Mine is a '68 Falcon with a 351W Ford. It ain't purdy and that's for certain. But on the other hand, it ain't fast, either.
The quick history:
Started out with an '83 T-Bird for my son when he was 17. Back halfed and was going to get a 351C. He lost interest so I yanked the rear frame section and built a 2x3 mild steel frame for it and slid it under a '39 Studebaker Coupe body that I had. Two years into that and it was looking like at least another two years to go before it would make a pass. Got impatient, cut up the frame, saved what I could use, sold the rest and gave away the Studebaker. Picked up a bone stock rolling Falcon from craigslist for a couple hunnert bucks.
Got it to the track for the 1st time last summer. Never ran quite the way I thought it should, broke the engine a couple of times and now it's getting re-modeled for '08.
Here's a pic from just before I tore it down:
The engine was a .030 over 351W with a custom solid flat tappet cam, World iron heads, 11.25:1, Hookers, and an Enderle Bug Catcher with an 80A-0 belt driven pump. Studded and girdled mains, studded heads, etc.
I was trying to make this thing run on gas (c12) but never could get the tune right. Ran a best of 11.67 @ 113 with a 1.57 60'.
Pic of the engine:
So for '08 I'm making a few changes. Picked up a Vertex mag and am pitching the MSD. Raising compression to 13:1 with BRC pistons. Custom solid roller cam, new Lunati link bar lifters and roller rockers, dumping the gas and going to alcohol. There's a few other minor changes as well but that's the bulk of it.
28" x 9" Hoosiers, 4.11 gears, C4, 4000 Hughes, and Cal-Tracks under the leaf springs will remain unchanged.
Currently Spud Miller has my injection and mag and is getting those squared away for me, and I'm waiting for the Block Fill to set up so I can send the block in for machining.
If I get restless while I'm waiting I also have my nephews new car in the garage. He just picked up a '48 Topolino altered from a cat in Alaska.
It too needs a few things. I think it needs a tune up, the engine appears to be missing. Yuk yuk yuk.
Plans for it for '08 are to pull the 434 small block out of his '37 Chev and install in the Fiat while he starts on the big block.
Here's the '37 at Renegade Raceway in Yakima, WA. last summer, being driven by my son while he was home on leave:
My son and I actually got to stage up against each other later that night. Pretty cool, for me anyway.
Ok, that's me and my busy-ness for this winter. I've probably managed to emabarass myself and degrade the board with this post, after posting pics of the entire fleet. Just the chance I take I guess, but it is nice to have a place to journal some of this stuff.
Thanks for the bandwidth.
Murff
