Building a 79' notch

mustange70

New Member
Aug 24, 2004
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I have recently purchase a 79 5.0L LX notchback mustang and i need some help and opinions on the buildup i have planned for it however it will be built over the next year and half or so cause of university and i also have a 81 Ford f-250 that i am doing a axle swap and lift and my 82 flareside isn't quite finished yet.

Anyway first thing is the motor. I want to make approximately 300 hp out of the 5.0L if it is in good shape (runs good but blew a frost plug out on the way didn't overheat it though). The mods i plan on doing is first: port, polish, bigger valves, 3 angle valve job, and 1.7 rocker arms and stock springs:this will be done to a set of 1966 289 high compression heads (wil give about 9.5CR when finished) that i have, then it will get the factory ford high rise aluminum manifold that i have and a set of shorty headers. Now for the things i'm not to sure of. First off is the cam, should i go with a high lift short duration, or a shorter lift with a longer duration? I want to keep power in the 1500-5500 range. Next thing, is a 600-650 cfm carter carb big enough for this application or will i need more?

The next part of the project will be the tranny. Currently it has a C4 and it feel ok when driving it. Now i have a brand new AOD out of a truck (86 f-150 with a 302, the motor blew up) with about 6000 kilometers on it. Now should i save myself some trouble and use this tranny, or should i keep the C4 and build it? For mods to the tranny i want to put a shift kit, 1000-1500 stall, for that i would like it to work with the cam as best as possible, then if funds permit a new performance valve body.

The last thing I want to do is swap in an 8.8 rear axle (3.73 gears out of a turbo coupe) as well as a matching front suspension. Now i can get an 88 turbo coupe (blown motor) for about $350, and basically i want to swap the entire suspension out of the t-bird to my stang, will this work or should i find a 5.0L mustang with all the parts in it already?