Plus when the ported heads are put on it will make substantially more hp then 200hp.

$1000 for a 2 - 3 decade old 200 hp motor is not reasonable.

Spend half that and get a carbureted SBC or a SBF. If this is a race car and you're not worried about dialing in a lean AFR at cruise and idle and part throttle, its easy as shit to tune for WOT.

Yes, it's more than I want to pay . . by a lot. I was looking <$400 engine, ecu, harness. Slap on some groovy heads from Guy's builder and call it a day. They're around, just have to keep our eyes open, but I'm not excited about cracking knuckles in a yard to get it into the car and have it go boom. That's the one big upside to LKQ Corp.

I know this is going to sound weird maybe, but what about just getting a new 2.3 block, have Guy's builder port the heads, and put on ghetto turbo setup (like off a SAAB/Volve). Yes some fab would be involved, but it'd be a poor mans SVO and since the power would be rolling on rather than hitting maybe we could get away with the stock trans and diff? Plus it would have "goofy factor". Injectors plus could rebuild the injectors. I'm assuming the ECU can be reflashed. Just a whacky idea. Remember that car as it sits ran fine until it pitched a rod. It is complete as it sits.

Do 5.0s share motor mount spacing with carbed SBFs and BBFs? You guys should find a BB from an old Ford truck, port that puppy and cam it up.

Intriguing. Though this car has to make turns and the Fox is fairly light. A BBF would probably yield something like 60/40 or worse weight distribution. :huh:

We don't have to worry about the cost of the 5.0. Remember, the documentation has to support how much we paid and I have a free '97 Explorer. Who says that the 5.0 we get didn't come from that? We can take pictures of it to show why it was free.

We can also use the carrier with ring and pinion from it along with the disc brakes. It has 3.73 gears which I think is a good ratio for Buttonwillow. The only thing is that Explorers have 31 spline axles and Mustangs have 28.

I have a 289 laying around. If you want it, it's yours. I pulled it out of a 65 Mustang. It ran fine when I pulled it. It just didn't have the power I wanted. You can't beat the price.

Is it a complete engine?

I PM'd a couple of guys about 5.0s they have for sale. One is a complete engine from a '75 F150 (read carb'd) for $100 the other is fuel injected from an F150 (non roller) for $200 and is also complete.