Ok what do I do now

[65fastbackresto]

Motor is going in the shop Monday. At this point I only have motor with heads rebuilt. I`m doing a conversion from 6 banger to 302. Already getting a C-4 rebuilt with stage 3 shift kit.

These are things I know I need.

distributor and stuff
headers
motor mounts
Intake, thinking weiand stealth from some of yalls advise.
carb, open to suggestions, something easy to tune though, Edelbrock maybe?
valve covers to clear roller rockers

Now this list looks awefull short to me, what am I forgetting?

 

[xoxbxfx]

Motor is going in the shop Monday. At this point I only have motor with heads rebuilt. I`m doing a conversion from 6 banger to 302. Already getting a C-4 rebuilt with stage 3 shift kit.

These are things I know I need.

distributor and stuff
headers
motor mounts
Intake, thinking weiand stealth from some of yalls advise.
carb, open to suggestions, something easy to tune though, Edelbrock maybe?
valve covers to clear roller rockers

Now this list looks awefull short to me, what am I forgetting?

suspension

Id go edelbrock on the carb for easy tuning.. many people say they are good right out of the box

 

[Dothang67]

You need quite a few things when doing the I6 to V8 conversion. To my understanding you need:

suspension, as xoxbxfx said
brakes, V8 cars use 5 studs
rear end
motor and frame mounts
gas pedal linkage
fuel line

and I don't know if the steering needs to be replace as well.

 

[chromedog]

radiator
gauge feed wiring

 

[65fastbackresto]

Ok, I`m making a list

Already have the 5 lug.
Suspension is almost done. Meiyer racing leafs and 620 coils in front.
ALready got subframe connectors.
Fuel line is already bigger then the 6 cyl one it had.
Rear end is an 8, I`m gonna try and keep it, if I kill it, I`ll get another one.

Ok, 2 thumbs up on the Edelbrock carb recomendation. 650 cfm?
could always jet it down if I need to.

Gauge wiring, I need some details on that one, cant I buy an off the shelf gauge cluster and install it?

Gas Pedal linkage? I`m lost on that one, give me some details please. The one I have wont work?

The steering stuff. I talked to John at Opentracker, he said if the stuff is good leave it alone, it would be fine, I`ll know more later on that one when I tear it apart to do the coils and shelby drop.

Brakes I`m still scheming on the best way to do it, the granada setup looks pretty good, but there are alot of options. The plumbing part is what scares me.

 

[chromedog]

the gauge feed is the wiring that comes out of the firewall, nearest the center of the car. on my 6 cyl, conversion i had to lengthen the oil pressure wire, water temp, and coil feed, BUT... i also swapped in a duraspark distributor, so your coil wire might work. if you dont want to buy a harness, after you have the motor in, lay all the wires out, measure how much you need to add, and either go to the boneyard with a pair of wire cutters, and get the longest wires you can find with the 90 degree ends, (the same color as the ones you need to replace,if you want)and splice them in (soldering is prefered) this way you only one splice per wire, instead of two. or just lengthen the wires you have. (can you tell which option i used?)

 

[65fastbackresto]

This is starting to sound a little complicated

Yall pray for me please....

I`m 39 and never been a car guy, I changed my own oil but thats about it.

I refuse to pay somebody for something that can be done by me, because once this car is running, if I put it together myself, I`m gonna have a better chance at keeping it running.

 

[D.Hearne]

Ok, 2 thumbs up on the Edelbrock carb recomendation. 650 cfm?
could always jet it down if I need to

Here's one thumb down on the Edelbrock carb And you cannot "jet down" a carb. It's going to flow whatever cfm it'll flow, you can't change that (there is one carb that can but the Edelbrock carb isn't it) My carb of choice is a Holley. Once you tune it, leave it the hell alone. It'll stay that way. If it seems to get out of tune, that's an ignition problem doing that. Holley is everybit as easy to tune. The only simpler carb is the Autolite 2100/4100.

 

[65fastbackresto]

Thanks for the info on the carb

I want a carb I can change the jets in dont I?

 

[D.Hearne]

Yea, you need to, to be able to tune it, but you cannot "jet it down" to make it act like a smaller carb. You're better off with a too small carb than one that's too big. This is especially true for mechanical secondary carbs and to a lesser degree with vacuum secondaries. For instance, on the warmed up 5.0 in my 89 Ranger, I had a Holley 650 DP (mechanical secondary carb) on it and when you put your foot into it, the difference in the performance when the secondaries opened was noticeable, the accelleration dropped off slightly. I replaced it with a vacuum secondary 600 Holley and tuned it for the engine (different secondary spring and rejetted it) the differemce was clear, you could feel the truck accellerate when the secondaries opened. Now I have a vac. secondary 750 Holley on it (not by choice but by circumstances) It runs OK, but it's not as peppy as it was with the 600. No matter what secondary spring I use in it, you can't feel it when the secondaries open. Lots of guys recommend a mech secondary carb for manual transmission vehicles cause that's what the carb mfg's do. I prefer them on either manual or automatics. You can tune em to work as well at WOT as a mech sec. carb but you won't pay as much of a fuel economy penalty as you will with a mech sec. (also called a double pumper for those with two accellerator pumps)

 

[65fastbackresto]

Yet another detail..LOL

Ok, I`ll research these things a little better b-4 I buy one. I would like to have massive secondarys so I can hear it when it opens up, like those old quadrajets. I always loved that sound, there was no doubt when they opened on those things.

 

[BlackGMC]

I say edlebrock for the carb, since you kinda starting, they are really easy and more than likely run fine right out of the box. Later on once your comfortable and your car is running you could upgrade to a good holley and a wideband for tunning (I really suggest that) and then sell the carb on ebay to make some money back. As for the distributor MSD and coil and get a ingintion box either the 6A or 6AL (rev limiter) if you want a rev limiter. I would also suggest an electric fuel pump, you want need anything really expensive, a cheap one will probably work for you. I just like them cause they are simple.

 

[65fastbackresto]

Electric fuel pump

Do I have to run a return line to the tank to run one of those?

 

[D.Hearne]

I used a Mr. Gasket electric on my 77 Comet. $40 at Advance Auto Parts. No return line needed, just plumb it into the fuel line just ahead of the tank. Install an inline fuel filter between the tank and pump. This is a low pressure pump, you don't have to run a regulator but I do anyway. As for ignition, I suggest a points type distributor, replace the points with an electronic conversion module like the Pertronix or Crane's XR-1. Simple install, two wires to the coil from the unit in the distributor. A reman distributor costs you $50 at your local parts house plus the conversion module that's another $60-70. Add a hotter than stock coil and you have a simple system that'll keep up with anything short of NOS or supercharging. I've used this on a 400 horse 331 and spun it to 7500 rpms. That MSD system suggested will set you back $400-500. And you'll see no improvement over what I listed.

 

[65fastbackresto]

D Hearne

I was at OhReilys yesterday and priced aroll of braided steel fuel line. Its $130 bucks for 20 foot roll. With the electric fuel pump this should be a farely simple install I`m thinking. Even for a newbie like me.
The premade stainless steel fuel line from Mustangs Unlimited was $94 bucks
.
FYI, picked up my new heads yesterday, first in a soon to be growing pile of parts for this. 1.90 intake valves are HUGE. I had no idea.....This car should run well if I match everything right.

I found some stuff under the hood yesterday that almost made me sad, this car appears to have the original everything under the hood. The radiator hoses are stamped FoMoCo, the clamps are the old style ones. And I`m fixing to gut it....

I like the dist idea, thats alot of money to save. Thanks man.

 

[D.Hearne]

With all the new found power, make sure you convert the suspension and brakes to something heavier. You'll need it.

 

[65fastbackresto]

Its in the works now actually

Meiyer racing 4 1/2 leafs on the back. 620 coils up front soon, got em but they aint on yet. Thinking of putting the coils on after the motor is in, that way I can determine ride height after the extra weight is up front.

I`m waiting on the brakes till I get the motor in the bay, dont want to have to replumb any lines.

I`m gonna try and route everything around the motor so that nothing is on top of it, so the valve covers will stand out. Saw a pic in Mustangs Monthly where a guy did this, and the engine bay looked really good and clean.

We talked before about the hi po manifolds, I`m split between those and the patriot mid lengths, bout the same price. Being new to this car thing though, simplicity kinda means alot at this point.

 

[chromedog]

do yourself a favor, and run your brakelines before the engine is in. if youve ever tried to run the front line across the firewall, you know what i mean

 

[65fastbackresto]

No I`ve never done it

I haven`t priced the steel brake line yet, if its similar in cost to the fuel line, can you go braided steel line on those too? Beleive it or not, the difference in price isnt very substantial especially considering the ease of the labor.

 

[D.Hearne]

You don't want all braided steel brake lines. Only use these where they need to be flexible.