Wow it's been awhile since frequenting this place. Here's the lowdown. I got just traded an 85 F-150 2wd longbed that i had 500 bucks invested too for a '69 Mustang hardtop. Lowdown on the car is it is a Grande model, power front drum brakes, power steering, original A/C working. Car has had interior partially gutted but gas and battery can bring it home by itself. Needs a hood badly, drivers door or skin one, LH fender, both valances, RH drop off in trunk, but saving grace is the car has solid floors, quarters, etc. Worst thing to me is the roof, which will get sandblasted soon. 9" rear, 3.73s, original 302/auto. Unfortunately I am poor as crap right now and may sell my '77 shortbed to fund this project but I am gonna take it to my dealership, Gut it, strip it down completely. Repair and prime all that I can until i get the new sheet metal. I am going to strip all the front suspension out, get the whole underside, inner fenders, interior floor, roof, and trunk all done with spray in truckbed liner. Gonna ditch the backseat, cage it, probably run the tubing to the end of the taillight panel, and maybe into the engine bay slightly. Now, I have the following questions, I am gonna research the archives myself when I have time but if someone has a quicky answer, what all do I need to swap to a Mustang II front end? Whole K-member?, steering rack? How will I hook the rack to the factory wheel. If I use the whole front suspension at all I assume I just chop and replace the shocktowers, then start measuring and welding? What about knuckles and such, springs, shocks, etc? If I only use the M2 rack and pinion, then what can I use spindles and such from? Maverick, still the Granada, etc? And engine wise I have a poll for everyone here.
Not been on stangnet in a long time, got a new project
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69Rcode_Mach1
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geostang351
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xoxbxfx
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FordTruckGuySTX said:
lmao..thats a bunch of questions in one...
The MII front end, you will need the crossmember, spring hats, spindles, springs, shocks, and steering rack. You are usually better off going with a full kit from you favorite supplier. Dunno why you really want a MII unless you are doing some mod motor or twin turbo with some fancy custom headers.
The process is take out the old stuff, cut out the shock towers (not fun) then measure and weld in the crossmember. Then the spring hats. Follow it up with some control arms, spindles,spings and steering and you are done. The MII can use a Pinto rack i believe (or maybe its the 79-93 mustang rack). The spindles are not the same as a granada or any early mustang spindle. They are short little squatty things. I can get pics for you if you need side by side.
check ebay if you want to buy stuff individually...you can pick up drop spindles with a full 11" brake kit for $330. Tubular control arms are the way to go imo and are about $200 a set. Anyways..look around for prices, sometimes a kit isnt cheaper.
motor...i would go with a 302 based motor myself. They are cheap, you can pick up a roller fox body motor for nothing and they can hold some pretty good power on a stock block. They also had forged pistons from 86 and up I believe. I would not use a stock 60's motor over a roller efi block
The 385/Lima motors are only a 110 punds heavier than a 351W, even less if both have aluminum heads, and even with iron heads and intake they weigh less than those POS mod motors (plus they are smaller than the 281 dimensionally). That weight difference wont mean much for street handling.
For bugetary reasons you can't beat the 331 if your block is still good, if the block has already been bored or is questionalble...for cheap power the 460 is tough to beat. But my choice would be the 408/427W.
For bugetary reasons you can't beat the 331 if your block is still good, if the block has already been bored or is questionalble...for cheap power the 460 is tough to beat. But my choice would be the 408/427W.
xoxbxfx
Founding Member
FordTruckGuySTX said:
really you dont NEED rack and pinion but its doable. Conversion kits like TCP and others are EXPENSIVE as a full MII setup with all the top notch stuff like coilovers and a rack.
In my opinion the only good reason to use a MII suspension is to gain space for a big motor. The MII was not exactly the pinnacle of handling geometry, it wouldn't sell at all if folks knew it was Pinto based 
To be honest, with the shelby UCA drop the classic geometry is very good, better than the Fox/SN95 strut arrangments. I always wondered about kits like fatman....oooohoooooh you mean I can have struts instead of dual control arms?
Only argument for that swap is to get modern brakes easily.
To be honest, with the shelby UCA drop the classic geometry is very good, better than the Fox/SN95 strut arrangments. I always wondered about kits like fatman....oooohoooooh you mean I can have struts instead of dual control arms?
Only argument for that swap is to get modern brakes easily.
1320stang
Founding Member
You can fit a 460/C6 without going to a MII front end.
If your caging it, it sounds like a drag car, not a road race car. You can make 400+ HP/TQ out of the junkyard easy with a FE/385 series engine. If money is tight, a 460 with C8,C9 or D0 heads that have some port work done to them, an aluminum intake and the proper cam and carb would likely be the route to take. Just get the rest of the suspension up to snuff and that'll save you some money.
If your caging it, it sounds like a drag car, not a road race car. You can make 400+ HP/TQ out of the junkyard easy with a FE/385 series engine. If money is tight, a 460 with C8,C9 or D0 heads that have some port work done to them, an aluminum intake and the proper cam and carb would likely be the route to take. Just get the rest of the suspension up to snuff and that'll save you some money.
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