Okay, so I decided I want to get the mustang on the road before summer so I can take it to shows and have some fun driving it, even if it is a little slow. I ordered a shop manual and I'm gonna try to perform a tune up and hope that gets it to start a little easier. If that doesn't work, I will consider rebuilding the carb. After that, here are my plans:

First, I am planning on converting to Electronic Ignition. All tips and advice are appreciated on this. I am guessing I will get the Pertronics Ignitor II, but I'm not sure if there are even any other choices or anything. I don't know what all I will need or where to buy it. Will I need a new coil? what about cap/rotor or anything like that. Where can I get all of the things to convert it?

Second, I want to have the brakes overhauled. It pulls when it stops now, and it takes quite a while too. I am considering front discs (not sure tho) but for now I am just going to have the brakes done. I don't want to do this myself because I have no experience with brakes, and the job is a little too important to screw up. What should I have the shop do? Should they just turn the drums and put new pads on and clean everything? Will that be enough? I also think I am going to have a dual bowl master cylinder put in, but does that require new brake lines?

Third, fix up the suspension. I need new shocks (adjustable?) and I should probably have the suspension freshened up. If its not that expensive I may consider lowering the front a little. Any tips will on this are appreciated, as I do not understand suspension much. I also think I need an alignment, so I will have that done if the freshening doesn't do it.

Last, transmission and gears. If it needs it, I will have the tranny rebuilt (c4), or I may just wait till I get a new engine. What are clutch packs, shift kits, etc? I'm not sure what they do or if they are worth spending the extra money on to handle future power and increase acceleration. I will also have the rear end rebuilt (is this necessary?) and have different gears installed. I want something that is street-able, but still pretty high. The car will not be used on the highway much at all, maybe just for the occasional couple exits or to go to a car show or drag strip in the future, so it doesn't matter how fast the revs are there, as long as they aren't ridiculous. Would 4.11s or so be too high? How much would my 1/4 mile times change depending on the gears. I have never ridden in a car with different gears, so is it annoying to drive with really steep gears?

Thanks for all the input, I know there are a lot of questions, but its better then posting a whole bunch of threads.

 

if i were in your shoes, brakes would be first on my list, that is not something you want to mess with or have fail,...then worry about the other stuff,..and if you have no exp[erience with them, have a professional do them,...that is what they get paid to do,...

 

I just had my automatic transmission rebuilt from a reputable local shop. It cost about $1400.

I went with the electronic ignition about 1000 miles ago. I replaced the points, coil, cap, wires and plugs. Got it all from CJ's Pony Parts. Any Mustang parts company or NPD etc should have everything in stock. I don't remember the exact cost but I think it all came in under $150.

My only concern is now my car will only run 20 minutes before dying. We have ruled out a fuel problem so now I am looking at the ignition system. I don't know if the Ignitor or coil is bad or not.

I posted a question here the other dayon how people feel about Pertronix and only good good feedback about them.

 

For the ignition, the Pertronix will work fine, all the Mustang vendors sell them and you can also get them at AutoZone.

For brakes, if you don't feel comfortable doing them yourself, by all means, pay a pro to do it. They are not hard if you have an experienced friend or dad. You can upgrade to disc (Granada) for about $525 from www.discbrakeswap.com if you have the dough. There may be cheaper alternatives, but most rely on junk yard parts which are getting harder to find. The instructions are pretty good on the kit too, as is the customer service from Dennis.

Get the brakes done first in any case. It doesn't matter how well it runs if you can't stop well.

 

No worries, the brakes arent that bad. Just not good enough that I would want to drive it all over the place. I need to get it running to take it to a brake shop and that will be the second stop (after gas). Ill prolly order the elect. ignition as soon as i get around to it.

Keep the advice coming.

 

I got this HEI ignition setup on Ebay for 60 bucks. Nicely machined aluminum with double ball bearing shaft support. Includes coil built in the lid. Best investment I've made on the Mustang. It now IDLES like a normal car at stop lights! Needed a Z-bend adapter and offset base for the big aircleaner to clear the coil, but they can be had at most speed shops. The HEI ignition is a ONE WIRE hookup! It also has a spade connector output for the tach. A real no brainer. It gets rid of the coil entirely! Cleans up the front of the engine. Nicely made. About 10,000 miles with no problems. Has an adjustable vacuum cannister as well. It came from the factory advanced too far, but you should be checking this when you put it on anyway. I would recommend it.

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My friend has an HEI dist. in his 68 land cruiser and loves it. does that convert the points to electronic ignition at the same time? has anyone else had luck with one?

 

Yes, the whole ball of wax is all solid state - no moving parts. And it already comes with a "performance curve" which basically means all the mechanical advance is in by 2500 RPM. This unit is very nicely built. Naturally it comes from China, but so do many others that sell for 5 times the price! I carried my old distributor with a pertronics kit in it for the first 5000 miles, just in case, but it has so far proved to be extremely reliable. Best part of all is that it idles smooth - the pertronics electroncs in my old sloppy stock distributor just couldn't make that happen.

 

okay sounds good. How hard is it to change the whole distributor though? I have never done any work on my engine other then plugs/wires, and rotor stuff.