I spent the weekend working on my on again off again 64 Ford Custom project.
The engine in it was originally intended for a 63 T Bird I used to own. It's an early 352 bored .110 with a 390 crank and rods, 9:1 compression pistons, 63 T Bird Tri-Power Intake (adapted to some Rochesters built) 1960 factory cast iron headers and a Mallory dual point distributor with a pertonix electronic conversion. The tranny is a C6 from a 68 428 T Bird and it has the factory 9" with 3.50 gears.
I had the machine work done 12 years ago then sold the bird. Then about 7 years ago I assembled it and started hunting for a body to put it in.
So far I'm doing pretty well money wise on the car. The I traded a car I had nothing in for the machine work on the engine, the intake was a X-Mas bonus from where I used to work back before they became desirable and the carbs I have just the price of kits (and several hours in). I got the headers for about 1/2 what they normally go for on E Bay because one had a broken ear. The car itself was another labor trade for the body which had some front end damage, all the sheetmetal to put it together and 79 T Bird front disc brakes which are a bolt on (I'm using the spindles, but bought rebuilt calipers, new rotors, rebuilt master cyl bearing seals etc). Out of pocket right now I figure I'm into it for about $1500, counting the E bay aluminum radiator.
I finally got to hear the engine run yesterday after all thee years and it sounds pretty healthy, runs cool and carries good oil pressure. I'm building this as a 60's style sleeper and trying to keep it period correct looking for around 1969. Don't know for sure about paint yet, I'll either go black primer or maybe a cheap enamel like I used to shoot back then, maybe even put a small touch of flattener in it.
Unfortunately like I said this is an on and off project. It's going back into the storage shed this coming weekend, I really need to put together a new shop truck and only have so much shop space. When it comes back in it will get brakes, and exhaust and probably start to be driven a bit.
The new shop truck will be this 76 Dodge I pulled from a local wrecking yard. I picked it up because it has a factory 440 I got it running and it seems to have either a blown head gasket or cracked head (no big deal). After I got it I did a little research and found out it was one of less than 200 True Spirits produced along with the original 200 Warlocks produced to test market reaction to a factory Hot Rod Truck. I'm not going to leave it completely stock, but not doing anything that can't be easily undone (except maybe a color change).
The engine in it was originally intended for a 63 T Bird I used to own. It's an early 352 bored .110 with a 390 crank and rods, 9:1 compression pistons, 63 T Bird Tri-Power Intake (adapted to some Rochesters built) 1960 factory cast iron headers and a Mallory dual point distributor with a pertonix electronic conversion. The tranny is a C6 from a 68 428 T Bird and it has the factory 9" with 3.50 gears.
I had the machine work done 12 years ago then sold the bird. Then about 7 years ago I assembled it and started hunting for a body to put it in.
So far I'm doing pretty well money wise on the car. The I traded a car I had nothing in for the machine work on the engine, the intake was a X-Mas bonus from where I used to work back before they became desirable and the carbs I have just the price of kits (and several hours in). I got the headers for about 1/2 what they normally go for on E Bay because one had a broken ear. The car itself was another labor trade for the body which had some front end damage, all the sheetmetal to put it together and 79 T Bird front disc brakes which are a bolt on (I'm using the spindles, but bought rebuilt calipers, new rotors, rebuilt master cyl bearing seals etc). Out of pocket right now I figure I'm into it for about $1500, counting the E bay aluminum radiator.
I finally got to hear the engine run yesterday after all thee years and it sounds pretty healthy, runs cool and carries good oil pressure. I'm building this as a 60's style sleeper and trying to keep it period correct looking for around 1969. Don't know for sure about paint yet, I'll either go black primer or maybe a cheap enamel like I used to shoot back then, maybe even put a small touch of flattener in it.
Unfortunately like I said this is an on and off project. It's going back into the storage shed this coming weekend, I really need to put together a new shop truck and only have so much shop space. When it comes back in it will get brakes, and exhaust and probably start to be driven a bit.
The new shop truck will be this 76 Dodge I pulled from a local wrecking yard. I picked it up because it has a factory 440 I got it running and it seems to have either a blown head gasket or cracked head (no big deal). After I got it I did a little research and found out it was one of less than 200 True Spirits produced along with the original 200 Warlocks produced to test market reaction to a factory Hot Rod Truck. I'm not going to leave it completely stock, but not doing anything that can't be easily undone (except maybe a color change).
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