This is me with my newly purchased 1978 Mustang King Cobra in the summer of 1993. I'd been approached at a car show in Helena, Montana by a gentleman asking if I needed any Mustang II parts, as I was showing my '77 Cobra II. After talking with him for a bit, it came up that he was selling exactly the car I wanted, and a few weeks later, the deal was done and I drove it home to Great Falls. It was well worn, and needed plenty of work, but I was determined. The only thing I didn't know then was how long it would take...
The '77 Cobra II in the background was my first car, which I've owned since July of 1987. This King Cobra had all of the features I wanted then but didn't get: T-tops, a bigger, more potent 351W, and a 4-speed manual transmission. I probably put less than 500 miles on it through 2000, since I really didn't trust it on the road (it did leave me stranded once when a freeze plug blew out of the block). During that time period I managed to replace the front suspension, steering rack, steering pump, intake and carburetor.
In 2001, the car wouldn't start, and the starter is a bear to get to, so I yanked out the failing 4 speed transmission. I had acquired a brand new, NOS 1993 Cobra T-5 transmission a couple of years prior that would be going in its place. Then I proceeded to ignore the car for the next 6 years....
During that time I built an awesome shop:
From 2005 until the spring of 2006 I focused on my '79 Bronco, but when that project finally wrapped up it was time to get the King back on the road. First step: yank that tired old 351W out of there and breathe a little fire into it!
And here's the perfect start! The block that was in the car when I bought it is a '74 vintage 351W. I had it hot tanked and magnafluxed, decked, bored and honed .040", and the crank centerline line honed. Now it's time to start putting the goods into place...
