Holley - Barn Find - 1969 Mustang 390 Mach 1

As I continued searching for the parts that had been removed by one of the previous owners, I turned my attention to chasing induction parts.

I started by attempting to locate the original factory cast iron manifold. Ironically, for years these were often discarded as more and more owners opted for a lighter aluminum intake manifold.

This made finding one with the proper date code challenging. After months of searching I was able to locate one that was in excellent condition…but it was in Florida. Nothing like shipping a 75 pound intake manifold across the country!

Factory original cast iron intake manifold. Date code, 9D14, means April 14, 1969.

With the proper intake now in my possession I turned my attention to trying to find an original, date coded, C8AE-A ported vacuum switch. Since my Mach 1 had come from California, the ported vacuum switch had long been removed due to the states NOX program. Luckily, I was able to find one at Dead Nuts On with the proper date code that had already been restored.

Original ported vacuum switch, now fully restored.

Date code 7-H-69 means July 1969. In this case the H is simply the manufacturer code.

Now I had to find the proper color coded vacuum hoses that would have been attached to this vacuum switch. Each color designates its intended location and purpose. In this case Marti Auto Works offers a reproduction kit with the authentic hose markings. The factory coloring was not bright, but actually more muted in color.

It was now time to turn my attention toward locating the appropriate carburetor. In 1968 all 390 Mustangs came with a Holley 4150 carburetor. However, for 1969 Ford switched to an Autolite 4300 carburetor on its 390 Mustangs.

So for months I tried to locate one with the appropriate date code for this car. After months of looking, I spoke with a gentlemen who specializes in Ford carburetors who explained to me that by the middle of June 1969 Ford had discontinued the Autolite and returned to using the Holley 4150 in anticipation of the 1970 model year. With this information in hand it didn’t take me long to find the correct date coded carburetor.

If you look closely at the line below the word ‘list’ you can barely see the date code, 964, which means this carburetor was produced on June 4, 1969

One of the unique features on the 390 Mach 1s was the carburetor spacer which featured a pass-through connection for the heater hose. This was designed to allow the warm coolant to flow thru the spacer warming the fuel to allow for easier starts in cold weather.

This picture shows the unique carb spacer with the heater hose attachments.

Next Step: Air Conditioning Parts

Being a child of the 1980’s I can remember owning Mustangs like this and and being obsessed with one thing…making them faster! Originality be damned, I wanted the fastest horse in town. These are the sins of our youth.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise when I opened the hood of this Mustang, and found one of the previous owners had the same obsession.

Gone was the original cast iron intake manifold and in its place was a very desirable Edelbrock Streetmaster 390 aluminum intake manifold. This manifold was long held as one of the best performing aftermarket manifolds for the Ford FE (see http://www.fepower.net/GFEIC.html).

Likewise, the factory manifold weighed 75 pounds, so the aluminum intake would not only perform better but would also be substantially lighter.

Likewise the original carburetor had been long been replaced. Sitting on top of that Edelbrock aluminum intake was now a Holley, 750 cfm, carburetor.

Here you can see the huge 750 cfm Holley carburetor.

The Streetmaster 390 has long been considered one of the best manifolds for a 390.

But this was just the tip of the iceberg. They also improved the spark delivery by installing a Hays Stinger ignition. Now for those of you too young to remember the 1980s, the Hays Stinger ignition was the ignition to get. Cars equipped with the Hays Stinger consistently made 5-6 hp more than those with the MSD units of the day.

It was basically an electronic conversion from points to a “Mopar-like” magnetic pickup unit in the distributor and a trick reluctor that was press-fit onto the Autolite shaft cam. The system also included an electronic box to read the signal from the pickup, similar to other units that were and still are available today.

On top of adding performance items, they also lightened the car by removing as much weight as possible. This included the factory air conditioning compressor, condenser and brackets as well as the power steering pump and virtually every other power steering component. In short, if it wasn’t adding performance to the car it was removed!

Next Step: Chasing Classic Parts