Hi All,

Been 5+ years since I've browsed the forums and about 7 years since I've been active. Things are looking good around here!

Today I'm looking for some driveline advice. I suspect there's been some changes in the last decade that I haven't kept up on and hoping you guys can help point me in the right direction.

Backstory: Mustang has been under a car cover for the last 6 years. It wasn't running right again and I got frustrated. To be honest - I'm tired of working on it and just want to enjoy the car. Having kids also got in the way. Can't fit a car seat, and babies take up a lot of time.

Kids are in school now and I'd like to get the car back on the road. Rather than fixing the existing horribly abused driveline, I'd like to replace/rebuild. The original driveline was built starting when I was 18yo. Back then I was obsessed with power and was making minimum wage. As you guys know, that's often a bad combination. I'm now in a place where I have a little money to throw at this, and power is less important to me than having something I can enjoy headache free.

Here's what I have now:
-OEM 351W block and heads (heads ported and polished, machined for oversized valves). Way too big of a cam.
-Megasquirt EFI running a Holley Projection TBI, EDIS 8 ignition.
-World Class T5 (surprised it hasn't broken yet despite me babying it)
- Single turbo kit - Master Power T70 Turbo. Only running 6PSI due to OEM 9.5:1 compression + iron heads.
- 9" limited slip, 3.73's

My goals:
- 400-500HP
- Keep the Turbo kit. Perhaps turn up the boost.
- Stick with a 351W block.
- Reliable
- As "simple" as possible. I loved the megasquirt but way too many hours invested with that thing.
- Decent street manors. I've learnt to hate that huge cam. I'm even leaning toward going to an automatic transmission.
- Keep the 9" rear axle.

What would you guys recommend? I was thinking something like a roller 351W, basic aluminum heads, a blow-thru carb, and a MSD distributor that can pull timing based on boost. Perhaps coupled to an AOD or Tremec T56. That's what a "simple" driveline looked like 10 years ago at least.
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Roller 351, a basic entry level head, and a stockish cam is a good place to start. Too much cam, and/or head flow and your t70 will become a detriment very quickly. You could also make your goal with a production head, and the t70 would be a much better fit. For the trans, if you plan to drive it, and keep the 3.73's with a smallish tire, an od trans is very nice. You will get plenty of advise on the fuel end, but as someone who has used Megasquirt, Fitech, and blow thru carbs, I would choose Fitech for your goals, and the overall experience. It will self tune, cold starts well, works well with boost, has ign control, and it will do it with the least amount of headache for you imo.

 

The cheapest route to go would be to stick with the 351. Stock cylinder heads leave a lot to be desired . A good set of 185-190ish cc heads would help quite a bit. Might be a good time to step up to a 76mm turbo if you get good heads.If you want a driver invest in a milder cam. I’m surprised your T5 survived that long lol. I broke mine with t70 5.0 with little effort. An AOD/4R70W built up of course would be the cheaper route since you can use the same Xmember and driveshaft. A built T5 will most likely break.at least you can run the T5 in the meantime til you get a better transmission or you break it

 

Are you looking for flywheel or rear wheel HP?

I'd do the heads more for deck surface durability and weight than anything. Know that sounds kind of odd, but even stockers will flow decently. The edge of a T70 map at 2.0 pressure ratio is 700hp or so, and I'd say you'd probably want to keep it nearer 600hp which means an engine in the 300HP FW N/A range. At 12 PSI you'd make 540ish hp at the flywheel roughly. You should be able to cam down quite a bit and still manage that. If you're in the 350-375hp N/A range (a big cam should get you there) you're probably taxing the turbo anyways.

Drop the cam size down, go to a port EFI setup, get a wide band if you don't have one already and retune. The EDIS8 setup isn't a bad deal at all IMO. If you get frustrated with the box (I'm personally on my last shot with my MS2, I'm going to another ECU if it pisses me off this time) I'd consider spending the bank on the ECU and tuning capabilities. The Holley stuff seems to be really popular these days. I'm going to end up with an OEM LS ECU.

Trans wise there's a ton of options, it depends on auto vs manual, electronic vs not etc. I think this would be my big spend where you are.

That said, if you get pissed off at the whole thing go look up Sloppy Mechanics, end up with a 4.8L LS based truck engine, a van 4L80E with a shift kit like half the rest of the planet lol.

 

Since we're all throwing out our suggestions, i'll go next!

Keep the 351W. Put some decent Alum heads on it. Basic Edelbrock , TFS, AFR, etc. Don't use the China (Pro-Comp) or whatever heads unless you're buying them from a shop that goes thru them 100% (then they cost more than TFS). I'd follow the KISS method and run a FRPP F-303 cam. I'd upgrade the MS to a MS3 and run LS coil and port EFI, i'd even for sequential now that i've done it it wasn't that bad. I'd have to a Come to Jesus talk about my manual transmission. Either go big, or go auto. For the turbo, you can get a bigger turbo into that same frame. Just work on the other things and meanwhile be on the lookout for a good used one that will work. I did that and got a Precision 78mm for $200. Deals are out there if you're not desperate.