Hello All,
I have just gotten my first car to work on with the old man. It is a 66 Mustang. The engine is the orginal engine, numbers match. My question is, how much work can I do on the engine? For example being that it is the orginal engine how many parts and what parts can I replace with better performance parts on the engine?

It is an inline 6 with 3 on the floor. I assumed that I should not pull the engine because it is the original. I don't want to go crazy power build up. I just want to improve the performance and learn as much as I can about engines from the old man. I suppose I am looking for your opinion on what you would do with it.

Thanks  

Depending on what you're doing with the car, having a numbers matching inline 6 may not mean much. For a numbers matching inline 6 to mean something, you have to take the restoration to councours level. If that is what you're after, then keep most of your engine work internal and you'll be fine.

One option that others have done is pull the engine and store it. Then you can put in something else.

If this is solely for your enjoyment, then there are options for the 6 cylinder to get some performance out of it. Besides upgrading the ignition with a better coil, and point for the distributor or a point-less system, there are option for the intake and exhaust that overcome the limitations of the intake log. These options can get expensive compared to similar upgrades for a small block V8.

If you want to learn as much as you can, then getting a junkyard small block and rebuilding it will get you the most learning opportunites.

Sort of a rambling answer, but hopefully it helps.