importsmasher

I just picked up an 89 5.0 engine to put into my wife's 66 Mustang. I have all of the parts to convert the car to a V8 (mounts, springs, rear axle, front disc brakes, etc.), but are there any special issues with putting the later engine in? I will be putting a T5 behind it. I have all of the sensors/wiring, and I am aware that I will have to do something about fuel delivery, but will the oil pan clear? If not, will the oil pan from a 66 289 I have laying around fit? This engine has headers on it, will they fit the early chassis? Anything else I should be aware of? Thanks in advance for any help!
Importsmasher

Colorado_Mustang

Change the oil pan and the headers. The headers may clear, but I have doubts.

dsrt

The guy I bought my 65 off of, put in an '84 5.0 from a mustang. He was saying that the headers were a real pain. It does have headers on it now, but I didn't think to ask if they were the same ones or if he'd changed them out.

rmodel65

need the 65-73 mustang style front sump pan/pump and pick up. sorry the 5.0 headers dont fit

gothand

I'm pretty sure the oil pump is the same and you just bolt onthe front sump pickup as mentioned above. It has been 10 years since I swapped a Fox body engine into a '65 but I don't remember changing the pump.

Also, make life easy on yourself and get the bellhousing and clutch lever from the donor vehicle as well and then convert to a cable or hydraulic clutch setup. Not only do all the early clutch parts add up, your left leg will be much happier with the diaphragm pressure plate used in the late model vehicles. Those high performance long style plates can be quite a workout and are a lot harder on the clutch components. After bending 2 z-bars, I finally had to beef up the third.

Good luck.

importsmasher

Thanks for the information. I have a set of 66 exhaust manifolds, how much will they hurt power if I use them? Unfortunately, the donor car's transmission, bellhousing and flywheel were already gone. How difficult is it to put a clutch cable or hydraulic clutch on the early car?
Importsmasher

gothand

I've only done one cable conversion and that is on my current project which hasn't been started. I went with the Mustang Steve conversion because it uses an off the shelf Mustang cable and more closely mimics the geometrics of the late model setup. Additionally, it can be adjusted from down below as well as being fine tuned up above by the cowl. I took my time doing it and still had it installed in three hours or so. You will have to weld the cable quadrant to the top of your pedal assembly or buy one from him already installed. Also, he has a clutch cable/power brake/new pedal assembly conversion for $500.

As for the exhaust manifolds, I don't have a number on how restrictive they will be. If you're on a budget, I think I'd try to get some Hedman shortys for less than $150 from Summit Racing. Don't forget that you'll have to deal with the O2 sensor, though you can probably put it into the pipe after the header. I'm getting out of my league here so I'll let others who have done the swap chime in.

Good luck!

grruminator78

or if you want you could go with the hi-po manifolds, but if you're going to spend the money on those you might as well get some headers.

importsmasher

Again, thanks everyone. I am at heart a Pontiac guy (this is my wife's Mustang), so I am not that familiar with Ford parts interchangeability. I understand the concept of using a cable or hydraulic clutch, but seeing that I currently have a bellhousing from a 68 (or so), can I just use the early clutch linkage with the T5? I am on a very tight budget, so I need to conserve costs wherever I can, but I still want to do this right.

Colorado_Mustang

I think you'll need an adapter to get the T5 to fit with the stock bell housing. The FAQ has a how-to on that particular tranny conversion. I believe the T5 has a longer input shaft.

There are also cable clutch kits you can buy for the classics. Check out www.mustangsplus.com and look around on their site for such kits.