Question about sale of 500 cid engine

Hey guys - I found a great '68 Mustang that I would like to buy, but the engine in it is way too big for what I want to use the car for. It's a great setup for hi-performance or drag...I want to use the car as a daily driver.

Here's what it's got in it:

"1971 460 Ford Big Block with a custom stroker kit balanced and professionally assembled to create 500 CID power plant. 10.3 compression w/ pump gas operation. 93CC Ford heads with hardened seats and high strength headbolts, .490 lift cam & lightened rotating mass, roller rockers, Edelbrock Performer-Plus cam and intake, double roller timing seat, chrome oil pan, March pulleys and Powermaster alternator. Vintage Holley aluminum valve covers w/ 3-stage powder coat finish and polished raised ribbing.

Holley Commander 950 fuel injection system w/ MSD ignition and power coil setup.

C-6 automatic transmission with Indy Red performance clutches and band, stock torque converter stall speed. Hurst Quarter stick shifter and fan cooled trans cooler."

I want to swap it out for something more modest. The transmission would be sold with the motor because it won't mate with a small block.

BEFORE I BUY THE CAR, I am trying to find out how much interest there might be in buying this setup. It would be DISCOUNTED significantly to make a fast sale, but I've got to make sure I get enough out of it to cover my cost of replacement. From my research, RETAIL for the engine and Holley fuel injection alone goes for over $10,000, BUT I would NOT be looking for retail...probably looking to get around $8,000 area for the whole package. The engine has about 700 miles on it since rebuild.

I would appreciate any suggestions, comments, recommendations about selling this package. If there is anyone interested in actually buying it, let me know that, too, because the only thing preventing me from going forward on buying this car is this problem. I would also consider a trade for something around 300 HP (302, 347 stroker, 351W with auto transmission) and some cash to offset the difference.

Thanks.

Honesty that is a daily driver / street build IMO. Plus odds aren't very good that you will get that kinda $$$$ for it, especially in this ecomony.

8000 is defiantly high for a mild build like that

I'm told this build won't get much more than 8 mpg...NOT a daily driver for sure!

Why would you guys call it a "modest" build? What would be a realistic market price for the entire package? I've seen 460 big blocks going for over $6k, plus over $2K for the Holley 950 fuel injection system, plus about $1500 for the C-6 (all retail, of course), which is how I arrived at my estimates, and these are AVERAGE prices (not the top-dollar prices I've found). I don't think I'm too far off.

Thanks.

Certainly aint a race motor. I would bet that it would be a lot of fun on the street. I wouldn't expect someone to drive a 68 mustang everyday anyway, so MPG wouldn't concern me. If you like the car, I'd give the drivetrain a chance. With the fuel injection on it already, it should drive really nice. In my opinion, it makes no sense financially to swap drivetrains. It's your decision, do what you like. Got any pics?

TJ

I'd sell the c-6 and get something with an overdrive. Fuel injected with an overdrive shouldn't be too bad on gas.

Jess

Daily driver is in the eye of the beholder you might say. Depends on your perspective. There are many guys on this site and others that drive their 500 horse big blocks daily. There are also many other guys that cant or wont drive that same type of vehicle more than a couple hundred miles per year.

That being said, in your case I agree with some of the other guys. Give this deal a try. No matter the price you will lose money and time doing a swap. It's the law of hotrodding. You may find that the money you would lose doing the swap will buy enough gas to make up for the difference.

dkp

The fuel injection set-up and software is probably worth almost half what the rest of the engine is worth.
6K for that base USED engine is certainly optimistic.

This - IS - a fairly mild street type build, if all your information is correct.

If it only gets 8 miles per gallon, the fuel system NEEDS a bunch more tuning. It should get that mileage in a 4,800 pound truck.

It should easily get double digit fuel mileage and if not there is something wrong with it. I paid $2500 for my big block with TFS heads, C6 etc. While this was a good deal you are way out of the park if you think you will get $8K for it.

This has all been very informative - very good feedback, guys. A few points I'd like to highlight:

I don't know what the ACTUAL fuel mileage is. I was going on information that a guy at work gave me that knows a little more than I do about big block setups...which, apparently, is still a lot LESS than you guys seem to know here. That's why I came here.

For price, I was GUESSING based on a few Google searches for similar engines to this one. However, the devil is in the details, and that's where I am not educated enough to know what an engine with these specs was set up to do. It seemed to me that the compression was stronger than typical stock or street builds, the cam and roller rockers boost the HP over typical stock, etc. These upgrades did NOT lead me to believe it was a suitable for drag as is, but I thought it might be closer to a high-performance configuration than a stock/street configuration. Didn't know what I might be buying, so this feedback has helped clarify that.

About my concern for the MPG, this may be a really CRAZY idea, but I currently have an '03 BMW Z4 as a daily driver that gets around 20 MPG highway, maybe a little better, with a 2.5L engine, and I have become so FED UP with the cost of maintaining these "smart" cars (computers and sensors providing too many inputs to it, right down to a "Check Gas Cap" indicator that came on last week!) that I decided that I'd prefer to go "old school" and drive a CAR instead of a pseudo-robot to work! This thing has FOUR oxygen sensors (at $250 EACH to replace), run-flat tires that cost $1200 a set, rear brakes over $400, an just a simple oil change rings up over $100! I had a '69 Mach 1 (clone) just before a forced relocation by my employer that got nearly the same mileage with a 351 Windsor and AOD performance transmission without all of the high-end maintenance costs - and the car was 10 TIMES cooler! So, I guess the "old man" in me is resurfacing again, wanting to get back to simpler times, without getting in over my head at the gas pump.

I tend to agree that it should do better than 8 MPG. When I was a teenager, my best friend had some big model car with a 454 in it and it sucked gas bad, but it was carbureted and in a poor state of repair. I don't recall clearly, but it may have been leaking gas near the carb, also. In a relatively smaller car w/ the fuel injection, should do better. I am not that familiar with the throttle body injection systems, but they seem to get good reviews.

I am also grateful for the honest estimate of what it's worth. You all have given me something else to consider.

Thanks.

depending on what kind of perfromance you expect, you could put some 2.56:1 gears, a real tight convetor and maybe a "Custom Mizer Cam" Swap and see what it will do for milage. I think it could do better than expected with the EFI and a knowlageable tuner as long as your not expecting it to be a missle.

I like having power "on tap" if I need it, but for the most part, I'd be cruising...ROUTINE highway and city driving. That's what I had in my Mach. The other concern I had about the car was that the restorer said that fitting that engine into the bay took up all the extra space, so he couldn't add in power steering. Said to expect it to drive like a bulldozer around corners if I was horsing it. The original owner wanted something that would go FAST and STRAIGHT, so I assumed he was doing quarter miles with it. It must have done well, because it scared him right out of the car! Since restoration, there have only been about 460 miles put on it.

On the flip side of this discussion, though, I feel like I'm trying to hamstring a thoroughbred before running the Derby! Big engine wants to go! Doesn't CARE about MPG. Ironic that it's in a "Pony" car, eh?

You need to pass on the car and find you a Fox body with a 5.0 and a 5 speed (or even a later SN95 4.6 with a 5 speed) and have at it with it. They have a bunch of bolt on toys avaliable, can do double duty quite well, and they are cheap and durable.

OR, sell the fuel injection system complete and get a carbureted manifold and carburetor.
Fuel injection SHOULD do everything better than a carburetor except power but, only if one can tune it really close to where it has to be for the engine package under it.

I know of MANY "warmed over street" big block stroker vehicles which get in the upper teens for mileage.

FOX BODY??? Seriously??? Why don't I just go out and buy a nice 1999 Chevy Cavalier!!! Wow...that was a low blow!

"rmcomprandy" - how about the handling issue?

nukeman862 wrote:FOX BODY??? Seriously??? Why don't I just go out and buy a nice 1999 Chevy Cavalier!!! Wow...that was a low blow!

"rmcomprandy" - how about the handling issue?

Cavalier.... What are you smoking?????

Hell I've owned about 8-10 of them over the years, they have served well as Race Cars, Street Cars and Daily Drivers and I still have 2 of them.

They Have a Factory V8, get good fuel economy, have massive amounts of parts avaliable, are reasonably priced.......

But forgive me for suggesting something pratical for a driver.........

That cam is tiny for 500+ci it should be tame as a kitten with a nice street/strip converter (~2500rpm) and a 3.25 gearset that car should get close to 20mpg if you can stay out of it.

"bigblok2000ranger" - thanks for that input. First estimate of mileage I got! How about the handling issue I brought up...any feel for that?

"dfree383" - ok...sorry...I over-reacted a little...BUT, they do call them part of the "lost years" for Mustangs for a reason. For me, it's '67-70 or 2005 or newer ONLY. This car is a 1968. I love the new Shelby's, too, but not the price tag! Saw one at my local Ford dealer for $62K!!! In two years, that car will drop to the $30K's.

My wife's 91 GT AKA Cavalier has a mild 308 with a Vortech Gen 6 DFI, 5 speed, 3.73 gears, power everything, nice stereo, and is comfy. She doesn't drive it everyday, but does get driven pretty regular in nice weather. 4-6k a year. It gets around 19mpg on road trips, make 457 RWHP, and goes 11s in the quarter in street trim right off the highway without even airing down the Nittos, or letting it cool off. Granted its not cool I guess, but the wife likes it.

Ok guys...no one has ever doubted the performance of Mustangs, but c'mon...Ford DROPPED the ball when they changed the body style after '73 (really after '70 in my opinion). A whole host of market drivers probably led to this (muscle car era being phased out due to inflation/gas prices...remember Gerald Ford's "WIN," a.k.a, "Whip Inflation Now," and then who can forget the Jimmy Carter years for gas hikes!), but they aren't collectible and draw very modest attention at auctions because they are yawners to look at. They lack any "identity." When they brought back the retro look in 2005, it was fashioned after the late 60's Fastback because that was the last time the car had a look that popped! And they were rewarded for it - Mustang sales went up 24% over the previous year and drew attention back to other models as well. By 2009, they had made their first market share increase since 1995. Little history there, but the bottom line for me is that so many cars on the market today look, generically, the same. Drive by an Altima, Malibu, Passat, Taurus, or one of the Mustangs of these "lost years" era and it won't turn your head...ride by a '67 Coupe or Fastback, a '69 Mach 1, or any Shelby 2005 to present and you can't help but gawk for a few seconds...right?

Your in the lost years.The Foxbody Mustangs are still hot items,always have been and always will be. The 71 thru 73 sucked big time . The Mustang II was even worse,but they do make cool race cars. Any 64 to 70 is cool and the 05 up are sweet. Everybody has their own opinions, that's what makes the world go round.The engine in the 68 your looking at will be lucky to bring $3000.Either pass on it or drive the balls off it...your choice

Im willing to bet that this car is worth more, gets better mileage, handles better, is safer, more reliable, and is faster quarter mile and top end then the car your asking about.

Hmmm...oops...guess I touched a nerve - which was NOT my intention. I appreciate the info here about my original questions about this car and respect everyone's elses personal preferences for Mustang's of any era. I'll stop stirring the pot! Not here to debate - just get some info from guys who know more than I do.

Thanks.

Hey we love to debate !!! We also love all Fords and All Year Mustangs.

It just sounds like the one your describing will be more of a PITA, effort and cost to meet your apparent goals. I'd keep looking around and find one with a small block already in it, because that sounds like what you want.

Like has been said that perticular engine isn't going to bring big $$$$ if you try to sell it.

I'm with you on the cost of a Shelby... but to be pratical maybe look at a GT you can get them under 30k, Lem has a BOSS 302 sitting in his show room right now with a sticker in the low $40's

nukeman862 wrote:FOX BODY??? Seriously??? Why don't I just go out and buy a nice 1999 Chevy Cavalier!!! Wow...that was a low blow!

"rmcomprandy" - how about the handling issue?

What handling ISSUE...? Is this to be an autocross type race car...?
In basic form it will handle much like a 1970 BOSS 429 Mustang except today there are infinitely better tires available. It certainly won't be as nimble as a car with a small block.