Ah ok I will add removing the heater box and cowl to my task list and thanks for the wisdom, I would have totally missed that. My concern on the floor is that my new floor pans only go up so high in the front the and rust goes up closer to the firewall so I am thinking I will need to weld in some metal above the new front floor pans to take care of the weaker metal closer to the firewall.

As for the engine you are exactly right. I got the engine from a guy who was an old ford master mechanic and he was using it in his 84 Mustang as a drag racing care so it had the electric fuel and water pump. When I opened it up I found a couple of bent rods but everything else looks good. He has the zero compression loss rings, heads milled and ported, etc, etc... So I'm doing a new high volume oil pump, clean up, new push rods and new gaskets. Let me know if you think I missed anything.

Great eyes on the weld! I didn't use jb weld, my brother in law works for Boeing as a mechanist and worked with this stuff called Quick Cure. He said its the best and strongest stuff he has ever worked with so I got some off ebay and gave it a try. A master mechanic friend of mine saw it and said the exact same thing you did so I am going to drill it out and use a bolt, large washer and nut and try no to over tighten. I figure its better than nothing.

Thanks again, when I joined I never thought I would get this level of help! I'll have to come buy you guys a burger or something!

Dan