One of my other projects this year has been doing a cut and buff on my 1947 Monroe. After Michelle’s major weight loss she has needed to have some plastic surgery done to remove excess skin etc. which has been a bit spendy but WELL worth it! She will have her last round of surgery after the 1st of next year which opened up some room in this year’s budget for me to purchase the engine and transmission package for the ’40.
Since I have been on hiatus until I could see where I had the funds to buy what I needed I have spent a large amount of time studying and reviewing various options for the build. Since I have two well proven long haul cruisers with the ’39 & ’56, and since I could not see us taking long trips in a convertible, I had determined that my goal for the build would be more of a high performance, nimble fun ride that we use on our local trips around the mountains in the summer and down in the valley in the winter. Based upon the weight of my ’39 sedan I am guessing that the convertible should come in around 3400 lbs with a full tank of gas and Michelle and I in it. I have always held that any car that had a max of 10 lb/hp would be a fun ride, especially if it has a good torquey motor. Given that my horse power target for the build is in the range of 350 to 450 hp.
I am also a firm believer in modern computer controlled fuel injected engines. With the wagon I had a very good experience buying a donor vehicle so my initial thought was to go that way on this build as well. I also would like to be off the charts and put a Ford in a Ford which had me looking very strongly at a Mustang GT 5.0 L Coyote engine. Another possibility would be to use a 6.4 L Hemi from a late model Dodge Challenger or Charger. And finally I had to consider the ever popular 6.2 L LS3 as found in the Camaro SS and Corvette. Strangely enough donor vehicles of all three of them seemed to be going for over $10k with 20-30K miles.
I eliminated the Hemi fairly quickly since to get around the security systems I would have had to install the ECU, TCU, Antilock Brake Controller and also the Front body controller, throttle pedal and the gearshift plus it would need a special wiring harness and would need the ECU reflashed. Frankly a lot of work…
I really looked long and hard at the Coyote. It is a very respectable engine with great power and torque for it’s size. Unfortunately it’s size is a problem. I had a long talk with Jimmy Johnson in Albuquerque. Jimmy has done a number of 4.6 L Modular Fords into ’40 Fords without much problem. He has done one Coyote so far and he told me that it was a very tight fit and that it took a lot of work to get everything to work and fit. Additional problem was that Ford has gone to electric power assist steering which means that there is no PS pump on the block. The work around is an aftermarket pump set up and a new belt system. And the oil pan would need to be replaced with an aftermarket pan to get it to fit in a front steer chassis like the ’40 has. Most of the wrecked Mustang GTs seem to be equipped with manual transmissions and I would prefer an automatic. The Mustang GT seems to command a higher auction price as well.
The more and more I looked at the situation the more convinced that the GM Gen III LS-3 was the most logical choice. Wrecked 2010-14 Camaro SS donors do show up at auction but they seem to be bringing $9000 to 12K for 30-50K miles. My friend Charley Cover purchased an LS-3/4L65E Connect and Cruise Package for his ’37 Ford coupe project. The package came with all the pieces needed to do the install, the ECU and TCU are optimised for use in a hot rod or off road car and it comes with a two year 24K mile warranty. Oh and Chevy has a $500 rebate until the end of the year. With the front drive accessory kit (PS, Alt, A/C compressor brackets, pulleys and belts the package comes in at under $11.5K. The LS-3 heads are similar to the LS-7 and the flow a ton of air. The engine is rated at 430HP in stock form and has a broad high torque curve. A camshaft change and some dyno work yields in the neighborhood of 535+ HP with over 400 RWHP. Whats not to love!
Anyway, I ordered one yesterday from Summit Racing and it should be here by tomorrow. I am getting excited now!
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