[bolt_boy_49]

I bought a 1989 f 150, Because i thought it would be a good donor for the engine and transmission for my 1949 desoto custom. It has a EFI 302 and five speed manual trans. I thought if i built it right it would be a pretty solid engine. The car weighs about 3600 lbs. (I think), this make me wonder if I will just be building an under powered car? Any thoughts or suggestions will be much appreciated.
Al

[79C10]

Depending on the depth of your pocketbook , that 302 can be built to run 11s or 12s in the 1/4 no problem.... in a mustang. I can only conclude that you won't be blasting down the track , so , yeah , it can be built up to move that mad-cool ride of yours.
With the way gas prices are going , that 302 might be your best bet as far as a V8 goes....

[Deuce]

I believe that the donor vehicle ( 1989 F-150 ) would weigh 3600 pounds ... so your project should accelerate and closely get the mileage of the F-150.

[79C10]

Originally Posted by Deuce

I believe that the donor vehicle ( 1989 F-150 ) would weigh 3600 pounds ... so your project should accelerate and closely get the mileage of the F-150.

only if the rear ends have the same gears!

[Deuce]

Originally Posted by 79C10

only if the rear ends have the same gears!

True ... but you know that a 1949 Desoto has a fairly low gear ratio ... most likely close to the one in the pickup.

[bolt_boy_49]

Actually im using a rear end from a ford explorer its a 3.73 8.8 32 spline i think. i don't know how it compares the truck rear. there is isn't a tag on the truck rearend. If you would happen to know what ratio probably is please let me know.

how strong is the desoto axle? I haven't been able to find any information about mopar axles form 49.

originally my goal was to beat the 1/4 mile time of a stock 07 mustang.
Possible?
Al

[matt167]

Originally Posted by bolt_boy_49

originally my goal was to beat the 1/4 mile time of a stock 07 mustang.
Possible?
Al

it's possible, but not probable. you would have to have more Hp than the stock 07 Mustang, because the Mustang is a unibody, it weighs under 3,000#, and stock Hp is 300? you would need about 100 hp more, to be competitive w/ the Mustang, because the Desoto is 1k lbs heavier approx...

[bolt_boy_49]

here is a popular mechanics article comparing the 06 mustang to the corvette. this is what I used to set my goal for 1/4 mile (I want to beat the mustang). BTW I was wrong on the year.
Al

[dinger]

The mustang in the test weighs 3540 lbs. pretty close to your car. You may want to find ways to strip some weight from your car, 3800 lbs sounds heavy for a car that year, I would think your car should weigh in at around 3200, I'd double check the weight. All in all, the 302 would be a great choice, there's a lot of goodies to make them run. Dan

[matt167]

the '49 Desoto weighed between 3,500 lbs and 3,971 depending on engine/ trans... your adding approx 200 lbs to the car, adding a 302, but shaving about 150 or so, when you get rid of the factory cast iron transmission.


for what you want to do.. the weight distrobution of the Desoto is much diffrent than that of the Mustang.. your going to need much more torque to get your brick rolling, it's full framed w/ leaf spring rear it transfers weight slower than a unibody car w/ 4 link in the rear... I'd build a 396 stroker for it. using a 351W. you'd have 300-350 Hp on a lower compression ( you could probably do with 8.5:1 and run 87 octane ) but you would have a lot more torque down low, where the desoto would need it to get out of the hole..

[bolt_boy_49]

I wish I had the money to do that. Is it possible to stroke a 302? would this even be worth it? I want to use the original steering gear so I think a smaller engine would be easier

Thanks for all the advise
Al