jet471":x6lxcyfo said:
Thanks for all the info, ya'll were very helpful.
This is my plan for now, please reply if I make no sense.
1. Last weekend I added subframe connectors (cheap and piece of mind) and welded in new floor pans, it all ready looks like a new car. I checked the cowl for rust by pouring water in it, only had a small leak, instead of going to the trouble to fix right now I am going to make a scoop for it to keep water from entering while letting some air in if needed.
instead of making a scoop, check out virginia classic mustang, or other mustang suppliers, for their inexpensive cowl seal kits. it consists of a couple of open top plastic hats that are glued in place with silicon.
2. I have a v8 t5 and am waiting on a big bell and adapter plate for the 200 ci.
3. While I have the engine out, it was making a little smoke after getting warm, I am going to re-ring it, if I it measures out, otherwise I may have to machine it and get some pistons, may put some main bearings in also. I am trying to do on a budget(floor pans and trans are tough on the pocket) so I hope to spare machine shop bills.
get a set of long flexible feeler gauges designed for measure piston to cylinder wall clearance, and check to see what the piston wall clearance is. if it is within factory specs, then just through a set of rings in. as for bearings, use some plastigage to determine what your current bearing clearances are, if they are with in factory specs again, toss in a set of bearings. my advice on bearings would be to buy two sets, one standard and one set of .001 undersize(assuming the crank has not already been ground in the past, if it has you will see the counterweights marked). the reason for the undersize set of bearings is so that you can mix and match bearings to get the best bearing clearances.
4. My main plan for this is daily driver emphasizing fuel economy, but I have read that some economy techniques also help torque, so why not.
very true, with in reason, when you improve horsepower ans torque output, you will see an increase in fuel economy. remember that these engine were underpowered even by the standards of the day.
5. I believe right now I will leave the head stock (no milling), so I don't have to worry about pinging and get some baseline fuel mileage numbers.
do some calculations before you decide not to mill the head. the best street compression ratio is about 9.5:1 for good power and fuel efficiency, and still being able to run 87 octane fuel. the falcon performance handbook has the information you need to calulate your compression ratio. you will also need to measure the volume of your combustion chamber, in cc's, in the head. also if you are going to use the now hard to find steel shim head gasket, you may not need to mill the head, but if you are going to use the now standard composite head gasket, you will lose compression as they are much thicker.
6. Future mods will be junkyard ds 2 and module or distributor improvement (using broncomans link).
reman duraspark distributors are fairly cheap so you dont have to start with a junkyard unit. on the gofastforless website they have information on how to wire a 70's chrysler ignition module to work with the duraspark distributor. add an msd blaster lll coil, and you will have a really nice reliable electronic ignition system for under $100. i advise doing it asap.
7. Other technical mods that I need some extra input on are, early 170 head milled, vacuum secondary 2 barrel that I can lean out, and some water injection to keep it cool (so I can lean the fuel and advance the spark).
i have never heard of a vacuum secondary 2 barrel carb, but there are staged two barrel weber carbs that are mechanical secondary units. they work real nice.
8. In search of the reliable water injection design, my current thoughts are a 12v water pump that I can run on variable voltage to have less to more injection. I plan on running it off the alternator after the voltage is transferred to dc from the regulator, I will need to experiment with nozzles and voltage to get the flow right, I think it will be possible with resistors and potentiometers to get a functional system based on charging output that will correlate with engine rpm.
unless you are going to run fairly high compression, over 10.5:1, there is no need for water injection, and it doesnt really do anything for fuel economy anyway. water injection is just for controlling detonation. my advice, dont waste you time with it unless you really need it. and for all the years i have built high performance engines, i have never seen the need for it.