Ok guys, I'm about at my final straw with this damn car. Here is the deal. I'm tired of chasing things right now. My idea.

Put her away for a long while.
-Tear the engine back out. It's a 351W and stroke it out to ???? Give me ideas. It's bored 30 over. With a stroker, what sort of other work would I have to do? If I were to make it a 409, what sort of power would I be looking at?
-Replace stock 3 spd and put in a ??? If I keep it manual I'd like to put in a 6spd, or just make it an auto, but what.
-Put in the 9inch in, with what gear.
-Rewire the whole gosh for saken thing.

Let me know what you guys think. Give me engine, tranny and gearing you'd got with.

 

What's the problem you're having? Upgrading the engine will potentially introduce more.

 

Start by satisfying the question: What are you going to do with this car once you work on it?

Will it be a DD? A weekend town car? A Sunday racer? a trailer show car? a second car for errands? A getaway car for boosting convenience stores?

Once you have a goal, build the car to meet it. I put 15k miles on Debbie every year as a DD. Every decision I made was based on this. I would have a much faster car with a dif cam or 4.11 gears, but it would cost me a gazillion gas dollars to drive it every day.

Good luck. Maybe that helps.

CP

 

Well, for whatever reason I can't seem to find the right starter to fit the car.

It's a 351W, I guess built in 84, but it has the 302 flywheel and balancer still. I've tried a starter for the 351W, it started grinding. The teeth on the flywheel weren't too bad, so I just tried the 302 starter. And it went out today. Now I need to replace both the flywheel and starter. Not to mention numerous lighting problems now.

 

This car is not, and will not be my DD. I want some show and some go, it's got local town car show qualities already. I'm 22 and performance is where it's at for me, always been about that. I don't want a dang 700 hp monster right now. 500 max right now. If I go that route, I'll have to wait till this next deployment because she will be apart till then. I could get the engine and stuff done probably before I leave. But if I'm not going to get to enjoy her before I leave, I might as well build something I'll freakin cream over when I get back, ya know?

 

Just a random note, that car looks awesome right now.

 

It sounds like you are mixing and matching parts and pieces. You need to pick a year, the year of your block is a good place to start, and get all of the proper components for that year setup. When you cobble together different pieces and parts then you get the results you are getting.

My fastback was that way for a long time until my last rebuild. My block is a 1972 so flywheel, starter etc is for that year block. I pulled the face off of a 1969 351w because I wanted the waterpump and pulley to be correct for the 1967. Same era so everything bolted right up.

Pick a year and go with it. Don't try to mix old with new when it comes to the basic components. You will wind up on the infamous FoMoCo Easter egg hunt chasing stupid, infuriating problems.


Great looking car btw. Don't give up on her.

 

Out of curiosity, when are you NOT fed up with your 41 Year old modified car?

Stroking it to 408 is not a bolt on thing. I have a LOT of money into my 408, which kills me because I have a guy locally selling a brand new one he was building for a fairlane for $4000 which is damn near half of what it most likely cost him, based on the specs.

 

Buy a 392 shortblock from Ford SVO for about 4K and slap a set of heads, cam & intake on it and you are in there with a factory stroker.

I wish I would have known they sold those when I was building my 351

 

It is easy to get fed up with your car. There is a lot of advice here, and it is good advice.

Mine is to stand back, take a deep breath, and get to the root of each problem.

First: A car is just another machine made up of components. Quit trying to retain each component and it's history in your head. I suggest buying a bound logbook just for your car. Leave the first 5 pages empty for now. This is where you will write down the specs and years for the Engine such as Carb, Intake, Heads, Exhaust, Spark Plugs, Water Pump, Fuel Pump, Filter etc. Then the Transmission, Rear end, Front end etc. Anything you can replace or consume needs to be on these pages.

In the rest of the log, list the date, and the component you worked on, what you did, what worked and what didn't. List part numbers here, and then again in front if they work.

Second: Don't tackle the whole car. Take it in pieces. For instance, the previous owner of my project took out the WHOLE wiring system. He could have inexpensively done one section at a time and traced the results via a log book.

Building a car is a process, each component demands detail, and the overall project requires you to envision the completed car. We get frustrated when we become overwhelmed, and the vision gets foggy.

Third: I suggest joining a car club, mustang or otherwise. Friends with beer and skills can make this hobby much more enjoyable.

Forth: If you've never completed a car, here's a little sidenote. There's somewhat of a little letdown when you are done, when to you the car is perfect. There's a saying that encompasses this: "It's not the destination, it's the journey".

One more thing. Working on cars taught me many things that I use daily. Research, organisation, perseverance, process, focus, zen, joy, how to handle frustration, anger, how to let go of ego, and how to enjoy the company of my kids, friends, and tolerate such things as know it alls, downers, put downs, and plain idiots.

So good luck, take your time, it doesn't have to be down tomorrow, this ain't overhaulin'.