Hey guys,
I'm new to this website, so i'll tell you my LENGTHY story. I recently aquired a '78 mustang II from my uncle, that has been in storage since 1985. It came from the factory with the 4 cyl and a 4 speed, but he slapped a very mild 302 and a c4 automatic in there. His original plans were to throw a chevy 427 (sorry ford guys) with tunnel ram and a beefy 4 on the floor,4.56 gears and a posi, and bracket race the thing.
However, life got in the way (he had kids) and never got the chance to do that, so with a baby on the way, that is when he decided to just put the little 302 in there and daily it for 6 months before storing it. The mustang has 3,500 original miles on it.
Last year, when I was 19, I offered him $$$ for it, and was lucky enough to be able to get it. I very recently rebuilt the 302 with forged rods, hyper pistons, honed the cylinders (what ever little honing there needed to be done), added a weiand street avenger intake, Holley 600 cfm manual choke, hooker headers, and then left the comp came "gripper" cam in there from the early 80's, since it has very little wear. It has D80E heads, which I realize aren't very good performance heads, but I want to save up for a nice set of Aluminum heads or even GT40 heads. (If anybody has them for sale at a reasonable price, let me know!!) So, it should be pushing around 200-230 hp, once I finally start the thing, I'm still in the process of putting the rebuilt 302 in the car. The rear end is a 3.00:1 posi traction. It even has the slotted aluminum American Racing rims and the 30 yr old BF Goodrich Belted T/A tires.
In the future, for "stage 2" of the car, I would love to live my uncle's dream on the 427 chevy in there with the 4 spd and bracket race it. I already have the bare block from him sitting in the basement. Will you be able to fit a BBC in that little engine space? I can see tht there is little room for headers as it is with the 302. I am curious if anyone on this forum has ever done it, or had experience putting a big engine in there.
please let me know what mods need to be done, i know that the oil pan and cross member need to be modified and I will have to use a manual trans for the 427. I'm only 20, and this is my 2nd engine swap in my life. I'm new to the engine swap game so if you could give me some tips it would be greatly appreciated.
here are a few pics of the mII project
Thanks
I'm new to this website, so i'll tell you my LENGTHY story. I recently aquired a '78 mustang II from my uncle, that has been in storage since 1985. It came from the factory with the 4 cyl and a 4 speed, but he slapped a very mild 302 and a c4 automatic in there. His original plans were to throw a chevy 427 (sorry ford guys) with tunnel ram and a beefy 4 on the floor,4.56 gears and a posi, and bracket race the thing.
However, life got in the way (he had kids) and never got the chance to do that, so with a baby on the way, that is when he decided to just put the little 302 in there and daily it for 6 months before storing it. The mustang has 3,500 original miles on it.
Last year, when I was 19, I offered him $$$ for it, and was lucky enough to be able to get it. I very recently rebuilt the 302 with forged rods, hyper pistons, honed the cylinders (what ever little honing there needed to be done), added a weiand street avenger intake, Holley 600 cfm manual choke, hooker headers, and then left the comp came "gripper" cam in there from the early 80's, since it has very little wear. It has D80E heads, which I realize aren't very good performance heads, but I want to save up for a nice set of Aluminum heads or even GT40 heads. (If anybody has them for sale at a reasonable price, let me know!!) So, it should be pushing around 200-230 hp, once I finally start the thing, I'm still in the process of putting the rebuilt 302 in the car. The rear end is a 3.00:1 posi traction. It even has the slotted aluminum American Racing rims and the 30 yr old BF Goodrich Belted T/A tires.
In the future, for "stage 2" of the car, I would love to live my uncle's dream on the 427 chevy in there with the 4 spd and bracket race it. I already have the bare block from him sitting in the basement. Will you be able to fit a BBC in that little engine space? I can see tht there is little room for headers as it is with the 302. I am curious if anyone on this forum has ever done it, or had experience putting a big engine in there.
please let me know what mods need to be done, i know that the oil pan and cross member need to be modified and I will have to use a manual trans for the 427. I'm only 20, and this is my 2nd engine swap in my life. I'm new to the engine swap game so if you could give me some tips it would be greatly appreciated.
here are a few pics of the mII project
Thanks