putting a 4bbl in my '65

i absolutely love my Mustang. When my husband bought it for me for our anniversary, it was the car of my dreams. BUT...i don't know anything about it really, i put the key in and drive. (Blissfully!) Thankfully he's more of a gear head than i am. We've been looking into replacing the original 2bbl carb with a 4bbl (she's a 289 automatic w/ a new dual exhaust). So now i'm learning about CFMs. What can a stock 289 handle? How do i find out what the flow rate is with the current carb? If i drop a 4bbl in, aside from replacing the manifold, what else do i need to do? He talked about perhaps changing the ratio on the rocker arms to avoid doing anything with the cam shaft, is that an option? (i hope i repeated that correctly!) Also, while i'm here, is one brand of headers as good as the next? Patriot and/or Flow Tech particularly? What do the experts like and why? (in other words, how do i choose???) Thanks for the opportunity to ask my questions. Everybody's gotta start SOMEWHERE, right? As much as i love driving my baby, i want to drive FASTER!

ponygurl

Reply to
mustang sally
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A 4 barrel carb and intake is a fairly easy swap. I prefer a Holley, some folks like the Edelbrock. They both work well, cost about the same, and drive about the same. Use whichever one your husband can tune easily. You don't need much air flow for that small 289. 600cfm with vacume secondaries will be plenty. A Holley aveneger would be the perfect choice, IMO. For headers, I would choose one of the Tri-Y designs. That will give you the best power band. Changing the rockers will give you a little more lift. On stock heads with a stock cam and relatively low compression, it won't be enough of a power improvement to make it worth while. Instead, save the money for a good exhaust gas analyzer to get it all tuned better.

Reply to
.boB

You'll be delighted if you just slap on an edelbrock manifold and 500 or

600 cfm carb (don't go above 600). Holley or Edelbrock again would be fine. I'd just hunt ebay by searching for "500 cfm" or "600 cfm". Get a clean used carb and you'll do fine. I've always been a Holley man, but I'd love to try an edelbrock.

Then throw on a pertronix electronic ignition and you're set.* Really, that's as far as you need to go unless you've got ideas about doing street racing. You should be able to do it all for around $200 or less, depending on how good a deal you get.

  • It's kind of a pain to hook the pertronix to a good hot wire, and most people hook it onto the coil, which is fine, but it's better to find a hot wire elsewhere, which will require a little hunting.
Reply to
vince garcia

Thanks for the input folks! Hubby will decide between the two carbs and will be putting one of them in soon, he's thinking probably the Holley. The electronic ignition went in right before i put her away for the winter, so i haven't really had a chance to check that out, or the new dualies Santa brought me for xmas. (But she purrrs like a kitten in the garage!) No, no street racing in my plans, my drag racing/don't let the cops catch me days are behind me. i just want to take good care of my baby so she can hold her head up high when i'm driving her down the road. The rodent saw his shadow this morning, so 6 more weeks of winter i guess. C'MON SPRING! i hate driving around in the winter geezer mobile! Thanks again!

ponygurl

Reply to
mustang sally

I went with the Edelbrock intake and 4V carb (both Endurashine), and the cam that came with the set. (You can order each individually, or order the intake and carb, or order all three). The Endurashine is claimed to hold up to heat far better than chrome with no coloring, and it looks sharp on the freshly painted block. So far, the engine shop manager, as well as the restorer, and a couple of others have already jumped to the Endurashine look. I also added an Edelbrock spacer. Pictures can be provided if you'd like.

Reply to
Spike

You didn't mention what year the car is, but assuming it came with points, I'll assume it's 65 to 70. I would probably first try to find a Ford 4100 series carb, since that's what was OEM. The advantage is the choke system is much better. If you go this way, do not buy a rebuilt one from an auto parts store, but look around for a dirty old core. Those are most likely to have all of the original parts. Have it rebuilt by someone who knows what they are doing. These carbs flow around 500 CFM and are capable fully supplying your 289 with the air it needs. One of the aftermarket aluminum intakes would be fine as a set of headers. Good Luck Bill

1965 GT-350 Shelby
Reply to
Bill in Yakima

I think it says in the Header that it's a 65

Reply to
Spike

Reply to
Bill in Yakima

Reply to
Spike

Here is just my $00.02- if you have an automatic trans, there should be no problem with the tri-y headers, but if you have a four speed with the old z-bar type clutch release lever, you will have some problems with headers. I found a set from Headman headers for my 65 that worked with my old-type clutch setup, but it was tight, and I had to remove the cluth release lever, install the header and thread the clutch release lever in between the header primaries. It was a pretty tight fit,(with about 1/8 inch clearance) but it worked. Later I converted it to a newer type cable clutch release, much better, no header problems. Make sure you check to see what headers will work with your car, as some are labeled 'for automatic transmission only'. I had to learn that the hard way. I also had to make a few "adjustments" to my tri-y's as it was really close to the inner fender on the driver side.

Reply to
FastOrange347

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