The mid-1960’s fastback Mustangs are some of the most iconic of all muscle cars. When these machines first hit the market, there was really nothing like them on the road. Most of these early Mustangs rolled off the assembly line with either a V6 or the small 289 V8, but in later years, Ford offered the Mustang with the 302 or 429 power plant.  Today, however, you’ll see these classic pony cars at the drag strip with all kinds of wild motor combinations.

Eric Reese took his family’s classic Mustang to the next level by swapping in a modern EFI motor and adding a turbo. The car was purchased by Eric’s father back in 1972 with a 289 and a factory four speed. Promptly after purchase the heater and backseat were removed for track duty, and after many trips down the quarter mile, the Mustang was cut up and turned into a serious tube chassis car. Several more combos were swapped in the car over the course of the years befopre Eric began the current EFI/turbo project two years ago.

Because this was a new experience, Eric went with a simple, yet proven combo in the Ford world. The motor is a stock short block 302 along with a stock throttle body. To help this turbo combo breathe a bit better, Procomp heads, a f-303 cam, and Edelbrock intake elbow were used.  A set of 136-pound injectors feed the motor a nice diet of E85 and help spin the 68mm T6 turbo. A PTC torque converter sits in front of the Powerglide transmission and helps turn the big 32 x 14.5 x 15 tires. Still learning the car, Eric has already had it in the 5.70 range at 120 MPH in the eighth mile.

Building this car was not a total walk in the park for Eric, and it’s not done yet. This current combo was just a test to learn about EFI and the next bullet that will be going into this Mustang will be either a big cube Ford motor huffing nitrous, or a set of twin 88mm turbos adding power.