Found a Ford Racing 460 SCJ (575hp) crate motor...in a piece of junk

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Joined
Jul 21, 2012
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South Florida
My Car
'71 Mustang Mach 1 M-code "Soylent Green"
'69 Plymouth Valiant 100
'68 Plymouth Satellite
I realize Craigslist harbors lots of junk, but - prices aside - I'm getting sick to my stomach of what I've been coming across.

First was the "82 Mustang" '71 convertible project that was a bucket of parts, but had a new trunk floor and new floor pans. No rust to be seen, but that's the trick - someone had forgotten to replace a rotted passenger-side inner rocker panel.

Then there was the framerail-rotted (amongst everything else) red H-code '71 Mach 1 that had a PA inspection sticker. Unibody had enough holes in it to rival the NCM's Skydome, and its only redeeming quality was a moldy black interior and the running H-code 351.

Then was today's little gem - a 1973 Mach 1, $8k, no pictures. Said to be 85% restored in the ad, with a 429 dumped in it. No interior.

I went there to find a car that had first been restored with authentic Ford replacement panels from the 1980's (part numbers were computer-printed stickers), which included a replacement taillight panel, quarters, and trunk floor.

Under the hood, I found a 575hp, Ford Racing Super Cobra Jet 460 (M-6007-F460) crate motor with headers (Never cared for Ford slapping the SCJ name to the 460, but I'm not arguing with the actual block). 575 advertised horsepower.

Sounding pretty good, eh?

Hardly.

The next group of folks to "restore" the car did so by putting seam sealer on all the rust. This included slathering seam sealer over one of the seat rail mounting holes due to rust. The other mounting hole remained a quarter sized rust hole.

Unfortunately, that NOS trunk floor had been capturing water (someone didn't open up the drain hole) and was badly pitted, and had already been patched. Someone cut the loop out of the spare tire J-hook retainer, and I'm still mystified as to why anyone would be so stupid to do that.

The engine bay was another frickin' all-super-sloppy-gloss-black job, and someone had torched another quarter sized hole into the front of the driver's shock tower, for no apparent reason. The replacement and rust-free NACA hood was not enough to hide the two rusty, primer-over-yellow-and-rust fenders.

The 460 looked dirty, but good enough - but the left valve cover sat 1/8" away from the master cylinder. That, and the headers were pretty much on the ground. Something tells me that they left the 351 engine mounts in, instead of installing 429 mounts. Funny thing - changing the mounts to the correct ones would probably have made the headers sit even worse.

Doors were nothing but rust.

I did get very jealous over the still-quite-NOS quarter though. It hadn't been welded to the pinhole-rusty inner wheelhouse, and - despite someone having tried to mold it into the taillight panel with Bondo - seemed absolutely solid in the back. The front was a question mark, as someone had Bondoed it to the rocker. I ran my finger through the back and felt two globs of seam sealer about the size of golf balls.

Question is - did they shoot way too much seam sealer in the gap, or is the front of the panel rusted out?

Eh, it's still $8k. I'd give $2k for the damn thing just to pull the quarter out and then stick the 460 in my junker Lincoln.

But why does it have to be SUCH JUNK?

-Kurt

 
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Everybody & their daddy thinks they are a EXPERT BODY GUY..I've seen so many good cars that were made worse by poor repairs shoddy work..I think alot of it has to do with misinformation about whats really required to repair a unibody correctly..people biting off more than they can chew..& the proliferation of flipping type car shows on tv..which has caused many sellers to have delusions of grander about what they think that flintstone mobile parked under a tree for 20 years with half a tarp is really worth.

 
The hole cut into the shock tower was most probably to lube the upper suspension, a notorious squeak-generating feature courtesy of Ford's fabulous "lubed for life" technology. Those holes were quite common years ago, long before these cars were ever considered anything more than just old beaters heading for the boneyard.

 
Everybody & their daddy thinks they are a EXPERT BODY GUY..I've seen so many good cars that were made worse by poor repairs shoddy work..I think alot of it has to do with misinformation about whats really required to repair a unibody correctly..people biting off more than they can chew..& the proliferation of flipping type car shows on tv..which has caused many sellers to have delusions of grander about what they think that flintstone mobile parked under a tree for 20 years with half a tarp is really worth.
This one came from an actual body shop, though owned by the ex-husband of the present owner. Fellow was apparently arrested during the restoration, she filed for divorce, he tried to bill her double his rates for it, and she got the car on a judgement. This all happened years before chop-shop reality TV programming became popular - and I'm sure you'll agree that really lousy body shops have existed before that too.

That said, I doubt it was bad work done out of spite - just sheer stupidity. Word was that he wanted to keep the car. She should have let him have it. With 575 horsepower under the hood - and the seat held down by the forward bolts only - he would have quickly eliminated himself from the gene pool.

The hole cut into the shock tower was most probably to lube the upper suspension, a notorious squeak-generating feature courtesy of Ford's fabulous "lubed for life" technology. Those holes were quite common years ago, long before these cars were ever considered anything more than just old beaters heading for the boneyard.
I recalled having heard something to that extent on another forum, but I wasn't sure if it applied to the '71-73s.

Strange thing is - they didn't torch out the other side.

 
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+1 "he would have quickly eliminated himself from the gene pool."
It would have been even more amusing if this was an 02-code Sportsroof without power brakes and 4-wheel drums rofl

-Kurt
+1 For some reason, all the sportroofs get messed with by idiots.

Why are they always the ones to get it????

 
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