BKKSW

Hello - (questions are in red throughout..)

I'm new and could use some help on a new project. I recently bought a local barn find, a 66 coupe, 289 2bll 3 speed with factory Hurst shifter. The original color is Ember-glo and the interior is the original two color pony interior. It came with the luxury group but no other options.

History: (information pieced together from calls and local garages who remembered it) 68,xxx miles. No idea of that's all, but the wiper arms have no backlash at all, and it has all the original hoses and belts. A lady bought it new (original owner, her name is on the title), drove it until repairs got to be too much in the mid-70's and parked it. Then, it appears she gave it to her grandson or someone young who took cans of paint and changed the color of the car, the interior dash colors,and and awful gloss black engine bay and then sprayed the engine. They also added rear air shocks and I would guess boy raced it. He wasn't successful in making the car useful and in 1979 it ended up in a barn where unfortunately time took it's toll.

On closer inspection the engine turns over but I haven't tried to start it. The "nice man" I bought it from said it ran but wouldn't idle. I pulled the tank and it was full of rust and who knows what else and the guy had tie wrapped a new fuel line under the car in all the wrong places. I pulled the fuel pump, carb, and filter they all were full of rust chips and orange sludge.

The body is very straight and appears to be a virgin. No dents, small door dings only. Everything is there but the small center piece on the grill loop, and the bumperettes if it ever had then. Original bolts with original paint are holding everything on, though the door hinges are worn or bent or something.. there is rust under the car and it appears the floor pans, trunk box, and rear rails need to be boxed. Other than that everything is solid.

The interior is all original and searching I found the missing white shift ****, missing gas pedal, and a few other things. The only missing things are the radio, speaker, and blower motor which I found in the trunk.

The "nice man looking to make a buck" who sold me the car had put new mag wheels and tires and lugs.. and inquiring more was able to get the original wheels, no tires, and the spare is a space save which while useful for this car isn't original? The jack and lug wrench was in the bucket of parts I found in the trunk along with the dash pad and other pieces they took off to access the blower motor.

In an unexpected stroke of luck the "nice man
said "here, these came with it and I have no use for them" as he handed me a set of four spinner hub caps in beautiful condition. Not a spec of rust, no contact dings, and all three pieces on the center cap are intact. These had to have been taken off the car early and stored. Can someone estimate their value?

What I've done so far: I replaced the fuel tank, sending unit, fill spout & gasket, gas cap seal, fuel pump, steel fuel line from the pump to the car, filter, and after discovering they bought a 1978 truck carb at some point in the past and the original carb was missing.. replaced it with an original carb.

I pulled the distributor and it was missing pieces inside, advance mech was frozen, and lots of corrosion.. otherwise the gear teeth are not chipped or broken and there's no play in the bushings. So I replaced with a new unit which I added a Accel electronic kit. The coil looked frightful and had been painted blue by the kid so I replaced it with a Standard Blue Streak. The new distributor came with a special rotor for the electronic points replacement unit, new cap, etc.. but the vacuum advance wasn't threaded so there's no way to hook up a metal line or adjust the spring for tuning. Does anyone know where to get a proper vacuum advance that is threaded for the metal line?

The plug wires surprisingly were dirty, but soft supple silicone Autolite wires with no cracks or issues at all, they appear will be the right length after I route them properly. All the plugs looked okay other than recent abuse from the "nice man." I haven't yet done a proper compression test but I did stick my finger over each hole and they built up pressure evenly. I have no way of knowing if the heads have ever been off and converted for unleaded.. should I run a lead additive?

I'm in the process of replacing the battery tray and cleaning up that area and then I'll install the battery, do a compression test, put in new plugs, install the distributor, and tidy things up.. and I bought a kit with the fuel line mounting hardware and I need to route the line safely. At this point Ill change the oil and filter. I've already removed the old oil and flushed it twice with 0-20w.. (added five qts, spun the engine over 20-30 times, letl ti sit and did it again, and 3-4 more times, drained, and refilled again, did that again and then drained) What weight oil did this originally take? I'm guessing 20-40w. Does it hurt to use synthetic? The brakes are holding pressure and appear to work.. at this point it will be ready to start and after breathing a bit I'll tune it to run properly.

So my questions: I 'think' I have three choices.

1. Make it a running driving car with the least amount of work and after sanitizing things, sell it.

2. Restore it to its original Ember-glo dual tone pony interior glory.

3. Use it as a core to build a vintage racer for SCAA events.

At this stage is the car worth doing anything other than selling it? Is this car as described of the type, engine, trans and color combo to be worth the restoration? What would you do with it? At this point I have $4800 into it which is probably too much. Opinions and ideas please?

THANK YOU.

kdgoff

If I were going to keep the car (street or track) then there appears to be some rust on the floorplan in several places and I would want to either replace those sections with proper patches or a new floorplan completely. It is a lot a work and requires welding skills. Also, I would make sure it had 5 bolt wheels front and back to make sure it isn't a 6 cylinder one converted or you could check the tag.

kdgoff

Looking again, there is quite a bit of rust. You should either jump in all the way or sell it.

Just my opinion

bop11

A lot of work here, not only what hdgoff said but the brakes need doing and the master cylinder. You will not get out of it what you need to put in it if you do anything and then sell.
We bought a similar car (67) at a very low price for my grandson to learn mechanics and welding. After 3 years, he had a nice driver with new floor pans, he upholster the seats, hew dash and modern radio, new radiator, welded in the area behind the battery etc. Car had a 87 302 from a truck but the original 3 speed. Its a fun ride but probably not worth anywhere near what he put in. However, the knowledge he gained was priceless.
So if you are up for it, I do #3 in your list and blast it around a track.

fastbackford351

Consider it more a labor of love than a sound financial investment.

BKKSW

THank you. I suspect you're right. What would you think the rust repair would end up costing?

BKKSW

#3 I think is what I was hoping for.. Thank you.

rimshot

I would not get too deeply involved in this project. There are lots of Mustangs around with less work to do in order to use as a driver. The body looks pretty good, but when I consider what my final costs were and the condition the car was in when I started, I think you will not be making a good investment. I found a 66 in pretty good shape and have 20k in it already and have not gotten to the paint job yet. That is in addition to the starting price. Best of luck.

movielover40

I'd go with option # 1.