give me an honest answer

[merkman86]

alright guys, im going for the H.O. convo on my merk, and i need your honest opinions. is it a pretty simple conversion that a 16 year old and his dad with quite a bit of knowledge on cars could do in a season(besides the cams)? is it worth the 4-500 dollars i'll be spending on H.O. parts, shift kit, and ring and pinion?

[91LTDProject]

Its a vast improvement over stock, thats for sure. I'm doing an H.O conversion on a car right now, still in the parts gathering stage mind you. Theres some things you have to modify (throttle linkages need to be swapped, bore out the egr spacer) you have to decide whether your keeping all the emissions equipment and A/C stuff. I guess you could call it fairly involved, since your stripping the engine down to nothing but the block and whats inside it, then putting all the mustang parts back on, but for a mechanically minded person with some knowledge of cars and how they work should be able to handle it. Check out the stickied thread by MRLTD, he's the main H.O conversion guy around here, and really knows his stuff. Also, as I make progress on my 1990 Crown Vic, I'll be posting pictures of everything I do/modify, so check out my cardomain page at the bottom of my signature. Good luck.

[Blaze86Vic]

If yyou spend 400-500 on everything, you will have the bargain of the century! You know how many people would pony up 5 times that to lose about 3 seconds in the 1/4 mile?

My father and I did the install in my Vic in 4 weeks after work. And he used the 94-95 intake so there was a lot of time spent on accessory, cable, and wire relocation relocation. With all the help you will have here it should be easy.

[merkman86]

oh i cant wait!!! yeah i alredy bought the camshaft and heads for 100, intake, tb, injectors and computer for 100 bucks as well. 3.55 gears bout 150 and i still might need truetrac, i havent checked out what my rear end has in it yet a shift kit will run me bout 100, maybe less. yup thats about 500 bucks!

[Blaze86Vic]

If you go for the TruTrac, bear in ming that's a $350-$400 part. And you won't find it used, since it's an aftermarket upgrade. You can get a factory style limited slip in the $70-90 range after you get a rebuild kit.

[merkman86]

oh, did i say true trac, i meant trac-lok. ive seen a new one for round 200 bucks. ive got bout 1500 saved up for my merk.

[Blaze86Vic]

Go ahead and get a used one, and get a rebuild kit. They really aren't worth the cost new. If you're gonna spend 200 on a diff, go with an Eaton or something a little better than a OEM diff.

[merkman86]

alright well first i have to see what i have in my merk, i might even have one already. by the way, how do the prices i paid on the H.O. parts i bought sound? they have bout 70k miles on em, no wear, no sludge! i might rebuild the heads just for craps and giggles

[Blaze86Vic]

Pretty good. You could have picked up the 3.55s a little cheaper if those are used. New that's a great price. But overall your got a good deal man.

[merkman86]

good to here it and of course i'll need headers, valve covers, dual exhaust, some new paint and a vinyl top!

[Mercmarquis]

I think you can do it for sure. I pulled off the carb conversion and cam swap on my 85 merk when I was 16, got it done and running in a week too. You'll learn alot doing this too. I say go for it, if you run into trouble we are here to help you out.

Cool to see some more young guns like me jumping in and doing some cool things. Good luck mang!

[DuceAnAHalf]

I swapped out my E7 heads for the GT-40s in about 4 hours with a second person.

[Tiggie]

If your dad has had some experience with cars, I think you'll be okay on the engine and tranny part. It will be a great learning experience for you!

The rear axle can be a little bit picky when you change the ring and pinion, if you don't get everything back in there right you'll end up with a noisy rear end or worse.


Sounds like you did pretty good on your parts. I've been looking around locally for an HO cam with less than a billion miles on it, but I've had no luck so far.


You should go slicktop (i.e. no vinyl top) when you paint it!

[merkman86]

thanks man!!! yeah i just want to get it done before my senior year next year. im starting on it next month probly. do u think that 6 months is enough time to take out the engine for mods, rings, bearings, and seals, getting springs and shocks installed, installing new diff w/ 3.55s, and painting it? im painting it white so it wont be too difficult to make it look decent.

[merkman86]

and im definately keeping the vinyl, i like it way too much, plus im goin for the stock look, people will think im am old lady getting her groceries, until they smell the tires cookin as i leave em in the dust! it will be pricey i know, but worth it.