'68 EFI/T5 swap

[Danos]

I'm planning to swap out my original 302 for a 5.0 HO EFI. I have a complete '89 donor car. Does anyone have experience with the various conversion wiring harnesses out there? My budget is very limited, however I want a professional looking, reliable product that won't drive me to bankruptcy. I'm also planning to swap out the C4 with the donor's T5. I want to use either a cable clutch or Hydraulic. Any suggestions here? How do you keep the speedo accurate?

[66fastback]

I wish I could be of more help here....so I'll see what I can do.

1. I'd go with the cable clutch personally....and not just because I have one. It is cheaper, and easier to set up. I made my own pedal, but I'm sure the ones on the market are wonderful. BE SURE to keep the cable away from the headers (JBA shorties work wonderful for this swap BTW)

2. You are in luck swapping from a C-4 to a T-5....the front yoke of the driveshaft is a direct swap....believe it or not this is not the case for the manual tranny cars. The speedo will probably not be a problem, your old driven gear on the speedo cable will slip right in and should read the same as it did with the C-4. You will need a new tranny crossmember.

3. Can't help you much on the harness.....I used the one from the donor car and spliced in. Looks pretty good, but there is a LOT of left over wire. HOWEVER, I have also done another car using the Street Rod harness from Ford Motorsports--excuse me FRT now--and it is basically a production harness, so you have the same problem with where to tuck away the extra wire.

Good luck. doc.

[Giddy Up]

I converted my '68 coupe (originally a 302/C4 car) into EFI with a T-5 a little over 2 years ago. When I did the swap I used a Ford Motorsport 5.0 crate motor and a new Tremec T-5. I chose to use the Windsor Fox wiring harness and trans. crossmember. It was a pretty easy install, I only had to splice a few wires into the original harness and there aren't too many "extra wires" laying around.
As for clutch specifics, I originally used the old mechanical linkage from a junkyard car. I had purchased JBA shorty headers but I couldn't get them to clear the mechanical linkage so I used long tube headers instead. I drove the car with the mechanical linkage set up for almost two years (hating it the entire time) learning to live with the clutch chatter and squeaky sounds, until the clutch rod snapped on me in traffic. After that experience I chose to use a hydraulic clutch set up from CJ Pony Parts, the difference was like night and day, now the clutch feel and peformance is like a late model Mustang. I would have liked to use a cable clutch, but I did not have time to fabricate the brackets needed for the conversion (this car is my daily driver). Now with the hydraulic clutch I use the JBA shorty headers, it makes negotiating speed bumps much easier.
I put somewhere around 16,000 miles on my car a year, I average 22mpg highway and I just ran my car on a "Mustang" chassis dyno to a (very traction limited) 13.94 et. at 102.1mph. The advantages of EFI in old Mustangs like ours are great. I have a reasonable amount of experience with tunning and working with EFI now, so if you run into trouble with your install I would be glad to help.
Also, I did my conversion when I was 22 and I had a very limited budget as well. You just have to keep in mind that sometimes you have to spend a little to get the quality you desire.
Good Luck

[7DMACH1]

These people are supposed to be the best around. Hope this helps you. RAY http://www.windsorfox.com/

[66fastback]

One other thing I should mention here, as I have seen the problem occur on more than one swap......Go ahead and put the fuel pump in-tank, like they are on the new cars. Both cars I have done the swap on have had problems with the pumps going into vapor lock once the weather warms up into the 80's or above (better part of the year here in Texas). SERIOUS drivablility problems result.

The cure for both vehicles was the same.....in-tank pump. I've also talked to a guy who works in a shop doing street rods, and he has said the same thing, don't use an in-line pump. I know some people who are running in-line pumps without a problem, but I also know what it got me.....a collection of in-line pumps on my bench.

Oh yeah, not that you have to do it.....but moving the battery to the trunk sure frees up a lot of room.

[Danos]

66Fastback,
Thanks for all the info. It's good to get some feedback from someone that's actually done this swap. I've seen lots of in-line fuel pumps out there, but haven't seen any in tank kits. How did you do yours?

[66fastback]

Sorry I've been gone so long.....holidays had me tied up. The method that I used to mount the new pump in the old tank has been to purchase a new 20 or 22 gallon tank (69/70 model)...and I then had a new flange welded on top to accept the pump. The proper placement takes some work, and you have to make sure that you don't interfere with the sending unit----don't forget to plug the old line!!!!

The $$$$ alternative is to purchase the tank from a vendor like Windsor-Fox....I believe they even sell their tanks with the pumps.....which accounts for some of the expense. They make great products and have been doing this swap for years......I just can't afford to throw around (or away) money, and have to do things for myself.

This can be tricky and even dangerous, so anyone not experieced with the fuel systems and how to treat them (like welding on a gas tank--DUH!!) should just leave well enough alone and purchase the tank from Windsor-Fox.....just don't choke on your donuts when you see the price tag....they make a nice profit off of $200 worth of parts (tank, flange, and fuel pump). I'm not knocking them....they have to make a living, and are providing a service you can't get anywhere else.