(Update: The motor mentioned below has been replaced! Read why in the "new motor" section!)

The motor, a 289 cubic inch V8, and the car both left the factory in 1965, but definitely not together. At some, presumably early, point in the car's life somebody removed the original inline 6 motor and dropped in the V8. It was all done long enough ago for the engine to accumulate a fair amount of sludge, and the pistons to develop hairline fractures.

We removed and completely disassembled the motor and then cleaned it ourselves. In hindsight, cleaning an engine takes forever, and after the fact we learned that a local machine shop would have hot bathed it for next to nothing.

We kept the original block, bare cylinder heads, and crankshaft and replaced nearly everything else. While many of the parts are new and higher performance than stock, all are considered "mild" with the goal of a creating a very drivable car.

Air and fuel enters through a 600cfm Holley carburetor on a phenolic spacer and then down through a Weiand dual plane intake manifold. The heads are stock and we bought a kit from Comp Cams that includes an entire matched valve train set, cam, timing chain, etc. The cam grind is a Comp Cams 255DEH, sometimes referred to as an "RV cam", and if we were to do it again we'd probably choose something a bit sportier instead.

Exhaust leaves via long tube headers, meets in an x-pipe, flows through 26" straight-through glasspack mufflers, and then exits at the rear of the car. Above about 700rpm the exhaust note is constant, not choppy, due to the mild cam, and the car has a bit of a loud drone, particularly for whichever ear is facing the interior of the car.

The motor is kept cool by a 3-row radiator, an electric fan, and a high-flow mechanical water pump. Currently the radiator contains only water and track-safe water wetter, no anti-freeze, and there is an overflow tank to prevent spills. The car has a 170 degree thermostat, which is probably too low for January-February weather, but not an issue the rest of the year in Texas. The two tricks for keeping the temperature low in the hot summer months seem to be a regular coolant flush and patience in tuning the carburetor. The vacuum advance is connected to a manifold source, which also helps keep the temperature low and the idle smooth.

So far as the electrical system goes, the battery is in the trunk, with an emergency on-off switch poking out where the gas cap used to be. There is also an emergency shut-off on the dash, next to a push button start. From there the power runs through a custom fuse and relay panel behind the glove box door and then on into the engine compartment in a single wiring bundle. The distributor is a ford-looking Pertronix distributor with magnetic pick-up, multi-spark, and an electronically controlled rev limiter.

All said the motor is very drivable and reliable in the Texas heat. We brought the car to Bumbera's in Katy, TX and on their dyno it showed a mild but respectable 207 horsepower / 250 ft-lb torque at the rear wheels. A rough calculation gives a crankshaft power estimate of around 260 horsepower, which compares well to Ford's advertised number of 225hp (stock motor with comparable pistons).