I recently started a project that includes restoring 3 vintage motorcycles. The one that I chose to restore for my own use an amusement is a 1971 Yamaha DT1 250.
Why is this relevant?
I'm glad you asked. Recently, I sent the exhaust pipe out to get Jet coated. We all know that that's worth 20 HP no matter the engine. It's interwebz gospelz!
Therefore... (stay with me here, this makes total sense):
If I could go back to January of 1973, I would buy myself a low milage Boss 429 for dirt cheap and store it (among other cars I would buy such as Hemi 'Cuda convertible and ZL-1 Camaro and 427 Cobra and 68 a Shelby GT500KR......) for about 3k each, so for a 15k investment I would have a collection worth about 7 million today......
A Vega Wagon with a 454 can be terrifying on the street. A cross ram 350 in a T-top Monza is a lot of fun, until the doors start to not work from a rusty floor and chassis flex. If you do an LS swap, plan on some subframe connectors at least.
How did GM manage to do 5mph bumpers so much better than Ford in the '70s?
These were both Mustang II competitors... it's a miracle the II sold so well! (Not gonna lie, I'm digging the Sunbird and Monza both... and thinking crazy thoughts about an LS-swapped future project built from one... I'll call it... "ElSuperVega" )
A Vega Wagon with a 454 can be terrifying on the street. A cross ram 350 in a T-top Monza is a lot of fun, until the doors start to not work from a rusty floor and chassis flex. If you do an LS swap, plan on some subframe connectors at least.
Subframe connectors are a must on virtually any old car. Most of the people on this site are driving cars 20, 30, or even 40 years beyond what they were originally designed to last. My Mustang II is 45 years old... I guarantee you that nobody that put it together at San Jose assembly dreamed that that little unassuming red Ghia would still be running and driving all these years later, much less with 16" wheels, fuel injection, and nearly 200 more horsepower than it had the day they built it.
nobody that put it together at San Jose assembly dreamed that that little unassuming red Ghia would still be running and driving all these years later,
MSD, Holley didn't own them yet when they made that garbage. Still runs and drives, drove it to work Wednesday. Just idles at 1400-1800rpm depending on temperature and barometric pressure.