Club Cobra - First Leap: Looking for 428 FE in Northern California

I sent this e-mail to Douglas, but after reading it I thought I would post it for anyone else interested. He has first call but it's a funny (sad) story and seemed like it needed to be posted here...

Douglas,

Look at my photo gallery. It is the engine in the car. The short block has 2500 miles on it and the heads have less than 20,000. The engine is a 1968 428. C8AE. (passenger car) The heads are 1968 390 GT (bigger valves than the 428 street engine) I am selling it to install a 1966 427 C5AE SO (med rise) I have put together. You are welcome to come for a ride if you are interested or have a third party do so. (Turk lives 2 bolcks away)

The engine is really strong for a "stock" 428 and is likely about 10:1 compression with lots of extras. It has tons of torque fires right up and runs at 175-185 degrees. No knocks or major leaks. No repairs as far as I know (I do have photo's of the bottom end from when I put a new oil pump in) It was a standard pump, I installed a high volume and a larger oil pump drive. It gets 65-75 psi of oil pressure cold and 40-60 hot with two big oil filters in line. It uses a little bit of oil, some by "marking it's territory" and some no doubt internally. The engine sat from 1995-2001 with no miles on it. It makes a puff of white smoke (sometimes) when you fire it up out the right side. It might be valve seals it might need to have the heads done. I don't know. But it runs great. It uses a quart of oil every 800-1000 miles or so. I have added two quarts in two years.

The story on the block / heads is the guy I got it from had zero mechanical ability, he relied on a mechanic in the SF Bay Area, 75 miles from here. The shop was a specialty hot rod & cobra shop and the rate was $100. p/h. As such every time the thing sputtered a little it went into the shop, every time the bill was $750-$1,000. Yea he saw the guy coming. In any case the car developed a misfire. The mechanic diagnosed it as carburation and suggested new carbs. $1500. (yea right). The guy decided to wait as times were tight. On the way home from the shop the car threw a rod (carbs eh?)

The guy trailers the car back to the shop and obviously the rod sticking out the skirt was the problem. A new complete double-roller street block was put in... $2800. The heads were ok and re-used and the car was trailered back to Vacaville (where we live). The car still had the original problem of misfiring. He drove it about 500 miles with the misfire and parked it. In the mean time the guy got hurt on the job, couldn't drive the car, his wife got hooked on crack, he got hooked on oxy-contin... His wife went to jail for forgery (signing his name to bad checks) he got clean but in the mean time his house was in foreclosure.

I happened by saw he was moving (two years ago this week) and saw the car. I asked him if it was for sale (everything else was) He said it was $40,000.... Does it run? (it didn't look like it did) "It needs new carbs" he said.. Hmmmm.. " I'll think about it" (no f'ing way 40k)

Two weeks later I came by again. The lights were off, weirdly off as if he moved out, no power but his truck was there. I knocked on the door. He was home. Indeed the power had been turned off. He and his (step) daughter were keeping the place heated by the fireplace. "I came about the car" I said. Obviously embarassed about his situation he explained they sold the house but accidently had the power shut down a week early. I offered to pop the meter and get him going again "until the power company can come back out"... No.. it was ok.. "How about a generator?" Yea? you have one? So I went home got him a generator, 100' of extention cord, an electric heater and came back with a couple pizzas. It was Dec 22... There was a single 100w bulb on a trouble light with a generator running in the garage when we made a deal...

I've only put 1800 miles on it and have slowly been restoring it, new wheels, small parts, now the 427. Here's a pic of where I got the car, what it looks like now and the engine I'm putting in. I am selling it as a complete long bock. Block & heads assembled without an oil pan, valve covers, manifold, dip stick, etc. I have tons of spares If you need the things. "Running core" value on the parts for rebuild is $750. $400 for the block and $350 for GT heads. I want $1,000. I think someone could put at least 50k on this engine trouble fee. I also think at a min. new vale seals or maximum a head job would cure the smoking and oil consumption issue. But even if you just drove it as-is it would be fine for a long time. I am open to interesting trades, cobra stuff, guns, whatever.

Regards,