Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

I just bought this car from my girlfriends sister to help her out. There is no real way of telling how many miles it has on it. She claims it has well under 100,000 miles on it. When I checked the plugs they looked tan with no oil on the ceramic insulator, but there was some oil inside the outer rim of the plugs on some of them. I took the heads off and found that some valve seals were cracked or chipped, and hard as a rock and some small pieces were in the inside springs. I know that this car has spent a lot of it's life sitting, most likely most of it. I don't really want to put any money into it right now (I have too many projects going) but I did clean up the heads, lap the valves, put new guides and hit them with a little black paint. I'm going to take the oil pan off and clean it up, change oil and filter then start it up and just let it idle a little then check the compression. What my question is, am I missing something and if not, if I get a good reading on compression, could she be right about the mileage?

Without pictures, it didn't happen.

Two 351W heads.

Vinniebird,
              It was too late for me to get some pictures of "The Beast", so I will try to get some on this forum today. The car was driven to my house, then parked. I just want to get in shape for a two hour drive to my new home so I won't have to trailer it. I did find this picture of a "71" LTD that I liked. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtnman867/6736986933/in/pool-932726@N23|mtnman867

I always did love those big ol' cars. Even as a hard top.

Here are a few pics.

Some more.

Last.

That's about it for now.  SO, now will you answer my question?? Thanks!

If the seals aren't busted into small pieces and scattered along the oil drain back path, likely it doesn't have more than 70/75K mi,  generally by 100K mi there wasn't any pieces left in place...

Whats showing on the odo???

Odometer says 24433.1. It has to have at least around 124,433.4 miles on it, I couldn't have gotten that lucky. What gets me is it looks like just about everything is original, including shocks. Anyway, a compression check will tell me if will make the trip.

Ummm well at 70K seals usually were starting to break up(I replaced a bunch of them in the early 80s) maybe at 24K they would be brittle just due to age...

How much ridge is at the top of the cylinders??? A 24K mi engine will have very little if any, while at 124K mi there would be a very noticeable ridge... This applies to 70s engines, modern engines with low tension rings often have little if any ridge at 150K mi...

No, these cylinders look worn. That's all right, I'll clean her up and see how she runs. I've seen a kit that comes with a four barrel Edelbrock carburetor, intake manifold, and air filter.

How do the pedals look. That's a pretty good sign of how much a car has been used..

Yep, pedals look glossy and worn. My guess is 124,433.4 miles on the "Beast". Who knows, I might get a few more miles out of the "old girl" after I clean her up. It has disc brakes on the front and it looks like drum on the back. I can't wait to see what they look like! I just looked at the exhaust system, and it has an "H" pipe and some Allied lers that looks like a 2 1/2' Cherry Bombs (lol). Did this car come stock with an "H" pipe?

 
Nope not with a 351... Generally back then 2bbl carb engines came with single exhaust and 4bbl had dual... Only 4bbl option for Full size in '71 was the 429...  The the 5th digit of the VIN will be "H" for the 2bbl 351 and there was no 351 4bbl option on the full size, was only on Mustang, Cougar & the intermediates(M code) ...

Neat ride....big girl...

Good luck,

Travis

LOL! I'm not used to such a "big girl"! Looks like half the car is parked in my neighbor's yard. So, I think it's obvious that the exhaust has had some work done on it. I wonder how it will clean up? Always nice to get surprises like that. If it looks alright, I'll shoot it with some high temp. paint, and have new lers, maybe tips put on. Really, too bad this car didn't come with power windows, I'll probably have to do something about that as well. Suspension is a whole other set-up than my Cougar. The anti-sway bar looks like it's about 1/2", why even both with a tank like this? As long as I can find all the parts I will need, I will have fun with her. At this point, I'm more interested in making her handle like a 20 year old, than giving her a face lift, that comes later.

I just took the starter, canister bracket and oil pan out of this "Beast". The oil pan might have taken me about 45 minutes from my creeper. My Cougar, I would have had to take the engine out to get it off, ask my how I know. Although I did change the gasket in my Cougar with the pan dropped about 3 inches. This car is so easy to work on!