Have you thought about just trying new head gaskets? There is a small risk and big reward if it runs fine after new gaskets. You can always rebuild it later if it fails or has other issues. Did you get lucky finding a good fuel tank yet? I saw your pictures of your tank and that is pretty bad but repairable in knowledgeable hands!
Hey gents, Thx for the links Norman. I had called the parts car last week and there is no fuel tank.. I'm dropping my tank off to a local rodder today to see if he can fabricate me one before I get carried away. it is a fairly simple tank all in all. As for the engine, I've played every scenario thru my wallet, I could try gaskets and cross my fingers, But I'm worried about the waste of cash if the bottom end is no good. The compression tests were not super, but it also had been sitting a long time and the rings are likely stuck.. Locally we can buy insurance write off vehicle fairly cheap.. $3-500 is the going rate for the 2003-2008 crown vic and would give me everything I need to swap the motor. The market for used big blocks is nil.. The 390 NEEDS a carb... I'd love to put an intake manifold on at the same time but its all a gamble I dont know if I want to take.
I supposeI should add... my ultimate goal for this car is an EFI engine and a modern suspension with air ride. SO... spending money to "just" get the 390 driving is wasteful imo.. (considering I can buy an entire car for the price of a carb as previously mentioned) I planned to cruise it around as is this summer if the motor was ok... but thats not looking likely
I would go with the 300-500 crown vic if you are not going to go back to stock. Once you decide that original parts are not necessary for your build, you will begin to save tons of money. I made the decision to go as close to OEM as I could and yes it did cost a lot more and there was a ton of time spent looking for the correct parts. I do like seeing the wagons resto-modded with new technology too. Keep up with the great pictures documenting the progress!
Yeah I am quite the resto mod fan... I had a 64 Galaxie years ago.. lots of things I loved about it and lots of things I want to do different - namely the rear ride height I think the squire will see 20's front/rear or a 20/18
Mickey mouse had quite the commute to stash his dog food raid... thru the tailpipe.. muffler... thru the manifold and stashed it IN the cylinder head...
broke down and ordered a gasket kit.. borrowing a carb from a friend to see if I can get this hulk to run. all the parts to reassemble were only $90, so if I can get it running I'll cruise it around this summer and swap it next winter
Fingers crossed, hope you get the Hulk going. Love this picture too... I have a sister in Shaunavon. Are you an hour away from Regina in that direction?
Well sorry for the lack of updates.. Ive done alot of thinking and plotting I ordered a 15gal RCI fuel cell to put in the quarter panel... I initally ordered a edelbrock carb and gasket kit to redo the head gaskets, started drilling out the 8 broken studs on both cylinder heads I stopped the drill bit when this showed up at an insurance auction with 160,000km 2003 Grand Marquis and it now resides at home.. and its JUST as big as the bloody wagon, I need a bigger garage.. Drove the Maquis into the yard, turned the Squire and started tearing it down in prep for the front suspension subframe from the Marquis.
