First thing’s first: the experiment that involved using 1994-04 V6 Mustang parts to mate a T-5 to a Windsor V8 is over. Yes, the bell will bolt to the engine just fine. But note the starter location compared to the 1994-1995 Ford Mustang 5.0L bellhousing that I ended up scoring off of eBay. Last update, we had tried to hit the starter and were rewarded with the sound of the gear spinning in the air. Small wonder why?

This little gem is a two-year-only production piece and set me back about $260…which was a score, since I’m used to seeing these things on eBay for about $300-350. And it arrived nice and cleaned up.

The seller even included the correct clutch lever (black) and a new pivot stud. Now that’s quality service.

While the car was stuck inside the shop due to the blast of winter weather, I decided that it would be a good time to address the leaking quarter windows. Yes, I said “leaking”…the rubber surround had degraded so badly that it was cracking and dusting off. Rainwater was seeping into here and making it’s way into the interior via the window’s stud locations.

Knowing that Scott Drake and Drake Muscle Cars recently became part of the Holley family, I ordered up a pair of hatchback quarter windows (E7ZZ-6129710-1B) and got a quarter window install kit from Late Model Restoration (HDW-29710B).

You would think that removal would be simple…gut the interior from the doors back, just a few nuts, some butyl tape and out it comes, right? Well…it IS that simple. If you don’t forget that one nut is very well hidden within the bodywork. Otherwise, you will be cleaning up the automotive world’s answer to glitter for the rest of the night.

The “Where’s Waldo?” nut. Thanks, you little bastard. I’m going to be vacuuming up broken glass chunks for years.

At least the lesson was learned on one side of the car. The passenger side came out with no drama. And as I expected, it was disgusting underneath the whole pane. But I wasn’t expecting a mass ladybug grave. At least it wasn’t wasps.

Go figure, the day I get both of the windows out, we get some surprisingly spring-like weather. In fact, the day I finished up the swap, we nearly got to 70 degrees out, so after scrubbing the surrounds and attempting to pop out the dent underneath the driver’s side quarter-window, I hit the surrounds with some of the Cabernet Red paint that I used on the front fender to fill in some rough and scratched areas from the degrading surrounds.

Some fresh butyl tape, new nuts, and a very gentle hand and the quarter windows are in. But this isn’t the biggest victory…with the new bellhousing in and proof that the starter will turn the flywheel, I got cocky. I scored an MSD Ready-to-Run distributor (8352) and used the set of ceramic plug wires that were supposed to go to the Dirty Cougar project to wire up the spark paths for the engine. I stuck an MSD TFI-style coil in the car, raided the battery from the Great Pumpkin, filled the fuel bowls on the Brawler carburetor, and …well, we recorded the first start. There’s still plenty to do…I need to finish the fuel line, I need to drill the firewall and run the clutch cable, and I need to start putting the interior back together so I don’t have so much junk laying around the shop. But we all know the first start is a major victory. And this one could not have gone any better if I tried, because there was no timing tuning, no carburetor tuning, nothing. In fact, as I’m writing this, I realize there is no carburetor gasket on that car!