I got that same proble... Too many projects, never enough time and money..

I suspected that the body had evrything stamped for the manual... The biggest problem is the trans.. I'm pushing close 400ft/lb of torque out of the Cougar.. The strongest T-5 (World Class T-5 put into production around 92 I think) was only rated about 300 ft/lbs... If I drove it decent I would probably be fine, but well that probably won;t happen... I think a T-56 woudl be the answer, but for now the auto will do.... I'm kinda anxious to see if I can get the car to handle even better than it already does... Then maybe someday I'll put a nice paint job on it, although the peeling clear coat look makes people think it's a piece of crap at red lights...

I'm using an A9L computer on my Cougar (89-93 5.0 Mustang) With that one all I have to do is have a MAF calibrated for the larger injectors and It's good to go... I think the early 4.6 computers like on your Cougar will work the same way but I'm not 100% sure on that.. Haven;t dabled with that aspect on the 4.6 cars too much yet, I do know that they use the same MAF.. I think you'd probably be okay with 30lb (red top) injectors for 500hp unless you have plans of some variety of forced induction....

The speed limiter is completely integral with the ECU.. Even my old A9L from the 93 Mustang has one, but it allows me 120mph... The ECU uses the speed sensor for shifting the AODE/4R70w trans, the damned speed limiter, and allegedly helps with some of the basic running of the engine.. With my speed sensor disconneted from the ECU the Cougar idles and accelerates differently so it must do something.. Never tried it on either of the T-Birds since they both had a 4R70w trans and need it to shift... The injectors always have battery voltage going to the one side whenever the key is on, the ECU grounds them to make the fire... But if the ECU sees a speed over the set limit it will stop grounding them until the speed drops..

As far as your U-joints, do you ever notice any vibrations?? Possibly not the way these cars a built... Apparently that was some of the reasoning for the speed limiter.. They just weren;t balanced for high speeds.. This was the problem back in '92 and part of '93 on the Crown Vic police cars.. They had U-joints flying right and left.. Ultimately they revised the drive shaft to a once piece tube that was balanced better and limited the speed on them to 140mph..