i know this has probably been beaten to death but i got to ask. i bought a 1987 mustang lx with a 5.0 h.o and a aod, what do i need to do to switch it over to carb, and i want to use the aod tranny in my 67 mustang.
the most important items, aside from the intake and carb, are a duraspark distributor from an 85 mustang gt 5.0, with the T5. this will get you the proper steel gear you need with the roller cam. be sure to use a good quality assembly lube on the new gear when installing the distributor. you will also need the duraspark box and wiring harness as well. ford used to sell the harness separately at one time. you can also try summit racing as i think they also sell the harness.
you can use the front cover and oil pan from the older 289/302 to make the swap easy. with these the engine bolts in like factory. the aod uses a slightly different crossmember as the mount is about one inch further back than the C4. you will also need a TV cable, lokar sells one that works with the carbed engines. check out this site for some good information about making the thing work properly;
I use good ole black Moly grease to break in a new steel cam gear. Never had a failure. Also go with a high rise dual plane intake topped with about a 600 carb. (Edelbrock RPM, Airgap, Weiands Stealth, Ford A321,etc) Replace the stock rockers with full roller pedestal 1.7's and grind the thermactor bumps out of the exhaust ports.
dont forget a duraspark blue strain ignition box or any good msd,accel,mallory can run the ignition as well you can wire it without a harness if you want, you will also need to modify your stock shift linkage or buy a conversion linkage, you will need to get the plug/harness out of a junkyard for the nuetral/reverse lights of an AOD car and wire it to your stock harness also you may need some small head (12 pt) trans bolts at least for the top two as the AOD is real close to the firewall and getting a wrench on it is tough, the c-4 trans mount is the same, you will also need to shorten the driveshaft slightly and cut the stock c-4 yoke or use a t-5 yoke at the trans.
Besides the TV cable you will need to buy or make a TV cable bracket so the throttle and tv cable move at a 1-1 ratio...(very important) they are available for holley,demon and edel carbs and adjust it correctly as you can kill an AOD real fast with too little line pressure.
With the serpentine setup you will need a radiator with pass side top and drivers side bottom or buy or make a solid hose adapter which routes the bottom hose to the drivers side (it can be done with 1 1/2 copper and fittings).
If the engine is high mileage and you are on a budget, you can re-ring it, 5.0's with the forged pistons and low tension rings usually show very little cyl wear, a good clean up, hone and polish the crank with new bearings, new oil pump and your good to go, 1.7 rockers and the ex port cleanup are a cheap hp/tq bump, you will also need to plug the air injection holes on the heads if it has them with steel plugs.
5.0's are cheap and reliable.
A good intake and carb would be the wieand 8124 and a 525-625 road demon with annular boosters, that will give you almost efi like throttle response and good efficency.
Oh yea, if you have 2.79-3.00 gears you will get killer hwy mpg's but a 3.50 or 3.73 will really make it move and in OD you should still pull 20+ mpg's.