looking to mod an 84 or 85 SE, keep it street legal (emissions testing) in order to rack up kills of stangs, cobras or t/a's. Is it possible? what mods are rec. I figure streetport plus single turbo. is this enough.
( i work with a bunch of v8 luvin mustang and bowtie guys)

 

of course its possible. but would you really want to? we all know that detroit iron is still good for some purposes. But yeah actually go ahead and kill it, take out the interior, lighten up the car some more(HA!) make sure you got that 13b. As for engine mods the FAQ is a good place.

 

A carb conversion, header and exhaust and a blow through turbo setup should easily get you low 13 second et's (wich should be competitive with moded mustangs on street tires)

Budget about $3500 or less if your handy with stuff like this.

 

You may be able to run with a stock Mustang or F-Body with a highly modded GSL-SE, but you probably won't run a slightly modded pony. I had an LS1 T/A with cold air induction and an aftermarket exhaust - and I didn't even bother with the imports.

Don't get me wrong - I'm on my 5th RX and sold my T/A for my current FB. I love RX's. But it hard to beat brute cubic inches when it comes to drag racing...

 

Oh yeah, you need to keep it smog legal.
Maybee you should look into a Turbo 2 swap.

 

turbo 2 swap. do you mean an engine and turbo pull from an 88-91 2nd gen? i want to keep the car interior wise and 'comfort" wise as close to showroom as possible - a true sleeper.

 

Yup, the 13B turbo form the '87 -'92 Turbo 2

search the forum and you will find a wealth of info, as many people on here have done this very swap.

 

isn't the 88-91 turbo motor set-up only rated at 180 Hp or so? I figure I wound need about 250 -300, or maybe thats just 'what I want'.

 

180 is correct for 87-88, I belive they went to an even 200 after that, but remember these are stock figures.
With bolt on mods and a little more boost you should be able to get 250-275 smog legal HP

 

cool i'll search, any idea of cost? or rot perf shops in ATL GA

 

The stock TII computer is limited to around 280hp without some sort of piggyback and larger injectors. Otherwise you will run lean and "pop goes the weesle".

I think a blow-through carb setup would probably be your best bet for a "fairly" cheap setup. You can make just as much power then EFI for less cost with a sacrifice of MPG and drivability.

Also you need to factor in a few things here. If you are talking about building up a FB with those kind of specs your drivetrain will not take the abuse. The Clutch will DEFINATLY need to be addressed along with the tranny. The differintial will hold up for awhile but hard high power launches will bring it to its knees real quick.

Overall, You are talking about some $$$ here. Taking a stock 100hp car and making a beast takes time, tools, cash, and most importantly,...know how.

Good luck and do lots of research

 

The rear ends can handle up to 400 hp so I hear. Some have even run 500 hp on them, but I don't know if it would hold up to that for very long. The stock tranny craps out at 250 hp though. You have to upgrade to a TII tranny if you want more power than that. You would need at the very least a HD clutch and pressure plate.