Hello!
I just bought my first Mustang a couple days ago and its a '69 Coupe with a 302 and 2bbl carb. At least thats what the VIN says but I am no expert. It seemed like a good deal and I drove it home 1.5 hours down the highway with no issues so I am excited to do some work on it to keep it running nice.



First off, there is no air filter on the carb. PO said it caught on fire so he took it off and just didn't put another on. How critical is it to get one on there before I do more driving? Why would it catch on fire? If someone could point me towards a good place to buy one, that would be appreciated.


The PO had it for four years but rarely drove it and always took it to a mechanic to even just have the oil changed so he couldn't answer a lot of my Qs. I plan on changing the oil and flushing the radiator ASAP and also noticed the tranny fluid level checker it missing its top so its kind of open, and probably not a good thing.

Apparently it was restored a while back. The paint is kind of janky and I am thinking about going matte black with it (is that blasphemy? or who cares cause its already been altered from stock?)

Would be cool to meet up with some folks in the Asheville, NC area to talk cars and learn about maintaining this thing properly.

Thanks for your help!

 

Color me confused. I can't find your air cleaner question. I'd get the basic 289 High Performance air cleaner for that 302, which is what it is.

Your Holley double-pumper is overkill for a 302, unless it it's a highly modified street/strip engine, with manual trans and like 4.11 rear.

Get the Ford Shop Manual, every maintenance operation you'll ever need is detailed in there.

Wet sand and buff the paint. I think you'll be pleased with the results, for the time being.

Leave the flat black paint to tuners, rat rods, and moonshine runners.

 

Thanks 2+2, so just something like this? http://www.mustangsunlimited.com/ite...asp?T1=1480+01

I doubt its heavily modified and its got an auto trans so the carb it probably overkill, but if it can be tuned to run correctly, thats all I want.

I will get my hands on the Ford manual, its how I taught myself to tear apart an old Triumph so it should work here too.

 

No, that's the cheap one, with thin metal, thin chrome, and the "correct" air cleaner won't fit it. The good one is about twice that price. Glazier/Nolan calls that one G08120. If you held one of each in your hands, you'd see the difference immediately.

As for the carb, it's almost certainly too big, and of course the secondary pump will rich it far to much if you push the gas pedal quickly. Either way, you'd get much better "feel" with a smaller, single pump carb. Better performance and fuel economy.

 

Got it, found the one you're talking about and also asked Glazier/Nolan about sourcing the right carb at the same time.

I did notice the other day that if I was too aggressive with the gas pedal, it would sometimes bog the engine down. Thanks for your input!

 

I have been looking around at carbs and it seems like an Edelbrock 500cfm performer series should do the trick. Does that sound right?

Also, my intake manifold is an F4B, was that standard or something added on? I am trying to figure out if anything was done to the engine that would make someone think they needed to put the Holley double pumper thats on there now.

I know you're supposed to use an octane booster or lead sub with older engines if they haven't had their valve seats updated but is there anyway to know without taking of the valve covers? Should I just run premium?