Car build

[Food Scientist]

I have a donor 2004 Mustang Cobra that I would like to pull the drive train out and put into a semi daily driver/track car. I don't want the best of the best components to go into it as that would drive the cost up.

So the question is what car would you buy to put the drive train into? I am looking at these so far:

2003-04 Mustang GT/Cobra without a motor and/or tranny
Factory Five 33 Hot Rod - can outperform a low end stock Lambo
67 Mustang Fastback - little high priced for now as just a brand new Dynacorn body is $15k

I would like to keep it simple as my mechanical skills are fairly decent but don't want to get in over my head and want to do most of the work myself. The Factory Five kit allows me to do that but was looking for other kits/cars that I could bolt together and accept a Ford drive train.

Thanks

 

[OneEyeJack]

What's your budget?

 

[Food Scientist]

About $35k.

 

[turtlevette]

Any of your options are going to be a ton of work. How bad is the cobra?

 

[CT8]

67 Mustang Fastback - little high priced for now as just a brand new Dynacorn body is $15k,,, If the $$$ work out.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Any of your options are going to be a ton of work. How bad is the cobra?


Not really.

As long as he has both body harnesses and the engine harness,as well as the dash he's good.
Unless he defeats the anti theft then he won't need the dash.

A boosted 4.6 in anything old is cool. If you can make modern brakes work,even better.
Good luck with it. It'll be fun.

 

[OVERKILL]

I'd put it into a Fox, preferably an 87-93 GT.

 

[turtlevette]

I like the cobra replicas but not very practical without a top.

 

[Food Scientist]

Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Any of your options are going to be a ton of work. How bad is the cobra?


Body was buckled in the back and totaled by the insurance company.

 

[andyd]

Quick and dirty would be to jack the damage back to straight,paint the damage matte black and install a cage if needed to race in your bracket. An 11 yr old car isnt worth a 5k$ paint job, which is why it was totaled. If it is done cheap, then a salvage title should be no big deal

 

[turtlevette]

Originally Posted By: andyd
Quick and dirty would be to jack the damage back to straight,paint the damage matte black and install a cage if needed to race in your bracket. An 11 yr old car isnt worth a 5k$ paint job, which is why it was totaled. If it is done cheap, then a salvage title should be no big deal


That's where I was headed. Banging some sheet metal might be the quickest and easiest way. A rat rod!

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: turtlevette


I like the cobra replicas but not very practical without a top.

Will the boosted (or even not) mod motors fit into any of the replicas??

 

[Food Scientist]

Yep Factory Five has several cars that accept Ford's mod motors including the blown motors. I want to put my drive train into an older car (older looking at least) and FF are completely bolt together whereas others are too but don't accept mod motors and more importantly the trannys. Older cars can work but it requires quite a bit of knowledge and experience to accept newer engines that I don't have to do it right the first time.

For the donor car the driver door doesn't shut, there is a big gap between the rear side glass and the sheet metal, the trunk won't shut, too much too list. This is why the car was totaled not because of a paint job.

Also I would have this as more as a daily driver and I don't do bracket racing. Manual transmissions and consistent race times don't typically work together.

 

[Cujet]

While I generally don't like many "vintage" cars due to poor chassis rigidity and sub-standard suspension geometry/components, the early Mustang is unique. In that it can be brought up to modern standards without difficulty.

So, my vote is for a '67 Mustang Fastback musclecar/track car.