Hi!
I have a 1967 Fairlane RacheroXL. It came as a 390/C-6 car. I have owned and driven her since '92. Irebuilt the engine in 1994 and have put 160,000 more miles on her 1994-2001.

Last year, I bought a friend's '66 Fairlane (orig a 6 with stick on the column). It had a 428 CJ (freshly rebuilt but - back in the day - removed from his '68 or '69 Cyclone) with lakewood bellhousing, and a 4speed toploader out of a mid '60's Galaxie. There is no tag to the trans. The z-bar appears to be similar to the big block set up from a Fairlane (according to the Ford Manual).

I detailed the new engine, bought new ceramic coated Hookers (like the ones I had been running for years on the original combo), removed the console. I built a new crossmember.

PROBLEM: The trans looks the same length as my C-6. The drive shaft, however, appears to need to be shortened 3/4 of an inch. Not the end of the world, except...
BIGGER PROBLEM: Header interference with Z-Bar. It looks like I need to maybe move the locating pin forward (the one on the block) to help the swing thu. The '66 had cheap rusty thru chassis headers. Of course, the Super Comp Hookers are below chassis (right?) on the driver's side. It is the below chassis stuff that is hitting. There aint much room in there. Hooker said a mistake on their part is possible but not probable.

Q1: How do I know my engine is sitting correctly front to back and up and down. It IS very tight in there. btw, it is a clean/original paint Ranchero. High mileage, but original.
Q2: How do I know my Z-bar is stock for the Fairlane and shape/size is correct?

Thanks in advance, Craig