Alright so whatre some of the most popular engines to be throwin into a classic, mainly the 68'. Im tryin to plan out what all I wanna do so I can get organized and ready. I was thinkin 390 or 460 the ones you find in the older F-series trucks. But maybe I will just stick with the 302. Im not sure what came stock on the 68' FB. Of course I would like to keep it Ford. And to go along with that which transmission works with which engine, manual preferred greatly.

 

Engine wise, there were a few leftover 289’s but the 302 was the most prevalent in the 68’s. Others engine choices in 68 were the 325hp 390, the 335hp 428 and the 390hp 429.

Since you’re not concerned about originality, if you were thinking of a 460, think of a 351W. There are a lot of high performance kits for 351’s these days that a 400hp version is well within reason.

Transmissions are a different story, I am partial to automatics and don’t know a whole lot about manuals. I do know that there is a lot of older Mustangs upgrading to the more modern, manual overdrive tranny like the T5/Tremec.

Good luck and Cheers [sm=icon_cheers.gif]

 

289, 302, 351 and FE-series engines as 390 will fit ´68 Mustang engine bay. If you plan to use 385-series engine as 429 or 460 you should do some modifications to shock towers. 385-series engines are little bit vider and you don´t have enough room for that kind of engine. Actually 385-series engine will fit in ´68 Mustang but engine is in engine bay wall to wall so when you accelerate engine will lean right away to shock tower.

Big block will be more expensive to built. Heavy big block will need aluminium intake and cylinder head. If you use cast iron heads you have too much weight at front and your mustang is very poor to drive in that case. You will have badly understeering car. I think best solution is choose 302 or 351 W.

 

What do you plan to do with the car? Long distance car shows... Drag racing... Daily driver?

I did the Ford Racing 345HP B crate engine, and am VERY happy with it. If your planning on showing the car, people are more impressed with the big blocks.

 

I want a show quality car that I can also take out and race with and eat rice if that makes any sense. But this is probley gonna be a split project so Im not sure what my buddy is gonna want put in there, I am a little more mechanically inclined than he is so I will probley be the one makin the decision on engine/tranny/drivetrain all that good stuff. For long distance stuff it will probley be trailered but im not sure I wanna get into that.

 

Don't go no bigger than a 351, it's gonna be a trick to change a couple of the spark plugs as it is.

 

If your gonna go with any engine, i would agree with the rest of these guys, a 351 windsor, or cleveland(altough becoming hard to come by these days). you can get rediculous amounts of horsepower out of them and at the same time keep the weight down. The only question i have is, if the car was a 6cyl before? if so youll need to put new springs, saddles,upper/lower control arms, spindles, so on and so on and so forth. you also cant go wrong with 289/302's, i have seen some impressive numbers out of them. whatever you choose itll be your car, so have fun with it!

 

There are several transmissions that will fit any of those V8's, but with some you have to make modifications, such as adding an Aod. The C-4 and the C-6 will work, and the old tried and true 4 sp. top loader and the FMX are also good choices.

 

im using a 351w stroked to 393 with a tremec tko 5 speed transmission in my 68' coupe.
good luck

 

I would push towards a 302. Lots of good power there and relatively inexpensive with a lot of parts available. I have a 351 and it cost a good bit of money to build.