The car needs redone totally. I have 2 different setups im thinking about and wanna see which would be more effective with money, reliability and performance. I know all those things dont always go hand in hand but i wanna get close. I would like to get at least 400hp from the engine. Right now the car has a 289 that needs torn apart and redone if i keep that engine.
Setup I really like:
Ford 351 engine
Fuel injection setup
Electronic ignition
Convert drums (which are front and back) to disk front and back
transmission to handle over 400hp
headers and dual exhaust since right now its a single exhaust
this should be over 400hp at the engne
Other setup possibility but might be more expensive:
keep the 289 and have it taken apart and cleaner and machined to a 302
supercharge it
add electronic ignition
same brake setup as above
rebuild or purchase new tranny depending on whats cheaper
dual exhaust and headers also
Which one would you go for? Different more effective setup with daily driving reliability?
Also need to find a shop thats knows what they are doing in building this cars engine and tuning it.
what are you looking ot mainly do with this car?
cruise it? race it? little of both?
i like the idea of just buying a dropout out of foxbody and put it in. tat way you get all the modern features and maintain power and driveablility on budget. just a thought.
Just my opinion, but generally speaking, anything with forced induction is probably going to be less reliable than an N/A motor. Since you are basically starting from scratch, why bother with a S/C when you can just pick the displacement you need? It sounds like the 351 is the way to go, and 400hp shouldn’t be too hard as a lot of places even sell 400+ hp 351W crate motors.
its got the factory automatic in it now. the car will mostly be a cruiser and might race at the track once a year for fun. I like the 351 the best too but its on a budget and i wasnt sure of the cheapest way to make respectable power from it. Im figuring the 351 setup to cost $11,000.00 and thats pushing it for us.
11k for a 400hp 351 is insane. A good 351 with good heads ~$2000 and headers, cam, etc… would be over 400hp. I would say $5000 would get you more power than you are shooting for with a 351, and that includes buying an engine. My dad just got one for free out of a 91 crown vic police car.
Stick with a carb. Keep it simple.
The factory auto is probably a c4, which is a very good tranny and can be built up pretty cheaply to handle over 400hp reliably.
I’m with 77 on this one. A 351 OR 390 would be a good choice. You could easily build a 400+ HP carb’ed one for under 5K. If you can snag a cheap C6, that’s great, but the C4 is a good tranny and as has been said, can easily be beefed up.
I had a 66 Merc Comet when i was 20…built the 289 to around 300HP, left the C4 stock except for a shift kit and it held up fine. Ran a Holley 600CFM vac secondary carb and got 21 MPG(highway) with 3:50 gears. Got 12 around town, but i pretty much lived in the secondaries…LOL
Of course, one of these would be cool http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FORD-428-450HP-CRATE-ENGINE-BY-TUFF-DAWG-ENGINES_W0QQitemZ350065373356QQihZ022QQcategoryZ33615QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
do 351’s drop right in pretty easily?
Not building a show car but i want it it to be clean as possible.
What parts can be put into the C4 tranny to beef it up? its slipping right now and sometimes doesnt want to go into gear.
we been through this before 5 times. you will never win with the redneck.