So here my story I inherited a 1968 ford mustang from my grand father who passed away march 8th 2016 This mustang was originally a junk rust bucket my old man rebuilt i have picture of before and after just gotta get off a dino pc she was fully restored April 7 2007 she was then abandoned by my old man for 10 years in a shed un-cared for or loved she has a 289-90 over bore very thin cylinder walls she has a rebuilt c4 automatic 3 speed now for what i done im not that good with car but loved em since i was little what ive had done replaced junk yard brakes on front change all wheels to 15 inch 5 lug replaced junk yard carb with a new holley have to look for exact details she also has a new tac and blinker solenoid now for her issues boy there is a ton of em she used to overheat all the time but we fixed that she just a couple of days ago lost almost all my brakes and leaks alot of fluid tranny oil rad you name it she has running to rich issues she is rusting underneath put alot of money in to patching that she is sometimes down on power no clue why a slight misfire in number 7 time to time she has no working head lights wiring is a disaster now the big one my poor c4 i dont think its still alive anymore i was taking to mechanics today she was smoking about 60% the pulled over saw oil on the head dumb breather puking again i guess so i disregarded and continued to my mechanic she then really went full choo choo train smoke every where cabin behind me engine you name it so i limped to mechanic then my tranny just puked all its fluid out and started to boil mechanic tried to get it on lift but it acted like att 4000 rpm she barely move is it done for i don’t know I dont know where to begin on a tranny fix /
she has a very beautiful paint job dodge viper blue with pearl ill give more pictures once i dig em out could use some pointers.
First off - use punctuation and capitalize the beginning of sentences. It is VERY hard to read this stream of consciousness you have written.
Second - because this is so hard to read, I don’t understand what problems you want us to answer.
Third - rust is the worst thing a car can have, and sitting and rotting is a garage for 10 years is the second worst thing.
So where do you want to start? Can you do any of your own work? Or do you have a wheelbarrow full of money? Because you might need it if you are paying shop rates to repair this car.
There are a number of folks here that can help, once you put this in a form we can read. Please!
The transmission is done. It is likely everything inside the case needs to be replaced. If you’re not up to this, I’d suggest just swapping it out for a junkyard transmission. Also, I’m no expert on Ford engines, but with that amount of overbore, I’d be worried about the integrity of the cylinder walls. I realize you have an emotional attachment to this car, but it frankly sounds to this outsider like a piece of junk.
It’s going to cost you a lot more to fix this rusty, bad engine, bad brakes, bad transmission car than it’s worth.
I have no problems with people restoring classic cars, but it does need to be a car that’s worth restoring.
A 68 plain Jane Mustang with all the problems yours has, isn’t one of them. The rust is the killer on this one.
There’s to many rust free drivers for less then 20K
Though a motor swap on a 68 mustang is pretty easy. 3 wires. Couple hoses. Bam. Ur done.
Looks like you cut and pasted the instructions straight from a chiltons 
Th first thing I would do is run a compression check on the engine based on a No. 7 misfire, oil in the breather, and smoking like a steam engine. Sounds like the trans is on the way out also.
I’m shocked that someone would bore a SBF .090 over. It could be the very thin cylinder walls couldn’t take the heat and the engine has barbecued itself. I think (?) that .060 over is about it and i’d be antsy about that.
The running rich (if that is what it is) could be that the engine is overcarbed if the Holley is a monster.
If the engine and trans are gone I know what I’d do with it. Add a late 80s or 90s SBF with SEFI injection and an overdrive transmission. The wire harness for that engine is bone simple to connect. It would take some other mod work such as a FI fuel pump, altered driveshaft and so on but would make the car much more pleasant to drive.
I have a Ford truck of similar vintage, similarly configured, 302 with C4 in my case. Autolite 2100 carb, 2B. I had a misfire on one cylinder due to a spark plug wire insulation that cracked, so replacing the wires might solve that one. I just wound some electrical tape on the part of the one wire that was cracked, and re-routed some of the wires to minimize the length any two run in parallel , and that fixed the misfire for me. Your C4’s problem might be due to the transmission cooler in the radiator. It might be plugged up, or worse, it might have sprung a leak and allowed coolant into the transmission fluid. In any event I expect you are looking at a rebuild job or another transmission. C4’s are plentiful, so you got that going for you. I suggest you replace the Holley carb with whatever oem carb the engine came with. I expect a Holley got installed b/c the original carb crapped out. But the solution to that isn’t to switch the carb make & model unless you want to make other modifications to the engine (to make it a race car for example.) You’ll get best results; i.e. trouble free operation, if you switch back to the original carb, which is probably the same as my truck an Autolite 2100. I see some brand new ones available for less than $100 online. When the 2100 craps out in most cases you just rebuild it, not an overly complicated and quite inexpensive job. Vacuum leaks will be an ongoing challenge w/your Mustang, so learn all you can about how to diagnose what’s causing them. A single vacuum leak can turn a perfectly running engine into a frustrating driving experience. For the over-bore issue, I wonder if it is possible to re-sleeve a 289?
Whoa… I am going to have to second and third what @Mustangman has stated. He hit the nail on the head about as solid as possible. Your post looks like one of those word search jumbles, where you need to find certain words within and amongst a field of nonsense letters.
Most of the good folk on this site are willing, able and qualified to help you sort through this, but you honestly do need to put it in a format where we can easily read and ID the individual issues. Help us, help you by listing your issues clearly, please.
Someone restored the car then let it sit for 12 years? Is that what I’m reading? So many things wrong with it, where to start?
Repair rust damage, buy new engine and transmission(resto-mod maybe?) new fuel lines and gas tank, new brakes- upgrade to 4 discs? new wire harness.
Am I missing anything here?
Yeah, I think you’re over-reacting. I have let cars sit for a decade. I didn’t need a new engine, transmission or wiring harness when I resurrected them. You certainly have to exercise some care in preparing to restart an engine that has sat for that long but it’s no definitive death sentence. I didn’t really do anything to the transmissions and had both manual and automatics go through such periods of inactivity. All fluids need attention, brakes and fuel lines especially. Hoses etc but the laundry list you have is over the top IMO…
I was trying to decipher the post when I made mine
[quote]
"she has a 289-90 over bore very thin cylinder walls "
“she used to overheat all the time but we fixed that she just a couple of days ago”
“lost almost all my brakes and leaks alot of fluid tranny oil rad you name it she has running to rich issues”
“she is sometimes down on power no clue why a slight misfire in number 7 time to time”
“she has no working head lights wiring is a disaster”
“pulled over saw oil on the head”
“i disregarded and continued to my mechanic she then really went full choo choo train smoke every where”
“so i limped to mechanic then my tranny just puked all its fluid out and started to boil”
“she barely move”[/quote]
This is what made me think the engine and trans are toast- .90 bore, frequent overheating, leaking oil, transmission and radiator fluids. The headlights not working and saying the wiring is a mess made me suggest a brand new wiring harness for the car.
The gas tank was more a precaution than anything since it probably sat with gas in it for that whole time and a new one would be an easier fix than cleaning out the old one.
Brakes, one can never have too good a braking system, especially since we don’t know what was on it to begin with. I know from experience that no power 4 drum brakes are a PIA to drive with.
Maybe you’re right and my list is over the top, only the OP can tell us for certain how close my guesses were.
Mr. bscar2 , I have to give you credit for making it through that irritating post by jpayton. I gave up long before the halfway point.
And I agree it’s a basket case. And the body sounds like it’s toast, too…
And jpayton is apparently no longer interested…
I can be a masochist when it comes to things like the original post.
Though, they are asking questions- I think anyways- so I tried to figure out what the wall of text was saying as best I could to try and help them.
OK, I see your point. I just read your reply and it appeared you were saying since it sat for 12 years, all those things needed to be done.
I agree with texases; a basket case. There are simply too many major issues and I suspect “restored 12 years ago might be a stretch”.
It has a “rebuilt engine” that is quite likely fried and a “rebuilt” C4 that is also apparently on the way out. I also wonder how much rust this viper blue paint job is hiding.
Fixable? Yes, if you have deep pockets and don’t care if the en result is only worth a fraction of the investment.
One other potential problem - it sounds like it was originally a 6, converted to a V8. That raises a whole heap of other questions.