Around December of 2021, I decided I needed to put a new motor in the 67. Of course, at that particular time in our history, there were massive supply chain issues, so none of those beautiful engines on the Summit and Jegs websites were actually in stock.
A club member says, no worries, I have a 351W sitting in my storage building that only has about 20,000 miles on it. Should drop right in.
I snag it for $150 and haul it home, but while it only had 20,000 miles, it had also sat for 20 years.
I start thinking, well, if I’m going to have to pull this thing apart, might as well update it with some aluminum heads.
I get pointed to a guy on eBay out of California who sells GT40 style heads that are allegedly pretty good quality for not too much. But I call him to talk through the build, and by the time we’re done talking, I’m well over $2k on the heads, studs, etc. and they’re going to be set up for a performance roller cam. I’ve got the performance roller cam on order, but it doesn’t arrive. Suddenly it’s backordered for six months. I’m in no hurry, so I keep ordering things like intake manifolds, headers, etc. I’m up over $4k just in stuff sitting in my garage waiting on this camshaft kit. By this time, it’s September 2022, and the backorder is pushed out further. I finally cancel it.
I probably should have just found some different rate springs for the heads, so I could put them onto the 351W sitting in my garage. But instead, I ordered a roller short block assembly from MAABCO and although they had told me there was a two-month lead time, they were like, oh, we have one right here and shipped it to me that week.
So now I’m somewhere around $6500 into this entire project, which hasn’t been started at all and I get the notice that I’m being laid off at work. So now I had plenty of time, but I didn’t want to spend any money. Also at this point, my car doesn’t even start anymore because I left the carburetor sitting too long. In May I land a new job, but it’s far more demanding than my old one, and my now 3-year-old is also far more demanding of my time. The car continues to sit.
In December of 2023, I finally call a local shop and say, look, I’ve made some bad life decisions. Can you come take all this stuff, turn it into one good working engine and do the swap for me?
I get on their schedule, but it’s February of 2024 before the car and engines are towed away.
I finally get a call in April saying, did you know this rebuilt engine is .060? Am I ok with that?
I go through all the documentation and bring it out to them, and nowhere does MAABCO give any indication of the bore. Also, this engine was delivered well over a year ago, so I’m basically out of luck with any complaints.
I get another call, which led with, “I don’t know who this Mickey Mouse group you got this engine from is, but there was a head bolt snapped off in the block.” Once the venting was interpreted, it was understood that this was a notice of additional hours being spent on the motor build.
More weeks go by. I get a call that the engine is back at the shop, and I should probably drop a check off, “Let’s start with $5,000.”
More weeks go by. I get a call that they have the old engine out, but there’s a big rust hole under the battery tray that needs repair, the passenger side has been crashed badly in the past but we can ignore the creases in the aprons unless I really just want to pay for that, the transmission crossmember was some sort of homemade job and definitely needs to be replaced, and they still need direction on valve covers.
I’m about to board an international flight, so I give them the ok on the rust repair and tell them I was just looking for some plain valve covers that will clear the roller rockers in grey or black – whatever looks cool and is available.
I get back in town a week later and call to see if they got everything handled. Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. Should be running soon.
Two more weeks go by and they give me a call to come see it – and bring another $5k.
I get there, and there’s issues with the headers hitting something, so they need to change the motor mounts – something about 67 mounts being slightly different but it didn’t have 67 mounts in it. They just spray painted the stock Powered by Ford valve covers black. I did say, maybe black valve covers, but had I known they were going to use the stock ones, I would have just kept them blue. The Vintage Air AC system isn’t working right, so they have the heater core bypassed, and it’s rigged to run the AC in defrost mode. The starter died that morning, so they can’t run the car for me. I go home and get them another starter out of my garage.
Another week goes by.
I get a call that the alternator isn’t working well, and it almost left them stranded on a test drive. I have a lifetime warranty on that alternator, but it’s the third one I’ve been through, so I tell them just get me a PowerMaster or something because I’m over it. He also mentioned it’s not shifting right.
Another week goes by. They had suggested a 175 amp PowerMaster, but there’s only 150 and 200 in the right casing. Can they move ahead with the 200? Yeah, sure.
Another week goes by. We have a hurricane. No progress.
Another week goes by. I stop by the shop to give them a Cougar air cleaner.
The car is running with the new alternator on it. The tech pulls off the stock air cleaner and there is the Lokar transmission cable just hanging there.
I ask if it slipped off or was taken off for a test or something. The tech really doesn’t know what it is. It’s never been hooked up. The bolt it’s supposed to book onto is MIA, so most likely it was left on my old carb.
I’m positive they have been driving it without the cable hooked up, and now I’m really scared that overdrive has been destroyed. I make sure one of the owners who definitely knows better is aware of it.
The Cougar air cleaner doesn’t fit because of the 351 deck height and the export brace, so that gets returned.
It’s been another week. No word.
At this point they have had my car 7 months. I’m just waiting on the call that they’re going to have to rebuild the transmission. Even if somehow that’s not the case, I’m pretty sure they’re going to ask for another $5k check when I go pick it up.
I thought I’d be getting back a car that was ready to drive and show ready under the hood, but I’ll have another project troubleshooting and possibly re-wiring the Vintage Air System.
I know that this project still wouldn’t be done if the car had stayed in my garage, but I can’t help but be disappointed with the way it’s all gone. And somehow I now have a mostly stock .060 351W that cost $20k.