Hey Guys,
Just a couple of quick questions. My father passed down to me his 66' Mustang that he had restored to original condition back in 1982 and now its my car and needs to be overhauled so to speak. It has the 289 v8 that I believe is putting out roughly around 200-210 hp. My question is what type of hp #s will I be looking at if I do the following changes...
- change to the dual exhaust
- go from stock 2 barrel carb to after-market 4 barrel
- go with aftermarket MSD ignition

Are there any other 'bolt ons' that can add to the hp/torque to the car that I have not considered?

Will the stock 3 speed manual tranny be able to handle the new power of the mods?

I know this is not a car forum, but its the forum I visit the most and I know we have some good mechanics on here....thanks for your replies and advice[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Dirthead

 

I had a 69, and i know ford didnt make any motors that put out more than 1hp per ci. A 302 put out 220 horse with the 4bbl.
If it was the top 289 with mechanical lifters and 4 bbl stock, it might have had 170 horse. But seeing how its the economy 3 speed, and 2 bbl....id think 150 max.
The 3 speed will probably survive, if you dont put out much more hp, but id be concerned about the rear end too..its gonna be a non posi, probably an 8 inch, and it wont take alot of abuse.
You make hp the same way you make in with quads. Free up the breathing, both intake and exhaust, and then jet it properly. If you need more, then a cam would be next...and if thats not enough, a 351 winsor, bored and stroked to 406, would be a good route.
If you are concerned at all, about resale value, leave it totally stock. Itll never be worth as much as it will, being totally stock and restored.

 

Thnx for the reply, Im not concerned about resale value as I will never sale it. The car has been in my family since it was new and I will keep it that way. I dont want to swap engines or go into the stock engine Im just looking to see what I will get by changing a few of the basics so to speak. Your hp#s seem on the low side are you saying this was at the rear wheels as I have seen in several publications that the base 289 w/2 barrel carb should be at 200hp in stock form, I could see 150-170 at the rear wheels but not from the crank.

hp specs http://www.theautochannel.com/vehicl...f66mcont.frame

 

mustange
According to this article, the gt version, with solid can and 4bbl carb, was 271 at the crank and maybe 200 at the wheel. So the 2bl version with mild cam, is proably 150 at the wheels...which is the only true way to measure hp. If its not connected to a load, the figures dont mean anything...a car has to have the drivetrain.
Adding a free breathing intake, putting on headers, and going to a 4bbl carb, and bumping up the cam, to a more performance grind, and having a shift kit installed in the tranny to tighten up the shifts and raise the pressure, should go a long way. If you realy want to bump the hp, change out the heads to the modern aluminum gt heads, and itll scream.
Dont go too big on the carb size, 500cfm should be more than enough, and yet will still keep the velosity high enough to keep the low end torque. Most people go too big on the carb, and loose all the low end torque because of that.
You may want to eliminate the point style ignition as well. A good reliable, and factory way to do this, is to get the distributor and box, out of a Granada from the mid 70s, that had a 302. I think its a duraspark II, and just bolts right in, you just need to run a couple of new wires for the pickup coil. There was an old article in car craft which explained how to do this, and was really simple, cheap, and allowed me to open up the spark plug gap and get better milage and power, and i didnt have to hassle with the points every 3 months. Every thing looks factory on this...because it is all ford. I got mine from a junk yard, and then i pulled out the proper connectors and wiring, from the donor car too, so it looked all stock.

 

Dirthead,

Your 66 has a 200 horse 289. Don't worry about busting your 3 speed as you will have to really beat on it to do that. Best bet for your dollar is a good dual-plane aluminum intake like an Edelbrock performer, stay away from the single plane manifolds as they don't wake up till 3000. Get either a 600 Holley vacuum secondary or better yet a 625 Carter or the Edelbrock spread bore which is a Carter knock off, they have smaller primary venturis for better low end.

Get a decent set of tuned headers, not the shorties like the newer Stangs run. Have any good muffler shop stick on some 2 1/4" exhaust.

Now order yourself a Petronix electronic ignition conversion. They're only about a hundred bucks and they install very easily into your stock distributor. Never have to monkey with points again, and you'll have much better spark. Along with this get yourself an adjustable vacuum advance kit from Crane and follow the directions to install, pretty easy. Do it right and you'll have a good spark curve and really helps your bottom end which a 289 really needs.

You do this stuff it'll seem like a different car. Your next step from here once you get settled in is to pick up a good cam, pull the heads and have someone who knows what they're doing port your exhaust ports which are very restricted, and throw that 3 speed away for a good 4 speed.

Your stang is a great platform to play with, and your 289 can be made to run surprisingly well without breaking the bank. I've been messing with those motors since the 70's. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

a single plane carb with a good solid lifter flat tappet cam with a 600 cfm. carb would imo work good on that high revin little motor. go with more converter too. the stall on mine is about 3800,but flashes to 4800 .......wow what a rush !!! 2.25 is probably a good exhaust size for it,2.5 may be a little large for duals. the msd will do nothing for your particular application,just go with an hei like stated above. what gear ratio you got? gears are the biggest bang for the buck as far as im concerned.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Thanks for the input guys, this is what I was looking for in info!

 

I totally agree with the other poster's suggestions. Do not overlook the gearing suggestion. It makes a huge difference and is not all that expensive to have installed.

 

intake, exhaust, head work or heads, tranny, converter, 373 rearend, and your off. but, what i found that i really like, is the dash board dino. a great program that allows you to experiment on an engine while sitting at a puter swapping out parts. you would be surprised on what will add power, and what could take it away! found that out the hard way a few times, but not anymore! look into the software, worth every dime!

 

I'm not a Furd expert but here is my .02

I don't think a stock 289 will gain much hp just by adding a 4bbl carb and duel exhaust. A 600cfm carb is probly too big for it although you can tune the secondary's on a Holley to match the engine displacement.

My recomendation is a 500 cfm Holley 2bbl! #4412, You may need to add some sort of thicker intake gasket so that the 50cc accl pump won't hit the intake and possibly need to raise the carb enough so that the butterfly's wont hit the OE 2bbl intake holes.

But the bolt pattern where it bolts is the same.

Just an idea anyway.