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Good luck with yer car but the pics will surely bring nightmares tonight. My grandfather bought a 61 which looks a lot like your 63, same color-black. His had the 144 cu in Thrift Power 6 banger making 85HP bolted to an automatic. Top speed was around 72 mph. I drove him one summer from San Antonio to St Louis. It was a ride of terror considering there were few divided hiways back then. Attempting to pass an 18 wheeler means no other car could be in sight coming at you. It also meant if the truck was doing 65 mph you couldn't pass him at all. Making a run at passing a truck going 65 meant starting about 1/4 mile before you swing out but then you had to have enough power to push thru the air he's rolling in front of his truck. At 65 the Comet didn't have the balls to punch thru the air. It's a wonder we survived the trip. For a "compact" car though it rode real nice. His was pretty noisy with the engine screaming and the wind noise. Seems like we got something like 18-19 mpgs with it on that trip. That's pretty decent considering most of it was flat on the floor. He later traded it in on a Rambler. Gotta love the old folks back then.
I don't know a lot about the old Ford/Merc 6s but I've seen a few of the Indy 6s for sale. They are suppose to be a hot ticket in a Mustang. Bud of mine has one in his 66 Stang and it's pretty respectable considering.
351 won't fit inbetween the shock towers. Needs a Mustang II conversion for that. the 289-302 fits, however, but everybody does that swap and I like the EFI 6 cyl.
Man after my own heart. Do something different.
Thanks. I'd say a lot, though it's not as big as it looks, considering the car is a compact, and not much longer than a '65 Mustang (and it's as narrow as a Miata).
These are cool cars. Glad you got it back on your place!
It arrived late last night. Supposed to be here in the afternoon, according to dispatch, so I waited. Called the guy and he said he was stuck in traffic. So I waited some more. Finally at 7:30 PM, I called again. Turns out he was delivering a car to Philadelphia first, and nobody bothered to tell me. So he arrived in Baltimore at 11pm. Couldn't get the semi anywhere near my house, so he parked up on one of the main streets about a mile away. I met the driver there with a battery and some gas, unloaded it from the trailer. Oh, goody, it has a totally flat left rear tire. No air. Oh, well, it was dry rotted anyhow and was going to get replaced. Put the battery and gas in and fired it up. All the lights worked, so I drove it slowly around the truck, down to my street, then to the house. On the flat tire. Past the county police station. With 20+ year old Washington state plates and no registration, of course. By this time it was 11:30, so I didn't get pictures then, nor did I take the time to wash it, like I had planned.
I'll clean it up this weekend and inventory the car. Most parts are inside it (like the rest of the trim). The interior is on a bit worse condition than I remember it, but I expected that considering where it's sat for the last 16 years. I'm just surprised that it fired up and ran so well. Anyway, here it is at the house, finally, this morning:
First thing I know I'll be buying is new tires all around. Then a new gas tank (this one is all varnished up). Then we'll see about getting it painted. Then I'll tackle the interior, which is going to be a big chore. As I said, it's a bit worse off than I remember it, so all new door panels, seat upholstery and it looks like it might need a new headliner.
Good luck with yer car but the pics will surely bring nightmares tonight. My grandfather bought a 61 which looks a lot like your 63, same color-black. His had the 144 cu in Thrift Power 6 banger making 85HP bolted to an automatic. Top speed was around 72 mph.
Yeah, the 144 with the 2 speed autobox. No guts whatsoever. the 170 was better, but not much. I had one with a 3 on the tree in my '62 Comet which was my first car. Drove Ok to get around to school, but I don't think I woudl ahve wanted to do 70 on the highway.
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I don't know a lot about the old Ford/Merc 6s but I've seen a few of the Indy 6s for sale. They are suppose to be a hot ticket in a Mustang. Bud of mine has one in his 66 Stang and it's pretty respectable considering.
The one I'm looking at is the Aussie crossflow 6 cyl. 250 cid displacement (4.1 liter) and makes way more power than the 144/170, so even with a 3 speed autmatic, it'll go down the highway quite nicely. And it literally bolts in. Big thing will be to have brakes to match, as the original drums leave something to be desired.
That will be a beautiful car when it's all said and done. Looks like it's off to a solid start.
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