Help a rookie out?

chrissarine said:

There is a '68 Coupe for sale for $1500.

The body is in pretty decent shape, other than being various colors. There are a few rust spots that would need to be fixed, but nothing major. A little work and a nice paint job and it would look great.

It also has the old factory bench seat with the fold-down arm rest, which I've only heard of but never actually seen one before yesterday. It's pretty cool!

The engine started right up and it had some impressive get-up-and-go that I didn't expect from the little engine.

My concerns are these: It's a 6 cylinder, C4 automatic. No other options. No A/C, No power steering, manual drum brakes, 4 lugs. Basically no interior except the seats, which definitely need recovering and foam.

What does it take to convert everything to 5 lugs? I'm not sure what all the major differences are.

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the nice thing about the 68 is that the spindles are the same as the 65-66 V8 spindles, and that means that you can use the same disc brakes as the 65-67 cars. or you can contact scarebird and get their brackets to use a later model calipers, and the early rotors. as for the rear you need to swap an 8" rear end from a granada. this is an easy swap as it is a virtual bolt in.

I basically know nothing about this engine. Were they any good in their time? Are parts still readily available? How much trouble is it to put power steering and an A/C compressor on this thing?

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the 200 is a tough engine that can make some pretty good power, and has a decent rpm range. parts are readily available for this engine, including a new aluminum head that is beginning production soon. check out www.classicinlines.com for more information. and you can check out the forums at www.fordsix.com as well as the tech section there for all kinds of info on these little sixes. power assisted steering isnt hard, you just need all the parts and pieces. a better idea might be this though http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=712261 it is an interesting idea to get rid of the power assist ram. as for a/c, check out www.vintageair.com they have kits for six cylinder cars.

It's priced pretty low, but I wonder if it would be worth all the trouble, since I'm really unfamiliar with the 6 cylinder/4 lug cars, it would take probably $1000 to get the interior back in shape, not to mention the paint/bodywork, A/C is a must, etc.....

I wouldn't be building a show car. This would just be for fun.

All hints, tips, info and opinions will be appreciated!

Thanks,
Chris Sarine

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overall a nice project car, but dont do it to make money. do it because you like the car, and want to make it nice.

" Is it worth it?" That's the million-dollar question Chris. You are starting off on the right foot by asking questions BEFORE you plunk down the money. It's also tough to evaluate the car sight unseen, without even pics, but here's my best shot. IF the car is basically rust free (most are NOT) then the body alone is worth nearly the asking price. Look VERY hard for any and all rust. Look under the car at the "frame rails". Mustangs are unibody cars and don't have frames, but they do have sheetmetal sub-frames that the engine, front suspension and rear suspension attach to. Poke them with a screw driver in various places to make sure they are SOLID. Places to look while you're under there include under the battery, the front floors and the trunk drop-offs in the rear. All these are regular rust spots and while all can be repaired, they all cost money to fix. If all checks out ok underneath, ask the owner if the cowl leaks. If there is a plastic cover or tape over the cowl vents under the windsheild, you can bet it does. If he says he's not sure ask if it's alright to pour a bit of water in the vents to make sure. If the water goes inside the car, pass on it. Cowl leaks are very common and very expensive to fix. It would easily cost anther $1500 to pay someone to fix a rusty cowl. Other common rust areas are the lower front corner of the doors (easy fix), the rear edge of the trunk lid (easy fix), the hood over the battery (easy fix) and the innner fender aprons ( a little tougher). If after looking at all these places and more for serious rust, you don't find anything too alaming, then you can feel safer about buying the car, regardless of it's mechanical condition. In my experience, buying a solid body is the single most important factor and the hardest to overcome if you don't. As for your other questions, yes, the 6 cylinder motor is a good motor, even if it's not as desireable (to the next buyer) as a V8. But that should not discourage you since first off, 6 cylinder cars lead an easier life than V8 cars, and secondly you could always change it later. Changing from 4 lug wheels to 5 is easy as well on '67-'68 cars. With lots of people buying aftermarket disc kits, you could likely find a set of 5 lug drums and spindles for cheap (even free) or you could buy one of the many aftermarket kits yourself. As for the rear, it's not much harder, lots of people swap out their stock V8 rear for a 9" rear axle, which means 8 inchers are still common and inexpensive.
You're not too far off about the interior, either. My '68 fastback came with a bench and I wanted to keep it, so I bought TMI covers from NPD for $377, a carpet kit for approx $150 (including fastback-only foldowns), new sill plates, handles, door panels, screws and some other misc parts and came in under $1000, but then I paid a shop $350 to install the covers, but I still got a brand new interior for very little money. I also bought a '67-style deluxe dash for (I think) $400 complete and since the rest of my inerior was in perfect condition (dash pad and pillar pads) I just painted them with vinyl paint and they look great. Same goes for the plastic/fiberglass panels, just clean and paint.
Shop around for paint and bodywork, you may find somone working at home to paint it for $1500 or you can spend upwards of $6,000 at a pro shop. I painted mine myself with virtually no painting experience and I'm thrilled with the results. They key is I painted it a non-metallic color (white) and I started with a nice car to begin with. I also read lots of books before I started. Total cost: about $2,500, but I used top-quality House of Kolor materials. You could probably do it for a quarter of that by using something else. The neat thing about doing it yourself is you can do it one pay day at a time, and you can be very proud of your finished car. The scary thing is when the car gets disassembled, you risk losing parts, getting in over your head and spending much more than you planned. I know I did, but now that I'm on the home stretch, I can say it was all worth it. Good luck!

The I6's make nice "cruisers", I should know, my sally is one! Not only that, but there are plenty of ways to pep up an I6 to give it a wee bit more HP..... check out these sites........:

http://www.cliffordperformance.com

http://www.fordsix.com

Good Luck and keep us posted!

Ooops, BTW..........