Monza Harry wrote:That young man can have a significant metalworking career with that level of skill this early on. Better keep him "IN" your life nice and tight!
You are doing very well on that car Kevin even with all of that work distraction! Harry
Thanks, Harry. His father (my brother) is one of those guys that can make/fab/fix most anything. I keep telling him he needs to get that boy a project car. I got my first Sunbird at 14 or so. Worked on it for three years but was driving it to high school by the time I was a junior. Learned a lot in the process.
We bought the car for $50 at an auction. It had been sitting in a field for a while and the floors were shot. The stock V6 was dead. We tried to start it but it made a hell of a racket when we tried. Pulled that out (never planned to use it) and tore it apart. One of the rod journals was wore out at least a 1/4 inch or more and the connecting rod was slapping all over the place! It was a sight to behold.
Spent a lot of nights welding in new floors, de-greasing the engine compartment, and cleaning it up. It was a formal window coupe with the half vinyl top. The roof was pretty rusty under the vinyl and, for some reason, I broke out the side windows and figured it would be cool to just weld them closed. Yeah...I was 15. LOL
I still remember rebuilding the 327 chevy and putting it into the car. It was determined that it was a 1965 dated Corvette block and, to a 15 year old me, that was super cool. Had a nice set of heads machined to 1.60/2.02 valves. When we put the heads on the engine and the engine into the car we realized that they didn't have accessory holes. Hmmm...Power steering? Don't need that! Converted it to manual steering. It was a blast to drive. It only ran 14.20's or so in the quarter but that was pretty quick in 1990-91. Undefeated in its street racing glory.
Ahhh....to be 16 again. Great memories and I hope my brother does pick up a project for his son.
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Later, it got turned into a drag only car with a full cage, fuel cell, completely gutted interior, and a 12-bolt with 4:88 gears. It was also the first car I ever painted. It came out pretty bad but still it was a fun process. I raced it for about a year before spinning a bearing and parking it. Let it sit for a year or two and sold it. I wish I never sold it. I wish I never turned it into a drag only car. Still, there were a lot of lessons learned in the process. I wish I could find the car. I never saw it again after I sold it. I always assumed I would see it around but never did. That was probably 25-years ago. Still looking...
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