Looking for opinions on installing a Ford 289

I have a 1979 Fiat Spider 2000 CS2 in pretty good shape. I just bought it 3 days ago for $150 (canadian dollars too) delivered to my garage.

It shows 59,000 miles on it which the original owner says is accurate, a 4 speed trans (which is for sale but needs an overhaul). I have a piece of the motor... the block and thats it but this leads me to an engine swap idea.

I noticed immediately that the suspension crossmember will only allow for a front sump oil pan style engine so my first thought was Ford of course. Now I know a few people have installed (aka shoehorned) a 302 but I wanna be different and drop a 1967 Mustang 289 in the car with a 4 speed OD auto trans.

Now my main question is has anyone on this board done a swap like this? If so I wanna hear from you on clearance issues or any little things you may have run into.

My second question is will the rear end hold up to 200hp in stock form? Now I know this is a hard question to answer due to different driving styles but i'm looking more into keeping this car "driveable" then "raceable" (is that a word?).

Either way, this site looks great and i'm already in love with our new to us car.

I look forward to chatting with many of you.

Gordon
Alberta, Canada

in my opinion a JDM motor would be a better fit for the spider. when my motor goes im thinking of doing an sr20det. its almost the same size, its lite and i have seen way fewer nissan/fiat swaps. good luck tho. and BTW, that crossmember unbolts real quick.

The problem with the sr20 engine is that they are super expensive here, that's why I was thinking a domestic engine... much more affordable.

i agree, your sr20 setup would probably run you 2k+ but pretty much the only thing the spider has going for it is its weight. If price is a concern then the ford motor is the way to go.

Have you already started working on this?

I have a few Spiders here at my shop:
'73 waiting on paint, otherwise fully restored
'74 Complete car will soon be transformed into track car
'77 Pininfarina, complete less dashboard

I also have a couple of Ford 289s including an original Hi-Po Shelby motor that I am thinking of dropping in the track car. If you haven't started yet, I'll let ya know how it goes.

-Nick

Won't a v8 weigh down the front end and make the car understeer? I know this is what happened whenever a 4 cylinder mustang got a v8 swap. You would surely have to upgrade the suspension up front, but even so, the weight distribution would be off balanced. So it would ruin the handling, but go like a rocket. Am I right?

Did any of you guys ever go ahead with those 289 engine swaps, am really interested to see the outcome?

sorry, i have nothing to add to the discussion other than to ask about a point in the original post.

a '79 Spider did not come equipped with a 4 speed manual transmission. was this a typo?