64.5 Mustang conversion to 6.0 LY6
 

I bought this mustang complete minus a motor about a year ago from a buddy who let the car sit for about 8 years. He had ambitions of putting an LS1 in the car but too many kids and projects, i ended up with the car. After looking closely at what i had i decided that a full resto-mod was needed. I stripped the car down to a bare shell, had it sand blasted inside and out and started on some minor rust repair. At first i bought a 351w and a T5z trans, scattershield and 8.8 sn95 rearend. I was planning on the Fatman Fab. front suspension kit that converts the front to a strut style coilover with a rack and pinion. A year later i have collected much of the sn95 front suspension stuff needed for the swap, but found out some bad things about this kit. I switched gears and went with the Anthony Jones engineering front kit, mostly the same with better mounts, better layout and cheaper! I just installed this into the car and meanwhile decided that a 5k build on a heavy 351 with a carb was too much and too easy. I wanted a more modern drivetrain and something different-for this car. I sold the 351, sold the trans stuff to my cousin with a 67 stang, and started searching for something else. The new ford stuff is all too wide, wont fit without ditching my front suspension setup, so as i have been involved in some LS1 swaps before, i steered in this direction. Turns out a place my buddy works at is converting trucks to full electric drivetrain and wanted to sell a "LQ9" for 1500 complete minus wires and ecu. I talked them down to 1000, then they told me its actually an LQ4- so i dropped to 800. I picked the motor up, did alittle research and turns out its actually a LY6 6.0liter with 7000 miles documented! Pretty decent price on this i think. I may be able to get the wiring harness from them and ecu, but we'll see. Still saving up for a nice T56 to drop in behind this beast. I have alot of stuff to buy and its going to take awhile but when its done im looking to have 400hp + at the rear and try to make it handle so i can do some road course vintage stuff. Ive been into track events for about ten years so this should be fun.

So today i fit the engine into the car and like i thought, the intake is way too tall so its on ebay with several other parts im not using. I will need to source a nice LS3 intake, injectors etc and harness. Im planning on using the DBW (just learned what that means) and i bought a pedal assy off the webs. I may also turn the intake around and run the TB into the firewall and put the airbox up in the cowl of the car. IM also ditching the a/c and i want to relocate the alternator down to the bottom and put a mustang power steering pump on the ps - custom brackets- so i can link it to my mustang rack without adapting the pressures. Luckily it looks like the factory radiator hose placements are both on the passenger side so hooking up the hoses should be simple enough. Anyway, i have lots to do, hope you guys can help me out! Thanks! If anyone is in cincy and is interested in checking it out let me know, my bud has an LS1 swapped Porsche 944 turbo and is doing one in a 944 n/a with a guy right now. He may also be starting a business building swap kits for various cars so any ideas of what people need he may be able to manufacture some stuff.

Looks like a fun project! I love mustangs too, and wondered about doing a new coyote motor swap in a 66 fastback someday. From your pictures, that conversion would involve serious suspension changes.

I swapped an LS1 6 speed into an old ugly 67 el camino.

Good luck with your project!

I have a LY6 harness and pedal assy if you need to buy one still. $100 bucks.

Why would you put an overpriced underpowered engine into the fastback? LS engines are actually quite compact, EXTREMELY powerful and efficient little engines. Heck, my poor 5.3 still makes plenty of power in stock form, even with 230k miles on it before I got it. Enough to keep me happy while street driving.. Consider the cost benefits of the LS conversion before you go plop down the money for a Coyote engine.

yeah im for sure interested in that harness- PM sent

i talked to a local mustang shop about buiding the 351 or something different and he said they put the coyote motors in everything, but for the price and size of that thing, i would have wayyy more in the car than a truck motor with a tune and a cam with the same hp. I think that using this motor will be awesome and i cant wait to try it on the track.

also, looks like ill be modifying the stock truck oil pan- looks to have plenty of baffling for cornering and just needs about a quarter inch cut off the front of the pan to clear the crossmember. Much cheaper than a new pan.

dude BaggedSVT is my hero- harness ecm and pedal on the way hell yes!

before i hit up evil bay for an LS3 intake, injectors and fuel rail, anyone have a better/cheaper place to source this stuff? Cant access the classifieds yet.

check your PM's

An early '65 Mustang and you've cleaned everything up, but you're going to change the drive train to a non- Ford?? Talk about killing the value. As long as you want to keep it, no big deal. Otherwise, there are people willing to overpay for a clean original and that '67 your cousin has would be a much better candidate for power upgrades overall.

thanks for the advice- happy new years! - oh a stock 67 mustang handles like dog crap and is slow...:P

Good lord... Another one... I'm merely pointing out that a REAL "early 1965 Mustang" has actual value.

aaaaaaannnnyyyy wayyyy - back to my thread about building my car.

got my LY6 wiring harness and e38 ecu today - looks great thanks bagged!

set the factory DBW pedal in there from the truck and its too awkward to fit in there so i ordered the vette pedal to put in there- looks like its a metal pedal also so if its close i can nudge it in the right direction.
Last night i ordered my power steering rack-fox body- that will bolt up to my AJE crossmember and for no other reason but being different, ordered an SN95 power steering pump and remote resevoir - my thought is that this will use the same fluid and pressures as the fox body rack, but the pulley has the six rib belt as the LY6. If i make a custom bracket to mount the pump to the ps of the motor down low- to keep center of gravity low to the ground- and make a bracket to mount the alternator low to the ground on the drivers side, i should be able to make it all work and have some short ps hoses to make up- and they sell a kit for that!
i also bought an LS3 intake off of evilbay for $175- seemed like a decent price- im planning on running either a return factory style fuel rail or one of the aluminum rail tube systems like FAST has only cheaper, and some slightly upgraded injectors. Any idea if the ls3 intake can be turned around backwards like the ls1 intake? My thought was that if i turn the intake backwards, i can run the throttle body into the firewall with a rubber boot and with some custom ducting, put my air filter up in the cowl of the car. That also cleans up under the hood since there is no wiring, tubing etc...we'll see.

yes, all of the intakes will bolt up backwards that I know of, providing you have the clearance to put it on backwards. Guys running rear intercoolers for big turbos have turned them around or made for rear inlet so the piping is pretty much straight shot into the intake for the least pressure drop.

Good luck making your plan work. I don't care what you do in reality. I do know, however, if you've got a base early 1965 Mustang(what you called a 64.5), average pricing is over $15,000.00 today and if you happen to have an 1965 GT convertible, those, in fine condition of course, can fetch more than $50,000.00 selling price.

Great project. Im looking forward to seeing it progress.

Would you mind showing what you did for motor mounts?

I am as suing you used a GTO oil pan, right?

Andrew

im using the AJE racing- Anthony Jones Engineering- k member called the Colt 65 - which has standoffs for the motor mounts welded in- they include motor mounts of your choice with the kit so i ordered the LS1 mounts. These bolted up pretty easily- three of four bolts lined up so i'll have to see if i can drill the fourth- and dropped it in to check clearance and thats where it sets. Pretty good, if i get a trans i can modify the stock trans mount or make a new one to make it bolt in. I'll see if i have pics of the mounts.
The pan is the stock truck pan- if i were to drill the holes in the motor mounts 1/4" back the pan would clear the crossmember easily, but i like where the motor is so im going to have the front of the sump area of the pan whacked off and moved back a quarter inch. Really only touches at the corners.
-oh and im ignoring this guy who keeps telling me how much my car would be worth stock, i'll have way more than $15k in this car by the time its done and i dont plan on selling it....

Don't be like that man. Just thank him for the information, wish him a happy new year, and keep moving forward on your project to make it unique and what you want.

Nobody gets anywhere trying to turn everything into a dick measuring contest or wanting to throw a little jab at the guy who is irritating them.

Just keep moving forward and opinions for changes or modifications will come as the project goes forward.

By the way, toss a 9 inch under that thing for durability. 3.50 usually proves to be an easy to come by gear that is a bit if performance oriented but also a fair highway gear that won't kill your mileage to the single digits.

more pictures of the car from start till now...

bought the car for $2500 complete minus motor and trans...
stripped car bare and had sand blasted completely except roof and quarters
welded in torque boxes, frame ties and fixed some rust areas- not bad still need to finish the ps quarter lower.
cut out the factory wheel houses and made my own mini tubs that have about 13" clearance out back now...

-i have a fox body five lug swap 8.8 with 3:55 gears installed- im going to convert that to disc and basically all 94+ mustang gt/cobra brakes/spindles/rotors/mastercylinder/booster etc. - rear suspension will prob. be the AJE rear trailing arm kit-like a late model mustang- with coilover conversion to ditch the leafs.

oh and the plan is to paint it Guardsman blue- factory color option on my car- it was actually caspian blue originally i believe, but i like it because its the color of the iconic Cobra a/c car and my wife loves dark blue. Thought about some Cobra-ish details subtle stuff but we'll see.

hey i can take criticism, varied opinions etc- this website seems to be much more social than any other site ive been on besides the Porsche boards- mustang boards are all resto guys and none of them even respond to my posts. I need some feedback to keep me moving on this thing, even if i dont agree with it. I understand the car would be worth some money stock but if you knew my family you would see that restorations are not ideal around here.:devil:

oh btw- when Carol Shelby wanted to make his a/c cobra he FIRST called Chevrolet and wanted to put a big block chevy in there, but they didnt want to compete with their own Corvette program, so they declined. He talked to Ford and the rest was history. Im just righting the wrong see....

Maybe for a fastback. Coupes are very affordable. He doesn't have the original drivetrain anyway. Let him enjoy his project.