pastfast125

I'm lookin at gettin a local 66 mustang coupe. Has a stock 289 and 3spd manual trans. What will this car run in the 1/4? What's the stock rear end 2.72? What would it run if I bumped em to 3.73, cam, intake and headers? I know it's hard to say, I'm just curious as to what this car will be capable of. Thanks, and sorry, I'm sure you've heard that question a million times.

THUMPIN455

Depends entirely on what cam and intake you chose. Had a buddy with a 66, 289 4 speed, headers, 4.11 gears and he was getting low 15s from it. My 67 with a 2v 289 auto and 3.00 rear end would run the 1/4 in the mid to low 16 range. With the right parts, 13s and even 12s from a 289 isnt terribly difficult, but it isnt exactly cheap either. Not that its like running 9s or anything, but it will cost a bit more than just getting 14s out of it. Do you want to go drag racing or just have some fun, because there is a big difference in the two.

Superfolous information, but fun and kinda pertinent..

Gears make a difference, know a guy who had a 302 in a Maverick, he had 26" slicks and 4.30 gears in it and it ran 12.80s. I lined up with him during time trials with my 12.1 tune. He absolutely left me untill just before the 1/8th mile, then i motored right past him like he let off the gas. i think he was trapping like 103 and I was getting 110-114 from mine. I had 4.11 gears and 29" slicks, he was also turning more RPM than me, I was shifting at 5800 he was shifting at almost 7000. Asked why he didnt go to a lower gear or taller tire, he said it would kill his 60ft. Well sure but it would pick up the ET and MPH for sure... Its not like he was extremely consistent with it, he was all over the place for a bracket car. I dunno about some people..

pastfast125

what'r we talkin to get into the 12's? Porting or new heads? forged internals and then run higher rpms?

65 coupe

To get into the twelves you would need more compression, new heads(AFR's are the best), new intake, carb, headers and full exhaust, gears and posi, drag radials

Soaring

To answer your original question. My 65 is original with a 289 3 speed manual. I doubt it will even see the 15's in the quarter. If you want to beef up that original to faster quarter mile speeds, you need to work on things other than the engine first. The suspension, sub-frame connectors, brakes, anti-sway bars, wheels, transmission and rear gears have to be upgraded first. Once you get that car safe, then consider completely rebuilding the engine with a race ready engine. Either have a machine shop do it, or replace it with a crate engine capable of running the numbers you wish. Horsepower costs a lot of money. Just putting in a performance engine in an old Mustang spells trouble.

pastfast125

I didn't wanna start a new post for a dumb question so here it is. How terrible would my gas mileage be if I had a 460 in the mustang? My uncle has an old farm truck with a 460 and 5spd sittin around that I could get the stuff out of. My guess is I would get like 10 mpg lol, and that isn't any better than my truck, and that's what I set out for is slightly better gas mileage than my truck. OK, stupid question over

Soaring

Good Luck on stuffing that 460 in the engine bay of a '65.

Clu7ch

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lemme know how that works out for ya!!! I bet it'll be quick as greased lightning!!

Oh, boy, My ribs hurt now!

Maybe if you spend loads of money and situate it a few inches higher than the normal engine would sit (you'd have to run without a hood tho) and still be able to make a decently straight line thru the tranny and back to the pumpkin, you might have a chance of getting it to work. You'll prolly end up breaking something on the ca, if not a hand or foot first though.

Simple put, a 351 is the biggest you can shoehorn into that engine bay. I don't remember which is wider the Windsor or the Cleavland(SP), but both can fit, the wider with a little more massaging of the towers.

I would leave the 289 in there or maybe sell me the 289 and go with a 302 with a mild stroke and bore.

pastfast125

oh, lol...well hey I figured it was worth a shot What are popular mods to do to the 289? Can ya stroke em or anything?

Clu7ch

You can do tons of stuff to 'em, kinda like the 302's. Cam's, stroker kits, heads, internals, S/C's, nitrous (as long as the guts of the motor have been upgraded).

As far as popular mods, I dunno. Anything that adds hp or tq would be popular as a mod, unless you wanna find a way to make it more gas efficient.

Personally, I ported 289 with a 3 (or 5) speed would be a good deal. What good is power if you really can't use it anyway?