Like anyone here who is potentially picking up a new to them car, you start planning things before you even possess the vehicle. I have roughly $900 worth of interior restoration parts, a shifter, firewall adjuster, quadrant, etc in my LMR cart already. Am I crazy for wanting to keep this car as close to stock as possible, with the exception of 4 lug aftermarket wheels and get as much out of the stock engine as possible?
My reasoning for asking is two fold. 1) Driving the car in stock form last week is what really took me back to my past. Being in high school, I was just thrilled to have a good running stock GT, never having $ to mod it. 2) We all know how rare it is to come across a 100% bone stock fox.
I know I will be repainting it at some point, but aside from that, I think the value could be there down the road, versus if I install an aftermarket block, different trans, etc.... I want to keep all numbers matching, and be able to make it 95% stock again without having a separate double stall garage of factory parts to reinstall if desired. So maybe some springs, shocks, struts, a 331 stroker with Thumper E7's, Tmoss ported stock intakes (if he even still does that), and upgrade to 11" (or whatever biggest I can fit) front 4 lug rotors and the better calipers... All easily reversible, minus the engine work, but that will still look stock on the outside. Spare me the corkscrew of your engine combo talk, please. I think a clean, reliable, torquey weekend cruiser I can reminisce in, and potentially toss the factory wheels on and show as an "original" type car on occasion would be pretty cool. Anybody with me? Hell, I could even start the most boring progress thread on the site!