ministock build

[G.davis67]

Hey guys, I'm helping my 74 year old neighbor try to get his ministock mustang back on the track atleast one more time. He hasn't raced in probably 15 years. Car is a 1985 I believe, he always had a carburetor setup but it never ran very good he said.

Well I moved next to him about 7 years ago and he had me take apart his old engine and see whats going on, and it was toasted. So its been sitting since and this year we're going to start working on it again, so I found him an engine near us, it's from a 1991 mustang, came with engine, automatic transmission and wiring harness for $250. At first our plan was going to be just use the block but then my neighbor was thinking this EFI business might be better than the carb setup. I thought so also at first but now im having second thoughts.

First issue is he wants to use some special camshaft he always ran with, I have no idea what it is, I havent seen it yet. Will the computer be able to adjust for this on its own?
Second issue, will it run decent with no emissions like the EGR?
Third issue, the wiring harness is a disaster right now. PO cut some wires, and untaped the hole thing, its like a pile of spaghetti. slowly making progress, I finally found a wiring diagram tonight.
and the final issue is setting up a hi pressure fuel system for the EFI.

is dealing with these issues worth the hassle or should we just swap heads and go with carb setup and get a low pressure inline fuel pump since the mechanical pump spot is cast over on this new block.

Thanks guys.

 

[General karthief]

Here is my opinion, keep in mind that it's free so it's not worth much and I have limited mechanical ability, that makes it worth even less!
since the efi harness is hacked and you already have most of the stuff for the carb build that is the way I would go, there was/is a lot of them running the local track here and they can be make to run pretty effective on the track,

 

[95BlueStallion]

I would also leave it carb'd. Not only because of the harness sounding like a mess, but because the stock ECM will need a tune to optimize the combo anyway. It will snowball on you/him quickly.

 

[Boostedpimp]

Well, it sounds like this project will need to start moving along rather quickly so this guy can enjoy this car for a while. With that in mind I would think simplicity would be king and keep it carb'd.

 

[G.davis67]

Ok carb it is. Does anyone have any experience with drilling out the cast over portion where the mechanical fuel pump would mount? I was thinking of just running one of those low pressure inline fuel pumps but not sure.

 

[General karthief]

I think there would be more to it than just drilling the fuel pump access, if thats what your talking about. Just run an electric pump if you can.

 

[Boostedpimp]

Ok carb it is. Does anyone have any experience with drilling out the cast over portion where the mechanical fuel pump would mount? I was thinking of just running one of those low pressure inline fuel pumps but not sure.

I wouldn't drill anything, Believe you need to switch the front timing cover with one off a year that came with a mechanical fuel pump. You may also need a fuel pump eccentric to drive the pump with this route. Other option would be to buy a low pressure pump designed for a carb like the Holley blue or red pumps. With that though I believe you can't use the efi fuel pump hanger with the tank. Pretty sure you'd have to replace it with one for use with carb. Do a search for foxbody carb conversion many have done it so there should be a wealth of info on it.

 

[G.davis67]

I've got the whole block yet from the old carb engine that has the intermediate shaft with fuel pump eccentric and distributor drive gear. My neighbor was just telling me guys he use to race against had the newer blocks drilled out so they can run a mechanical fuel pump, but doesnt matter anymore, I called my neighbor tonight just to BS and he tells me we should just go with a carb setup instead because he has a head thats milled down already and just to get one of those electric pumps. almost as if he has internet to read this thread lol.