So begins the saga of converting a 65 Stang to a V8 five speed with tighter suspension and beefier steering components.  To shorten the story a bit, more or less a list of parts will be following along with specialty equipment necessary for installation; omitted will be the drawbacks and mistakes along the way.

Now, the owner had the desire to do this on the cheap, so I did a lot of Junkyard crawling, which can be omitted in favor of buying the parts if one desires to spend the money.  First off a 289 was obtained from an undisclosed source found in the local classifieds, unknown cam specs , flat top pistons, newly rebuilt heads with hardened valve seats, a must for unleaded gasoline, new pushrods, and it is a hydraulic, flat-tappet cam. A new oil pump and drive were obtained, along with a water pump, used pulleys, and alternator, and the other necessities to make it run.

Behind this is bolted a T5 world class trans from a 92 mustang, check the code on the trans, there are more WC T5’s than got bolted to 5.0 mustangs.  In order to make this fit however, the input shaft had to be turned down on the splines, and the bearing guide had to be turned down; best to check this measurement on a per case basis.  Between the two is an 11 inch clutch and the matching flywheel, though the money saved there is spent on a scattershield from lakewood when you could get a 10.5″ flywheel and clutch and use a standard T5 5.0 bellhousing, saving a smidge over the other combo.  In order to keep the stock lever style clutch a linkage was fabricated in this case, including the equilizer bar and some custom fitting of a 68 upper clutch rod.  This can take a while, or can be ordered as well.

A Crossmember was fabricated from tube and sheet stock for the trans, allowing for custom height to be obtained, in this case as close to the floorboards as possible.  From a six to 8 also requires a three core radiator, best obtained through a dealer, their suppliers are able to adhere to time constraints, or as in this case the local radiator shop.  Add a flex fan and spacer with a few hoses and that is done. Don’t forget the antifreeze, that is a necessity.

In the rear we obtained an 8″ rear from a 68 stang, which is a bit wider than the original, adding a bit to the stance.  Keep that in mind for tire sizing.  New leaf springs and shackles here, along with rebuilt drum brakes (like I said, cheap).  And to couple that to the front is a junkyard driveshaft shortened to 49″ courtesy of the local machine shop and a T5 slip yoke installed, also from the yard.

Stay tuned for the front end rebuild!