FE's in a 55/56 Ford was a common swap way back when. From what I recall you could use the original clutch linkage from the car. Problem was it didn't line up from the frame bracket to the engine bracket. Two ways to make it work. One was to cut and reweld the zbar so it lined up. The other was to turn the yblock engine mounts backwards. Epay and craigslist are the places I look when I'm looking for things like that. Found some 63 Ford clutch linkage I used on my 61 on Epay.

No sir, I'm not missing a thing. That's why I moved to Az. from Mi.

Isn't it illegal for anything but an emergency vehicle to have blue flashing lights?

From what I've read the cast iron rings will seat faster but the moly rings will last longer.

Two things come to mind regarding the convertor knock if that's what it is. One, the 4 nuts that secure the convertor to the flexplate sometimes get loose and that could cause it to knock. And two, sometime the flexplate will crack where it bolts to the crankshaft.

Another one of those "help me choose a cam" posts. Car is a 61 Starliner 406, 3x2s, toploader 4sp., ps & pb & either a 3.00 or 3.50 gear. Ignition is a stock dual point dist. Probably going with 225/70 14 tires. A little more detail, it has flat top pistons (going for .005 in the hole deck) C2SE heads, shorty cast iron manifolds running thru a mostly stock (probably go bigger on the pipes) exhaust. Everything is at the shop now getting machined and balanced. I was gonna go with the Crane factory type grind until I read the 114 lobe separation put the power at the upper rpm limit. Just using the car for shows and cruises I'll never get there. Here's some cams I've looked at.
                                   Adv. duration.  Duration @ 50.   Lobe sep.      lift

Crane C3AZ-AA.               284.                  244.                114.           .524

CompCam 33-244-4.        270.                  224.                110.           .540

Howard 252342-10.          265.                  230.                110.          .560

Lunati 30330511.            272/282.           236/238.           112.          .569/.580

Lunati 30330508.            290/300.           241/251.           108.          .525

Not a fan of dual pattern cams but I put a couple in anyway. Would any of these cams be a good choice or do you have any suggestions. Just looking for that good FE "thrash" without a radical lope.
Thanks, Dan

Hahaha. I've done all that before. Better safe than sorry. Was going on a trip on my Harley Dyna years ago and when changing the oil the drain plug just didn't tighten up right. After screwing with it a while I bought a new pan for it.

I've seen worse repaired. FWIW, when I used to come across a stripped drain plug instead of going oversize I would braze a fine thread 7/16 nut to the pan and just use a 7/16 bolt for the plug. Never had to worry about stripping it again.