty inexpensive. Then if you can find PI heads, cams, and intake, that would be you best bet for a power increase but still be reasonably priced.

 

[96blak54]

Lots of good optional info up in here. Im gonna say stick with what came in it for now, like a pre-02 crownvic/mercury/lincoln engine. Pre98 from a mustang. Doing so will get you going quicker, cheaper, and much easier! I know more power ='s fun, but learn the basics. Take the original engine and build it. Swap again

 

[lwarrior1016]

I just like to build things lol.

 

[Tally_4.6]

Damn, nice pickup for 1300.


Where in florida youngin?

 

[Burninriverdiver]

Welcome to the site! Looks like a great platform to start a build. Hope you get everything sorted out and have a kick ass car by the time u get your license. I know pi heads and intake were fore mentioned, so I will second this recommendation. Have fun with the rebuilding process and keep us posted with the progress

 

[lutter94]

Nice ride man. Being a young guy myself (20) its good to see the next generation into working on cars.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but 6 years doesn't designate a generation change lol....

 

[mickey]

Congratulations on getting a fun car at such a young age. Picking an sn95 was probably the best choice for some one on a budget. The aftermarket is so plentifully both new and used so parts are cheap. i have a 98 and am also on a budget, I buy most of my parts of Craigslist, and keep your eyes peeled on the mustang websites there is always good deals on there I just picked up a set of track pack rims off American muscle for $80 a rim for 18x9's. With the motor I would totally do a PI swap, trying to do it in car on the ground can be a pita. I got my heads cams and intake for under $300 you'll also need a few hundred more for gaskets head bolts and other miscellaneous things. It's well worth the money and you need an intake anyway. Now me being a parent and the thought of my son driving mustang scares the crap out of me but a PI swaped sn95 isn't too much to handle but still a fun car to drive. Obviously fix things that need to be fixed first then start looking for some go fast goodies.

 

[96blak54]

Be sure to equip the car with high quality tires! The early sn95's dont favor slick roads well.

 

[MaxA]

Thanks everybody for the warm welcome.

Where in florida youngin?

I'm in cocoa beach, just about an hour east of Orlando. It looks like there are a ton of Florida guys on here!

Over the weekend I picked up a pi motor for 150, and i have it stripped down already.

. The guy was a total liar, and after the tear down,I can see the driverside head has a bent valve. I will probably just end putting in a new valve, and see what happens. Or I might just do a cam swap, not sure yet. Any input appreciated. Thanks for all your help, Max

 

[MaxA]

I Forgot to mention that it looks like a nut was dropped down the intake, and ran through the motor, and that the motor had around 120,000 miles . I don't think it stayed in long, or they shut it off immediately, because there is only one small gouge on the head.

 

[Tally_4.6]

Looks like they never changed the oil.

 

[MaxA]

Hey guys, small update. Over the weekend I finished the tear down on the old motor, and got it down to the short block. I aslo installed my new freeze plugs, and pi cooling nipple.

I ended up sending the pi heads to the machine shop, to get freshened up. I just picked those up today. I ordered the gaskets ad head bolts, so I should have all that assembled by the end of the weekend.

 

[96blak54]

Sweet!!

BAM!

 

[97NYstanGT]

That's really cool that you can do this much work at such early age, I myself got into mechanics around 16 and had my first mustang by 17. Anyway in reference to earlier post a full PI swap is the way to go, changing just the heads won't give you the desires gain, it's the intake and cams that give you most power, and ported NPI heads will make more power than PI due to larger combustion chamber volume. Keep up the good work!


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