Motor work-Round 2

Well we some had success. The modifications to the radiator worked and that is all straightened out. We did a quick rebuild of the 2bbl carb, and pulled the intake off to resolve some oil leaks. With replacing the intake and putting the distributer back in she fired right up and with the exception of the exhaust manifold leaks, sounded nice and smooth.

Bad News... With the new water pump and freshly sealed gaskets and such the almost 40 year old "freeze plugs" just couldn't take the pressure any longer. The center plug on the Pass side was leaking. The ones on that side are fairly easy to get to despite one being behind the motor mount. We decided to do all three on that side since they were so easy to get to.

More bad news... The drivers side "freeze plugs" were worse than other side as the center one behind the motor mount was almost pushed out had it not been for the mount being there. With the exhaust being different on the driver side those were going to be much more difficult.

Good News... Charlie (who has more friends than a lottery winner) Scored a 62-63 Thunderbird 4v 390 missing only the carb, from a friend. This had both the exhaust manifolds that we could use and a 4v intake, and the correct "vent free" Thunderbird valve covers as well. This was quite a blessing as many of these parts are getting more and more rare everyday and going up in value/price as well.