Just baught a 1966 straight 6 coupe and had a few questions

[1966stangkid]

my dad and i just baught a 1966 straight 6 AUTO coupe. the cars in decent shape but needs some work. as of right now it wont start. however the engine still turns and the lady we baught if from said she had fired it up about 2 years ago. the problem was the trans. was slipping. so, she thought it needed to be relplaced. thats about the time when she parked the car and let it sit for 3 years (said she was tried of puttin money into it)... so if someone could help me first with a few tips on starting it....and tell me what could be wrong with the trans, or if the trans. is done, can i just swap it for a 3 or 4 speed?.......or should i just try and re build the old auto one? thanks for any help you can give im sure there will be more questions later on but thats all i need to know for now.....ill post some pics when i get her pretty.

[bmxmon]

Congrats! You'll have to post some pics. With it sitting for two years you probably want to drain the gas out of it, refill it with clean gas. Check oil and anti-freeze also, of course. After that check for gas supply and spark. Gas supply you can just pull the fuel line out of the carb and see if it pumps gas out while turning over, though this does not guarantee its getting through the carb. (Gas could be gummed up in the carb, happened on my snowmobile this year after only sitting for the summer) As far as checking spark you can either pull a plug out and look for spark, or just hook up a timing light to a sparkplug wire and see if it flashes. If you have these two it should fire up, though it could be out of tune and run like crap. (the gas will still catch fire at some point) Do you plan on swapping to a v8? If so I wouldnt bother with the trans (though i have no experience with ford auto transmissions, I would imagine the internals are different between the 6 and the 8's) You should be able to buy a v8 auto trans and stick it behind the inline until you swap out. (if you do so) Though, like I said I dont know much about auto transmissions and if the flexplate and torque converter are compatible. Others on here im sure will be able to help ya out. Another thing you might want to invest in is an 8 or 9 inch rear, as the four lug wont hold up to much. (I blew mine up when i still had the inline in there) Good luck!

[1966stangkid]

I was going to try and keep the six in for as long as possible. right now i dont really have the money to put into a v8. also if anyone knows about rebuilding a 6I if they could just tell me if its worth me trying or if i should just try and find a used one. thanks for the help


-Joe

[bmxmon]

When I first bought my mustang it had an inline six that seemed to burn more oil than gas. I just went and bought another complete inline 6, which I ran until I finished rebuilding a 302 for it. If you plan on keeping the inline six for awhile, might be worth rebuilding, good learning process. Cheaper just to go buy another complete engine though.

[1966stangkid]

that sounds like what i wanted to do. does anyone know where i could find a rebuilt 6I. or does anyone have one they wanted to sell.

[bmxmon]

Not sure where your from, just call around to your local junkyards. You probably wont find a freshly rebuilt one, but if its a temp engine a low mileage motor will work fine for ya. Does your original one burn alot of oil? I would get your new trans first, worry about the engine later.