I warned ya! Here comes another newbie question. I want to use my 65 F85 for cruising. Obviously I want to keep it as stock as possible. However, what mods do you recommend I consider to make it more safe or reliable? It has front lap belts, no back seatbelts, drum brakes, no air (but it is a convertible). I know a lot of this is personal preference, but I'd like to hear from those who have gone before.

 

It was safe and reliable when it was new, wasn't it?

I have no problem with adding disc brakes or quick ratio steering boxes. Adding rear seat belts is a comfort zone thing, and may be required by law for passengers under 16. Aftermarket air conditioning was a popular add-on when the cars were new.

I would probably not grumble about a 200-4R transmission just for gas mileage, though I don't think you'd see any great performance improvement over a Jetaway.

An Edelbrock/Carter AFB carb may be a little easier to live with than a grumpy 4GC. Fuel injection is exotic for a 330 engine and would take a lot of driving to recoup the investment.

Now, you start talking about a "modern" GM crate (read Chevy) engine, you're going to get slammed.

 

A disc brake conversion makes sense if you're going to do a lot of driving, but if you decide not to go to discs, a conversion to a dual brake cylinder would be advisable.

 

Sounds to me like you have a good project car. I would tinker with the engine and put "go fast" parts on it. Who cares if all you have is a lap belt. Do you have any pictures?

 

This is kind of an oxymoron that I am going to describe but, brakes first, they are important and even if you don't upgrade you need to have the original brakes in the best condition that they can be it, second I have never thought much about upgrading from just lap belts to full lap/shoulder belts even though I do use them in my modern daily driver and wouldn't consider not doing so. A dual master cylinder on the brakes is a good idea.

 

With all due respect Oldsguy, this is gonna be a tuffy in a "drop top"