10 Mods That You Need To Do On Your Fox Body 5.0L Mustang

The Fox Body Mustang is the perfect beginner-project car because so many mods can be done to it!

From the 1979 model year to 1993, the Fox Body Mustang was the muscle car offering produced by Ford for the masses of 'Stang lovers. It was not one of the worst designs that the company made for the once beastly car, but for many, it was one of those transition cars that had potential that could just as easily be passed on when they were looking for a fast car. The thing about the Fox Body Mustang is that it was never rated as good as it actually was, simply because of its looks.

Now granted, it did not have any of the signature styling cues that most Mustangs had in the past, and some did not even have the pony emblem on the grill. To top it all off, company engineers wanted to move the Fox Body Mustang towards a Mazda design that switched it from a rear-wheel-drive muscle car to a front-wheel-drive family car. Thankfully, the majority of the people at Ford voted this down. Otherwise, the mighty Mustang today that can compete with the Dodge Challenger and Chevy Corvette would have never even been a thing.

For most muscle car enthusiasts, the base-level Fox Body simply did not have enough power and torque, which is actually a very easy fix. The four-cylinder versions make a great project car if a classic drifting machine is being built, but if a muscle car project car is in the works, the engine that needs to be found under the hood is the 5.0L. Let's check out 10 mods that need to be completed on the Fox Body Mustang that can make the car a performance vehicle once again.

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Upgrading the camshaft alone is not the best way to gain horsepower on the 5.0-liter, so make sure that the other engine mods listed are also completed. Then, match the cam to the rest to ensure everything within the engine works optimally. A new cam can give the engine up to 30 more horsepower than its original 225 horses by optimizing the movement of the valves. So it is imperative to add this modification to one on the to-do list. Even if the Fox Body that is being worked on already has an upgraded engine, it is a step that should never be skipped because no original camshafts were much good for anything except running back and forth to the grocery store.

The production-grade E7 cylinder heads that were designed into the engine of the classic 5.0L engines were not known for power. In fact, they have been linked to being one of the most restrictive parts of the engine, smashing horsepower before it can even begin. It is not suggested to even try and clean them up and install better components inside because it is cheaper and better to throw the E7 heads into the garbage and order some aftermarket heads that match the rest of the internal changes being made. If everything goes together the way it should, a new set of upgraded heads can offer up to 70 more horsepower, which is far better than the maximum of 20 horsepower that can be gained by porting out the original heads.

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Another stock component that needs to be yanked out and thrown aside is the intake manifold that Ford went with when designing the 5.0L Fox Body Mustang. An aftermarket set of heads can offer a 5.0L up to 20 more horsepower. Combined with the perfect camshaft, it can mean some serious loping if a street monster is being built. Otherwise, it can make the engine purr like a kitten and roar like a lion when the accelerator is smashed to the floor if a more subtle combination is installed. This is possible by simply controlling the movement of the valves, allowing the engine to rev higher and accelerate faster.

The 60mm throttle body that the Fox Body Mustang has is just fine for a daily driver. However, once horsepower is added to the engine through any type of engine modification, it must be changed out for an aftermarket throttle body that is no bigger than 75mm. This increase in throttle body size on the Ford will only give the engine a net gain of a couple of horsepower, but the swap is not meant to provide more power. It ensures that the proper amount of air is fed into the engine along with the increased fuel, keeping the air-to-fuel ratio at the perfect levels. This will not only help adjust the amount of air being brought into the system, but it will improve the throttle response, which can be a big issue when launching.

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Fox Body Mustangs are not the easiest to work on under the hood because they were not designed with a large engine compartment. That may be why Ford decided to go with very generic exhaust headers when they built them. In 1986 and 1987, the company installed a different type of header on the stock Fox Body which gave the car a seven horsepower increase, which shows that it is essential to remove the stock versions and replace them with some fast-flow aftermarket versions. They may only offer five extra horsepower or so, but it helps the engine perform better by removing the exhaust fumes quicker, allowing the engine to pump more out faster, and helping acceleration rates by a substantial amount.

One of the easiest ways to create more acceleration off the line is to replace the standard gears in the rear axle. True muscle car builders already understand what this means, but for many, it is just a bunch of numbers thrown at them without much understanding. The bigger the gear ratio, the more acceleration the 5.0L will have, which is why the standard gear ratio for quarter-mile drags is 4.10:1. For every turn of the ring gear, the pinion will turn 10 times. The more the pinion turns per one cycle, the faster the launch will be off the line, as long as it is not too much and causes the tires to light up. In that case, going down a size or two can make a huge difference.

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The Fox platform on which the unibody Fox Mustangs were built was not designed with much torsional rigidness. The production 5.0L will not cause any twisting of the frame, but once mods are completed, and the horsepower begins to increase, the unibody chassis will not hold up. A twisted frame is not something that any performance car builder wants to deal with, so adding subframe connectors is imperative. What this does for the chassis is to attach the front section of the unibody frame to the back section of the unibody. This connection creates a frame that is one piece, which will twist all in one motion when the pedal is hammered.

The classic Ford Mustang is a lot of things, but a good handling performance car was not one of them. The Fox Body 'Stang is famous for being squirrelly in the rear end because the car was designed to have more weight in the front, which is one reason that a few of the designers wanted to make it a front-wheel drive car. This can easily be overcome by upgrading the suspension system. Aftermarket shocks, struts, and springs can help improve the car's stiffness while helping adjust the amount of spring when accelerating or cornering.

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The control arms can be considered part of the suspension upgrade, but they are important enough to bring up n their own. When torque is pushed out from the engine to the rear drive wheels, it can cause some serious twisting on the frame. Removing the production-grade upper and lower control arms and replacing them with stronger aftermarket versions will reduce the twist caused by the torque transference. This mod will help get the power from the engine, through the transmission, and to the drive tires faster without the possibility of twisting the frame when launching.

A muscle car that cannot stop may be great for a quarter mile with some spare room, at least for one good race. The standard drum brakes on the Fox Body Mustang were not designed to stop the car at excessively high speeds, so the system needs to be upgraded to four-wheel disc brakes before even attempting to take it out on the road. If the brake pedal still feels a little loose, the stock brake lines can be swapped out for the braided versions that can help the flow of the brake fluid from the master cylinder.

Chad has been a muscle car and classic truck lover since he could walk. The classic vehicles from the '60s and '70s are the best in his eyes, but he is more than willing to give the new technology a chance!