Hey all, after a 4 year hunt I finally found my 63.5 Galaxie 500XL 390 with gold Thunderbird valve covers and gold 4v-premium fuel intake. The car is an original Z-code, but the motor is not original and I haven't yet had time to do any identification on it. I will have to get up to speed and go to work. Is this engine supposed to be a 300 or 330 bulk HP engine? I haven't yet tested compression, a little afraid to...hahaha. What range should I see on a hot / cold motor? She seems strong and no strange noises.
Far as I know it is stock with a 600cfm Edy carb and intake. Wondering how many ponies this carb will be good for. Also, where can I get a carb / intake gasket and K&N filter for the aluminum Edlebrock air cleaner? I think its an Edelbrock 1406. I don't mind the Edlebrock intake, but it looks a little out of place. I've considered running the stock intake, but seems like it would hold an awful lot of heat and seems restrictive. I need to look around at my options.
On a cold start, she fires right up without touching the pedal. On a hot or heat soaked motor, she seems to want it wide-open and cranks a bit. I ran the batt. down yesterday by being hard headed and not holding the gas open, lesson learned. However, after stopping again for gas on the way home it did something odd. The car has an e-fan on it to assist with the heat in slow speed / stopped situations and it seems to run about 45-55% on the temp gauge unless I flip the fan off and turn the car off and let it heat soak. This is pretty well what happened yesterday at the gas station. I turned the key and it did nothing, not even a Gen light, didn't even try to turn over. I asked for a jump from a new F150 and the car was doing the exact same thing, but it was pulling on the F150 enough to drag it down, though still not turning the motor over for me. We gave up and he left. I checked all the wires and they were good, but I did remove the coil wire and reconnect and when I got back in the car it fired right up like nothing was ever wrong, though the temp gauge was reading about 95% at this point though no apparently boil over. What does this sound like...an issue with the starter or? Seems odd that I didn't have the Gen light come on though, and why did it just decide to come back to life like that? Since I mentioned boiling over, what is the advantage of having the plastic fender mounted overflow bottles? Mine leaks out of the cap and looks like hell I think.
The PO said the cast iron intake caused the carb / gas to boil, so he added the e-fan. Would an aluminum intake help with this? Would it help out with engine temps in general as well? When I pop the hood a rush of hot air hits you, more than I expected, even after sitting for a while. Thinking that this may be good justification for a teardrop hood. Is it all about the Crites hood or?
Are there any good and affordable longtube headers that don't hang down below the frame? If not, I may look into some cast shorties, but I do plan on intake and exhaust manifolds, maybe a cam though the (I assume) stock cam sounds pretty good too through dual glasspacks. I may try straight pipes and a crossover though, not sure yet. The exhaust blows water-carbon black mess all over my garage floor, especially out of the driver's side...not sure how normal this is. I'm no EPA / PETA / greenie freak, but I MAY consider adding some Magnaflow spun-cats to the exhaust when I tear into it just to clean it up for the garage. Already had to disable the carbon monoxide detector at the house.
I tend to run NGK iridium plugs. Is that a good plan in this motor as well? Gap?
I THINK the speedo gets about 6 MPH off up at 55 MPH, but seems close down at 25 MPH. The care doesn't seem to scream at an indicated 60-65 MPH but that's all I took her up to. What kind of (actual) sustained MPH is considered acceptable with a CoM trans? If I end up doing a swap, would a C6 be a good one to look into? Approximate cost? If I can live with the CoM, are there any mods, shift kits that I should plan for? I don't intend to tool along in this car, she's already getting the holeshot from every stop and romped on occasion.
I love that its original, but I am also considering an electronic ignition. Can anyone help advise me one way or the other and maybe suggest a kit? I've heard good things about Pertonix...
Is it alright to just run pump gas w/o any additives? I've been running 91-93 with up to 10% corn likker.
Thanks guys, I will have LOTS of questions, but I will try to keep them all in this thread so as to not bug the #hit out of everyone.
Ordered me a 1963 MO plate for her this AM...pretty excited. She leaks out of every orifice so I have some work to do before getting too carried away with mods. I'm considering a tach, but not being a 4 speed, not sure how beneficial it would be.