First, I appreciate your concern and unfettered use of caps. 2nd, I daily drove a 83 Regal with a 455 Buick with a 9 inch rear end we fab'd ourself on a table in a shop with more beers than a bar. I took that car from daily driver to back halved, caged, tubbed, with a fuel cell in pretty much less than 12 days. It was 4 straight weekends, from 5pm til 1 or 2am Sat morning, then from 7 or 8 am Sat til 1 or 2 am Sunday then from 7 or 8 am Sunday til about 10 or 11pm Sunday night then back to work Monday.
2nd, my biggest hangup on working on this car has really been lack of direction. I couldn't decide what to do with it. If I get a Maverick or Falcon, I KNOW what I want to do with it. Leaf springs may be 1800 tech, but for not a lot of money they can easily be made to work. Oh wait, that's right every 69 Camaro on the drag strip took out the leaf springs. I forgot.
In fact, years ago, I already back halved a Maverick and notched the shock towers. Was no big thing. But went off to college and my brother sold that car. I worked at the machine shop starting at 16. By the end of the summer I was doing complete head jobs. I'm sure I can stick some sheet metal together and cobble some bondo if need be. I figure easy thing is to start by relocating the leafs, get some 2 piece leafs and Caltracs and then if the need ever arises, just buy a jegster back half ladder bar or four link clip. But I think the leafs will work fine in up to a 9.90 car. After that, probably going to need more than a 2.3 and more bars on the cage.
3rd, this guy deserves this car back. I know it has a lot more sentimental value than cash value, but hey, I am a big softie. So if we can work out a deal that is favorable to both, then I'll do it.
I like to be different. I didn't pick a 455 Buick to put aluminum heads and methanol injection because it was easier than building a BBC. It was cool to beat BBC and then have those oaf's try to figure out what kind of engine it was.
I didn't run OS/2 back in the day instead of Windows because it was so easy a computer illiterate baboon could write term papers on it. I don't choose to be a Mississippi State Bulldog fan and watch us get killed every year by Alabama, Auburn and LSU because I'm in the "IN CROWD."
Finally, I really wanted a Maverick when I bought this 4 eye, but TOLD MYSELF, get the Mustang. It's a Fox body. There's tons of parts and it will be easy. Easy got boring, so I installed fuel injection. I made my own fuel sender to make my gauge work correctly with a late model efi tank. I made nylon efi lines connect up to the factory carb hardlines. Easy would have been to buy an 86-up.
So who knows....we may not make a deal. And Fox body cage is sitting in my shopping list at Jegs and Summit. But so is one for Falcon and Maverick.
In any event, I hope within the next month to know which way to go....after I have to spend $10,000 or so on a roof.
Well then.....You go boy.
If you want to go “ Over the river and through the woods” to get to grandmothers house even though they put an interstate to get there back in 1978....I get it. Believe me....I get it. I’m the king of taking the long way to get there.
Im the guy that decided to cram a 393 into a Mitsubishi Starion...for the purpose of drag racing. Everything on that car had to be fabbed..there simply wasn’t a single thing on that car that could be kept on it. Everything, including the struts, brakes, steering, rear, and electronics, had to be replaced with some sort of aftermarket thing.
Despite that, would I tell somebody “ Yeah sure! I’ve done two of those things..it was easy!
Nope...it was a giant pain in the ass.
Twice.
I know people make leaf spring cars work..certain leaf spring cars work better than anything they could put under the car to support it ( read...Mopar B body) .but they also have more than just that going for them when they do. A 69 Camaro has the aftermarket, a 69 Camaro has the engine compartment, a 69 Camaro has a reared that fits, and the factory wheel tub to handle a decent sized tire,...and nobody argues about a 12 bolt being able, or made to handle a bunch of power.
If you had stated that you were gonna race a 67-69 Camaro...There’d been not a peep from me..that would’ve made sense..
( Excepting ...what bonehead would take such a coveted bodystyle car, and devaluate it by beating on it at a drag strip)
My rant revolves around the fact that you have a better solution to the problem in the garage already. It doesn’t require any thing to make any engine fit. Cobra brakes already fit, an 8.8 already fits, it already has a proven great working factory suspension, and if it’s one more 85 mustang that gets cut up and relegated to drag race duty, so what? There are scads of them at every track in the US on any given weekend, and more than a few of them here on this very forum.
P.S. And I wouldn’t let the “ Guy wants his original car back” or whatever thing sway me one bit. Judging from the pics of his property, it’ll be one more car that the mice will move into and make their home soon enough.
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