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This coupe is the end result of a 2 year project that started with the purchase straight, rust free 1977 Coupe. When I acquired the car it had a blown up 302, C4, 2.79 open rear end, factory AC, new paint (white pearl), new upholstery and a set of aftermarket wheels. Somewhere during the cars life its V8 emblems were removed and the holes filled (which fit well with my plans). While the car was very presentable it needed a complete mechanical restoration.
The restoration included new weather stripping, suspension and brake rebuild (including new springs on all 4 corners and 1” front and ¾” rear sway bars), addition of factory remote sport mirrors and rebuilding the rear-end with 3.00 gears and a new posi unit. The auxiliary gas tank was replaced due to a crack, the AC was upgraded with new hoses and a Sanden compressor and an aftermarket cruse control was added. The dash was modified for a recessed oil pressure gauge that matches the factory gauges.
To most people (except Mustang II owners) the engine compartment passes for stock except for the reinforcement bars similar to those found on the T Top cars. Under the Ford blue paint and 302 decal on the custom dual snorkel air cleaner (feed by stock V6 and V8 ducting) is a .040, balanced, 9:1, 351W. It has Edelbrock Performer RPM heads, intake (with the logo ground off), cam and carb. The exhaust consists of ported late 60’s SB mustang units that flow into a custom 2 ¼” head pipe and from there into a single 2 ½ exhaust with a dynomax muffler. The bellhousing, clutch, flywheel (rebalanced to the 351) and toploader overdrive 4 spd are from an 83 Mustang GT.
The car runs 75 MPH at 2200 RPM and gets just about 25MPG on the highway. So far I’ve averaged 600 miles a month on the car as my daily driver and couldn’t be happier. While it doesn’t get as many comments as the wife’s Cobra, it is faster, quicker and gets better gas mileage (go figure).
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