i need help with my 74 m2 please
 

Hello all sorry for dumb question. I recently bought a 74 mustang 2 ghia thats in pretty good shape. it has a v6 2.8l cologne engine but it is locked up something awfull, I have called around to try and find a running used one with no luck so what im asking is there anyone who knows where i might find one or that has advice on rebuilding it thank you.

There is a great mII forum at mustangii.net, but their server has been down for a few days. not sure of the issue. When it comes back up it's a great resource.

In the mean time I'd search craigslist for 74-78 mustangs and see what pops up. Not sure if anyone has a rebuild kit for it. Also Alan Pyatt runs a MII facebook group and Tom Porter runs a mII parts for sale facebook group. Make sure you post some pics of your car in your timeline because you have to ask to be added to their groups and if they don't see mII related content on your news feed they won't add you. They do it to keep the spammers out.

Welcome to the cult, errrr I mean MII fans group... Good luck, post pics :-)

ok thank you so much sorry for late reply. I will post some pics as soon as i figure out how. sorry i am technologically impared when it comes to pc's lol. It is a yellow ghia had a white vinyl top over metal il need to get a new oneand has close to 60k on odometer

Oh and i have been toying with the notion of putting a 302 h.o. in it, but from what i gather it is difficult to do to a 74. I know alot of people dont like mustang 2s but ive always wanted one especially a king cobra 2. if i cant find a 2.8l cologne engine i will either attempt v8 conversion but would hate to its all original. or attempt to rebuild mine after having the block miked sorry for spelling, at a machine shop make sure its worth rebuilding. and thank you for warm greeting.

I meant post pics to your facebook profile so they see them and will add you to the FB groups. To add pics on this site you need to have more than 50 posts I think. The nose on the 74 is shorter than the 75 up, that's why its harder to get the V8 in there. I'm about to pull a v-6 cologne out of my mII to go to a v8. It runs if I pour gas down the carb, but not getting gas from the tank. We're too far away to work a deal I think, unless you're coming up to MI any time soon?

Man i wish you lived closer, i dont plan to be going anywhere near mi, in the near future sadly. I thank you for your help though so far your the only person who has tried to help. I dont understand why these little engines are so hard to find when they were used in so many different applications m2,ranger,capri, etc... What i would really love to do but wouldnt mangle an old beauty would be to put a ford 460 or 429 in it with a c6.

Having investigated.... dropping a 460/429 let alone even a 400/390 in the car is nearly impossible with total refrabrication of the engine compartment, firewall, and dash/interior of the floor in order to provide enough room, it'd also require a different hot and changing out the oil pans in order to "fit" the area on the car to clear certain structural parts, or changing the parts dramatically.

I've a Super Cobrajet 429 with a C6 sitting here in pretty much mint condition, sadly there is simply to much work required. Though if i recall right there have been at least 1 or 2 people that took it upon themselves to make the necessary modifications.

Even dropping a 351 W or Modified which "some" people have done takes a bit of cutting and modifying. The only engine that will shoehorn in without much of any work far as i can tell is the 351 C.

Aside from that, some of the grand marquis from 1981 to 1986 i believe.... with the Overdrive auto (if you want to stick with automatic tranny), bolt in almost entirely straight away fine, the transmission lines almost perfectly line up, so if getting better mileage is of interest, then that's your best bet short of getting electronic/computer stuff involved with newer transmissions. Actually had the right grand marquis, sadly the circumstances to use both the engine and trans out of it didn't pan out.

there just isn't a lot of activity on this board for the mII. http://www.mustangiitech.org has some decent info and a bit more traffic.

Thank you racer_dave, I know for whatever reson there are alot of people who dont like the mustang 2 for whatever reason. Thank you for your advice, I wasnt saying anything bad about forum if thats how it came out i am sorry not my intentions

Hello Judas and thank you for reply i know it would be a whole lot of work and that doesnt bother me i would just hate to have to mutilate on old beauty to make it fit.i think i will keep it a v6 so it stays original if i can find one that is. But power wise a 347 stroker with some other mods in the car would be awsome also thanks for the advice on the grand marquis from 1981 to 1986 "i didnt know that" lol like the old commercial. but really thank you i didnt know.

I didn't take it as anything bad towards the other forums at all, just trying to get you some other resources. As for why people don't like the MII. They are from the 70's and there wasn't much about the 70's car wise to be happy about. But when other Mustang fans get all high and mighty remind them of this. The 5 liter mustangs started in 75, not later like the fox body crowd thinks. The MII front suspension geometry is better. They sold more of any one year of MII than they did either 65 or 66 mustangs. And it was the lightest Mustang so even though it had lower power, the power to weight ratio was pretty damn good.

BTW, the MII is starting to get some love at car shows now just because you don't see them all the time. So wear the MII badge proudly. and if that doesn't work beat their ass with a stick... OK, not really, but you know what I mean...

I can't remember what the last value i was told was for the number of MII's that are in any presentable useable shape.. but it's very low and almost entirely left as a memory...

Out of all the mustangs at car shows i've gone to and have had other people go to.... the 74-78's are just nowhere to be seen ever. When i drive the 78 Cobra II anywhere.. and i mean anywhere.. it turns heads quickly, in fact vehicle collisions nearly occur due to drawing peoples attention completely away from what they should be doing.

Parking the car for any length of time usually draws a small crowd depending on the time of day and how populated the area is with a few phones whipping out. But overall, it's been very positive with plenty of older people well into thier 40 or 50's or older that usually talk of the mustang generation as one of the cheapest, most fun rides ford every made available to the masses.

However there are plenty of Ford guru's, experts, and mustang fans that insist on making a point of making it painfully obvious how much they despise the mustang II and everything about it regardless of how idiotically wrong they are about it "not providing anything ground breaking or new or improved"... worse yet is how they will go one to say how the foxbody era was the golden age...... thier bias and idiocy is made abundantly clear in many areas... but there are just as many that don't like the foxbody any more than they like the mustang 2's... whatever their justifications are.

Either way, out of all the mustangs, dealerships and ford themselves consider the 74-78's their bastard child and when you walk into a shop and tell them you have a mustang... the employee's get all giddy ready to deal with you... but as soon as they find out it's a mustang II, their part list drops to zero, the models can't be found or any alternative solution are simply non-existent. So ford themselves are very much to blame for the total lack of respect the car deserves on it's own.

If i can get the necessary work on the 78 i've got atm sorted, and touch up a few places where the paint has chipped due to the last number of years in which it's daily driving has done the damage.... I can't wait to get it officially into a car show, and anyone that has one even in fair presentable shape shouldn't hesitate either. Just the fact that there will be a number of people that won't recognize it, or will depending on what memories they have of it, not to mention the irate mustang/ford fanatics that might raise a little hell will draw enough attention all by itself.

Judas, racer_dave thank you both for help and insight on the mii i tore into the locked up motor today didnt get all the way disassembled but i can pretty much tell the people i got it from over heated the poor girls engine horribly. I was looking at the date of mfg it is a 8/74 would that mean it would have the 75 front end? Which in turn would make a v8 swap easier. I am on the ropes between rebuilding the 2.8 with a offy intake and a few other performance modes or just throwing a beefed up 5.0 in there.

I totally agree that they get a bad rap but see no justification in it whatsoever. I love just about any mustang except for the really new ones just my opinion but they don't look sleek and sexy anymore mainly look like a brick. But whatever floats your boat I say. once ive replied enough to post pics i wll show you guys the car if you want.

Personally considering the overheated engine..... If you can determine for certain that the the car can accept/accomidate a V8 5.0, I'd go for it, there are a LOT of v8 5.0 302's from a range of years that will mostly slip in there no problem aside from potentially having to swap out of a single part to make the transmission and engine mate up without issue.

Ok thanks alot guys. Sorry for such a late reply, I am thinking v8 is the way i will go. Judas if you dont mind would you put up pics of your m2 and anybody else for that matter i love to see old mustangs in good shape keeping people happy.

Perhaps after i give it a good cleaning.... i'm still in the process of trying to find rims that'll fit it properly without causing the tires to rub the inside wheel well. Sadly the front bumper racing stripe was partially torn off due to stone/gravel chipping away at it and eventually breaking loose from the paint (imo it wasn't applied quite right). All the body work is almost 20 years old... but overall looks good.

I'll be sure to take some more modern pictures later. But i don't think i can post pictures on here due to a post requirement. You can see the car as my avatar however.

Okay sounds like a plan, from what i can see it looks pretty good. My 74 has the original 13's on it but i think some cobra r wheels or some craigars would look neat. I wish mine was a cobra but the ghia's are pretty cool too. I am just glade to own an old piece of history.