I think the first thing you should do is get a tachometer and hook it up. There seems to be a lot of discretion as to whether you're really winding this thing out or not.

As far as handling goes you've already got some solid advice. The biggest part of helping these old cars handle better is stiffening up the body and shortening suspension travel.

 

All Mustang transmissions of the era were 1:1 ratio in top gear, whether 3 or 4 speed, manual or automatic. Typically, 3-speed cars were equipped with a 2.78:1 ratio, because 3-speed buyers were interested in economy, not performance. Of course, it may have been changed, that was a long time ago.

Raise the rear of the car. Rotate the rear tires at exactly the same rate. When the tire rotate one time, count how many times the driveshaft rotates.

A stone-stock 289 2V 3-speed car should easily be able to attain 100 mph.

 

I know because of your location this isn't really an option and it's a bit pricey. I got a kit from Rod and Customs Motor Sports for the front and back with adjustable shocks. My car went from driving like it was from the 1960s to driving like something from 2010. I also dropped in a 5 speed with 3.89 gears in the back.

I'm in the Army and the possibility of living in Germany is very real for me. I built my car with a dream of being able to drive on the Autobahn sometime.

James

 

Your budget and how good you want it to handle can very a lot from a oem rebuild to putting the car on a full frame with a irs.

 

Well if he has 17s then his speedometer would be off anyway.

 

if you have the right size tire mounted it could still be accurate.

 

Changing the speedo gear ain't that hard.

 

Yeah that 55 could very well be 65-70

 

His current tire size is pretty much spot on for overall size compared to stock size tires. So, as long as the guy that did the V8/possible trans swap did it right, speedo gear isn't really an issue.

If you've got a GPS you can use to check your speed against the speedometer, that can rule that out.

Also, depending on what rear axle is in there, there is the possibility (if the previous owner just threw parts together without really thinking about it) that you have a particularly high rear end in it. Something in the area of a 4.10 would put you at 2500rpm at 45 (if my math is correct). By the time you got to 60 you'd be nearing 3500, and depending on the exhaust you could be making some serious noise. If your engine isn't timed/tuned properly you could probably be running out of steam causing the lack of further power.

Drive line misalignment and a number of other issues could also be causing shaking and other unexpected behaviors from your car.

 

You need to install one of these from a Jaguar to get a real nice ride.