Ok, the reason i'm here is simple...
My girlfriend's 4 banger mazda smokes my 1974 Mustang II Ghia, that currently has a 2.8L completely stock engine. This situation is pretty embarressing, so i'm hoping that someone on this site can help me recitify it. I've had this car for almost 5 years and for the last 2 years it spends more time on the shop than it does on the road Anyway, i'm hoping to get advice to improve my cars performance. My knowledge of cars is somewhat limited, so i'm sure i'll come up w/a few really dumb questions Any ideas for improving my current engine or even a suitable engine swap would be greatly appreciated As stated above i'm NOT the most experienced mustang enthusiast so this will probably a learning experience for me, but i'm willing to consider different options.
PS I'm pleasantly suprised to see that there is a Mustang II forum on here, but unfortunately it seems to be a ghost town...what's up w/that
Welcome to AFM. There are probably fewer surviving IIs than any other generation.
I'd look at putting a 302 in it. Or one of the newer 200+ horsepower V6s. Or even an SVO spec 2.3, but my first choice would be a V8.
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1992 Deep Emerald Green Mustang GT Hatch, 5 speed, 2.73s, Mac fenderwell cold air intake, '93 Cobra MAF, Mac 70mm throttle body & spacer, Explorer intakes, Mac unequal headers & offroad pipe, Magnaflow catback, Walbro 110lph fuel pump, Jet adjustable FPR, MSD Blaster coil, Accel 8mm wires, FRPP aluminum quadrant, UPR firewall adjuster, stock cable, Granatelli upper control arms.
Waiting to go on: Granatelli lower control arms, and GT40 Iron heads!
Thank you for your reply. I'm considering many different options including the ones you listed. I don't really want to go searching for parts from many different sources, so my preffered course of action will be buying a complete donor car. For the V8 swap i'd probably buy something like this... http://elpaso.craigslist.org/car/192383195.html
(Sorry not familiar w/the rules regarding links to other sites so if it's prohibited please remove it.) I would of course prefer the V8, but i have concerns that i'm not sure you'll be able to answer. 1 is that my engine bay already looks stuffed w/a 2.8 v6 in it so i'm not sure a v8 would even fit, so i'm worried about clearance issues. 2nd Would i be able to use the motor/trans mounts from the donor car or would i need the v8 mounts from a MII because unfortunately they're hard to come by. Lastly is in regards to the rear end, I would like to change from my stock rear end as well, but since not all mustangs are the same dimensions, i'm assuming a custom drive shaft would be in order, right??? If i did a V6 swap i'd probably try to locate a 99-04 donor car, but my questions would still be the same.
As for the 2.3 4banger, would any ford 2.3 work or would i have to get a specific yr./model. My last option is to simply upgrade the engine i currently have, but since there isn't too much traffic regarding MII's so getting advice regarding upgraded internals is probably unlikely, so my last question would be more of a generalized one. Since no one makes a power adder kit for my car, i was wondering how hard it would be to create a custom turbo kit. I've yet to find a complete 2.3 turbo engine, but i've found some of the turbos only. I'm obviously not looking for a serious race car, but just want a little more... I'm starting to get interested in metal work, so more than likely the metal tubing stuff would be custom, but i was just wondering what opinions are on the feasability of creating a custom kit starting out w/just a 2.3 stock turbo??? In regards to the turbo, my idea came from the latest issue of MM&FF were there was an article about a guy using a turbo set up on a carb. I was quite shocked by this because i was under the impression that a turbo could only be used on EFI. I was just wondering if anyone knew how hard it would be to properly tune a turbo fed carb set up???
05 Torch Red Automatic V6 / MODS: Dual Flowmaster Exhaust, JLT Series II CAI, SCT X-CAL II Tuned By BAMAChips, Street Scene Body Kit, Ducktail Spoiler, GT Rims W/ PIRELLI Tires
Dude...as long as that ride in in decent shape, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. That car was built in a different time for a different purpose.
And I don't car what anyone says...I love the old Mustang II's. I had a beautiful orange w/white topped baby 76 myself and I'll defend her any day of the week!
Yeah she wa slow as heck...but we looked good ridin' in her and since she looked so good, people seemed to respond quite well to it when I would roll up somewheres.
Good luck with whatever you plan and have fun most importantly!
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"...running with a herd of drooling, pygmy-nut cannibals."
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"Allie"
Automatic 6 Shooter - Satin Silver - Spoiler Delete...Nice and clean looking.
-Current Mods::JBA Shorties; JBA True Duals w/H-pipe; C&L Perf CAI w/Bamachips XCal2; 17" GT Take-off Bullitts w/Pirelli P-Zeros & Tri-Bar Pony spinners; SS Center Mount Fog Lamp grill; Rear Black-out panel; Push button start...others planned.
Maybe a trip to MEXICO can get you what you want, a DONOR V8 Mustang II. Contrary than in the US all Mexican IIs had a 302 under the hood, so in Mexico you can get the parts you need, including the Axle, trans, mounts and whatever else you need.
Wont be easy to find, but i bet you have a better chance than in the US.
You are in El Paso, so it is only a step down to Mexico.
Dude...as long as that ride in in decent shape, it's nothing to be embarrassed about.
Well it was in decent shape, but i drove it into the ground the first 2 years i owned it and now i'm sufferring for it I've basicly been having to fix it constantly over the last year and a half and i feel like they're just band-aid solutions and i'm tired of it. I'm hoping w/a newer, lower mileage engine and whatever upgrades i'll need for the bigger engine will help make it more reliable. I've been thinking about fixing it back up for a while, but i figured i might as well do everything i want to it, since i have to fix a bunch of stuff anyway.
Raptor, thanks for the tip and it's certainly something i'll consider but i talked to a guy that claims to have the correct 302 motor mounts and trans mounts, i haven't confirmed it yet, but if they're the right ones, i'll probably be going w/a 302 in it. I was thinking about that 94 GT engine i posted earlier, but i'm not sure if the mounting points would be the same. Are there any particular years that i can't use??? Still not sure if i should try to use my same transmission and rear end though.
Putting a 302 into a '74 II is more difficult than the 75-78s but is by no means impossible.
The engine bay is JUST big enough for it to fit, but if you just drop it in there with the MII specific motor mounts, oil pan, bellhousing, and frame mounts with all of the original accessory bracketry and pullies for a V8 Mustang II, you'll notice that there is no room for a radiator in the original position. You'll have to make modifications to either make an original Mustang II radiator fit, (cutting the radiator brace is easiest and removing the center grille support and hood latch while using hoodpins, and moving the radiator back is usually the preferred method) or use a different radiator (I'm looking into the viability of using a '67 Mustang 289 radiator (used or reproduction) because it is very similar in size to the MII V8 radiator, but it mounts slightly differently and is two-core instead of three-core, so it probably won't cool as well.)
You can get away with not using the Mustang II specific bellhousing with some transmissions, but you may have to "massage" the tunnel and firewall with a sledgehammer, you will need Mustang II specific exhaust manifolds or headers (about the same price either way with Ebay around now days) You will need a Mustang II specific flywheel or flexplate if you choose to run a Mustang II bellhousing. The good news is that with your V6, you can re-use your driveshaft if you stay with the same transmission type and use a Mustang II belhousing when going to the V8.
On the '74 Mustang IIs subframe connectors are a MUST when putting a V8 in, as these cars lack the bracing that was used in the '75-78 cars to prevent them from cracking and/or peeling away from the body with time, connecting them will prevent this unless you seriously modify the engine. You may also want to look into extra bracing where the frame rails meet the firewall, especially in a T-top or hatchback car, any competent fabrication shop can do it for you (look in the yellow pages for a shop that does race cars and/or chassis work. if you want bolt-on subframe connectors, the guy to talk to is "Stumpy" who has become a legend in the Mustang II community due to his very well built subframe connectors and traction bars. He often sells on Ebay, and II owners that need to sell parts usually get more for Stumpy's pieces than the ones made by the now-defect SouthSide Machine that were the mainstay of the Mustang II community for a long time.) (send me a PM and I'll get you the information you need to get ahold of him).
All regular 302s will fit dimensionally, but if you want to swap to an engine out of a fox-chassis car or later, you'll need to use a standard or Mustang II oil pan (depends on which bellhousing you use) and a matching oil pump pickup. You can even go EFI, but you're adding a fair degree of difficulty when you factor in having to plumb the car for fuel injection, mount the computer, and swap in either a junkyard harness or a kit from Painless or Ford Racing. If you want to do EFI, you'll probably want to swap the battery to the trunk as well. Two tricks to making an EFI install easier are using a Ranger or F150 high-pressure pump near the gas tank for your fuel pump (they mount externally) and using a mass-air 302 (89+ everywhere, 88+ California) especially if using a Painless or Ford Racing harness, since they're wired for Mass-air. You could also find a wrecked fox-body donor car and swap all of the parts out of it for the job using a different oil pan and pickup, if you got a five-speed donor and have a stick car already you could even swap that in.
Hope this answers a lot of your questions, if you have anymore just send me a PM and I'll get back to you or post them in this thread or the Mustang II forums, I try to get around here at least every other day.
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1976 Ford Mustang II Ghia: 302 with a 600cfm Edelbrock carb, Edelbrock Performer 289 intake, Dynomax Blackjack headers, 2.5" exhaust with Flowmaster Super 44s. RJS 11-gallon fuel cell, C4 tranny, chrome 16" pony wheels, fuzzy dice, brown vinyl half-top, and painted in the tackiest color ever (harvest gold, that's why I call it "The Goldenrod").
Also have a 2003 Dodge Ram (lightly modded daily driver/tow rig/office/dining room/home away from home/workshop... I call it "The Big Blue Dawg".)
Hello welcome to this great site and great group of people. If you have any questions or concerns regarding anything just let me know i will gladly assist you. Also if you have time check out some of my photos in my gallery and tell me what ya think
Thanks for the responses, i believe i'll continue this thread in the MII forums since it's probably more appropriate than the intro section If you think you can help w/my situation please join me there.
welcome to the site everything is basically covered with regards to a v8 in a 74 but another option you can go is forget mounts and run a solid motor plate easy to fit headers in and gives the car a nice rumble when you rev it up you would also be able to set the engine further back since there is less clearance in the 74 if your goin to go auto run a c4 you most likly wont have to work the tunnel unless your setting the engine further back and if your goin 5speed use a t5 there cheap and you can get them everywhere and have fun with the car thats the most important thing enjoy your build
You could always go to your local car auction the is held once a month. And all you need is a valid drivers licenses. They have all types of ford cars there with HO engines and they are cheap. I picked up 2 Lincoln for $80.00 (for both). 1 had a 460 and the other had a HO 302. You can't bet that price with a stick.
Newbie, needs help to beef up Mustang II 
Anyway, i'm hoping to get advice to improve my cars performance. My knowledge of cars is somewhat limited, so i'm sure i'll come up w/a few really dumb questions
Any ideas for improving my current engine or even a suitable engine swap would be greatly appreciated
As stated above i'm NOT the most experienced mustang enthusiast so this will probably a learning experience for me, but i'm willing to consider different options. 
I've basicly been having to fix it constantly over the last year and a half and i feel like they're just band-aid solutions and i'm tired of it. I'm hoping w/a newer, lower mileage engine and whatever upgrades i'll need for the bigger engine will help make it more reliable. I've been thinking about fixing it back up for a while, but i figured i might as well do everything i want to it, since i have to fix a bunch of stuff anyway.
