1979 302 thunderbird please help

Hello I just aquired this car and was seeking some advice as far as some minor performance upgrades, in general I was looking to try to get a little extra power out of the stock 302 which has only 60k I was thinking about mustang shorty headers and dual 40 series flowmaster exhaust along with a cam, gear drive (just for the sound) intake and carb is any of thid worth while as I said I just wanted a little extra cause the stock 302 isnt cutting it and I dont feel like changing out the motor and my budget is limited so please feel free to email me your thoughts and ideas to eddiegeorge262@yahoo.com thanks you.

If you like the car,then it's worth it.I had a '79,and dropped a 351W in it with a few mods.For a heavy car,it ran fairly quick.You can get a lot of power from the 302.The intake,cam,and exhaust is a great start.Use dual exhaust with an h or x pipe.One can be fabbed easily by any good muffler shop.A lot of guys like cars out of the norm (I drive an '88 T-Bird),and it's cool to hhave something different.get after it and get that beast built.Those cars are getting more and more scarce.Nice to see you're keeping one on the road.

when you say alot of power what do you mean I read that the 302 0nly puts out like maybe 140 horse power also with the mods that i listed will i get and gear shifting tire chirping power I realize I will not be getting hundreds of extra horse power I just want the best bang for the buck leaving the stock motor in place thank you

You can get a good set of GT40 cast iron heads for $350-400.00.Those would really help.You can buy a good used 5.0 H.O. complete engine for $400.00 or so,and theres 225 horsepower right there.You can remove the EFI,and install a carb and swap your oil pan on.Those engines on are on E-bay all the time.If you install a good exhaust,a good cam,4bbl carb and intake,you should be doing alright with horsepower,maybe 200 or so.You'll certainly feel it over staock.Get a set of headers,you need to get the exhaust out.