200 performance I HAVE NO CLUE

[lombardo65]

i have a 1966 for mustang stock transmission stock 200 straight 6

im currently in high school and i have owned the car for 2 years now I purchased (when i say I i mean i litterly worked my ass off for this car this is no dadys gona buy me a car)

as you can see im proud of that and im proud of my car iv been restoring it for 2 years now and i just recently had my engine and transmission rebuilt i would like to keep my car my daily driver which is school and work and girls but i wana also put a little kick in it

iv looked at the parts here for sale and iv done some research but im still confused being only 17 i grew up to o oil lights on time to go to the shop and i hate that i much rather work on my cart my self so where do i start to tweak my car

im on a low budget but after time i can expand so im thinking one piece at a time so were do i start 1st as far as performance parts go thanks in advance

 

[rbohm]

8) ok first decide what you are looking for the car to do. dont be unrealistic here either, we would all love to have a 10 sec, 30mpg, six cylinder powered, normally aspirated, race built suspension, rolls-royce comfortable mustang on a budget of a few hundred dollars. aint gonna happen though. the only thing trying to get there will just get you frustrated.

since this car is likely a daily driver, you want the car to be dependable first, economical second, and high performance third. start with cam selection. pick one that works in the 1000-5000 rpm range(it doesnt have to be exactly in that range, but in that ballpark). this assumes the engine itself is in good condition. if not then rebuild it first.

after the cam install a header and an electronic ignition. then install the larger carter YF carb in place of the stock holley. now move to the rear end and install a set of 3.50 gears. this will likely force you to change over to an 8" rear end but the swap is worth the effort.

these mods will give you a decently quick daily driver, and still let you get decent fuel economy, in a car that is cooler than the ricers many of your friends drive.

 

[Funky Cricket]

ditto.
if you've recently had a good rebuild (i'm assuming a shop rebuild was a good rebuild, but this is not always the case) then you have a good platform.

I would start a bit differnt then above,
I would start with a newer electronic ignition to improve daily drivability and also upgrade a larger YF carb as suggested.
If it is an automatic you may be limited to carb and ignition choices with out some other modifications. You can search for more info in the forums or someone else can chime in.

 

[lombardo65]

yes i had the transmission and engine rebuilt by the best in hoston it is manual

so i should go
cam shaft
ignition
carb
rear end
and then im guessing manifold

 

[Bort62]

Usually I am a dick about this, but I will try to be nice here...

Can you please make an effort to use punctuation and type out complete thoughts? For a lot of us, reading stuff like your post gives us a headache, and makes us reticent to really help you out much. I'm not asking you to be perfect - but above an ESL 1st grader would be a start.

Thanks. I would do electronic ignition first and foremost. I like the duraspark II upgrade for cost effectiveness.

 

[rbohm]

8) go with what your budget allows. i suggested the cam first because that will be your second biggest gain, but it will also be the most work. other will say ignition and header first, and that is not a bad way to go either. gears will give you your biggest gain though, but if the engine isnt up to using those gears, they are kind of worthless until the engine is upgraded.

 

[mugsy]

Dude-mahn,

Here you go: .................. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ???? ''''. A bunch of periods, commas and such; please feel free to use them in your next post! And if you run out, I know where you can get some more!

tanx,
Mugsy 8)

 

[66200i6]

Welcome to the Forum.

Sounds like you have already made some investment into making this car a good daily driver. The carb and distributor is the first place to make an improvement that not only helps with reliability but economy and performance as well. Remember that with this older design the original 1100 carb and distributor are old technology and a matched set. The distributor receives a special vacuum signal from the carb that is a combination of the manifold and venturi signals.

Start doing some searches for either the 1100, 32/36 Weber, 5200 Holley, or dizzy II upgrades here on the forum. There is much info out there.

Good luck, Ric.

 

[gtm1086]

Hello and Welcome

Since you have already rebuilt the engine I would hold off on the cam for now. There are a couple of things you can do with out spending a bunch of money. Make sure the engine has a good tune. Also set you timing up to around 12BTDC

As for upgrades ignition and carburetor are the first to consider also a larger exhaust will help.

Another item that you should get is this handbook. It is the Bible for the 200 cid six http://falconperformance.sundog.net/

But most of all enjoy your classic ride 8)

 

[LEROY POLL]

DO65


.....IF YOU WANT THE BEST IMPROVEMENT WITH AN OVERALL CHANGE IN YOUR DRIVING .... GO FOR THE T-5 TRANSMISSION. IT WILL CHANGE YOUR CAR INTO A REAL FUN TO DRIVE CAR. THE FIRST THING TO DO IS UP GRADE TO THE IGNITION. THEN THE T-5 WILL GIVE YOU BETTER ECONOMY AND HAVE YOUR MOTOR LAST LONGER. THIS CHANGE WILL MAKE YOUR HAPPY FOR FOUR OR FIVE YRS. AFTER THIS THEN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO MORE WHEN OUT OF SCHOOL

LIVE IN GRACE

LEROY POLL

 

[John Propes]

I hate to be a killjoy here but the FIRST thing to do before you make it go faster is to make it stop. You have the jelly jar style master cylinder and 4 small drum brakes- No make that a 41 year old master cylinder and even in perfect condition the brakes are marginal brakes at best. Same for the suspension. Old mustangs are great- the styling, the history etc but they also handle and brake worse than any mid 90's econo-box POS. There are upgrades to correct a lot of this and it you only have a little money this is a much better place to put the money. I know this is about as romantic as a cup of warm spit. But I have lost the MC while driving and it was not my fantastic driving skills that saved me but pure luck and a closer walk with thee. These factors along with a new less experienced driver (no offence to your driving skills- they are probably better than mine) and hanging around other 16-17 year old drivers and you have a reason that classic mustangs are becoming rarer every day. I have not even touched on the spear-o-matic steering shaft or the horribly designed gas tank/filler neck. Old cars are neat but remember that thay are old cars. Your mustang is probably as old as your parents and look how well they have held up.
John

 

[pedal2themetal45]

Hi Welcome to the board
Type and spell anyway you want. its a free country...
unless you have a Ozy motor the intake is intergrated to the head (one peace) But like someone already said I'd skip the cam for now sence your motor is fresh... but I'd go with Durspart dizzy first, then carb, then header (new ones are not cheap $300.oo +) while you do the other upgrades I'd shop swap meets and look for a header there... I search for a year before I found one at a swap for $50.oo unused.... There's not a lot of calls for headers for the I6's so there not cheap or found easaly...
Good luck
tim

 

[fordconvert]

I second the brakes! When almost everybody else on the (poorly designed overcrowded with distracted brain dead drivers) roads is running power disc with abs you need to do all you can do to be able to stop as well as they can. In the 60's no one could stop so things were a bit more even. At the least you need to go to a dual mc, but a power disc setup makes them stop like a modern car.

Next I would say electronic ignition and making sure you have the best 'tune' you can get out of your current combo.

By the time you can afford to start making hard changes to the motor you would have read and learned a lot more and get a better bang for your buck.

 

[66 Fastback]

I would second Leroy's suggestion of the T-5 transmission. I think it makes the best improvement for the 3 spd manual car. Just curious, is your 3 speed the type with the non-synchronized 1st gear? or has it been swapped out to a synchronized 3 speed? If the transmission is a synchronized unit or if you are happy with the original non-synchro transmission, I would go with a carb and distributor change. But, I still think you will find the T-5 transmission the most enjoyable upgrade.
Doug

 

[rocklord]

Might as well put my 2 cents in.

You will have to weigh some of the upgrades suggested against the others.
My suggestions are:

1. Buy the handbook "The Ford Falcon SIX Cylinder PERFORMANCE HANDBOOK". Read it. Then read it again. Then READ IT AGAIN! This handbook will help you decide which upgrades to do.

2. Ignition system. Either Pertronix, or Duraspark. Pertronix is cheaper, but Duraspark is better. However, if you later replace the carburetor, you will have to replace your distributor with a later unit with vacuum advance; so the Duraspark may be cheaper in the long run.

3. Carburetor. The handbook above will help you decide which carburetor upgrade you may want to go with. As explained by 66200i6, the carb and ignition on your engine is tied together and the carb cannot be replaced without replacing the ignition; but the ignition can be upgraded without upgrading the carburetor. This is why I list the carburetor upgrade after the ignition. Once you replace the carburator and have better flow into the engine, you need better flow OUT of the engine. That is why the next upgrade is:

4. Header/exhaust system. You can go with a single collector header with a 2-1/2" single exhaust, or a dual collector header with 2" dual exhaust. My preference would be the dual header/exhaust system; but it's not my car or money.

On the other hand, you may want to go with the exhaust system upgrade before the carburetor upgrade, but not before the ignition upgrade, and not before buying the handbook. Maybe John is right, you may want to upgrade the brakes first. But what if you want to install an 8-inch rear end, this may dictate what brake upgrade to go with if you don't want to throw money away. If you want to upgrade to 3.50 gears, you may want to upgrade to an 8-inch rear end first, and if you want to keep your gas mileage up, you may want to upgrade to a T-5 transmission. But you can upgrade to a T-5, before upgrading to 3.50 gears and before upgrading to an 8-inch rear end. My head is beginning to swim, is yours?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you need to sit down and plan what upgrades you want, and what order to do them in.

 

[rocklord]

Buy the Handbook first

 

[mach1 mark]

First I'd like to say pardon my englich, gramner and other sentence like things. Maybe that why I can't get a really good response on most of my questions.

But anyhoo, Lombardo, buy the book first. Many consider it the Bible on the performance upgrades do's and do'nots.

Then I'd try to find a rear end with 3.0 or 3.5 gears. I got lucky by buying a sprint rear end with 3.0 stock gears. I have an auto-trans so I'm not worried (a Little) about breaking it. It worked fine with the stock engine. Gave a lot of pep. and was only $50.

Carb, headers, and maybe a highe lift rockers, instead of cam, because your's is new.

But read the Bible then you can make an educated decision. 8)

 

[falcon fanatic]

Just buy a nice used honda civic. It'll be fast, reliable, and the honeys love it.

 

[falcon fanatic]

okay, okay, I was only kidding! Lots of great advice here. REad it all, read the book, and then think "package". There is no one thing that is going to make your car great, it's going to be lots of little things. Think of the whole car: you want it to be trustworthy, a little quicker, stop a little better, and corner a little better. A carb by itself won't do much, netihtter will a header or an ignition (okay, maybe the ignition...) but all together they work great. A nice master cylinder is an excellent upgrade for safety and performance, assuming your brakes are all in decent shape. Nothing beats driving with the confidence that you can stop! Swaybars and shocks are a hard to beat combo for handling.

So, don't blow your wad building a monster engine for a car that won't stop or corner. Likewise, monster tires and a full race suspension on a car with 90hp is a bit silly, too. Just keep going round and round woring the balance. Over time you and the car will get to know each other.

Oh yeah, you really want to go fast and be safe? Take a performance driving course and do some autocrossing. Not to win, just for the experinece.

 

[Eric Rose]

I'd start on the engine by making sure all the basic maintainance is taken care of. Is your cooling system OK? Is your electrical system charging right? Is everything that should be grounded getting a good ground? How are your motor mounts? Any vacuum leaks?

Once the basic maintainence things are taken care of, the first thing I did on mine was change from a generator to an alternator. I don't know if your car came with a generator or not but mine did and I just don't trust 1960's wiring. So I got some brackets and a one-wire conversion kit from Falcon Enterprises, and an alternator from my local parts store. I also got a "universal wiring harness kit" from E-bay and replaced the previous owners hack-job wiring.

Once the basic maintainence is done, go with Duraspark II and a Carter carb. You can get both of these from a Junkyard off of nearly any late '70's Fomoco car with a six. Depending on what year your motor is you have you may not be able to fit the Carter but you can play around with carb bases from later sixes and get it to work.

A rebuild kit for the Carter will cost you about 20 bones and rebuilding/tuning a carb is a good basic skill to start out with. If you do any more upgrades you will be tuning after each one.

You might have to modify your carb linkage to fit the Carter, I recommend converting to a cable throttle. You can get a Lokar kit or you can take parts from a Maverick or Fairmont and make them fit. The cable throttle from a Maverick isn't too hard to install, just drill some holes, mount it up, and trim the cable to the right length.

Add the distributor with the carb. I got a whole Duraspark II setup (distributor/plug wires, spark box, coil, wiring) for something like $30. When you pull the wiring from the donor car try to leave it as in tact as possibile. If you do it right you should only have to make a few simple connections (power wire and ground IIRC) to get it to work.

Buy a timing light (best $20 I ever spent), and a manual for your engine (does the Falcon Performance Handbook have a guide to carb/ignition tuning? I'm assuming it does...)