G'day,Im new to this forum(or to any forum for that matter)so be gentle. Ive been building a 73XA coupe for the last 6 years on a very tight budget(you know the drill,big mortgage,young kids,etc)whilst keeping it on the road as it is my daily driver for work etc. It was originally a 6 cylinder fairmount,copper bronze ,white interior repainted lime glaze.It came with a 351 C4 9inch and twelve slotters plus a boot load of spares.I drove it for about a year and was very reliable but I wanted more.I also wanted to do some hill climbs,track days(possibly get into this DRIFTING caper)and maybe a few runs down the quarter for some FUN. ENGINE.351clevo stock bottom end but in good nic.I ported and filled the 2V heads myself.Inlets are 190ccs,exhausts are high ported with stainless exhaust tongues I made myself.Combustion chambers have been CCed and given a more modern shape to enhance swirl and deshrould the 2V valves.I know what your thinking,why not 4v valves?Well that would cost money and I would rather put money towards some CHI heads in the future plus small block chevies get away with using even smaller valves than 2Vs.All this porting work took me weeks as I only have a pissy little compressor(my missus thought I was insane)and had to keep waiting for it to catch up to the die grinder.The cam is a CROW with @050 224In & 234Ex dur,535In & 560Ex lift at 112 lobe seperation.Inlet manifold is a elcheapo single plan which I have exstensivly modifyed and epoxy filled for better flow.Ive made my own super sucker type spacer out of two 1 inch phenolic spacers.On top is a 780 holley vac sec with the choke cut off.Ignition is FORD electronic with ICE leads and coil. I figure this is as far as I can go with out spending serious money.Im hoping for an honest 350HP at the flywheel.I would dyno it but again this is not in the budget. GEARBOX.I rebuilt a TOPLOADER I picked up really cheap(it had been in a fire)and blueprinted it.I spent a few nights filing all the burrs off each tooth of each gear and making sure everthing was perfect(again my missus thought I was starting too lose it),clutch is a Hayes street&strip with standard flywheel bought second hand off ebay. TAILSHAFT is a one piece 3inch as the two piece 3 1/2 was starting to twist inside itself(at rubber joint) REAR AXLE is a 9inch which I fitted 3.89 gears,31spline moser axles(I got a great deal on those),31spline detroit locker(brand new off ebay for $500)and new bearings myself. BRAKES,I upgraded to XF crossdrilled rotors &calipers(which I fully rebuilt myself)on all four wheels with performance pads and a adjustable rear proportioning valve. SUSPENSION,again I upgraded to XF(you cant give XFs away these days)front suspension and changed every bush(front&rear)with NOLATHENE bushs.The rear has 5 leaf GT type springs reset 2inchs lower and Pedders heavy duty shocks allround.All this cost less than $1000 using wreakers and ebay.The top front control arms were lowered(old touring car trick ,makes a huge difference)for better camber adjustment and steering response using a jig I made up. STEERING is a 16:1 GT type box but I actually have about 14:1 steering ratio because the XF spindles are slightly shorter where the tierod attaches too. INTERIOR,Because less WEIGHT is more POWER and its dirt cheap I have put the car on a diet(no carpet,heater,radio,glovebox etc) anyway you get the idea she's pretty bare except for race type seats I picked up from the local Hoc Shop. EXTERIOR is abit of a mess at the moment while I attend too rust repair duties.It does have a 180litre BATHURST type droptank that never gets filled.I bought this from trading post for $100 mainly because the standard ones kept rusting out. WHEELS are 15x8 and 15x10 B45 simmons fitted with falken225x50 and yokohama 295x50 tyres which I picked up for about a grand. FUTURE UPGRADES include fitting adjustable front&rear swaybars,carbonfibre bumpers(Im making myself)and REPAINTING the poor old girl.My choice of colour is MATTE OLIVE DRAB(let the ABUSE begin) with MATTE BLACK bonnet and bootlid.You may think IM CRAZY choosing this colour scheme but my car is parked in one of the worst industrial carparks in Australia and besides I got over the shiny paint thing long ago.I will try and load some photos as soon as I figure out how too.PS JEEZ this took along time to type ,IM hopless at it!!!!