[Pontirag]

play400,

mine was a '50 six. low miles. been sitting from 64 to 93. I blew it using engine oil flush crap rather than pull the pan. Blew it on the way to motor vehicle dept. to get it registerd.I took one look at the cost to rebuild it and bought a 53 parts car and put that engine in. but first I tore it down and cleaned it up. put all new gaskets in and put her in and drove it for about a year. Stupid me I could never get it to run or idle right. did every thing I could think of then pulled it and put in a 400/th400 and a nine inch rear. when I went to hook up the vacuum line to the wipers I got curios about what was at the other end of the vaccum line. All along thinking my wipers were electric. and just didnt work. In AZ you rearly need them and I had a visor. Figured it out. trico vacuum motors have proprietary fasteners but i got it apart and grease it up and she ran soooo smoothly. MSD 6AL anf she would idle down to 425 rpm. People came up to admire the car and flipped out when they realised it was running. I had two mufflers from a 76 ford 350 series with a 460 engine. it was a single application but I used two and she was quite....until I went over a cattle gard then it rumbled. I hate noisy cars. noise does not equate with hp. especially in a convirtable. anyway

each approach is good but I would lean towards origional. If ya wanna hot rod something up get another one. They got real grace and poise. they were stately. It always amased me how narrow and meak looking the tires were. I put steel of a 74 catalina on mine and nice big fat rubber. much better road manners and the old full size hubcaps fit too. If there was anything I would suggest is a front and rear sway bar. worth it to have them made. Mine would never take a turn without seeming to tip over and throw the passengers around. You have no idea the difference good shocks(new) and anti sway bars make.

Not suggesting anything BUT if you do switch out the motor for ANY reason keep this in mind The vin plates were screwed in rather than rivited. the only other place you will find the vin is on your engine. keep the engine. Motor vehicle personnel get very nervous especially the young ones when you try to register a vehicle with screw in vin plate.Bring along the service manual to back up you story.