Hey all,

I'm new around here. A little about me, I'm from Kentucky and I am going to school right now for Automotive Technology. I'm getting ready to graduate soon and I have a special project in mind:

I've got a Red 1967 Mustang Fastback 289 that is in fairly decent shape. Its been stored in my families shop for years. The only things that it needs is an engine rebuild, tires, and a good cleaning. This car was my late mothers first car. From what I understand, she had this car given to her by her parents in 1968 as a first car. She kept it all these years. It is far too nice of a car to stay in that storage room for the rest of time! I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow of the car. Let me warn you its dirty!

I dont have much experience with the Mustang. So, I've got a few questions...I'm not really concerned about everything being "original" because I'm pretty sure that the engine parts aren't original.

The car is an automatic. How is the performance of the automatic transmission compared to the manual power wise?

What are the automatic and manual transmissions? (names, speeds, etc)

Is it difficult to acquire quality engine parts for these cars? Where would be a good place to start looking?

If there are any "modded" 289s, what type of modification and what kind of numbers do you put down? (Quarter mile, horsepower, torque.)

Red67Fastback

 

welcome and the best of luck. auto is c-4 most have it. theres a 3 speed for v8 thats standard and strong and then theres bulletproof 4 speed toploader. engine wise you can entirely rebuild the negine from summit racing. there is a lot of stuff. cast, forged, aluminum heads, healthy bumpsticks and stoker cranks. you can get a wide variety of crate engines that fit. endless possibilities. mild rebuilds you wont get neck snapping but that can be had for a little more. you could always drop in a stroker 392(originally a 351 windsor) and tremec tko 600 and go drop twelves in your 67

get a mustang monthly subscription and go to their site. you will learn a lot about your car. you can use the faq section here and post like crazy, we will answer back

 

i have a mental block for spelling tonight. year one will have all restoration needs. national parts depot, mustangs plus mustangs unlimited etc. order their free catalogs. if you need sheetmetal go ford tooling please it will make your life easier. now go out and have some fun with that thing

 

These cars might be have the most plentiful parts market out there...for american cars at least....bottom line.....u will have zero trouble finding engine parts for a small block ford.

the C4 3-spd automatic is alright....not really a performance oriented tranny but its pretty strong. They can be built up to be pretty stout though, for sure.

the 3 or 4 spd manuals are similar to the charicteristics of the C4 as far as i know....fairly strong, simple and not a real race tranny stock....



The best choice is getting like a Tremec T5 5-spd.....overdrive - lower rpms, strong enough for your small block, better gas mileage....etc.


summitracing.com

jegs.com

are some huge parts places, good for engine parts and other running gear but if you need parts other than engine stuff theres about a million classic mustang parts stores out there...

do a google search of it....


one of the biggest one of these is...

mustangsplus.com

 

shifty, links tab didnt work for you either?

 

Hello Red......and welcome to the classic section of MF. If I were you, I would drain all the fluids including the gas tank, brake lines, coolant, oil, Type F tranny fluid, etc. and replace with fresh. Change the air and gas filters too. Get her lubricated and put some penetrating oil in the spark plug holes. Let that sit over night, then manually turn the engine over to make sure the pistons aren't frozen. If she turns over, then go ahead and crank her to see if you can get her started. If you can, then take her around the block to see how she reacts. If everythig is copasthetic, then clean her up and enjoy the ride. You can always add performance upgrades later. and you can take your time doing that while you have fun driving it.

 

Did you learn Carbs in school? I ask because they dropped carbs from the place I went way back in 98. Few Votech schools are teaching people how to do GOOD carb work, because most technicians wont ever see a carb.

Get some books on carbs, if you want to do something with the old stang, you will be alot better off with that knowledge. The engine in your moms car is pretty much the same as a 5.0L Ford, a few differences but the same basic castings and architecture.

Do you want a driver? Do you want it to be a toy? What do you intend to do with it once its running? You need a plan before you start buying parts, or at least an idea of what you want it to be.

Modifying cars is different from repairing cars. When you change one thing, such as a cam for instance, you need to change other things. Like springs, locks, retainers, pushrods, maybe flycut the pistons. Its not all plug and play like bolting factory stuff back together. I have known alot of techs who could fix anything fast, as long as it was stock. Throw a differnt set of heads on it, that need longer pushrods and they get lost. Lower the car and change the wheels and they cant figure out an alignment.

Just lettin ya know, and good luck with the workin on cars for a living. Its a rewarding job, but can also be a tough one. Plan ahead for November to April, that is the slow time. Everyone is saving for Christmas, and then after they get the tax return, the cars flood back in the shops.

 

Thanks guys! You've all been a huge help!

Ive learned something new today about the car. Everything is original with matching numbers on the block and transmission! I thought that the engine was different but turns out its not.

Thumpin: I have very limited experience with carbs in school. There is one guy in my class that knew quite a bit about carbs. I could get him to help me out. As far as what Im going do to with this car I do not want a daily driver. Simply because where I live there are fairly bad roads and "coal trucks." For those of you that arent lucky enough to have coal trucks in your area you've got it easy (18 wheeler truck that hauls coal and there is always crap flying out of it hitting your car.) If I had to sum it up I would say I want a car that I can clean up really nice, maybe take to a drag strip, car show, or drive around on a beautiful weekend.

Oh yes. I know all about the modification process. I come from a different school than the Mustang. Im coming from the import side of modding (hope you guys dont kill me LOL.) I have a 2000 Toyota Celica GT-S with some mods. But, that car isnt near as fast as Id like to be, it handles well and looks pretty good. But, thats about it. Hence, that is one of the big reasons I want to learn about this car.

I went down to the shop this morning and got some pictures. So, heres what Im going to be working with:















Here is my Celica GT-S (I know its no Mustang) but Ive been working on this one for about three years. Thought you guys would like to see. Its a daily driver as well. The car is a 2000 Toyota Celica GT-S 1.8 litre DOHC VVTL-i (Variable Valve Timing with Lift and intelligence) 180 Horsepower at 7,800 RPM.

Thanks so much for your help you all. Ive learned so much in the last day its not even funny!

Red67Fastback

 

180@7800? Yeah you get the fastback runnin and you will see a big difference... Its something called TORQUE... Making changes on these old cars is a bit more involved than swappin a CAI, Catback, and bolt ons onto a new car. Eh you will see what I mean when you get into it..

Welcome to the light side, sans fart cans... [8D]

 

Foprgot to add... That fastback is beautiful... looks like it needs some detailing and elbow grease, a fluid change like Soaring mentioned and its up and runnin.. Its like lookin at a time machine.