finally getting off the dime.....

[StangDreamin']

Just got off the phone with the oldest "Scout age member" of my Boy Scout Troop; had been discussing with him his latest long-term goals for the Troop. You gotta know this guy; he initiated the call. Some people would call Dave "highly self-motivated, willing to plan out and execute forward-looking developmental changes in the mission statements on an organizational level"; others would dispense with the bureacratic ruffles and fluorishes and just call him "Obsessive-Compulsive". I just call him "extremely driven". You have to understand that I met this kid when he was one month shy of 11 years old; and he turns 17 in another 5 weeks. Anyway, Dave mentioned (at the start of this one-hour-long "quickie phone call") that he "had an epiphany"; that what he had been advised (on any given subject) by his parents, teachers, priest and Scoutmaster was good advice, but when "it happens to me personally, it really makes sense". In essence, when the problem that he had been told about finally comes up and "smacks him in the face" and priorities have changed, the advice makes sense. Well, something like that "smacked me in the face" about a month ago.

Anybody that's been around here for the last couple years has heard that I had this dream of a 67 Stang ('vert, coupe or FB - didn't matter, I just had a thign for the cheese-grater fake scoop on the quarter-panel) built up by me and for me. Not some "Stock as a Rock" (copyright SuperDave) Stang, not some fire breathing FE twisting the body, but maybe a li'l old 393 Windsor with an AOD behind it and Trick-Flow 5.0 MAF pushing in the fuel. Something not quite in the same vein as the sleeper 351 Gran Torino 4-door or the 406/C6 "haulin' fool" of an F100 from my youth; but a little more sophisticated cruise-mobile with an EVO-killer quietly lurking under the hood. The EFI not only would look good, but it would make days of "tune, jet, re-jet, re-tune" a little shorter.
Well, because life has a way of changing your priorities; things are a little different. Now, the project is a '73 Cougar XR-7 with a rebuilt 2V Cleveland (not a four-bolt like my old Torino, but still...) that just needs a proper "finishing-out". And, the project car will be a semi-DD for my 16-year-old daughter Jessi (Tink's younger sister).

So, anywayyyyssss, the Big Brown Truck dropped off a box tonight; 30 pounds of Cleveland goodies priced at $12/pound - not a lot of dough or HP, but it's for a 16-yr-old new driver. New lifters and pushrods, a "drill-tool" for spinning up the oil pump before firing up the engine.
Oh yeah, while I was talking to Dave, I had a Performer intake sitting on my lap - no, it's not a Performer RPM Air-Gap (or a Weiand Xcelerator); but remember the 16-year-old "new driver" on my insurance! Mainly, it's just to replace the "funnel-spacer" that separated a 600CFM Holley 4160 from the factory 2BBL intake. Aluminum, shiny (but not polished); just sitting there on my lap, promising fun under the hood.

So now I have to get some time to tell Jessi that her weekend plans have been canceled; 'cause she's gonna be under the hood with me! Which reminds me.... does anybody (Big Cat?) know if 71-73 Mustang hood hinges fit on a same-vintage Cougar? We could use some new ones........

Yes, there will be pix, because :

Hey, you East-Coasters! Why are you buttoning up your Stang projects for the winter??????? It's just getting cool enough to work on cars here in the desert!

 

[jes72mustang]

Dreamin'

Looking forward to the pics.

 

[mustangman70]

Why are you buttoning up your Stang projects for the winter??????? It's just getting cool enough to work on cars here in the desert!

Me too!!! :SNSign:

 

[Spoofty]

Me too!!!

 

[68torinogt]

wow that was long!!

 

[BDT 1967]

Sounds to me like your lil girl will be having a good time this weekend. It should make you proud to know that your little girl will know more about engines than most of the guys at her school.

 

[Capt Dan]

Anyway, Dave mentioned (at the start of this one-hour-long "quickie phone call")

Something about your post makes me think it wasn't all his fault.


j/k

Looking forward to the pics.

 

[bnickel]

So now I have to get some time to tell Jessi that her weekend plans have been canceled; 'cause she's gonna be under the hood with me! Which reminds me.... does anybody (Big Cat?) know if 71-73 Mustang hood hinges fit on a same-vintage Cougar? We could use some new ones........

Yes, there will be pix, because :

Hey, you East-Coasters! Why are you buttoning up your Stang projects for the winter??????? It's just getting cool enough to work on cars here in the desert!
__________________

STD, yes the 71-73 stang hood hinges will work on the cougar. i hear you about it cooling off enough to finally work on the cars, same here in the high desert of west texas unfortunately it wion't be long before it will be too cold to work on mine. i figure i have until the end of october with a few nice days now and then from there until christmas and then nothing until april sometime

 

[Pakrat]

STD, yes the 71-73 stang hood hinges will work on the cougar. i hear you about it cooling off enough to finally work on the cars, same here in the high desert of west texas unfortunately it wion't be long before it will be too cold to work on mine. i figure i have until the end of october with a few nice days now and then from there until christmas and then nothing until april sometime

Oh boo hoo. The leaves are blowing all over my yard already and when I get a real early morning start I can do custom etching in my window glass with my nipples. Ever try to paint an engine block in your driveway with debree flying everywhere and chasing the newspapers you just taped off down the street praying that you took your finger off the can quick enough and dont have to now reclean a part that got over sprayed?

Of course I could do it in the garage but then I have to stop every 15 min until the high wears off.

Oh yeah, lookin forward to pics as well Dreamin'.

 

[bnickel]

Oh boo hoo. The leaves are blowing all over my yard already and when I get a real early morning start I can do custom etching in my window glass with my nipples. Ever try to paint an engine block in your driveway with debree flying everywhere and chasing the newspapers you just taped off down the street praying that you took your finger off the can quick enough and dont have to now reclean a part that got over sprayed?

Of course I could do it in the garage but then I have to stop every 15 min until the high wears off.

Oh yeah, lookin forward to pics as well Dreamin'.

yeah, well when it gets up to over 100 degrees with no appreciable breeze it sucks to outside working on your car, remember i have no garage to work in. part of the reason for selling the car is to have a garage to work on the next project in.

 

[krash kendall]

Try working on your car in this crap! Hell, just try freeing your car from it's icy tomb after after a freezing rain storm so you can get to work! I'd rather have it snow or rain, but we get more and more of these every winter it seems.

 

[BDT 1967]

Try working on your car in this crap! Hell, just try freeing your car from it's icy tomb after after a freezing rain storm so you can get to work! I'd rather have it snow or rain, but we get more and more of these every winter it seems.

Dude that sucks

 

[krash kendall]

Yeah, not to mention the fact that it usually knocks the power out too. Sometimes for a couple of days. The power lines and trees just can't handle all that extra weight.

 

[Pakrat]

yeah, well when it gets up to over 100 degrees with no appreciable breeze it sucks to outside working on your car, remember i have no garage to work in. part of the reason for selling the car is to have a garage to work on the next project in.

Oh yeah, well you seem to forget that I lived in Flower Mound for a year and know exactly what you mean except that I was able to rent one of the few car ports available at the Lantana Apartments! To me the worst was being stopped at a red light in a vert top down with black vinyl interior and no AC! I couldn't even run in the store for a pack of smokes without scorching my thighs when I got back. Plus I had to keep all my tools in the trunk and put everything away every night when I worked on it. Sooo, I can relate to your situation, how about you?????

 

[Pakrat]

Hell, just try freeing your car from it's icy tomb after after a freezing rain storm so you can get to work!

Dang, I was looking for that pic of the cars in the garage when the pipes froze and broke while they were away, know the one I mean? I'm so ashamed, what kind of Pakrat am I, I know it's on my computer somwhere.

 

[bnickel]

Oh yeah, well you seem to forget that I lived in Flower Mound for a year and know exactly what you mean except that I was able to rent one of the few car ports available at the Lantana Apartments! To me the worst was being stopped at a red light in a vert top down with black vinyl interior and no AC! I couldn't even run in the store for a pack of smokes without scorching my thighs when I got back. Plus I had to keep all my tools in the trunk and put everything away every night when I worked on it. Sooo, I can relate to your situation, how about you?????

ah, i thought you had a house in Flower Mound. still a carport, even, would be nice. i have to work out in it, no shade at all not even from the tree in the front yard, it's too small.

i can relate to working out in the freezing cold too. i remember having to change the water pump in my old mitsubishi pickup in the middle of a VERY COLD cold front blowing through and laying on my back in a foot of snow changing the starter in the jeep.

 

[StangDreamin']

STD, yes the 71-73 stang hood hinges will work on the cougar. i hear you about it cooling off enough to finally work on the cars, same here in the high desert of west texas unfortunately it wion't be long before it will be too cold to work on mine. i figure i have until the end of october with a few nice days now and then from there until christmas and then nothing until april sometime

Wow..... I can remember doing the water pump on the Rice-Eating Chevy during the Rose Parade one Thanksgiving morning; had it back together and test-driven and showered and sitting in front of the TV with about 12 minutes left in the 1st quarter of the first game. Couple years ago, it took us "a little longer" to do the timing chain on NoKitten's Bronco one early spring day - mostly because we needed a couple new gaskets (and more beer) and the d@mn fuel-pump cam wouldn't stop scrubbing on the timing cover
Around here, you can work on an engine any time of the year that the iron parts aren't too hot to touch (October -> late April).

Ever try to paint an engine block in your driveway with debree flying everywhere and chasing the newspapers you just taped off down the street praying that you took your finger off the can quick enough and dont have to now reclean a part that got over sprayed?

Much easier to paint here in early- to mid-July. You can rattle-can all over everything! Clean-up is a breeze, because the paint hardens, looses it's adhesion and dries in the airbefore it ever touches the parts!

 

[StangDreamin']

I'm going out of town this weekend, taking off with the boy Scout Troop on a fishing weekend at Lake Cuyamaca in east San Diego County. Needless to say, I'm not gonna do much with the Cleveland this weekend! That's okay, though, Jessie has another job (after she finishes her History project). The carport needs cleaning out to make room for the Cougar.

Meanwhile, to whet an appetite or two:

The Victim

Inside The Victim

 

[StangDreamin']

The "Transplant Organs"!

Edelbrock 2740 "Performer 351 4 barrel intake for 2 barrel Cleveland heads"
Fel-Pro #1240 Intake Gasket Set (Last time, I had good luck with Permatex Gasket Sealer holding the cork end gaskets in place. This time )
Comp Cams hydraulic Lifters
FRPP Pushrods
Summit "Pre-Oiler 5/16" Driveshaft"

There's a Holley "0-1850C" 600 CFM 4160 already in place; on top of a "4-into-2" spacer. The intake fixes that problem! Original lifters on a new OEM cam... sat around for almost a year, CLACKCLACKCLACKCLACK!
pUSH RODS: NoKitten though he was having troubles with sizing. Seemed like a good idea to put that to rest. The pre-oiler? The car has been sitting around for a year without being cranked over; seems like a good idea (especially since the Distributer is coming out to make space to install the intake) to get some oil moving around before the crank and cam start spinning in their bearings

 

[Pakrat]

I did as much part painting as I could June to August but I'm only getting to the block now and it's fricken raining again today!

BTW Dreamin, if you were on one of those camping trips and woke up the next morning with your pant's down and ass covered in KYJelly, would you tell anyone?

B, the only thing that stunk about the car port was they were just long enough as the car and the entire back row had hedges with sprinklers that came on randomly during the day. The pic in my banner is actually taken in that lot right before the covered parking starts. I used to have to keep my car cover on all the time and constantly clean the back from mud and dirt.

I used to laugh during the occasional morning icey roads, all the natives couldn't drive for **** and I used to just pass themby at normal speed. The only advantage to being a New England Yankee out there!