Donor or New driveline?

[Chris Wingardh]

Hello folks, great forum here, I am a new guy trying to figure out which way to go. Would like to do the truck, but the driveline is not cheap, is it worth it (time and $$) to buy a Mustang and tear it down, then trying to part the rest out to recoup some $?
Or trying to find the stuff at a salvage yard? Or just bite the bullit and buy new stuff? Opinions and suggestions please.

Thanks,

Chris in SRQ

[House Money]

Welcome to the forum Chris, I think you will find this to be a valuable resource for your potential build. I think there are many answers to your questions! I think that first you need to determine your vision or your plan for the build, next of course is your budget!!

For me the budget was not really a limiting factor, and my vision was basically a new vehicle that looked old! To that end I selected the Barrett-Jackson special edition 35 truck as it included almost every option FFR offered in one package. And to power it I went with a GM connect & cruise 525 HP LS3 and 4L75E auto trans. The truck was about $35K and the engine/trans was about $17K, so not exactly a budget build!! But, it fit my vision as well as my budget.

I hope to see you start a build thread soon!!

Gary

[Chris Wingardh]

Thank you Gary, great info. I will post my desicions as they happens.

Chris

[ztoolman44]

I am trying to do a budget build and went the donor route. Be aware that you need the rear end from a late model car. I had to sell the one from my donor and then buy a newer one from the wrecking yard. I traded the left over mustang carcass to a local wrecking yard for future credit. I am building mine to drive as much as possible, not a show truck so I am leaning toward reliability not top horsepower and shiny stuff.

You can definitely save money using donor stuff but if you want a real fancy show truck and redo every part you likely will not save as much as you think vs buying new.

I don't count my time into the cost analysis either since this is just a hobby project. Time is money though and that needs to be figured in as well. The time and materials involved to refurbish something add up. For example, I rebuilt the donor calipers recently. Difficult to give them a start value since I bought the whole car but then add the cost of pistons, seals, paint, sand paper, masking tape, brake cleaner, plus an couple hours labor and I bet I could've bought brand new calipers for maybe $20 and had them delivered. lol. On the flip side though, I got a low mileage 5.0 that I can just re gasket and drive for a reasonable price.

Good luck either way.

[GoDadGo]

Taco Joe did a great job keeping the dollars down on his build so check out his Youtube Channel.

https://www.youtube.com/c/TacoJoe/videos

Good Luck, Welcome Aboard & Happy Wrenching!

[Pat Landymore]

I built my own driveline for my ‘35...basically that’s the third option.

Mind you my choice of driveline is more extreme than the average in the HP department.

But it was built far cheaper than a cookie cutter *****print engine and XYZ transmission, plus a Bob and Dougs Turbo system (Canadians should get the joke!) ...etc etc . True, I could end up blowing it up...but...I’d learn some things along the way. 😁

I think everyone should be allowed to choose their own journey and not be judged for doing so....because every hot Rod that is built is a cool hot Rod to the person that built it!! Done deal.

In truth...:
The least expensive hot Rod I’ve ever built was when I purchased a big block Chev 3/4 ton, plopped a cam and intake on the engine, then swapped all of it into a 1979 Firebird ‘Bluebird’ version. Still one of the best value and most fun cars I’ve ever built in my 40+ years of hot rodding.

My 2 cents.
Cheers 🍻
Pat

[FLFrank35]

Hi Chris,

I was originally looking for an antique vehicle to have fun with around town on the weekends. As a DIYer I am mechanically inclined but not a mechanic. I've replaced components on cars, lawn equipment, boats, etc. but I've never taken on major automotive work and the idea of scrounging around and trying to find good parts didn't sound like fun to me. One of the draws of the kit is that all of the parts are new. I did not want to spend a lot of time searching for, and fitting salvaged parts, instead of building the kit.

As far as the engine/trans, I am not as knowledgeable as a lot of guys, as to power, size, fitment, etc. so I just bit the bullet and bought from BluePrint and Performance Automatic so I am starting with all new stuff that will work/fit with the kit.

As you'll find out, the people on this forum are very helpful; I've had a lot of questions answered on it.
Hope this helped.
Welcome, and good luck!

Frank

[Papa]

There are certainly a lot of options out there, and for me it really boiled down to my skill set. I didn't want to spend the time and money learning how to build an engine. In this area, learning can be expensive if you make a mistake along the way. I also wanted the look of a push-rod engine, so finding something in a wrecking yard may have been possible, but not how I wanted to go with my envisioned end-product. A crate engine was what worked best for me. So, to answer your question, you need to weigh the pros/cons against your budget and skills and figure out the right answer for "you". We'll all be happy to tell you what we did and why, but the final choice is yours. Just be sure you understand the factors before venturing down any of the possible paths and have fun!