What to do with a Mustang II ?

Ok, so I bought this fugly Mustang II on impulse, basically only because it was stupid cheap. So now what? Is anyone out there autocrossing these?

This one is a 1978 Ghia, 68k original miles 100% stock and grandma fresh. Original 302 V8/C-4 auto. Runs like a swiss watch but the tranny could use a modulator. It really needs a T-5 swap, I think.

Any suggestions on which direction to take it in, or should I find a high cliff??

< This comes to mind

I can't remember the folks' name, but there's a couple who run one in C Prepared with some success. This is what it looks like.

CP would get expensive, though. Aren't they just heavier Pintos? There should be some aftermarket support somewhere.

In reply to racerdave600:

ROFL! GRM Hive mind..

EDIT: Do you remember who built/owns it?

Locost?

I dislike you heavily.

Mini-stock or street rod parts and Race Walsh come to mind...... Oh and dump the bumpers for 400 pounds worth of weight reduction and replace with fiberglass replicas.

Oh and it that car had been blue, it would have been an exact copy of the one my dad had back in about 85-ish....

I learned how to drive stick in one of those. I've seen 5.0 swaps done. Talk about sneaky.

high cliff. put in neutral and push.

One word:

LEMONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

let it rot in hell

patgizz wrote: high cliff. put in neutral and push.

I was going to suggest a deep crevasse.

build a sleeper

Yeah, either hack open the wheel wells and mount the biggest meatballs you can under the thing, go '70's NASCAR all over the thing. Or else sell it for scrap.

Is the Ghia coupe the same as the normal coupe, just with the vinyl roof?

If it is, you should take the vinyl roof off so it looks like this:

Pretty sure that red CP Mustang is Rick Ruth's car.

Will wrote: Pretty sure that red CP Mustang is Rick Ruth's car.

It is. That's his wifes' number in that pic. I took that when they came up to run with us in Chicago. His SIL runs the local SCCA autocross group.

stanger_missle wrote: Is the Ghia coupe the same as the normal coupe, just with the vinyl roof?

IIRC, the Ghia model was the "upscale" option package back then....

You could build a replica of the other Charlie's Angles Mustang II

Its just not up to specs without a steering wheel lock across the steering wheel. It seems like every car I see like this on CL has one on it in the pics...

Wow, fake wire wheels too.

Build a real nice sleeper capable of steering, stopping AND accelerating.

Suspension and brakes should be very easy because the mustang 2 is the popular hot rod and locost IFS. I would do some suspension tweaking, 4 link and a ford 8.8 out back and a W.C. T-5 swap, then begin modding the 302 for power.

You might want to keep it in a inert gas environment a much as possible, rust killed most of these.

In reply to Ranger50: Looks like the quarter window is different?

I still miss my sister's '78 ghia, E36 M3 brown and a v6. Nothing said cool like rollin up to school in a mustang. Even if it meant riding in the back of my sister's car...

Those were dog slow with the V8. I'd push it off a cliff and laugh about it. When I was looking for a road race car, I thought those would be a real sleeper in American Iron, but they don't meet the minimum wheelbase requirements.