As If There Wasn't Enough To Do...67 Mustang

[WConley]

Looks good Mike!  You should have flipped the headers forward and told your friends it's going in a V-drive boat 

[mbrunson427]

I didn't realize it, but Haley caught us running the engine. Figured you guys would like to hear it. The rocker arms are always cool to watch.

https://youtu.be/Hx_Hn5I6uLc

[My427stang]

Looks and sounds good!   What are all the specs on this one?  I must have missed it, other than BBM headed 428 with dual quads

[mbrunson427]

Ross, this engine has a long story......

Originally we had bought a 428 Shelby PI engine that "had dyno time only" on it. Was well detailed and we thought we could just dunk it into the Mustang and move on with life. There was a broken ear on the block when it got here and we started getting a little nervous, tore it apart and looked into it....... come to find out it was a complete hosing that we took. Basically were only able to save the intake,carbs, and crank.

To make this whole the whole thing work out we used a 390 C-scratch block that was on the shelf, had it bored out to standard 4.13" bore. Heads were a local swap meet find, a guy had run the rocker arm bolts down through the ports and got fed up with them, had those holes fixed and they turned out to be a real nice set of heads. Cam came from Dema Elgin, he ground a .618" lift, 224/224 @.050, 112 lobe separation. The cam seems to have real good manners, next time we start the engine I'm going to hook a vacuum gauge to it and see what kind of vacuum it pulls. I told Dema we need vacuum for brakes. Pistons came from Barry about 3 years ago or more, Diamond Pistons, compression works out right around 10.5:1.

We teetered back and forth between running exhaust manifolds on the engine or running headers.....headers won.

We aren't going to dyno it I don't think. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter how much power it makes as long as it is reliable and keeps the Mustang on the road. My guess was upper end of 400 horse? I don't know, what do you think?

[turbohunter]

Mike I hope I’m not speaking out of turn for him but Mr. Werby’s Gonkulator seems to love gathering information.
Perhaps he would take your info and give you a number.
I have been thinking about doing that for my CJ Frankenstein build soon as I’m not going to dyno it.
His program gets pretty darn close every time. Seems like a valuable reference tool for us types.

[mbrunson427]

Another run stand video, this time a lot longer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwqq_Y8sTGQ

[mbrunson427]

I get to bring this thread back! It's been dead for a while. As with most projects, this one spiraled out of control and became a total drivetrain makeover.

Here's some upgrades we have made which weren't initially part of the plan: Gear vendor toploader trans, EPAS electric power steering, all new return style fuel system from tank to carb, new 3.91 rear end with 31 spline axles.

My grandpa, dad, uncle, and I all got together Saturday and dropped the engine in. Everything went real smooth. Now over the next several weeks we need to get the loose ends buttoned up. The engine has already been run on the run stand (video above), so I hope the startup is fairly uneventful.

[mbrunson427]

Well we started it this weekend! Everything went very well with the exception of a faulty thermostat.

The carbs are Holley reproduction BK/BJ's. Drew from Air Fuel Spark had warned me that they aren't set up well from Holley (I don't know all the details), so these carbs had been sent to him to get them right. I was very impressed, all we had to do was adjust idle speed. The car started first crank. We fiddled with timing for a couple minutes, but other than that it was very uneventful.

This is the first time we have run a McLeod twin disc clutch. I backed it up and down the driveway a few times to see how the clutch acted. The pedal effort is far easier now and the engagement seems smooth. Very happy with that as well. 

A stop by the exhaust shop, a stop by the alignment shop, and the car is ready to cruise again.

[Stangman]

Very nice guys as usual. Let us know how she drives when you get her on the road.

[GJCAT427]

 I got one question on the first motor, what rods were you running?

[mbrunson427]

Thanks Joe!

I got one question on the first motor, what rods were you running?

They were stock Ford 390GT rods with ARP hardware

[427Fastback]

Very nice....wondering about the Epas steering...Thinking of doing it to my 67 Mustang T/A replica.Quick ratio manual is getting a little hard for me and a pump under the hood would destroy the theme..A little help would be nice...how do you like it..

[mbrunson427]

Very nice....wondering about the Epas steering...Thinking of doing it to my 67 Mustang T/A replica.Quick ratio manual is getting a little hard for me and a pump under the hood would destroy the theme..A little help would be nice...how do you like it..

To be totally honest.....it's a pain in the butt to install. But anything under a Mustang dash is a pain. It becomes very difficult to find a location for the motor of the unit to sit when it's a 4 speed car. All the clutch stuff gets in the way. We found one position where the motor was able to be tucked up underneath the dash and not interfere with the clutch pedal or linkage, this spot required that we cut the air vent. Theres a 2" or 3" wide cut in the plastic that allows the motor to rotate up during installation. If it's a race car and you aren't so concerned about getting the unit out of sight, the installation would be a lot easier to deal with. On an automatic car I can also see the install going much more smoothly.

As far as operation, I'm really happy with it. One of the nice benefits is you don't have to have the engine running for the assist to work, just click the key on and you have assist.

I took this picture right after we got the steering column put back in for the final time. I circled the unit, with the location we found that's how much of it you can see. We were happy with that, doesn't stand out too much.

[427Fastback]

Where to hide the motor was one of my concerns..Car is a 4spd...Happy to hear you like it and that it works good.I read that you can adjust how much assist you get as well....Thank you.....Cory

[mbrunson427]

Exhaust is done. Car is ready for the road again. From the little bit that we have driven the car around the block so far, we're noticing that the McLeod twin disc clutch is pretty grabby. It's either off, or on. Hoping that it breaks itself in and gets smoother.