The good thing we speak of is the 1967 coupe that was given to Byron by his girlfriend's sister, Holly. Holly had driven the plain white coupe for a number of years before parking it in the late '90s due to its declining condition and concerns regarding reliability. After having it sit in her garage for nearly 20 years and concluding she was unlikely to get it back on the road, Holly offered it to Byron—free of charge. It was important to Holly that her Mustang go to a good home.
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Obviously Byron was happy to have the super-solid but tired 1967 dropped in his lap, but what to do with it? Coincidentally, Byron had known Craig Wick for a few years; the two were actually involved in go-kart racing in the Pacific Northwest. Byron also knew Wick to be the owner of Wicked Fabrication in Auburn, Washington, one of the area's premier builders of custom and modified cars. (Check out Wicked Fabrication's 1963 Falcon Futura here.) Before long, Byron had turned his Mustang over to Wick for a full-tilt build for the Mustang of his dreams. His vision for his dream car was well beyond his personal abilities, but with business booming in the aircraft industry, he did have the opportunity to work massive amounts of overtime in order to fund a professional build.
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Wick and company ordered a new 5.0L Coyote crate from Ford Performance, its 435 hp being plenty for a fun street machine. A Coyote swap in any intermediate Ford from the '60s requires removal of the imposing factory shock towers where the coil spring and shock ride above the stock upper control arms. This in turn dictates an aftermarket suspension system, which in this instance is Detroit Speed's Aluma-Frame front cradle/suspension. (It can be ordered to accept a Coyote, or a variety of other powerplants.) Once the shock towers were removed and the Aluma-Frame setup in place, Detroit Speed shock tower delete panels were welded in place for a near-factory appearance.
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Fitting a T56 six-speed from a 2008 GT500 required reshaping the transmission tunnel for clearance, with the finished product looking seamless with help from a custom-fabbed console. Likewise, more transparent metalwork comes in the form of Detroit Speed's Mustang mini-tubs, which will pass for stock to the casual observer, and yet allow for some serious rubber thanks to 2 1/2 inches of extra clearance.
We asked Wick what he felt was the most difficult part of the Coyote swap, which he described as a "piece of cake." That's what you get from a shop that's done nearly a dozen Coyote and Ford Modular V-8 swaps into vintage chassis, but it's also the state of the aftermarket support for such a swap. While it's not at LS proportions, virtually everything you need to swap the most modern 5.0L into a vintage Ford intermediate chassis is available for order. Little to no custom work is really necessary at this point, but it all comes at a price. If you're looking to shave some dollars from the cost of the prebuilt items, you'll need to be resourceful and particularly skilled. One possibility is an F-150-sourced Coyote, which is significantly less money than its Mustang or crate counterparts. It's even possible to bolt up this engine to some vintage transmissions, such as a C4 automatic or T5 five-speed, economizing the operation if you've already got yourself a solid trans or waiting for your budget to catch up.
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In the end, though, you could say that Byron's 1967 coupe does it right in virtually every aspect of a Coyote swap. It's got quality components, exemplary craftsmanship, no shortcuts, and has benefitted from a sharp eye for form and function. Better still, Byron is the kind of guy who isn't content to let his dream car collect dust in a hermetically sealed display. On the contrary, he's driven it extensively, the longest excursion being a 600-mile round trip to Spokane. Byron looks forward to other road trips and is planning to test the car's mettle in some autocross events, as well. "Driving this car regularly is the culmination of why I did what I did. The Coyote is so powerful and yet so smooth and comfortable to drive, I think it's the perfect blend of vintage and modern."
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Six Things You'll Need for a Coyote Swap
- Open Your Wallet—No way around this one, says Wick. Running a Coyote 5.0L is going to cost you more than 430-460 horses of almost anything else. It's not the cost of the engine per se, with a brand-new crate engine ringing in at $8,500. The bill only starts to balloon with the necessary modifications to fit and run the contemporary 5.0L, whether you do the work yourself or pay for some professional help. Install mods include removal of the shock towers and installation of an aftermarket suspension, the necessary computer controls, fuel system, and exhaust. Whether you do it yourself or not, these mods will cost thousands.
- Exhaust Headers—Wick offered that the specific vintage chassis you're installing a Coyote into will dictate your options. What is clear is that stock 5.0L Mustang factory tubular manifolds aren't friendly to a vintage Mustang chassis. Ford Performance sells cast-iron manifolds (M-9430-SR50A) from the F-150 truck application, which they say will work on certain street rods, but we know most builders will opt for aftermarket headers. With many different suspension choices to choose from, no header will be guaranteed to fit every one; however, we noted Doug's Headers sells a vintage Mustang Coyote swap header advertised to fit some of the popular Mustang II architecture swap suspensions. Detroit Speed also sells Coyote swap headers specifically designed to clear their own Aluma-Frame front suspension.
- Computer/ECU—You do have a few choices here to include products from Ford Performance, ACCEL/DFI, FAST, and others; however, in a stock-ish Coyote swap, Ford Performance's Control Pack makes a lot of sense, and Wick has used it successfully on several occasions. The virtually turnkey system works very well and incorporates the factory's variable valve timing, though it doesn't have the tuning capacity of some of the other aftermarket systems—likely a concern on heavily modified 5.0Ls.
- Power Steering Pump Bracket—Factory applications of the 5.0L Coyote use electric power steering, but a number of companies offer a bracket that allows the use of a conventional hydraulic pump. Wick used Vintage Air's Front Runner drive system with a Detroit Speed alternator relocation bracket for the 1967 Mustang featured here.
- Oil Pan—Wick explained that the oil pan arrangement will be dictated by the chassis and suspension used for the swap, but expect to have to use something other than the factory Coyote rear sump pan. Canton and Moroso both offer pans for various Coyote swaps.
- Cooling System—For vintage Coyote swaps, Wick likes the slick radiator and fan combo from C&R Racing, which also includes a built-in engine oil cooler that goes one better than a factory Boss 302 heat exchanger.
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