About five months ago I bought a 63 GT almost spontaneously, off a few pix and a brief ad. It seemed like pretty much a wash & wax, check the oil and air in the tires sorta deal. Now, about 500 labor hours and several thousand dollars later, it is almost at a point where I thought it was when purchased. However, I am getting burned out, sick and tired tired of trying to get all the bugs ironed out. It became a rolling project about a month ago, and after 1200 miles, it recently blew an exhaust manifold gasket. Every gasket on the car that is usually metal is composite from late 1990s' vintage; I consider the blown gasket as just a heads up that all composites need to be replaced with metal. So, in what I hope to be the last major mechanical tasking, I plan to tear the engine down and replace the head, intake and exhaust gaskets with metal this week. Items already repaired/replaced in the engine bay include: water pump, fuel pump, distributor, carb, alternator, rear main seal, front crank seal, fan, temp guage sender, radiator, exhaust system, power steering pump seals, power steering cylinder seals, valve cover gaskets & adjust valves, horn, etc., etc.. This does not include the rest of the car's ailments.
As mentioned, I really did not this much of a project, but its my own fault for buying the thing almost spontaneously. One lesson I re-learned was one I had already learned vicariously from a friend's mistake several years ago was to ALWAYS ask for the date of any pictures. Add to that, the fact that scanned pix should be a serious red flag. But live and learn, or re-learn as the case may be...
Hey, I am about to get er done. I just hope the wife will follow thru and get some use out of the car.
As mentioned, I really did not this much of a project, but its my own fault for buying the thing almost spontaneously. One lesson I re-learned was one I had already learned vicariously from a friend's mistake several years ago was to ALWAYS ask for the date of any pictures. Add to that, the fact that scanned pix should be a serious red flag. But live and learn, or re-learn as the case may be...
Hey, I am about to get er done. I just hope the wife will follow thru and get some use out of the car.
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