69 Mach 1 tires/gear ratio
 

Sr and I finally got our Mach 1 back on the road. Previously had a worked over 302 boss engine that was chipped at 8k with 513’s. Was set up perfect. Currently has a freshly stroked 351/408 with a ton of torque and 355 gears 4 speed top loader. 235/60/15 tires - less power steering.

Want the best tires possible!!! Any advice? Currently it roast the tires all the way through 4 and have your hands full trying to keep it in one lane. Almost wish we would’ve went 323 gears but not really wanting to run the car much past 110. Engine is incredibly strong. Valako heads etc.


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Ford AND Chevy :-)

What’s the story of the garage mate?

I had one like that many moons ago

Kind of a neat story behind the two cars. I had the 73 z in high school (mid 80’s) and he had the Mach 1. Bunch of fun times and have had both (for the most part) ever since. So many times I hear omg I wish I would’ve kept… stories.

Are you planning on keeping the 15" wheels?? If so, that will limit choices.

I can tell you a 29" tall tire with 4.56's runs just under 110mph at 6000rpms.

Agreed, most of the performance compounds an Z rated tires are going to be in the bigger rim sizes.. Coker tire has made some that will cross over. depending on your driving style and intent, I have firestone pie cut street slicks on my 55 gasser. not good in rain, but it doesnt have wipers either.

What hp does the engine make?

Any suspension modifications?

Good hearing from you and hope all is well. I’d say an honest 550 + - @ 6,700. Ben at precision offshore built it years ago when he worked for Valako. Then was stored til recent. Solid Roller / j302 heads with all the good guy stuff.

I talked to Ben and he begged me to bring the engine down to dyno at his shop free of charge.

A beautiful car for sure...both, actually. But I've always loved that Mach 1...

How many miles a year do you drive the car?

Getrdunn,

I'll take the Camero. Hands down.

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991

a friend has several mustangs and I can say that the one mod he wished he had done sooner than he did was to swap the toploader for a T5 five speed. he runs 3:55 gears and said the car is way more usable as he can now cruise down the highway without all the rpm

Mickey Thompson Drag radials have always done me well on the slower cars I've had.

The faster stuff I used either regular slicks or M/T ET Street tires... which are essentially a grooved slick.

Dont run any of them in the rain though. It's as bad as driving on ice.

This car was a low 8-sec car @ 165mph with DOT tires on it.

My opinion is I have always loved the looks of the Mach 1 69-70 over almost any car of that era however would rather wrench on GM’s any day of the week over Fords. Other than newer trucks etc the Mach 1 is the only ford ever owned so would only make sense.

Probably not more than 500 miles a year tops. We mostly will get them out and run them hard and put back in the garage before the law shows up. Lol.

Thumbs up 👍.

Was kinda leaning towards the mickeys. Like the looks of the magnum 500 wheels on that car and will likely get 9 or 10” wheels for the rear and leave the 7’s on the front.

The t5 trans be next. With all the abuse the TL has taken over the years it amazes me it holds together.

When Sr drove home the other day from having custom headers built the car was wanting to pull / drift to the right and until I get the steering and tires dealt with I’m not even gonna drive it. Be wrapped around a tree or in the ditch for sure. I told the same place to replace the steering box as I was pretty certain it was bad from sitting so long and was dried out. Filled with grease (took a bunch). Convinced the bearings had to be bad but they seemed to think it was ok. Regardless it’s in need of adjustment. I did put a hydraulic clutch kit in it and love it.

I have a 15 sec vid of him taking off from pretty much a dead stop but having YouTube issues to post a link.

check out "the bang shift billy" for hyd clutch modules for better shifting, some pretty cool tech in his setups. my gasser is still reg clutch with an M22 and a Hurst ramrod.

I did a research quick and once I got past billy bob I was very impressed. Pretty amazing although I didn’t confirm if it works the same each time you dump the clutch. I would assume as 2nd, 3rd etc is also an issue but probably not so much once I get the rubber situation handled.

The only neg I could see is the excessive clutch plate wear but maybe not. But even then that’s the cheapest v thing to replace. Very cool. Tks for sharing.

235/60r15’s are as useful as bicycle tires on your car. Lololol

I had a big block 69 Roadrunner back in high school in the 8os that I did a ton of motor wrenching on. Easy peasy other than getting the drivers side header in position to boot up all the time.

My brother in law had a 69 Cougar xr7 with a 351 he had owned since new I bought off him for next nothing . Car was in beautiful shape with power windows and a/c but after a week of wrenching on it I hated it .

Buddy of mine that had just wrapped his 69 Z around a tree caught me at a weak moment and I traded even up just because I swore I would never own another Ford.

I parted out the Z and bought a wrecked 69 Ss chevelle that’s came with a cherry bodied 68 parts car , soo much easier to wrench on.

Later on I bought a 81 straight 6 Bronco but thank god i never had to open the hood. After that I owned a 90 that had a 302 that when the day came to wrench on it swore I was going to put in a GM motor and trans .

Thank God I came to my senses and got rid of it before I went to hell .

its a pretty cool set up, the videos are a little tough to watch, I was looking at it as I have both of these going into my 55 and its going to be fun shifting it...the trans is a buddy of mine, he liked mine so he did the same thing. sending the intake out to kinsler to have them go through it and set up the vacuum lines and upgrade it to the new style injectors and lower bells to keep from cutting the hood, the intake was off a 41 apache race boat made by kinsler for merc. it has the thermostat housing in it instead of having a remote. just looks cleaner to me.
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