Hybrid Engine in '67 Mustang?

[ravitas]

Hi all...

Long time, no posting for me. I still have my 1967 Convertible Mustang, but it's been garaged for about a year while I keep hunting for whatever fluids are leaking out of it.

Anyhoo, my wife and I were thinking about modernizing the Mustang as a graduation present for our daughter. This pretty much means redoing everything under the body: disc brakes all around, new electrical, modern engine, smoother tranny, etc. With gas prices they way they are, and with an eye toward the future, I had the harebrained idea of installing a hybrid engine in it, instead of a standard late-model EFI setup.

I figured the first thing to do was ask around and see if anyone has a) tried this already and got it working; b) tried this already and it won't work; or c) thought about it but never got started. No need to re-invent the wheel if it's already been done.

Any help out there? Thanks in advance for any help / advice / humor at my expense!

Bob
[email protected]
March 2, 2008

 

[golf4283]

Yuck. Why not just buy her a new hybrid instead of ruining a classic? I don't mean to sound like an ass but these cars were made to guzzle gas.

 

[suki243]

I thought about it, I was thinking of making a club at school and to help get sponsors I was thinking of making it hybrid or alternative fuel car especially if I can get a hold of a basket case.
In a previous thread of mine a few people were talking about how a school made a fuel efficient vette, They used ethanol

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=719928

 

[mrmustangman357]

put a vw diesal in it. newer cars are so integrated that it would be difficult to get the drivetrain running outside of the original package. a biodiesal vw would be pretty cool

 

[CraigMBA]

There are so many obsticles to this project I can't begin to list them. Unless you've got an OE connection, I'd find something else to work on.

I've owned my vintage Mustang since 1984, but compared to new cars it's not safe. For an occasional driver I'm pretty confortable, but there's no way I commute with it.

I had to drive it to Beverly Hills once when my wife's car ate a transmission. I got in a 'minor' accident on the freeway where I tapped a 2001 Chevy subcompact. I did about $100 in damage to the Chevy (wrinkled the paint off the bumper) and did like $5K in parts and labor to my car.

If you love your daughter and want her to drive a hybrid, buy a Prius. It'll take a hit and they require almost zero maintance.

 

[D.Hearne]

After owning an 03 Prius and dealing with Toyota when it took a dump (with an $8000 repair bill) you'd have to be absolutely friggin nuts to even think about this. If you want, I'll drive you to the funny farm tomorrow, myself.

 

[D.Hearne]

And I got lucky that Toyota ended up eating $7000 of that bill. I can't wait to unload this POS on someone else.

 

[jabb]

I'm by no means an expert in automotive engineering (geologic engineer actually ), but in my opinion doing what you propose would pretty much require you to buy a more or less full hybrid to scavenge the parts from because as mentioned above those vehicles are HIGHLY integrated. Additionally the driveline would most likely require extensive modification to fit in a stang (there aren't any rwd hybrids out there are there?) which would just add even more to the cost. Though if you wanted to take a different approach you might take a look at this. I don't know how well it works but its an idea.

 

[CraigMBA]

I've called on the highest volume Toyota dealership in the nation for the past six years as a S___ O_ tool dealer. I never saw them work on one outside of the battery recall they did on the early '03 cars under warranty (the batteries weren't sealed correctly and would stink up the car, but otherwise worked fine).

One of my former customers has a busy independent shop that only works on Toyota - 10 technicians total. They did a waterpump on one last week. That was the first one they've ever worked on.

D, you are no slouch around here, but trust me when I tell you this - you were horriblly unlucky. What broke anyway?

 

[BarnStang]

Intersted what happened too. We have an '05, but we got the extended warrenty too. All I pay for is oil, filters, and brakes. Zero problems, drives great.

 

[65ShelbyClone]

Like all the other hybrid cars, making a classic Mustang into one would cost more than you could ever expect to save in fuel economy.

 

[Rusty67]

I would edit that post and yank your email address out just so you don't get spamed to hell.... if you havn't already.

There are plenty of ways available out there to make a classic a safe car to drive and reasonably economical when it comes to gas milage. EFI is one way, good ignition systems help as well, over drive transmissions and less agressive gear ratios all can add to the potential maximum milage on a car.

Safety is obviously going to be a bid deal. I think you would be better off buy your daughter another car if safety is a big issue. It would take some work to make the car safe collision wise. Subframe connectors, 4 point seat belts (since there is no shoulder belt on the 67s), converting to a collapsable column and since its a convertable... maybe a roll bar ?

Anyways, there are a lot of directions to go with classics but I think you really need to sit back and look at the practicality of the gift. I just graduated college myself and I'm geting all laser lasik as my present (my choice there). I'll enjoy that one for YEARS to come. Maybe you should find something she wants that she can enjoy for years to come ?

 

[suki243]

I have to agree with the other's on this one, even though i thought of it myself it was only really to pitch the idea to sponsors. I don't think it's practical; but if she really really likes it's up to you.

I've had really Good experiences with Toyotas, my dad has a 97 4 runner... 260k miles... still runs strong. Outside of the scheduled maintenances, nothing else was required

 

[A67StangMaster]

Insted of putting a hybrid engine why not put a Ford foxbody 2.3l engine into it?
Saves lots of gas and it would be practical.

 

[D.Hearne]

Our Prius's problem started with the local dealer. Car died one day, the wife called em. The starting battery was toast. Dealer replaced the battery. Two weeks later the whole hybrid system took a dump. Went to another dealer, 60 miles away. Asked if they had a tech who actually knew what he was doing and could fix the car. Sure, they've got a certified tech. Didn't ask that. Want a guy who knows his **** on these cars. Yea, he's good. Fine. Trailered the car there. It stayed there a month & a half. The guy couldn't figure out what went wrong. They ended up replacing both batteries and most of the hybrid system stuff under the hood, computer included. Got on a Prius forum site while all this was going on. Those turds thought we should thank God and our lucky stars to have such a fine car with 90K miles on it that suddenly quit running. And that Toyota couldn't figure out what went wrong. And that had techs that didn't know how to fix, And that we had to spend $1000 of our money to fix. That's the dirty little secret about these cars, they know how to build em, but when they break down, nobody knows what to do with em or how to diagnose the problem or how to fix them, other than to blindly start replacing parts till the car runs again. Buy another hybrid? Not in this lifetime!

 

[danny clemens]

If you can afford to do that swap then the gas prices shouldn't bother you. You'd probably never make up the difference of the price of the swap. If you have a good running 289/302 in it with a 2 bbl and high rear gears then gas mileage shouldn't be that bad. If I wanted to get better gas mileage I'd make sure that everything was in tip top shape and put an overdrive transmission in it.


I read about the Prius having lots of problems when they first came out. They would just go dead on the road. Maybe they've figured out the problem by now but I wouldn't take a chance on one.

 

[Hack]

Insted of putting a hybrid engine why not put a Ford foxbody 2.3l engine into it?
Saves lots of gas and it would be practical.

That's not a bad idea (putting a 4 cylinder in there). If you have a lot of time and want to spend it working on something that will be acceptable at the end, biodiesel isn't such a bad idea either.

However..

Ethanol is the worst idea that a huge company (ADM) ever managed to bribe our government officials into implementing!

IMO hybrids are a rube Goldberg solution to a problem that doesn't even exist. What a waste of resources to build an extrordinarily complex machine to gain a couple mpg! They run a close second to ethanol as being a horrible way to save resources.

I agree with the above if you live in a city buy your kid a small fuel efficient car such as a Focus. Don't even get me started on foreign cars!

 

[jikelly]

Who wants to drive a classic 2.3L mustang?

I know a lot of people don't see hybrids as practical vehicles, but honestly think about this, if all cars were at least mild hybrids and all they did was shut off at stoplights, that'd be a big move towards making our vehicles more efficient.

I've been entertaining the idea of turning my old 73 mustang into a hybrid for a long time now. Problem is the hybrids aren't in the junkyards yet and when they do get there sorting their electrical systems is going to take a lot of effort.

I still want to do it, but figure it would cost at least 10,000 to get all the parts and make it work. That cost is up there because there is not a large volume of vehicles to draw parts from yet. Maybe that will change though. I was really excited about GM building that hybridized transmission. http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060208/FREE/60206009/1041

That would make the process a lot easier. I mean if all you need to add is the transmission, batteries, and associated computer control system then it's cake. Well, a bit easier anyway. Makes me wonder what the heck Ford is doing.

Ford is finally going to start producing cars with direct injection.

I'm thinking the next engine I put in the stang will likely be one of the new V6 direct injection turbos Ford has on the drawing board. Just got to wait for them to build it. Should be interesting.

 

[BarnStang]

I think that's a bit extream. THe car holds 12 gallons of gas and we get 500 miles a tank city and 575-600 to a tank on road trips. THat's not on the sticker, that's what the car gets. As a waste of resources? Yea, probably is. I've also read that the fallout from producing the batteries in third world countries completly nulifies the gain due to pollution and byproducts contaminating the environment. Don't know how true that is.

 

[BarnStang]

I just read through the info on the V6. Very cool. THat realy would make a great motor for a classic. 300hp with out the turbo. My 93 came stock with 210...Google Gasoline Direct Injection. Lots of info on this design.