I bought a 67 Cougar from my grandfather a few years back and haven’t had the time to work on it. I had it in and out of a few garages that have taken my money with nothing to show for it. I was most recently told that the camshaft is broken. The last shop already removed the engine and transmission, and I’m trying to find a more modern option. The original engine was the 289 with the 3 speed automatic transmission. I’d be happy to hear any suggestions or ideas. My first idea is to find a totaled mustang and just start moving parts over, but again I’ve got minimal experience and could really use some more knowledge. Thanks!
Engine swaps are not for everyone and can be quite the task if you lack the tools and knowledge to get it done. You might be better off buying a replacement 289/302 or having yours rebuilt. You can get reman 302s from summit racing for a decent price as well. This would be a drop in option and pretty easy to accomplish.
Modern engines will take alot more skill to swap. Depending on what year mustang your talking about will vary greatly in what you would need to do. 5.0 coyote engine will require heavy modification to suspension and engine bay. 5.0 fox body mustangs are closer to what you have but most likely will be EFI and require more work to install or convert over to a carb setup. There is always an LS swap but again talking about modifications to make it all work together.
If you plan to do it yourself with said minimal experience your better sticking to the 289/302 platform you have. If you want to swap to something else you may need to consider paying a shop to do it and thats not going to be cheap.