I am working on turning a 1966 coupe w/ a I6 into a daily driver, and am trying to figure out what things to change. I eventually want to change out the engine, possibly putting a newer mild V8 into it to help with gas mileage. One thing I want to do sooner is put in rack and pinion power steering in. The problem is all the ones I am finding are for either big block engines or small block engines. What is the difference between the two? If I end up putting the small block R&P in, how hard would it be to put in the new engine in without changing the R&P that's in there?
Also, what other upgrades would you suggest? To the best of my knowledge, all the other mechanical parts are stock.
first, these days i dont recommend installing a rack and pinion steering system, unless you are changing to a front
suspension designed with rack and pinion in mind. the big reason is that you lose steering radius, and unless you pay attention to the proper steering and
suspension geometry, you can run into issues that you cant seem to solve. if you want lighter steering, then i suggest going with the borgeson power steering conversion. it bolts in, looks stock(comparatively), and the only issue i know of is it interferes with the "Z" bar if you are running a stick shift trans.
next since you want this to be a daily driver, i recommend keeping the six instead of swapping to a V8. you can get better mileage with the six, parts, including performance parts, are available for the six from
www.classicinlines.com, and the six can make a decent amount of power.
some upgrade for the stock six i suggest are;
electronic ignition. get a duraspark distributor from a 75-83 maverick/granada/fairmont with the 3.3l six and wire in the orange ignition box from chrysler. pm me with your email address and i will email you the wiring diagram i used. add an MSD blaster 3 coil and you will have a system that will fire the engine even when the temps go below 20 degrees F(the lowest i ever tried starting my old 66 falcon with this combination).
the next upgrade would be either a direct mount, or an adaptor, for a two barrel carb conversion. a 32/36 weber carb is probably the best one to use. stovebolt engine co. has carbs(they usually recommend the carter/weber carb) and classicinlines has adaptors.
the next upgrade after that would be a good header and dual exhaust, again classicinlines has a good selection of headers.
as for more information, check out
www.fordsix.com we have a lot of members over there dedicated to the small ford six, and they are quite willing to share what they know.