Figuring out what the last owner did under the hood

I've owned one of my cars for about 5 years now and am still trying to figure out what is under the hood.

The last owner was deceased when I bought it so there really wasn't any way to determine what he had done to the car while he owned it. I've been trying to get some of his "body work" squared away. I don't have a problem with someone using old signs to patch floors, but I do think they should at least be held down with at least similar hardware.

When I bought the car, the seller told me how the past owner used to race it extensively and often won. I've been assuming that the car ran some sort of stock class, but I really don't know. The motor is a 69 396 out of a police car (according to the numbers) and it's not really a rocket. From the outside, all I can see is a low rise intake w/ q-jet, a pair of hooker headers, oval port heads, and many different colors of paint.

Is there anyway to really see what I have inherited here without patiently waiting until I pull it apart?

 

you are pretty much going to have to tear it apart to know what is inside.

 

Thank you

That's what I was afraid of, but I hoped that there may be some way to tell.

Richard