January 1998: Moving Again (I Hope)

1/18/98
1/27/98

1/18/98

Got the brake parts back from Performance Fabrication. Finally. My fault, not theirs, though it took a while to figure out the right combination of wheel studs, spacing, and the like. It all looks pretty good, though the caliper-to-spindle brackets will be the kicker.

Start with one
junkyard rotor...
Reduce it to a
hub...
Add one Corvette
Z51 rotor properly
trimmed...
Leaving one
complete rotor/hub
assembly.

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1/27/98

Engine plans have changed over the past few months: from an originality standpoint I'd love to stick with a 428 or at least an FE of some flavor. Problem is, those 428s are getting scarce and a little pricey. 460s, on the other hand, are as common as rust at your local salvage yard, and decent cores are cheap. Reviewing a little stroker history from the Fordnatics list shows an interesting possibility: take one 460, add one offset-ground crank, a set of Dodge 225 slant-6 rods, and some admittedly costly custom pistons one ends up with 525 cubic inches. As they say, nothing exceeds like excess.

Crites Restorations offers some bits and parts for doing this swap; I ordered their engine mount kit ($79) today. They also offer headers but I don't particularly want a long-tube design; I'm debating whether to use the Ford Motorsport aluminum Cobra Jet head$ which also might impact the choice of exhaust plumbing.

The Crites package supposedly includes some transmission-crossmember relocation pieces to accomodate a C-6 transmission. Plans at this point: wide-ratio Ford Motorsport gearset and 2.75 rearend gears.

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