289 engine and 3 speed tranny removal

I believe that changing the 289 and 3 speed tranny for a 5.0 and T-5 will be the hardest items, so I decided to do tackle them first.

I baught a used engine hoist for $50 and after 8 hours of work (split over 3 days), I pulled the engine and tranny out. I took out the transmission first. This required these steps:

Transmission removal:
1. Disconnecting driveshaft from rear u-joint. Just four bolts.
2. Disconnecting speedometer cable. One bolt.
3. Unbolting tranny from engine bellhousing. Four bolts.
4. Disconnecting tranny crossmember. Four bolts.
5. Disconnect clutch Z-Bar connections to clutch fork.

I then played with the tranny for an interminable time, (about 40 minutes) trying to get it off the engine spline. Finally it pulled away.

Engine removal:
1. Drained radiator and pulled it off car
2. Removed battery
3. Removed hood.
4. Disconnect all electrical components and miscellaneous items like fuel lines
5. Unbolt engine mounts. Four bolts.
6. Unbolt headers from exhaust. 3 bolts at each side.
7. I then connected the engine lift to the engine. One bolt was available in the front of the engine, I used a head bolt for the other connection :)

Pulling out the engine was surprisingly easy and only took about 15 minutes to get it to its righttful resting place on a tire on the garage floor. This is probably going to be the easiest part of this whole project, hence my big smile.

Introduction and Goal Setting

What happens when you take a kid with little mechanical experience, throw a little money, some balls, some ingenuity, and a 1965 mustang?

You get what we have here: An amateur's story of modifying or restomoding a 1965 Mustang Fastback.


As you can see, the mustang looks great from afar. I assure you, though, it is far from great. The previous owner put nice rims on it and gave it a nice paint job, but that's about it. Aside from it being a mostly rust free car, everything is going to be replaced!

The main goal is to take this shabby old Mustang and bring it to today's standard of reliability and performance. I am learning as I'm going - learning to weld, learning to fabricate, and just about everything else required to do this project. Sit back, relax, and enjoy a Beginner's Guide to Restomodding!


Here is the plan:

1. Replace the 289 motor and 3 speed tranny for a 5.0 engine and T-5 tranny
2. Update suspension to today's standards by strengthening the shock towers, changing the A-arms, changing the struts, putting Koni shocks all around, changing the rear leafs and shackles, updating the sway bars, and adding subframe connectors.
3. Change the horse and buggy steering linkage to a rack-and-pinion
4. Update headlights to modern ones
5. Install Air Conditioning
6. Install power windows and doors locks and might as well completely redo the entire interior to today's standards.
7. Install bigger front discs and change to rear disc brakes and a 9" rear end
8. Repaint car to charcoal grey or silver with blue stripes and black 18x9 rims

Sounds easy, right! Well, my goal is to have steps 1-5 by summer '06. Steps 6-8 will have to wait to the end of '06.