Woohoooo!!! I finally did it! Two short trips, no wrecker call. Sorry Greg.

Got all the important stuff taken care of, brakes, drivetrain, steering, cutting inner fenders to fit headers, etc... and took her out for a spin.

First thing I wanted to test the brakes. So in my gravel driveway I rolled it up to about 5mph and brought it back to a stop. So far so good. Looked to my left and saw a Yellow Jacket trying to come in the driver's window. Without thinking I mashed the gas to get away from it. Stupid. Tomorrow I'll get my shovel out and put all the rocks back.

Second, nice, easy trip to Grandma's house next door, half a mile, rural road, wife and 2yr old daughter. So far so good. A little different than I remembered from 5 years ago, but I attribute that to a solid motor plate, new 38.5" tires, and detroit locker. I pull into grandmas gravel driveway, apply the brakes to stop and turn around, and the engine dies along with a metallic clanking sound. Panic. I have been around long enough to know that there is NO metallic sound that caused the engine to die that turns out good. I look out the back window and see my battery and its tray laying in the driveway. Whew! What a relief. So I put the bolts in the battery tray, reconnect the battery and home we go.

Third, nice easy trip with my 16 year old Son who has come to visit. Past Grandmas to the next driveway. One mile. Stop, turn around, halfway through second gear I let it have a little air. Picks up RPM well, rear end feels loose. Look back, sure enough, two black tracks. No broken motor plate, no metallic clanking sounds. So far so good. Just short of my driveway I slow it down to second gear, 2000rpm and give it about 3/4 throttle. GRRRRRRR...Whap. RPMs come up fast. I wasn't looking at the tach, so I don't know where it went, but the limiter is set to 6500, and I didn't hit the limiter so it wasn't real high. Felt good and strong, look back, two nice straight 48 foot black tracks. Pull in the driveway, shut it down, let several months of stress melt away.

I was very pleased with the performance considering:

Carb is out of the box with the exception of dropping 7 jet sizes for altitude.
I am positive the power valve is opening too soon.
I have a light silver and a blue spring in the dizzy to slow the advance.

So, that's it. I am beginning to absorb some barley pop, and will be in the hot tub soon.

-Scouder

 

Congrats Scoot!!! we have to see some tape now....after all this and watching you do all this fabrication and mods..some of us feal we were turning wrench's there with ya... Great... I bet your Boy was tickled S...less...Like Dad when can I drive it ..

Thanks for the update...Russ

 

I will DEFINATELY post some video for you guys in a few weeks. I am going to work the bugs out of this thing little by little before I let it have all the air it wants, but once I do I'll get some clips posted. In the meantime, I'll try to post some of the new parts in the Gallery. Maybe tomorrow.

-Scouder

PS. My boy was impressed. He was amazed that it turned the tires that easy from a roll. He thought you had to power brake or dump the clutch to get the rear wheels to spin like that.

 

Sounds good!! LMAO!! about what ya said about your son...I remember when...my son's 32 now..and I let him drive a Brand X that I had...he finally talked me out of it..and in two weeks he called and asked me if I had made roller skates for the roof?? Yep he fliped my 70 SS Nova.. with a injected 454 in it.. AND it was the last!! LOL! Russ

 

Sometimes we forget how much 400+ HP really is. We get pretty casual about throwing numbers around, 450,500 and even more are not that hard to get these days. Very easy to end up with inversion if you aren't on top of it all the time.

-Scouder

 

Oh yes I agree....I just like something sneaky?? LOL!! I do have a cat that lives up the road..that has one of the dog Rams 350HP I think? would like to make him eat S..

then he says he'll just go get a SR10...and I said good for you...Ya cant do anything with it? Hell go ahead you didnt build it..I built mine!!

 

There is just no arguing with some people. I had a Hemi Ram. It was OK, but it would barely beat my wifes 97 V8 Tbird. If your engine makes the power it should then he has no chance. If he spends 50+ thousand dollars on an SRT10 to beat your old Ford then you've made him eat sh**, you've made your point, and he has made your point too. Game, set, and match.

UncleFudd posted a while back that you can't buy respect, and I agree. I have much more respect for a home-built custom, no matter what it is, than a store bought, high dollar mass-marketing-mobile. You can't buy a compliment from this forum, for example, but you can earn one, and that is so much better.

-Scouder

 

Hey man whats the engine plane on the front of your motor? Is it for motor flex? I assume you fabed it yourself?

 

Yep. Made it myself. It is the motor mount. The motor mounts on the side of the block are no more. I didn't like where the factory mounts held the engine, too high, too far forward (for me), so I took em off and built the plate to put the engine where I wanted it. I lowered it 2" and moved it back in the frame 1.5".

-Scouder

 

Now is that a front and rear Plate?

 

There will be no rear plate. I will fab a mount that ties into the tranny mount bolts and provides support to the frame. I will also be putting in a rod on each side to provide fore and aft support. I don't want the engine flying out through the grille if I slam on the brakes!

-Scouder

 

Well thats now that he has BRAKES!!! LOL!!!

BTW..What if I went to an 850cfm Holley? 545HP huh? Hmmmm...Really?

 

Now your tellin me the only thing holding that motor in is that plate.....? Cool.....

Whats it made out of 301? how thick? Now that im looking at it it looks aluminum like 6061 .125" . very bold!

 

I'll bet that is a pretty good feeling Brian! Congratulations on getting it there. It will be all easy rolling from here now that its actually moving under its own power. Make sure you let her rip to redline on that video! I like to hear them roar! I will take mine to 6,000 next time as I actually have a tach now.

 

Very good guess. 6061 T6 .250.

-Scouder