I just aquired a real nice, unrestored, red automatic 69 Mach I 351 w. I would like to keep it looking just like it came off of the show room floor but when I step on it, I want it to go. I have a 03 Supercharged Cobra and I would like the 69 to be somewhat like that. Just a plain ordinary car till you kick it.
Any suggestions? I do like the superchargers, don't know much about them or turbo. Would I need to rebuild the motor to used either?

Thanks,

Ronnie

 

if you have a true unrestored almost show room mach1 then i would higly recommend against changing anything. If it isnt showroom quality then there are many bolt ons that you can do that will bring it to life. Intake, port match the heads, headers. no need to spend the big bucks on chargers.

 

I couldn't bring myself to mod a nice all original 351W car.

Mod a 6 banger...ok i'm in.

Maybe you should trade your supercharged cobra for a 79 pinto...then your 351W will seam like a bat outta...

 

I'm not a big stickler for originality. If you want to do some mods, I say go for it. But, if you're worried about, don't make any changes that can't be changed back. And save all the factory parts.

Superchargers are about the best bang for the buck. Not terribly expensive or complicated. A decent home mechanic can install one in a week end or so. But, I would strongly suggest a professional dyno tune.

As for rebuilding the engine, that depends. What's the current engine like? A 40 year old all original engine probably won't hold up to a blower for very long. And you don't want to add a blower to a high compression engine, either.

 

i don't think a supercharger will help it look like it came off the showroom floor.

i'm making an attempt to build what your wanting with my red 69 351 mach.

however, mine was not in a nice unrestored condition when i got it.

there aren't many unrestored 351 mach cars out there. i personally would appreciate it if you kept it that way.

it is your car so you should do what you want.

 

If its a nice original Mach 1, I would leave it unmolested.

 

He posted the same thing a while back was asking how to put a 03/04 cobra engine in it the first time.

 

any chance you could post some pictures? i would love to see it.

in addition the term unrestored means something different to many people.

as an example, i see restomod tossed around pretty loosely.

 

Unrestored, original drive line, 69? There is not much you can do to help performance that is not going to screw up the originality. You can bore and stroke the engine as well as install a performance cam which are internal mods that can dramatically help performance are not noticeable from the outside in case you are showing it, but with factory heads are going to be an issue. If you talk with any old hotrod guys, they will all say that no real power can be added until you address the heads. They did not get that back in the day, but it is common practice now. Other issues are ignition, and induction. Points style ignition is not conducive to performance and neither are the old intakes.