Howdy gents,

I'm building up a "400 tribute" 69 and am struggling with several upcoming decisions. If it's helpful to know, I am hoping for a car that has good driving manners but with some attitude. I don't expect to race it, though I'd certainly be happy to get on it and have it respond.

It's becoming very clear to this newbie that one needs to have an overall plan for the car when considering things like cam, trannie, rear-end, to name 3.

My problem is that this is my first shot at all this and I don't want to get too far over my head (too deep into the wallet) until I know that things are working out. For example, I'm rebuilding the 400 motor and clearly there are a million things that can go wrong. My feeling is that I should finish up the motor, do the break-in, and if everything goes well, then start looking at trannie and rear-end options.

On the other hand, there seems to be so much inter-relation between the cam selection and these other things. Am I making any sense?

Anywho, my question is really about my stock 2.79 rear-end. Is there any case to be made for running that in my project? Is it sane to just postpone that decision until after the motor is broken in or should I have resolved the rear-end question before even selecting a cam? Or must I have an overall plan for everything before buying any of the big-ticket items?

Thanks for your thoughts.
Tom