[straybullitt]

A Coyote would be badass but the 390 could be a strong engine also.

Bags huh? That would actually be pretty cool on that car.
My ramp truck has them on the rear, just to help the springs out, but I don't know much about complete air ride suspensions though.

 

[Tyoung68]

Yeah I'm thinking bags on it. I mean it needs all new suspension anyways and it's not that much more for air ride than stock parts surprisingly.

The one thing in unsure on is to convert it to a 4 link or it not. You can take out leafs from the pack to get your desired drop and then the airbags go on top of the leaf springs. Or get a 4 link and weld it on. There's no point in making this one a race car lol I have the mustang for that. If I could every get the transmission working.

 

[Tyoung68]

Well still haven't done much to the car my mustang has been taking all my time lately but finally fixed everything it needs for now. So I'm going to have time for the tbird. I keep going back and forth on the paint scheme and now I'm leaning towards a "ratty look". Keep the patina on it and just make it hail *** for a couple reasons, it's big car and that means a lot of sanding and second it's really not in that bad of shape to begin with and then budget too I gave my go at painting my mustang and just don't think it's possible with the set up I have now. So is have to get it done which would be a lot so looking at saving 7k ish in budget. What are your thoughts on that? Would that "hurt" the value of the car you think? I mean I know I could obviously ask more for a fresh painted car but you think the profit margins would be that big of a difference? I'm thinking having badass engine is a better selling point than a paint job.

 

[ER12883]

That's honestly so subjective, I don't know if you can say. It totally depends on the buyer and what kind of project they want: paint or mechanics. For some reason (maybe Macco commercials), paint feels like a faster cheaper thing than it really is. But if it were me, I'd take a pristine shell over a BA drivetrain. But I'm more comfortable with mechanics than paint and bodywork.

 

[Tyoung68]

Yeah good point. I guess that's why I'm leaning towards patina because I suck at body work haha. And idk I like the look of patina there's just something at about a ****ty looking car that is just BA in every other way. I dunno I could really find a patina tbird but this one is probably pretty similar to what it would look like in the end

 

[straybullitt]

The only way that you can make money restoring cars, is if someone is paying you to restore their car.
Sometimes you can get the money that you have invested in parts back, but you rarely get any of the labor back.

I like patina also! You don't ever have to worry about it. Everything just adds character!
I saw a BMW that had been sanded to bare metal and left to rust, a while back. Just the plastic bumpers were painted a complimentary color. It looked pretty cool! On the trunk lid, in small letters, it said "Paint is overrated".

If you want to maximize any returns that you may get on that car, it would likely be best to get the original drivetrain all in good working order, make the car so that it drives and stops good, clean up the interior so it is decent, but leave the body alone, aside from maybe banging out a few dents.
Let the next owner do the bodywork and paint if they desire.
Remember, it is only original once!

 

[Tyoung68]

Yeah I guess. I don't really see the point in keeping it original, sense it's not a low production number or anything special. I'm thinking get the 390 block redone with an top end kit and some nice mufflers. Then put it on air and re do the interior with some sort of sound deadener. And then see how it looks and if it needs paint then I'll go from there. There honestly isn't much that needs to be done to the body besides the driver quarter and dented rocker.

And all the Thunderbirds I've seen for sale doesn't matter if it's original or all done up prices don't really change unless it's like all number matching a everything.

And actually there really isn't much out there but stock parts haha. Gonna have a lot of custom work I think. If I cut out paint and body then the budget drops to like 10ish and I'd think it's worth mid teens then. So idk I'll guess I'll just see where this takes me. I think in going to try to build a 4 link for this car so I can put bags in the back and not have to have them sit on top of the leafs.

Idk what is more work. Think about the damn thing or just start working on it haha. Hopefully soon it'll start getting some progress on it.

 

[straybullitt]

I don't know if anyone makes a four-link kit for a 66 T-bird. I did find a company that makes one for my F-350 Ramp Truck though... So who knows?

I just saw this on CL. To give you an idea of values...
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/5292340238.html

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Mustang Evolution mobile app

 

[weiyuhan]

the headers are..

 

[Tyoung68]

I don't know if anyone makes a four-link kit for a 66 T-bird. I did find a company that makes one for my F-350 Ramp Truck though... So who knows?

I just saw this on CL. To give you an idea of values...
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/5292340238.html

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Mustang Evolution mobile app

Yeah I've seen that one. I feel like that one has some miles on it and mine would be 0 miles so basically a new car. And I actually found a website that makes universal 4 links. Or just axle mounts for coil overs or bags. For like 73$ each so pretty reasonable. Then just need to make some arms which would be easy enough. And then adding up all the numbers for an engine rebuild has had me looking for just a creat engine and well these seem like they would do lol http://phoenixengine.com/Ford-09.html one thing I don't know about is the rear end. I'm pretty sure it's a nine inch but don't know the power rating? Same for the trans. I'm thinking about maybe swapping in a aod if it doesn't take to much modifying to get it to work

 

[straybullitt]

The nine inch rear ends are pretty strong. As a matter of fact, it is probably the most popular rear end for performance use... In any make or model of vehicle!
The transmission is a C6, I believe. Again, a very strong transmission.

I'm not sure if anyone makes an adapter to mount an AOD transmission to an FE engine. Advanced Adapters might have something... Or one of the other companies that specializes in that sort of thing.

You're right about it not being necessary to keep the car original. I just suggested using the original drivetrain to keep the costs down, since you already own it.
A 385 series big block (429/460) will fit, and they can be had for very little money. The expensive part is the heads, for a performance build. The stock rotating assembly, aside from the pistons, is generally good for up to about 800 hp. And it is relatively easy to hit that number with a normally aspirated, stroked engine.

 

[Tyoung68]

The vin says the transmission is a cruse-o-Matic, I haven't pulled it out yet but it's a pan fill one of that makes a difference. And been pricing crate engines vs rebuilding this one. I can assembly the engine so I was thinking a stroker, 448 390 based with aluminum heads/intake. Just don't know which ones to get, all those parts assuming my numbers are right, would be 4-5k which is about what a Crate 390 with 400ish hp. I knew that newer 9s were good to go but not sure about the one that came in this car because it looked a little weird.

 

[straybullitt]

The Select Shift Cruise-o-Magic. 1966 was the first year for the C6, so Ford came up with a snazzy name tor it's introduction. Lol.

There were two different styles of carrier housing on the 9 inch rears. They changed the rib design in the early 70's.
Post a picture of it when you have a chance.

The FE is a good engine. It is much lighter than the 385 series engines that replaced it. The only drawback is that they are stuck in the 400's, as far as displacement. Ford had already stroked the FE series 96 inches during it's production run!
I've heard people say that the FE series was a failure. It kinda was...
The FE block was cast much like the modern engines are cast today. They used a minimum amount of material in the places that didn't need the strength, and used more material, in the block, in places that needed more strength. The casting technology of the 50's and 60's wasn't quite reliable enough to produce a high enough percentage of blocks that met the quality control standards to be able to move on to the machining process. They were especially troublesome when trying to machine the block into a 427 "side-oiler" engine. A lot of FE blocks were melted back down to "try again".
So for Ford, they were not a economical engine to produce because they were more complicated to cast than the heavier blocks that they had previously produced, and the engines that replaced the FE series for the next two decades. It wasn't until the modular engines that they went back to the lightweight casting method of the engine blocks.
I think that the FE series was just ahead of it's time.

 

[Recon]

How's the restoration going?


Pick your poison.

 

[Tyoung68]

Nothing, I had to deal with my mustang then my jeep starting acting up and then finals. So been a little busy but should be starting to get some time here soon

 

[Tyoung68]

Nothing, I had to deal with my mustang then my jeep starting acting up and then finals. So been a little busy but should be starting to get some time here soon

 

[Recon]

That's right. Well, I look forward to an update on the car.


Pick your poison.

 

[Tyoung68]

Looks like I'll have a lot of time this week to finally get some stuff done. I should be dropping the block of the get Redone this week and will be ordering a top end kit this week, which comes with a "free" carb, a 650 or 800 any have a suggestion on which one is better for my 390. The engine will need to be redone- including the rods and crank. I've never had any machine work done so no idea on price, would it be better just to buy a new set? I'll need new Pistons too. Also any that can recommend a good rebuild kit brand, I've been getting felpro ones for my six cylinder but they never seem to seal even with setting it all to torque specs.

Then also later this week I'll be finally removing the rest of the drive train, and going through it all and deciding on what to do with all that. It already has disks in the front so I'll just need a new master cylinder and booster (mine were frozen)

Then rear end will get new seals and fresh fluid and the trans will get pulled a part cleaned and replaced as needed.

 

[straybullitt]

I have never heard of a rebuld kit that comes with a carburetor. In any case, think of the size like this: 650 for daily driver. 800 for maximum performance.
Depending on your goals for the engine, and the condition of the parts, the crankshaft can be turned and/or polished, and the connecting rods can be re-sized. It is usually less expensive to reuse the factory parts.
I've been using FelPro gaskets for years without any problems.

I don't know of any machine shops in your area that I can recommend. I'm sure that there must be some reputable shops in the east bay, I just don't have any experience with any of them. I go to a shop in Morgan Hill, that I have been using for 20+ years.

 

[Aggiesrok]

If I were you I'd call the machine that stray billet knows and ask how they would charge roughly and what they would recommend. Then you'll be ahead of the game when finding a local shop to do the work. They can also help you pick Pistons, rods, etc.
There's a great machine shop here and it's awesome, but hard to find one you can trust.


Chevy runs deep, don't step in Chevy.