thoughts on build

Just my two cents, but why don't you scrap this idea and start putting together some plans to get a v8 conversion? I think it's odd that you would try to modify a six when you said it yourself you will eventually be putting a v8 in your car. Wouldn't it be a waste of time and money?

Aagin, just my two cents.

 

A good two cents. I've looked into and thought about it. I'm undecided on whether to build up the six later on or switch to a v8, but the six has plenty of life still in it either way. The only thing I think that could be seen as a performance upgrade for the engine that I'm doing is getting that 2bbl carb on there. That's mainly a reliability thing as well - the motorcraft/autolite 2100 is supposed to be way more reliable than the carter RBS (I can explain in more detail but it's pretty basic stuff). I won't even see that much performance enhancement because I'll be using the adapter plate. Not trying to build up the six right now, but I would like it reliable (reason for getting off points). Hopefully when I focus on the engine I'll be inclined enough and have enough time to build it myself, which doesn't work for me with either I6 or v8 engine right now.
The suspension needs to be finished. Period. The rear suspension scares me now and I can't cut my coils in the front until the rear is done. Shocks seem like a pretty basic thing that I should replace while I'm doing the suspension (I think the current shocks came from the factory) and the added sway bar install would just be something added to keep it fun. My buddies also said they could fab me a sway bar and monte carlo bar if I got them dimensions, which makes it a more attractive and cheaper mod.
Really I guess the only performance upgrade that I'm doing is the transmission and gears. The other stuff needs to be replaced either way, but no reason not to do it well while doing it.
I'm deathly afraid of my transmission. Again. I'm deathly afraid of my transmission. It works fine, but when it doesn't I'm screwed. I don't know enough to want to touch it. That's unacceptable to me. While it's working fine I want to build another transmission to put in there. Whatever tranny I get, I have to build it. General concensus seems to be that 3.00 are pretty weak sauce. Substantially changing the gears means that I now need an OD transmission because I do alot of highway driving (I work 3 hours away and average about 3k miles a month to give an idea of my intended use). I figured changing the gears wouldn't be a bad thing to do while I'm already under there. I could go with an AOD to make life easier in the short term (it's available in econoline van which is convienent because I'm already trying to find one for the leaf springs). The issue with AOD is that one day I want to make the switch to manual so then my car's transmission won't be "finished" (and I'd have to learn another transmission down the road). There's a bunch of mixed reviews about the AOD online too, but I'm not too worried about that if I were going to build it anyway (there seem to be fixes available for the common problems). I've already bought and have been reading the build sheets for both for the T5 (WC & NWC) and the AOD (read the AODE this morning, not that it helps me but it was kewl as hell!).

I guess this was a way longer response than you or I thought I'd give..
I'm not really modifying the six, just kind of modifying everything with the option of either I6 or V8. The main idea is that when I do something I want to get it completely done and in a way that I don't have to go back and worry about it. both the T5 and the AOD work on both I6's and V8's for the most part I believe. And my suspension will work for both as well (don't nit-pick). The points and carb... I guess that's money lost if I switch to a V8

Anybody think my thinking seems whack or have any additional ideas to add?

 

Would love to hear why? The RBS is an extremely simple carb. I ran one on my car, daily driven for nearly 3 years and didn't have any problems out of it.