1964-1966 Mustang In-Line Six V8 Swap

In this photo you'll notice another important difference. Theadditional core thickness on the new V-8 radiator is easy to see. It isneeded to help radiate the extra heat created by more than 100 ci ofadditional displacement.

To avoid a horrendous mess when we pull our old six-cylinder engine,we decided to raise the nose of the car as high as possible and drainthe automatic transmission out the tailshaft housing.

To pull the engine and transmission as an assembly, we must removethe transmission rear crossmember. We are going to be using an AODautomatic transmission behind the new engine, and so a different andspecially made crossmember will be required. With the crossmember gone,we'll support the transmission with a floor jack.

The factory crossmember will be replaced with this Mustang AODcustom-made unit from Mustang Country. The correct setback for thedifferent transmission mounting boss location is figured into the newdesign. This makes the AOD installation in an early car a bolt-inaffair.

It's easy to get at these six-cylinder motor mounts compared to thosefound on a V-8 equipped car. Here, the engine is loosened from themounts in preparation for the big pull.

In this photo, the engine and transmission both come out of the car.We've got our straight-six hanging high on the cherry picker, which isextended for its entire travel. Having the front end of the car jackedup so far allows us to pull the engine and transmission as a unit ratherthan separately.

With our engine out of the car, we were able to remove the OEsix-cylinder motor mounts. They are shown at the bottom of the photo andare comprised of two pieces--one for each side of the engine. The V-8arrangement is seen at the top; four pieces are required to secure theengine to the car underhood. The new motor mounts are from MustangCountry.

The only other major concern was the difference in throttle linkages.The six-cylinder part is much longer and must travel down the right sideof the engine to reach the carburetor. The shorter linkage (shown here)will service the V-8 engine in the original factory manner, except thekick-down mechanism used on the C-4 transmission won't be needed here.The new AOD transmission functions, including downshifts, will begoverned by throttle position with the information transmitted to thetransmission by cable. Hence, we may remove the kick-down arm from thethrottle linkage for a clean installation. Check with us next time whenour engine and transmission arrive. We'll be in good shape for our powertrain installation. One more thing to keep in mind is the use of the AODtransmission will require a slightly shorter driveshaft. Rather thanshorten a 40-year-old driveshaft, we'll opt for a new unit to go alongwith the more powerful engine.