Adventures in restoration - early 429, Q-convertible, more!

[M Beauchamp]

Wow

some very nice projects

 

[Fordication]

Way too much money. Obama says you have to spread the wealth so donate one of those completed cars to me. I am partial to Jaguars too.

 

[OLE PONY]

Great looking work on your and your dad's projects. Gotta love those old Jag E types!

 

[71JSCJ]

I just re-read the original post... Dorr, MI is about 15 minutes South of me. How'd you find that there?

I FOUND THE CAR ON e-BAY IN FEBRUARY OF 2003 AND BOUGHT IT.

 

[71JSCJ]

Back in business - sorry for the delay, everybody. There has been lots going on here, and I didn't have time to update.

First and foremost, thank you all very much for the comments and warm welcome. The commentary makes what we're doing all the more fun.

We have news on the history of the car; it seems as though part of what we were told about the history is true. I got into contact with the second owner of the car, and he had some miiiighty interesting things to say!

The car was sent, when new, to Ford's Sales & Marketing division. The powertrain was stripped approximately a month later at the factory, and the car was sold to an employee of the Ford's tech center. Perhaps this car was an early mule for service procedures, sort of like a Haynes manual, except they forgot to put it back together Sometime in 1970, it received a normal 351C engine, and the car was driven around and raced. The divorced powertrain was sent to Holman & Moody in 1970, probably as "recycled goods"

Around or before 1981, under the same first owner, the surgery began. The cage was installed and the back floor cut out, but the metal work was never finished.

In 1983, under the second owner, a Jack Roush-built 351C motor with a small-block Toploader was installed, and the work was sent to be finished. We know the name of the shop that did the "metal work" on the car, and this shop had very high affiliation with some very fast drag racers of the era. The name is very well-known in the AA-fuel dragster circles. The work is pictured, so I won't release the name of the shop - you're free to draw your own conclusions The diff was shortened since the wheels stuck outside of the quarters, but that's as far as the work got, despite this owner paying to have the car completed. After 5 years of no progress, the owner gave up on the racer conversion, intending to resume construction through his retirement. Circumstances made him sell the car in 2001 - it was owned by the third owner from 2001 to the time we bought it.

Back to the progress pictures.

Floor pans in!

Back seat metal in!

She's on all 4 for the first time in over 30 years :shy:

Very little bodywork needs to be done, so it should be smooth sailing from now on. Paint will be on the car in a matter of a couple of weeks. Stay tuned for pictures of the tear-down of a 429 SCJ motor that has never been run...it's like Christmas!

 

[73vertproject]

Wow! Great story and pictures. Thanks for sharing it with us.

And I can't wait for the Christmas issue with the engine story in it!!

 

[droptop73]

That's a cool story. Between you and Bossprototype I don't know what to think.

 

[71JSCJ]

We've begun the motor tear-down, definitely some cool stuff so far, along with a few surprises. I'll just post this distributor picture to start. Does anyone have any knowledge of this part number?

 

[73vertproject]

Couldn't find an exact match for your D0OF-12127-AD. The AD is the weird part. Definitely for a '70 429CJ, but couldn't find an exact match after 15 minutes of trying.

Doc

 

[71JSCJ]

As promised, here we go!

The motor looks like it has about 30 minutes of run-time on it since it was balanced & blueprinted. Check out the distributor rotor...it's the original Autolite and it barely looks used. The cap is Autolite as well, it looks brand new. Consistent with all of the stories from those who knew the engine, I do believe that every part of this motor is original and nothing has been changed. The electrode porcelain on the spark plugs is still white (original Autolites - AF32s). Check out the date codes on the plug wires...I'll be re-using them, and almost everything else on here. The belts, well, it's time to retire them

A few "funny" things first.

The belts all have strange numbers;

-Smog pump belt: Autolite D0ZE-8620-G - 1970 Boss 302

-Alternator belt: Autolite C5DE-8620-C1 - 1970 200ci 6 cylinder

-Power steering belt: Autolite C7TE-8620-A1 - 1967 truck of sorts

More observations:

-D1ZF-9510-YA carb is date coded "063" - this is the earliest I have ever seen

-There are two emissions stickers slapped on the valve cover - one is concealed. Visible sticker part number is D1OE-9C485-DA; I'll try to peel the sticker back to get a look at the covered one.

-Power steering idler pulley stamped D0AE-8A017B - typical 429 suffix is "B2"

-Distributor part number is D0OF-12127-AD - as noted previously, this part number does not exist

-Heads date coded "SPEC"

-The smog pump pulley is from a Boss 302 - D0ZE-9C480-A

-Date code on the exhaust manifold (D1ZE-9431-CA1) is 4-28-70

-The pistons are D0OE-6111-J on the left bank and D0OE-6110-J on the right bank - I've heard of the 6111-J pistons, but 6110-J doesn't exist. All pistons are directionally marked pointing to the front, but one is stamped "FoMoCo", versus "Ford" on all of the others. Strange, indeed.

On the assembly:

-Whoa, man! Check out the colors on the block assembly! The stripes and dabs on the pushrods are neat, as are the many splotches on the heads. The valvesprings are bright-blue striped

-The motor was blueprinted for sure, consistent with the Holman-Moody story. Check the numbered rocker arms and jam nuts.

-There are still chalk markings in the lifter valley

-The crosshatch on the cylinder walls is still perfect

-The heads are CC'd so perfectly - I couldn't catch this in images, but the combustion chamber shapes vary the slightest bit where work was done

-The valve bowls have been cleaned up ever so slightly

There are so many ink, chalk and paint marks on this motor, it's going to take a long time to inventory them all.

My thoughts on this motor? Given the originality, parts-bin special assembly and extremely early date codes, I'm getting a vibe that this is a prototype motor for the 1971 Mustang. If anyone has any info that goes for or against this, please come forward.

Here's a chunk of the broadcast sheet that was found under the hood latch. It seems the car was assembled with the sheet in place...once done, they simply ripped it off! It shows the car's DSO, which is 89.

 

[Steven Harris]

Very interesting stuff.

 

[71JSCJ]

Hot off the press, I love this color.

 

[73vertproject]

Me, too!

 

[Shipwright]

I like it as well. It looks like Grabber Blue to me.