I recently posted that I had picked up an engine for a '74 Ford Pinto about a month ago. The Pinto had quit running back in 1996, because of a burnt piston. I think a piston ring had broken, causing a place for hot exhaust gasses to seep past, burning the side of the piston. The replacement engine/trans combo is setting on the carport floor.
In June 1996, to replace the Pinto as a driver, I purchased a '79 Datsun pickup. It came with a blown head gasket. I just kept the radiator topped off with water and it ran fine for about 6-7 years.
Over Thanksgiving weekend of 2001, my father-in-law gave to my wife and I his '78 GMC Caballero which is my main project at this time. The Caballero was a DD until the autumn of 2012 when my mother-in-law gave my wife her '98 Ford Taurus. At that point, I began driving the '03 Ford Focus that I had bought for my wife back in 2005, and usually only drove the Caballero if I needed to go to the hardware store, or to the feed store for hay for the goats.
In summer of 2013, my wife and I got the '79 El Camino, but with less than 38000 miles, I did not want to daily it, and only took it out once in a while.
The Focus went belly-up in 2016, and so I went back to DD'ing the Caballero, but it was getting well worn out, and I knew it would need an overhaul soon.
I began thinking and planning on which non-runner was going to get overhauled first. The local mechanic shop wanted almost 2-1/2 times the bluebook value of the Focus to R&R the Focus engine (engine + parts + labor), no that is not going to happen. I wanted an upgrade to the Datsun powertrain if I were to work on that one. I wanted either a v6 or a turbo4 in the Pinto if I were to work on that one. I finally decided that I would pull the v6/3spd out of the Caballero and put in a v8. I found a T5 to hook up to the v8 and started the swap. I had to drive the El Camino as a daily for two months while I did the v6 to v8 swap.
So, now to get back on track with the theme of this thread, I have three non-running, and three running vehicles in my driveway.
Running: '78 Caballero, '79 El Camino, '98 Taurus.
Non-running: '74 Pinto, '79 Datsun P/U, '03 Focus.
Slowly gathering parts (well, engines/transmissions), an '88 2.3L turbo from a Tbird for the Pinto, and an EFI 4.3L v6 from an '87 El Camino to drop into the Datsun. No current enthusiasm for the Focus.
