Posts: 6878
Joined: 12/19/2006 From: Citrus County, FL Status: offline
has anyone ever heard of this? my dad picked one up a few years ago - body is in nice condition and interior isnt all that bad either. (red with mach 1 striping and black interior) he checked the vin number number and it IS a mach 1 and DID come factory with a 4 cyl instead of a V6
im guessing this is probably pretty rare, just wondering if anyone else has heard of this. dont qoute me, but i *think* its a 1975
we decided to leave the 4 banger in there, so on the last day my machine shop is open i took home all the parts needed for a rebuild as my severece pay =) i did the head up with larger stainless valves along with new (and a little tighter) springs, some machine port work and a erson cam we got in on a core motor. im guessin it should run alright with the 4 speed thats in there. has anyone played with spoofing up the 2.3's?
Posts: 6878
Joined: 12/19/2006 From: Citrus County, FL Status: offline
yeah i know they make go-fast parts.... we have built some that spin to 9k for the mini stock / mini sprint racers.
what im wondering is if anyone has heard of these "delete" packages. trying to find out how rare the car is - i dont think were too many made and probably even less still alive.
I remember test driving a spanking new demo '76 at Bison Ford in Great Falls, Montana before I bought a V8 Mach I. It was a warmish day, the thing had the 2.3 with an auto and air. We pulled up to a stop light about five blocks down 10th Ave. So., with the air on, and the car died. Shut the air off and cranked it up, put the AC back on and the car died. I've recently driven one of my son's Fox body Mustangs with a fuel injected 2.3 and five speed. That car felt a WHOLE lot stronger than any carb'ed 2.3 I've ever driven. It'd be interesting to try bumping the compression and playing with the cam along with the EFI. There HAS to be some parts left over, as well as some of the technology from the Formula Ford racers, I just don't know any of them....sorry.
I used a 1978 II 4 banger in the 1929 Mercedes SSK kit that I built and it was a dawg. Wouldn't pull the hat off your head for torque, but it kept up with the big guys at 70 MPH on the freeway once you got it revved. Bottom line. It was a POS.
Posts: 6878
Joined: 12/19/2006 From: Citrus County, FL Status: offline
lol
bump compression, add a cam, and they wake up considerably. those damn roundy round mini-stock cars wrap to 9k and haul ass - of course they are farrrr from stock
The only other experience that I personally had with them long term, and it was bone stock, was in a Courier pickup. That one had the four speed in it, though I'm sure it was a Mazda tranny...The thing ate three cams. Not sure if it was a bad oiling thing in the head, or if we had problems with this particular motor. Never hurt one of the cam followers, but it DID eat the lobes off the cam. Other than that, the little motor pulled real well, the only thing it was pulling for accessories though was the alternator and water pump. I rode in a few friends' Pintos, vinyl seat, rubber floor mat, no radio t ype cars, and as long as the 2300's had good compression, they ran really well. Couldn't say how rare the 'delete' package was you're asking about. I bought a 76 Mach I, two barrel 302, auto, air, PS/PB, and it was a really nice little car. It was an absolute slug off the line, but once rolling....that was back when there was no speed limit on the Montanabahn, I usually ran out of carburetor somewhere around 125.
Posts: 6878
Joined: 12/19/2006 From: Citrus County, FL Status: offline
ford had metallurgy problems with the cam/rockers with the 2300 for a few years back in the day. some would eat cams (rockers too hard) and some would eat rocker arms (cams too hard). they got it right, but there was a period of time where one thing or the other would get fragged. eventually they went to rollers in the 80's, and also had a twin spark plug design.
Posts: 6878
Joined: 12/19/2006 From: Citrus County, FL Status: offline
basically the motor, because the base option for the mach 1 in that year was the 2.8 V6. so his car has the mach 1 badging/striping and such but has the weenie motor. we figured someone just added the decals but a vin search revealed the fact that it really was a mach 1.
just gotta wonder how many of those can still be running around where someone didnt eventually throw a V8 in there especially since its a 4 speed stick car.
Printable Version
Mustang II Mach 1 "Delete Package" - 
