Questions from a newbie...

You aren't a dick at all, you have some very good points and sound arguments.

Allow me to shed some light on a few things...

In all honesty, I really am taking my time with this. Everything I'm doing now is just research and formulating the plan. It'll probably change daily until the right set up comes together and the light bulb goes off. I've kinda given myself a year or so to complete the car, and I've had it for 3 weeks. I'm truly not an impulsive person, and I'm actually quite frugal most of the time. Whiskey, guitars, and hot rods are the only things that I occasionally spend too much on.

Listen, I get that a lot of guys on here will read about some of the things that I want to do and assume that I'm an idiot that doesn't pull wrenches, with more money than sense. But here's the thing, I'm 41 years old, been driving old cars since I was 12 (grew up on an acreage about 20 miles outside of the city), and am now in the position to build myself a fairly sweet ride. Luckily, I'm no longer scrounging together beer cans to take back to the bottle depot for gas money (I'm originally from Calgary, married to a Dallas girl, living in Houston now). When I was 20, it was every weekend in a junkyard trying to find parts for the Comet, Galaxie, Impala, and Mustang that have all come and gone since then. I've pieced together cars using whatever parts I could find and "making it work" just due to the fact that there was no other option. My father and I rebuild his '70 Challenger and '56 Ford Panel Van, and he has taught me that decisions made solely on keeping the budget low can be regretful in the long run.

My wife recently had our first child, boy, 8 weeks old. So, part of this is to build something that'll last so he can enjoy growing up with it. My '70 Firebird 455 dyno'd at 498HP/525ft lbs torque, so I've got some experience with a strong engine. I drive these cars on weekends only, putting gas in once a month, so 91 octane doesn't bother me... and cold mornings for me mean 50 degrees (10C).

That being said, my intention for replacing the k frame is just to add longevity and create some engine room. I'm going to replace the control arms, tie rods, pitman, idler, bushings, strut rods, and torsion bars anyways so at that point why not dig out another $500 for a tubular k frame? In my mind, we're talking about a 47 year old piece of metal that's been treated God knows how. I know they are strong and things were built way better back then, but the tolerances (or lack thereof) on k frames has been the stuff of legend for a long time.

I'm not against the auto trans, it would just be a treat to own a 4 speed Mopar! And yeah, the sheer cost of the conversion might just rule it out.

Plus, I picked up a '64 Galaxie 500 XL, 390/4 speed car last week so now I'm splitting dollars on two builds. But, that's probably a bit further down the road.

Anyway, I do appreciate your input and I'm pretty hard to offend. Just don't go telling me how great the Jets are...