Intro

had a 2bbl carb on it.  Ran like a dog.  My cousin was a mechanic and I asked him what I needed to do to make it go faster.  Install a 4bbl was his suggestion.  Went to the junkyard and got a 4bbl manifold and a carter 4bbl  off a Lincoln.  Didn't make much difference.  That summer went home for the summer, I was going to college in LB, CA.  My uncle in Hayden Lake, ID was a mechanic.  My dad was a bodyman working in Spokane.  Uncle Dick rebuilt my engine and transmission.  My dad and I prepped a '58 fairlane and '63 Pontiac wagon for paint as exchange for the labor of working on my car.  I think my uncle got the best of that deal.  I had a flat cam in the 390, that is why it was a dog.  Every dime I earned that summer went into parts for my car.  My dad bought me two new tires that needed replacing since I didn't have the money to buy them.  The best thing on this car was the 406 exhaust manifolds.  I had no idea how rare they were.

Next up was 343/4sp '68 Javelin, then 1970 390/4sp AMX.  I got married and bought 1976 Capri, my first car.  Station wagons and P/U trucks followed that.  I bought a 1969 426/4sp SuperBee with a friend for $3600!  I was going to keep it forever.  One of my kids put a small ding in it and I had to decide if I was going to kill my kids or sell the car.  Sold the car for $6500.  Could have been a good part of my retirement fund. 

Bought a 1995 T'bird SC 5sd about 12 years ago.  10 years ago it blew the head gaskets.  Pulled the heads and the block needed to be deck.  I haven't done a thing with the car.  Bought a 1992 SC with 60K that had frontend damage.  Was going to swap that engine into the '95.  I have come to the conclusion that I need to let this be someone else's fun.

In 2007 I bought a 1997 Mustang GT that was a long term test car for Car & Driver(look at July 1999 issue for the article on it).  The transmission needed attention about 4 years ago.  This last summer I finally found someone I trusted to rebuild the transmission.  It was right on the verge of becoming expensive.  Had to replace the 1-2 collar and fork.  The pads on all the forks were off or about to crack apart.  The guy who rebuilt the transmission use to work for a rebuilder in Portland, OR and was attempting to start is own business.  Did a nice job and cleaned and painted everything.  Not many people know how to rebuild a T45.  I need to start replacing the bushings and other things that need attention on a 23 year old car.  It has about 72K on it.