[Dieselwrencher]

The first picture is the night I got to take it home. On my way home I stopped to fill it up because the gas gauge didn't work. The previous owner also told me he didn't drive it much because the car would never restart. So while I'm filling it up it starts pouring gas all over. I found out later that gas was coming out from the sending unit. First thing I did was drive it to get the windows tinted. Haha Then I drove the car to work and found out why it wouldn't restart. No one ever wired up the voltage regulator after the "restoration". Luckily the PO installed a group 31 battery so you could drive some distance before you were on the foot and ankle express. I took it and put it on the hoist and this is when my heart sank.

The front suspension was a hack job to say the least. The mustang suspension was never rebuilt when they put it in this frame. It had the original coils with 4 coil spring spacers per side with original shocks. The center of the X member was hacked out to fit in the TH400. The rear suspension had massive leaf springs and the mounts were poorly home made. (These were actually early chassis engineering parts I later found out) The gas tank and master cylinder were original to the car. The gas tank had a lot of rust in it. Since the sending unit didn't work, I modified it and put a pick up tube through it and resealed it so it wouldn't leak gas. I replaced all the shocks, and tightened bolts that were loose etc. I had to reroute the gas line because it was touching the exhaust and hanging almost to the ground in places.

Here's another funny story.... After the 377 was put in the car my uncle told my Dad it was hard to start. My uncle had relocated the battery to the trunk and had some puny wire on it. My dad had my uncle go to town and get 2 heavy sets of jumper cables from Kmart. Those cables were still on the car before I picked it up. The previous owner ran 00 battery cable to the starter thinking that was the starting issues.

So, more of a recap. My uncle purchased parts for this car for many years and he won some too at car shows. The original engine had a holley and an aluminum intake. The 377 was still in the car but had a painted cast iron intake and a leaky quadrajet. A lot of the parts Uncle Jerry had for the car did make it on there. Who knows where the rest went.

I ripped the engine out and put a new cam, lifters, oil pump, and regasketed it. I also resealed the TH400, put a shift kit in it, stall converter, and a new filter. Added new valve covers and air cleaner to the engine, and I added some trim that was missing from the car. I used the car to drive away from our wedding. At that time I repainted the bumpers to black. A year later we had our daughter and at the end of the show season we took it to a car show about 2 and a half hours away. That was the last trip for the 40. I couldn't stand all the sketchy stuff in the front suspension. And, I picked up a 354 Hemi for it. More to come later......