Help a CHEVY guy build a 69 stang!

[Chevelle]

Hey everybody, as you can guess, I am a chevy guy, I have a built 65 chevelle, and just finished a buildup on my brothers 69 BMW 2002. After seeing my handywork my father-in-law wants me to redo and get runing his 69 stang. Problem is I don't know much about fords, I have been using the search function on the form and awnsered about 95% of the questions I had, but a few remain. I was wondering if you guys could help me out.

I havn't seen the car, nor do I have the vin, but he sent me a pic. Its a 1969 mustang, 302 2V car. Has an automatic(c4?, whats your guess) and I would guess a 8" rear with 3.00 or something gears. Interior, body, suspension, brakes are all PERFECT, been in a garage for 15 years. 70k orig miles. All original componemts.

Engine is blown, tranny is questionable, rear has no posi, so thats what he wants me to address. $5,000 budget, and he dosn't care about keeping it stock, wants it to be a reliable daily driver that performs well.

ENGINE
Full rebuild, balanced, bore, reuse block, crank, rods.
I was thinking of a northern auto parts rebuild kit that has flat top pistions and a crane energizer cam, .469 lift, 210 dur. Edelbrock performer RPM heads, edelbrock performer intake, edelbrock 600 cfm electric choke carb. Converting the points over with a crane XL-1, headman headers, and a jegs universial 2.5 in dual exhaust. Needs a rad, so I was going to get a Jegs universial ford alum rad.

QUESTIONS:
with the 60cc heads and flat tops how much compresion will I have and will I be able to run 87

From searching all you guys run the flamthrower, petrox ignition, has anyone tried the crane XL-1? What do you think of it?

Anyone ran the Jegs mustang 2.5" exhaust (cheaper than flowmaster american thunder or local shop install).

What would you do radiator wise? It has nothing now.

TRANNY:
I am pretty sure its a c-4, most all 2V 302 had them right? Its a 69 so its a 28 spline?? I found a rebuilt kit and a shift kit and was just going to do that myself.
Anyone have any advice on the tranny? What aftermarket trannys could I get if this one is crap. All the jegs/ect say 70-up, so whats the difference in a 69 C-4. Same with torque coverters, can I get one to fit the 69 C-4, if so where from. I wouldn't mind just buying anew TCI C-4, just don't know if it will work cause it says 70-up.

REAR END:
What do you think it is? I bet its a 8", don't really wana change gears but do wanna run POSI, all I can find is the auburn pro limit slip for like 400 bucks, is there any other option for a 69 8"? Any advice on the rear end?

All the parts added up for the engine, tranny and rear inlcuding all the small stuff I didn't mention like startor, bolts, paint and all that crap comes out to $4,000. Leaves me a $1000 for the balance and machine work and incase anything else comes up.

So anyway, what do you think, sorry for the long post, I tried to use the search as much as possible. Hopefuly you guys can help me out some. Nothing is set in stone yet, I am open to any options, so just leave me any comments, advice, or tell me I am an idiot.........

Thanks Guys.

 

[D.Hearne]

For the most power per dollar, find you a good low miles 94-96 351W from either an E or F150 ( van or pickup) these are roller block 351's. They will bolt in place of the 302.If the short block is OK, replace the heads with an aftermarket set. Replace the cam if it's not a roller already ( the roller in them is called the F4TE-high torque roller with specs of .420/.442 lift int/exh, and a 256/266 advertised duration) with any 5.0 hyd.roller cam. A good intake here for it would be either a Weiand Stealth, or Edelbrock Performer RPM. Carb it with anything from 650-750 cfms. ( if you know how to wake up a 350 Chevy, most of the basics also apply to the 351W) As for the C-4, sure you can rebuild it, but it won't hold up to a built 302 or 351 for long. If you want to keep it an automatic, you need to get something like a street & strip built C-4 from the likes of B&M, or TCI. As for the rear, yea, it's most likely an 8" and you should replace it with a 9" if you want to get serious with the car.

 

[YellowMach69]

its gonna have a 31 spline rear end, look for the tag on rearend it will tell you if its a 8 or 9 inch,28 sline were on mostly bigblock and bosses

 

[D.Hearne]

its gonna have a 31 spline rear end, look for the tag on rearend it will tell you if its a 8 or 9 inch,28 sline were on mostly bigblock and bosses

You've got your info bass-ackwards 28 for most Stangs, 31 for the Bosses and big blocks, with the exception of the 390 cars, most had 28 splined 9" rears.

 

[ashford]

engine wise i would save the money on the heads and do some home porting on them, with a mild cam 250-270 grind. grind off the thermactor bumps in the exhaust port(A.I.R. for you chevy guys) put a nice smooth radius on sharp edges and corners, esspecially in the bowl area, flatten out the push rod bumps on the intake, but not too much, and bore the hell out of the exhaust ports on the one corner. i have a set of 67 289 heads on a roller 302 with e303 cam that does low 13's in a capri.

that 70-up tranny will bolt to the 302 the trick is the flwheel-bellhousing-torque converter combo. it gets messy there is alot of combos all of em based off what bell housing you have. anyway get a higher stall converter, a 302 with anything but a stock cam benifits from it

 

[Clark]

Just cause I love my 69 doesn't mean I don't appreciate other muscle cars, so welcome.

The stock 351W 4V in 69 had 10.5 to 1 compression stock, you might get by on 87 but might have to keep the timing back some.

I have a stock 3 row radiator in mine and it works great compared to the two row I had before. Engine runs cool and does not overheat.

Most likely you have a 9 in. rear end with 28 spline and you could have a FMX automatic or a C4. Take a look at the pan and give us some measurements and we can verify. The C4 will fit without a problem if you decide to go with it.

I went with an AOD on mine with 3.89 gears and also stroked my engine to a 393W so I will try and help as much as I can.

 

[paintballtommy]

for the tranny just make sure its a small bellhousing casefill c4. they have 26 spline input shafts which is nice take your pick on converters. 890-511200 thats the part number at jegs for a tci streetfighter. c4 i run one behind my 351 and its been great. i love the 2-3 shift its so firm and the 1-2 chirp is great.

 

[Pakrat]

I say make it easy on yourself if he has no care for originality, just pretend you are working on a 30's style Ford and drop a Chevy engine in that puppy, and least you won't be fumbling around looking for the distributor.

Yikes, I better duck now, I just made a target out of myself, I'm just kidding guys.......

Seriously though, not that there aren't more than enough knowledgable and helpful people here, but i just popped in to say that there is another forum listed in my sig that is specific to this model year and I welcome you to search for answers there as well.

Good luck with the project, we hope to convert you.

 

[Chevelle]

Thanks for all the replies and help so far guys!

Pakrat-One of my good friends had a 68 that he got cheap(500 bucks) and we droped a 350 engine, turbo 350 tranny and ran the 9" rear, sweet car, he just sold it. Lot of work. Nice site by the way, I like it. Also, I know some about fords, I am a huge car guy, I just don't know the specifics.

paintballtommy- so if its a 26 spline and small bellhousing, I can just by the TCI streetfighter and a converter and drop it in? Is there a lenght issue, will I need a new driveshaft or anything? Like this one?
http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=212247&prmenbr=361

Clark - So its likely a 69 302 had a 9"? That would be great. When you say 28 spline on the rear end, is the axle spline? The 26 spline for the tranny is the input shaft spline right?? Did all the fords run similar size yokes or did that change??

ashford - I have done some porting before, and wouldn't mind it, however, the reason this engine is blown is the heads, so I figure the cost of redoing the heads, then porting em, all new valves springs ect, I would be close to the $$ I could drop on some performer RPMS and be done with it, and save some weight of the front end.

D.Hearne - If i rebuild the stock C-4 you don't think it would hold up? Some other post had people saying a c-4 is good for about 400hp.

Also, what do you guys think about this, or have you even heard of it, is it better or worse than the petronix?
http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=112615&prmenbr=361

Also what about this, What one would I need, and has anyone ever used one, pretty cheap way to get a nice ALUM rad, and easier than hiting the junkyards.
http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=174714&prmenbr=361

Another question, what brand header do you guys run? I read some posts about fit issues, I was thinking of running Headman.

With headers, Dual exhaust, 9.5:1, rpm heads, performer manifold and a 600cfm carb, crane .469 lift cam........what kinda power?
I was guessing around 330 at flywheel.

IS there a better choice for converting to posi? What do you guys run that are not factory??
http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=1142&prmenbr=361

Thanks again guys!

 

[D.Hearne]

Stock C-4's won't even hold up to stock 302's for long, much less one that puts out twice the power and torque. The only 69 302 cars that came with 9" rears were the Boss 302 cars, which yours obviously isn't.

 

[krash kendall]

All the nine inch information you'll ever need is here.

 

[SadbutTrue]

you'll hear varying reports of how long a C4 will hold up... personally i have an unrebuilt one holding up just fine behind my mild (ie very torquey) 351w. In your case, I wouldn't trust myself to rebuild it for 400 hp unless I had a lot of experience... C4s are really simple, though. If you know what you're doing and use top-rate parts, go for it.

 

[Jonstantine]

from what i understand, if you know what you're doing you can get a c4 to hold up for sure

i blew out my second gear after mine had only been rebuilt for like 2 years... (manually shifting it at 5500)
mild 289 here
*built by a reputable "shop"

 

[bswor]

"All the jegs/ect say 70-up, so whats the difference in a 69 C-4. Same with torque coverters, can I get one to fit the 69 C-4, if so where from."

The difference is in 1970 the input shaft was changed to a 26 spline input shaft (stronger) version. If the tranny is the original c-4 from 1969 it will be a 24 spline input shaft unit.

 

[Clark]

Chevelle, as you can see you will have different opinions. I would recommend giving us some of your VIN numbers for some positive ID's on some of your equipment.

I have a 9 in. with my 69 351W and it is not a Mach or Boss so I would not say all others would have a 8 in. One way to get a quick ID is if you can fit a socket/ratchet on all the carrier nuts then it is a 8 in. The 28 spline is the axle splines going to the wheels. The yokes are different between years but would not know how to ID except from some measurements.

The C4 can handle the power as long as you make some improvements on the rebuild that is why the street fighter does ok.

I use a set of Hedman headers and they are affordable but would recommend ceramic coatings to help make them last.

The crane system should be as good as pertronix but remember to have a good distributor to work with.

The posi setup you are looking at is good, but pricey a regular ford traction lock will work as long as you are not launching all the time.

Lastly, the radiator choice is up to you and I would go with the better deal because they will both work fine.

The power you are looking for is doable because a stock 351W in 69 made 290 HP.