plsirl

Hi folks,

I have a few questions for anyone willing:

First, my car is a 1968 Mustang that is mostly stock with the exception of the engine which is a 302 out of a '91 Mustang.
The engine has whatever heads originally came on a 91 Mustang (which I imagine are horrible), an edelbrock 289 performer Intake, and an edelbrock 4 barrel carb.

The previous owner of the car removed the heater and capped off the tubes on the intake and water pump. About a week ago I was on the freeway and the cap on the water pump burst apart, spraying cooland everywhere... from the driver's seat this was not noticeable until the temp. gauge started to rise. Long story short, the temp. never appeared to significantly overheat, however I am now noticing intermittent episodes of water spraying out of my driver-side exhaust pipe (it has dual exhaust) and it seems to be consuming coolant (although a lot of this is likely just air bubbles from the freeway-side refill working their way out). Needless to say I am thinking driver-side head gasket (I havnt done a compression test yet, but I plan on it tomorrow).

So... if I do need new head gaskets, wouldnt this be a good time to lose the stock '91 heads for something better? I am in California so I do not need to smog this car as it is more than 30 years old.

What heads can I get for a decent price that will match a '91 302 block and an Edelbrock 289 performer intake? I am not interested in racing... but a bit more power would be nice as this '91 engine is a bit of a slug.

What is the best do-it-yourself resource for changing head gaskests on this engine?

Once I get this ironed out, where would you recommend I start for the most cost-efficient power gains? (again, not for racing, just a bit more fun) Currently this engine is backed by a C4, which I know is a fairly sad excuse for a transmission... how much power will this handle?

Any other additional information that anyone cares to throw in here would also be very much appreciated.

Thanks so much for your time!

Atencio

Nothing wrong with the C4 Tranny. Very good transmission. I wouldn't replace the heads unless you are going to make some other changes as well. I would maybe do a valve job if they need it since you will have them off anyway. I would maybe add a little bit larger cam, headers if you don't have them, and maybe a little more gear in the rear depending on what you have all ready.

dang I said "maybe" a lot in that post

67mustang302

Yes to all the above. If you want better performance but don't plan on racing, you could scrounge for a set of GT40 heads from a donor car, or GT40P's if you're gonna get headers, since you need different headers for the P heads. As far as why your temp never showed overheating, the temp sensor measures coolant temp, if you lose too much coolant and get an air pocket, the sensor can't read the temp properly, and just picks up the temp of the air in that pocket, which usually is within normal temp range for coolant, but there's no coolant there, so the engine overheats even though you thought it was fine. Definately make sure the head/deck isn't warped before you reassemble. And as a rule of thumb, if you even THINK you might smell coolant, pull over and find out where it's coming from, better safe than sorry

plsirl

Thanks a lot for the responses, that helps a lot.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that it does currently have headers.

Also, which forum should I post additional questions in here? I am driving a Franken-car (68 Mustang with a '91 302). Classic mustang for body posts and 5.0 forum for engine posts? Or is there a better way to do it? Thanks again! =)