Quote Originally Posted by Thunderhorse View Post
I Buy American Made Too, And Thanks For The Info ! I plan to move forward with this project as soon as I am back on my feet good after this knee replacement I just had. Now is armchair planning stage !
Well heck, more to ponder while you're doing the knee rehab!!! Original bracket car was a '66 Comet, tube chassis weighing in at 2750 lbs with a 150 lb. driver onboard. Ran Super Street (10.90 breakout) or brackets (depending on the which had the best payout). Shifted at 6000 RPM (cam was built for low RPM) and the car was very, very consistent dialing in 10.40's to 10.50's depending on the weather and how many turns on the throttle stop!!! The car was track champ twice, Divisional Runner-Up once, and we even managed to haul down a few big buck bracket wins. Also used the car to teach 3 young-uns the basics of drag racing! Today, with nothing more then resetting the valves and a fresh load of fuel the engine in the T-Bird now and could take the car out and run 10.50's still. It's not a terribly high budget engine and has survived amazingly well through everything from new driver abuse to set-in-the-shed-and be ignored!!!! Bad point is the oil pump---even the good shafts like to twist and break, and the long oil pump has been known to break a time or two so have a large oil pressure gauge directly in front of your eyeballs!!!! Ran a similar engine (bigger at 557 cubes) in a rear engined digger for 3 seasons in the mid 80's using a dry sump oiling system....Engine was completely trouble free for 3 seasons of 7.90 racing with nothing but the usual off season freshen up!!!!! Should make your Torino a blast to play with!!!!