Going in a straight line is fun and all but..

[Mach1]

what would be the first thing to buy that cost up to 1k to make turning/traction better?

springs and shocks/struts i'd say, koni single adj and some good springs, CC plates

[Damnittsteve]

what he said, for 1k you can get a full kmember kit and some springs/shocks for the rear.

[Damnittsteve]

josh. subframe connectors should be your first purchase. jim can make you some, he owed me a pair.

[Wish4svts]

what would be the first thing to buy that cost up to 1k to make turning/traction better?

What springs are on the car right now?

[Damnittsteve]

stock

[garycrist]

IMHO sub-frame first.

If the car still drives, tape a stick to the head-rest/ seat -back of both seats so that the sticks almost touch.
Now drive the car around (corners and the like) and safely observe the distance movement between the 2 sticks.
If the floor pan is cracked under the seats etc. and you are horrified by the amount of movement observed, enough said...

[91CoupeMike]

Just don't worry about it:

[Josh.0]

What springs are on the car right now?

stock stuff all around accept for upper and lower control arms

[Hobie]

If the budget is tight and you're looking for big gains;

subframe connectors
Caster/camber plates
decent shocks/struts - bilstein/koni/tokico, doesn't have to be adjustable
front coil-over kit
panhard bar
replace the bushings in the front a-arms and both ends of the lower control arms
bumpsteer kit.
Once you have the panhard you can run the poor-man's three link. PM3L - but I'll let you google that one for yourself before you call me crazy. Click on the links from corner-carvers.

To improve the steering feel of the car. trim the spring inside the power steering pump, inside where the pressure hose bolts on, behind the piston, to 7/8" in length. FREE - can do this with the pump still installed too. Will help to get rid of the "over-boosted" feel of Mustang steering.
To further enhance this you can also underdrive the pump with the p/s pulley from a 3.8 Thunderbird.
You can also run an sn-95 steering rack, will need to use fox inner/outer tie-rods.
You can cut the rag joint off the stock steering shaft and weld on a u-joint. They are all over ebay and flaming river makes some for under $75. Of course you can buy the MM version for 225-250 if you don't have access to a welder.
Solid rack bushings

The brakes/wheels/tires will be the limiting factor at that point. 17" 96-98 GT wheels are the lightest OEM 17's for when you go 5 lug and they are cheap to pick up. Shouldn't give you as many fitment issues in your 85/86 fenders as a 17x9 R wheel would.

As for brakes/5-lug you'll want 94/95 front spindles (96+ will push the front wheels out wider and you'll run into funky fitment/appearance issues) , 13" sn95 cobra rotors, and 99-04 GT front calipers. They are aluminum PBRs and cheap. Rear sn95 disc w/fox length axles will do. You'll need to change the booster/master so the pedal doesn't feel like shit and you don't lose braking performance.

Rock auto/junkyards/craigslist will be your friend for the OEM parts.

At this point the car will be far more capable than you will be as a driver.



Going even further the next steps would be rear coil-overs, MM lower control arms, an MM torque-arm, MM tubular k-member and a-arms, 03-04 Cobra rack which requires a hybrid sn-95 steering shaft. 00R brembo calipers, two piece rotors, MM rear sway bar, minimum of 95 Cobra R's to clear the 00R calipers (yes, they clear) - skipping over a few small odds and ends, but that's the gist.



If the budget is REALLY tight I think you'll see the biggest gains in performance and driver feedback by modding and underdriving the pump, getting fresh bushings in your control arms, solid rack bushings, DIY steering shaft mod, subframe connectors, caster/camber plates, front coil-overs w/decent shocks all around. You can run a random set of used rear lowering springs. 5-lug it with the ranger axle/drums/lincoln rotors, aforementioned 17's, good pads, stainless lines, good fluid. Ought to be able to pull that together for about $2500 depending on what you can score the wheels/5-lug/rear springs/p-s pulley for.

EDIT - I was thinking of 5-lug to get 17" wheels and better tire choices. If you were to go for the last option above you might as well stay 4-lug and try to find some used 17" ford replica 4 lug wheels.

[Venom]

That's good shit Hobie. Thanks.

[Chas_svo]

Hobie's advice sounds good, other than I'd go Cobra IRS rather than trying to make a solid rear corner...and I started with an SVO.

[jw33]

Here you go...

http://dfwmustangs.net/class/showproduct.php?product=10614&title=nib-maximum-motorsports-torque-arm-2c-1979-04-mustang-2c-8-8-26quot-3b-axle-2c-heavy-duty&cat=12

http://dfwmustangs.net/class/showproduct.php?product=10613&title=nib-maximum-motorsports-xd-rear-lower-control-arms-2c-1979-98&cat=12

[Josh.0]

Awesome Hobie, that gives me somewhere to start

[bjtheman1]

Lower Control Arms & an Adjustable Panhard Bar were 2 of the best mods I've ever done. For under $250 as well!

[carbd89sleeper]

Just save your $$ for the STI josh........