Richard and G,

I agree that it might be easier (and cheaper) to buy the whole car but then one needs room to put it at least until the engine is removed. I have the driveway but then the garage is taken up with the mustang and a lot of storage. Unfortunately the house is on a crawlspace so storage is at a premium. I am phoning junkyards in Indiana to see what they have. There are some nice sites that list them by state. I think that

It must be possible (through Ford) to find out all the models that 390 and 428's came in. The list for 428's is a lot shorter and other blocks will work for a 390 as well. I understand that compression dropped to 9.5 :1 in 69 but could these still be bumped up by simply milling the heads? Someone in another post also mentioned the issue of compatible engine mountings?

The 428 sounds fine but the expense might be prohibitive if a block costs that much. A 4 speed tranny would be nice too but thats probably even rarer and could be added after the fact.

There are many older cars in the Auto trader, possibly looking at the issue for this area could come up with some older cars with the right motor. Thanks again for being generous with your time on these psotings.

Rob