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73SmkBomb

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2016
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Gilbert, Arizona
My Car
73 Mustang Grande Coupe
Rebuilt 351 Cleveland with the basic speed parts 4V Carb, Intake, Very Mild Cam, and header H Code (pretty sure, whatever the base model 2V is)
Hot Rod Black
Swapped the FMX for a T-5
2.75 gears
Motor was rebuilt in the winter of 2015-2016 has about 1100 miles as of right now.
This car was my highschool love affair, my dad and I bought it out of a field where it had been sitting for ten years. When we first got the car running my dad affectionately nicknamed the car "The Smoke Bomb" because the valve stem seals were gone so it would blow a big plume of smoke everytime you started it up.
Hey all, my name is Seamus I live in Mesa, Arizona where I go to school as a Freshman Automotive Engineering student at Arizona State University. My car is a pretty standard 73 Grand with a 351 Cleveland, H code (or whatever the code for the base 2V is). I live in Arizona now which is actually pretty cool, because that's where my car was originally sold and from, but I moved out here from the Sacramento, California area, that is where the car currently resides as I did not want to subject my pride and joy to this unforgiving heat, especially considering it doesn't have AC and the interior and paint are both less than two years old. Little bit about the car, It's a pretty standard Grande, I bought it about 3 and a half years ago on February 23, 2013, a day that will always have a special significance to me, with my dad freshman year in highschool out of a field where it had sat for 10 years for $1900 bucks. When we got to run we found out very quickly that the valve stem seals were toast, so everytime you started it she smoked out the whole neighborhood (that's and exaggeration but it was comical at first). It was at this point that my dad offically christened her "The Smoke Bomb." At this point in its life I doubt there is a part on that car that I have not replaced or pulled off and cleaned up. Last Winter (2015-2016), I rebuilt the motor as my Final "Senior Project" which was an invaluble learning experience. When I put it back together I gave it a treatment of the basic speed parts; Holley Carb 650CFM, Edelbrock 4V Intake, Comp Cams "Hi Energy" cam and lifters (the cam is only slighter bigger than stock, I love a good lope as much as the next guy, but I have vaccum power brakes) and then of course I had some block work done. I just had the cylinder walls cleaned up (they are only 0.003 over the stock bore), the 2V heads rebuilt with new seals and re-used the stock springs, all new bearings, and new piston rings, the basics really, I called it my econo-build (escaped with only 1600 dollars worth of damage). Before I pulled the engine I ditched the FMX auto, which was never 100%, for a rebuilt T-5 from an 89 foxbody I found on craigslist for 500 smackers. After I gathered all the necessary parts and mysteriously lost about $1200 I swapped it out and have never looked back (FYI if anyone is looking into this, 1. I highly reccomend it and 2. Go to Modern Driveline they have EVERYTHING. I only say this because it took me along time to find them and I wasted a lot of time).I drove it like that for a while before I decided to be an idiot and blew out the u- joints on my brand new $300 driveshaft attempting my first burnout with that transmission. When I got another one made I opted for 1350 joints instead of 1310. Then in the summer of 2016 very soon before I left the modification bug bit me again and I had to get one last hurah before I left my girl behind so I swapped out the old 2.75 highway gears for some manly 3.50 ones. However, I'm probably going to switch back, while having the extra grunt off the line was nice for a while, the 3.50s makes the engine work a little too hard for my taste. The 2.75s were turning around 2100 at 70mph with my .68 OD fifth with the 3.50s are more like 2600-2700 at 70. I realize this is probably way overkill for an introduction, but this is the story about arguably one of the most important things that has happened in my life thus far, and I LOVE to tell the story about it.

P.S. I'm not really new to the forum, I had another account that I made in January of 2015, but I lost and forgot all the login info so I decided it was time for a fresh start.

 
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With 3.50 gears and 0.68 OD assuming you are running 26" dia tires or close to your rpm should only be right around 2,100 at 70 and with the 2.75 gears you would be at 1680.

I am running a T5 as well and swapped out my 2.75 for a set of 3.70 and would never switch back. You might want to verify your speedo or tach accuracy if you are getting different numbers than these calculations.

 
Hi and welcome back from a fellow Mesa AZ guy! Moved the HELL out of there and found heaven here in the Seattle/puget some area. Would love to hear your story!

 
With 3.50 gears and 0.68 OD assuming you are running 26" dia tires or close to your rpm should only be right around 2,100 at 70 and with the 2.75 gears you would be at 1680.

I am running a T5 as well and swapped out my 2.75 for a set of 3.70 and would never switch back. You might want to verify your speedo or tach accuracy if you are getting different numbers than these calculations.
Interesting, I heard some things similar from other folks and was honestly confused as to why my results are were so different. I'm running 235/60/15 (so pretty small) in the rear, I'm pretty sure that's right but I can't be certain and to be honest couldn't tell you what that diameter is. I'm still on my first set of tires since getting it running and I was looking to get wider tires with bigger sidewalls to fill up the wells a little better once it's time for new ones so that should help. And my Tach is definitely accurate, but the speedo is off because I haven't changed the speedo gear to accommodate the new gears. However, I paced some one in a another car and used a GPS speedo and 70 was right around 2600-2700. Just curious, what wheel setup are you running? and what are your RPMs at 70?

Edit: I was doing some poking around on the internet comparing gear ratios and punching numbers into calculators and found that I almost certainly have the .82 OD fifth, or the "road racing ratio," which would be really cool if it was in a race car, unfortunately, my car is just a cruiser. So, that solves my funky ratio RPM problem, thanks for all the info anyways 73pony you pushed me to solve a mystery that's been stumping me for about 3 months. I'll let this be a lesson; if someone says it on craigslist it's probably a lie.

 
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Welcome [back], Seamus! ::thumb::

Since you're, uhh, "new" here, I feel obligated for the following:

:worthlesswithoutpics:

I share your sentiment regarding the OD and cruiser gears - I don't want mine "working hard" just to maintain highway speeds, either. Mine has the original 3.00s in the diff, and it steps out just fine. My only real gripe is that the AOD's TC sometimes automatically locks up at super low RPMs when only rolling around 40-45mph, which feels like something's about to shake itself apart (I'll confirm those low rpms after I install my new RCCI tach this coming weekend).

Now go get us some pics. :whistling:

 
Welcome [back], Seamus! ::thumb::

Since you're, uhh, "new" here, I feel obligated for the following:

:worthlesswithoutpics:

I share your sentiment regarding the OD and cruiser gears - I don't want mine "working hard" just to maintain highway speeds, either. Mine has the original 3.00s in the diff, and it steps out just fine. My only real gripe is that the AOD's TC sometimes automatically locks up at super low RPMs when only rolling around 40-45mph, which feels like something's about to shake itself apart (I'll confirm those low rpms after I install my new RCCI tach this coming weekend).

Now go get us some pics. :whistling:
I'm hearing your concerns, you're not the first person to tell me this. I live away from the car, but when we are reunited I will take some good ones and upload them. My only question is where would I post some pictures just for the heck of it? There has to be a dedicated thread.

 
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