Engine Combo Recomendations

swc

swc

Forum Member
Hi Guys,

Recent;y picked up a '68 Mustang with a early 90's 302 and an AOD. Looking to make it into a nice little driver for the Wife for the summer--it's a driver that has already done Woodward so it's more than drivable but it does need a little tlc. Ultimately, I'd like to see 300-350 at the wheels. I know what it takes to make a low 9 sec car (our '93 LX makes 737 at the tires and has run [email protected]) but I want a neat little street car.

With the AOD, I'm thinking a set of 4.11 for the 8" rear, AFR 165's, a custom hyd cam,long tube headers, and a converter in the 2400-2800 range. Naturally, a matching carb and intake for the combo but, any sugestions for this street car?? I've read good things about the AFR's but am open to sugestions for heads. Ideas??????

Thanks!!
 
StockNotch said:
A small turbo would make the power, be more than streetable, and more enjoyable.
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For sure it would but, the race car has an intercooled (air/water) YSI and I want to stay with a pump gas streeter to have some fun with NOT another race car. I started out with monor bolt on's with the '93 and it got out of hand (ask Lidio) so I need the Wife's car to stay mild. Just looking to make a fun cruiser that will hold it's own most of the time.
 
You can put a small Turbo on there with no problems with pump gas. Or if you wanna keep it all motor you can do a basic HCI on the 302
 
its going to be cheaper in the long run with a turbo and 100000x better. It will be way more streetable than a n/a application. Parts to do 500 @ the crank are cheap since you dont want to go higher than that. Drop it off to get fabbed up somewhere. I had diamond do my car and it turned out flawless. I plan on having him do the turbo kit on my 68 mustang when the time comes for me to get it done.
 
You don't need the complexity of a turbo system.
393 inch stroker, 240-246 @ .050" hydraulic roller, Performer EFI or Trac Heat, 10.5:1. The 165's are on the edge for that many cubes, maybe 185's?
AOD and converter are right on. I'd go 3.73's, maybe 3.55's!! You'll have lots of fun with the low-end grunt that cubes can provide.

That's my opinion, not yours.
 
The OP only wants 300-350 at the tire. So where did you come up with 500 at the crank? A basic HCI 302 will be perfectly streetable and still put down the kind of power he wants if not more. Its all in the cam he picks for the motor that will make it streetable or not.
 
90notch306 said:
The OP only wants 300-350 at the tire. So where did you come up with 500 at the crank? A basic HCI 302 will be perfectly streetable and still put down the kind of power he wants if not more. Its all in the cam he picks for the motor that will make it streetable or not.
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yea but 500 is way cooler, he's just worried about streetability. A boosted 500 crank hp small block would be awesome and very streetable. Plus being in a old mustang makes the cool factor increase x10000000.
 
DarkoStoj said:
yea but 500 is way cooler, he's just worried about streetability. A boosted 500 crank hp small block would be awesome and very streetable. Plus being in a old mustang makes the cool factor increase x10000000.
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Well of course 500 at the crank would be way cooler but it sounds like he already has a fast car for that. He just wants a mild streetable combo for cruising. Even a 393 would be overkill for his set goals. A basic HCI 302 will have no problem putting over 350 to the tire and be streetable.
 
I would do something different. An Ecoboost or coyote 5.0 engine would be nice.

Myself... I would find a donor 5.3/4l60e gm truck. Ls2 cam, tune. That's efi, 300+ rwhp. Then my basics apply.. sticky tires, 3200 stall, 100 shot...

Every vehicle is fun with those 3 mods.
 
It's the wife's car. I doubt she needs 500 HP. I hope the OP also considers that this is the wife's car and doesn't get too carried away. I wouldn't bother with 4:11's because this will just kill the mileage. While mileage may not be the most important factor, it kills the enjoyment stopping every 200+ miles for a tank of gas. If this has a 9", I'd just get a 3.50.

As for the engine, my thought would be a Keene Bell supercharger. You get an extra 130HP and 120 Ft of torque without changing anything else. Torque is better on a street car anyway.
 
oh for the wife? leave the engine alone and put in a/c, new seats, power steering/brakes, dynamat it, and make a really really comfortable driver. Even new paint so its pretty. Is it a fastback?
 
DarkoStoj said:
its going to be cheaper in the long run with a turbo and 100000x better. It will be way more streetable than a n/a application. Parts to do 500 @ the crank are cheap since you dont want to go higher than that. Drop it off to get fabbed up somewhere. I had diamond do my car and it turned out flawless. I plan on having him do the turbo kit on my 68 mustang when the time comes for me to get it done.
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The over the top side of me says YES!! But, no desire to start down the road that our race car did. A street type alum heads,headers,intake and cam along with a looser converter and steeper gear is all we are after. 350 at the flywheel is all we are after.
 
OldbutNew said:
You don't need the complexity of a turbo system.
393 inch stroker, 240-246 @ .050" hydraulic roller, Performer EFI or Trac Heat, 10.5:1. The 165's are on the edge for that many cubes, maybe 185's?
AOD and converter are right on. I'd go 3.73's, maybe 3.55's!! You'll have lots of fun with the low-end grunt that cubes can provide.

That's my opinion, not yours.
Click to expand...
Not saying that a stroker will not happen eventually but, we have no desire to pull the motor now. Just looking for a few simple bolt on's that may give us another 100hp over what we have now. Keep in mind that this car is for the street and might actually be used for a cross country trip down the line at some point--hence the AOD.
 
90notch306 said:
The OP only wants 300-350 at the tire. So where did you come up with 500 at the crank? A basic HCI 302 will be perfectly streetable and still put down the kind of power he wants if not more. Its all in the cam he picks for the motor that will make it streetable or not.
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Exactly what we are after. Probably going to speak with our cam grinder who makes them for our race car.
 
DarkoStoj said:
yea but 500 is way cooler, he's just worried about streetability. A boosted 500 crank hp small block would be awesome and very streetable. Plus being in a old mustang makes the cool factor increase x10000000.
Click to expand...
I hear ya BUT, if I did that,I'd want to add all the supporting parts and before I knew it, I'dd have an intercooled turbo combo that would need to run C16. Gonna stick with simple bolt on's.
 
AutoRoc said:
I would do something different. An Ecoboost or coyote 5.0 engine would be nice.

Myself... I would find a donor 5.3/4l60e gm truck. Ls2 cam, tune. That's efi, 300+ rwhp. Then my basics apply.. sticky tires, 3200 stall, 100 shot...

Every vehicle is fun with those 3 mods.
Click to expand...
The budget simply is not there but, it sure would be different/cool.

Later,
 
Swifster said:
It's the wife's car. I doubt she needs 500 HP. I hope the OP also considers that this is the wife's car and doesn't get too carried away. I wouldn't bother with 4:11's because this will just kill the mileage. While mileage may not be the most important factor, it kills the enjoyment stopping every 200+ miles for a tank of gas. If this has a 9", I'd just get a 3.50.

As for the engine, my thought would be a Keene Bell supercharger. You get an extra 130HP and 120 Ft of torque without changing anything else. Torque is better on a street car anyway.
Click to expand...

Not sure if the mileage will be all that different from a 3.5 rear over a 4.11 in the 8" I know that in our '93 ar we tried 3.27's,3.55's 3.73's and then settled on 4.10's over the years--not a big difference from 3.55 to 4.10. Considering that we have an AOD (not a performance box by ANY means, I feel that you NEED a digger gear to get respectable acceleration--just my opinion. I like the idea of a roots type blower but, A: I want to learn the carb stuff and B: I want this car to stay a basic bolt on affair, NOT the 800 +FWHP YSI intercooled race car that we already have.
 
swc said:
I like the idea of a roots type blower but, A: I want to learn the carb stuff and B: I want this car to stay a basic bolt on affair, NOT the 800 +FWHP YSI intercooled race car that we already have.
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The blower is for EFI Mustang engines. It's similar to a Magnacharger/'03 Mustang Cobra. It works with the stock lower half of the factory intake and they have a version that works with the GT40 intake. Just my opinion, but I think it's a have your cake and eat it too modification because it'll drive just like her daily driver. I don't think you'll be pumping 800 HP with this blower. This is just a bolt-on mod that doesn't require heads, cams or a different intake.
 
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