Easiest way to get my car running again?

Ok so to make a long story short, I had a 347 stroker built locally. It sucked me dry and I had the intension of saving a paycheck and buying some heads. Well I didn't save anything, 10 months later I bought a house. Now the car has been sitting in my garage since then and it's very depressing. Between the GT40 head setup and pulling the whole motor, the car hasn't been on the road for any appreciable amount of time for about two years now.

It sounds ridiculous, but I've been having dreams recently where I'm driving the stang around town again (yeah I know it's weird) and it's really resparked my motivation to get it running again.

So this is where I stand . . .

I have a 347 short block ready to go. It has my old setup's cam installed which I will sell and buy the right one pretty easily. I will be buying Brodix ST5.0 heads but not yet, the cam has been selected for those heads. I also have a tubular GT40 intake I can use until I get the right one. I have some MLS head gaskets but I don't want to waste them on temporary heads.

What I need:

• Heads
• Rockers
• Pushrods
• Lifters
• Battery
• Plenty of small parts, probably 50 trips to Checker

SO what would be the easiest way for me to do this?? I was thinking of getting some salvage heads to use as a placeholder for the Brodix pieces until i can afford them. I think the stock replacement E7TE heads from Checker are like $180. Would I get away with crappy old stock rockers, lifters and some cheap pushrods? I really want to drive my car again, even if it means junk parts until I can get the good stuff for the motor.

What do you guys think? Any advice is greatly appreciated! I'm really sick of using my Bronco as a DD! I only bought it to use whenever the Stang was down, but two years wasn't what I had in mind . . . I WANT my car back

Sweet, thanks guys. All great suggestions, I think I'll look into ALL of them actually. Chris, thanks for the offer there, I'll be keeping it in mind! Wlink1: Good call on the craigslist! I'll be contacting them

I'll also call the local junkyards (sorry . . SALVAGE yards) and see if I can pick up a running motor or even an assembled long block to drop in. I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel.

I do see the problem with putting crap heads on a nice shortblock, and the biggest problem I have with it is ruining the finish that was specifically prepped for MLS head gaskets. The last thing I want it to pit and scuff the shiny fresh deck.


Also, does anyone have any suggestions for storing my short block if I end up doing that? Right now I've been periodically rubbing motor oil on it and turning the crank to make sure it isn't getting any corrosion built up. It's sitting on the stand wrapped in a garbage bag to keep dust and junk off it too. I'm really paranoid about it getting rusty (even though I'm in Tucson).

Well I called around and it still looks like it would run me $600-$700 for a running motor which is cheap, but I'm really thinking at that point having spent the money and gone through all the headache of getting it running, I might as well just suck it up and save for the stuff I really want. I want it running NOW though

The old engine block is now the 347 block. In retrospect, I should have just had the builder do it all from scratch as the block wouldn't have cost all THAT much anyway.