RW> I was about 18 when a friend of mine gave me a ride in his XKE Jag (he
RW> also had a 1940 Ford coupe with a 292 Chevy (.03 over 283)). He went out
RW> on a deserted road and gave it all she had. 150mph, per the speedometer.
 
That beats me.  Was that a V-12?  I know a guy in this area who has about 3
or 4 Jaguar X*s.  Impressive looking engine, but the upkeep on them must be
horrific.  He even has a couple of Citro‰n (French-made, gangster type
cars) in a shed and won't sell them.
 
RW> On returning to his gas station, he parked it in the light of the service
RW> bay and looked at the new tires he had just put on earlier that day. The
RW> sidewalls were cracked from the high speed.
 
Those tires must have been US Royal or Firestone, the latter of which gave
a new meaning some years ago to their slogan, "The name that's known
is Firestone, where the rubber meets the road."  Did it ever!
 
RW> Remind me to tell you about the night we screwed with the Illinois
RW> highway patrolman in the 40 Ford.
 
I can almost guess, but I'd rather hear it from you.
 
RW> The ride to the airport was in my girlfriends 67 Camaro... :o)
 
My ex wanted to buy a Camaro back in 1977.  She came to the dealership I
worked and I had her get in and out of one three times.  Then she saw the
Monte Carlo and it was no contest.  One of the things I miss about the MC
is the swivel bucket seats.  I still find myself automatically reaching for
the swivel release lever when I get out of the Mark VIII, but not every
time.  A 32 year old habit.  Wow!
 
RW> I'll remember that.
 
Good.  You can't always get good grapes.  When I see the kind I want at the
store, I'll get a big bunch of them, rinse them in tap water when I get
home, put them in a 5-quart container and cover them with water.  Then put
the lid on the container and stick them in the fridge.  This keeps them
from spoiling like they would if you just refrigerated them or left them
out in a basket or something.  It's important to keep them on the stem,
too.
 
RW> I've come across deals like that which were stolen property. Crated 327
RW> Chevy engines all lined up like ducks, stolen off of a freight car.
 
That's what I figured at first, but this guy who told me wouldn't go near
anything like that unless he was somehow fooled.
 
RW> Only when it began to make some rpm. That 2bbl probably made it more
RW> torquey than even a 4bbl would be.
 
I've had three vehicles with 4-bbl carbs and the best one was from the
Tonawanda plant on the 327 in my '68 Impala.
 
RW> Or car crazy...that black FIed 150 wasn't a Black Widow, was it?
 
If it was, that name wasn't on it anywhere.  That's a competition car,
isn't it?  I think it used the same distributor I used in my '57 -- no
window.
 
RW> Plus that year Merc had some nice lines, so it looked great too.
 
Yep, but that's gone now and probably because of all the industrial
espionage going on.  Have you seen the ad on the new Mercedes E-class
lately?  It's really something.
 
RW> My dad took me down to look at that car at the local showroom. I was 7 or
RW> 8 then and it didn't impress me much at the time.
 
I don't believe he made it to N.O., except on the billboards.  I could be
wrong.  That was a long time ago and some of my recall from those times
have been blotted out.
 
RW> I meant to type 'were', which is what all GM fuel injection was during
RW> the 50s and 60s. Today they get more for a used version of that
RW> injection than they do for a TBI/port injected aftermarket system that
RW> has a small computer to run it. About $2500 for the late stuff and over
RW> $3g for the older stuff.
 
A lawer I know bought a Chevy pickup with the 350 diesel.  I pointed him in
the direction of a place west of here (Lafayette, I think) that installed a
conversion kit of some kind on it.  He still had to use diesel fuel, but
the pickup had a lot more torque with that kit installed.  Must have been a
twin blower assy of some type.  I wish I could recall the name and doing a
google search takes too much time.
 
RW> Heh...I would have followed her out of the kitchen and thanked her for
RW> giving me the incentive to decide against eating the spinach.
 
Then I would have been soundly spanked by my mother for disobedience.
 
RW> That works for me too.
 
I should have done that to begin with, but I didn't know at the time that
that much power was going to be a problem with OE head gaskets.
 
RW>RN> It finally rained here yesterday afternoon cooling things off a bit.
 
RW> I heard thunder and the clap of lightning, then looked outside. It was
RW> clear. Then I went in the house and swapped TV channels to the local
RW> weather map...there was a storm on the west side of the freeway, opposite
RW> our place. Still, the paper reported 0 precip this morning.
 
It looked like rain again yesterday, but the rain clouds passed north of us.
 
RW> It was 92 when I left the house at 9 this morning. It's 100 now at
RW> 13:15...
 
We didn't get that hot yesterday, but it was hot enough and the dogs were
barking.  Normally I'm not nosey, but I had to see what the dogs were
barking at.  I noticed some people in the house behind us and to the right
sitting in chairs in their patio and facing toward us.  As soon as the dogs
saw me, they stopped barking.  When I got back inside, the barking started
again.  (-:
 
RW> We'll still be experiencing 100+ at least until Tuesday.
 
Wednesday was a little nicer.  At least it wasn't 103F.
 
RW> Rack that up to live and learn.
 
Or act in haste, repent at leisure.
 
RW> Denny's was giving a 10% discount to 55yo seniors before I turned 50.
 
I don't think we have a Denny's here.  Nearest one I know of is 50 miles
ENE of here.  Some, if not most of the restaurants, will give 50 cents off
to seniors and one only does that at certain times of the day, one day a
week, (Can you believe that?) which is why I go to the Italian place. The
15% off any time is good and so is the food.
 
RW> I didn't believe him...
 
Good.
 
RW> His biggest problem seems to be that the car looses traction and then
RW> wheel hop, which makes him back off and then hit the throttle again.
RW> Meanwhile, his competition has good luck with launching the car.
 
I noticed that, too.  I don't remember that happening to him before, so
something has changed.
 
RW> Not like it is in mine. When I was in my teens and twenties, he'd go to
RW> the local 1/2 mile dirt track for stock cars and not much else. By then I
RW> was at the drags.
 
Sombody built one of those on the outskirts of N.O.  It didn't interest me,
so I didn't go there.
 
RW> So were they. But they made up things like, I missed a shift or didn't
RW> get enough traction...2nd time around, same old thing.
 
LOL!  That didn't happen to me.
 
RW> That's one of the things that gets me too. On a Pontiac engine, you can
RW> seperate the coolant part of the manifold from the rest of it. When you
RW> don't have to drain the radiator to swap a manifold, it's a whole lot
RW> easier.
 
I'm very glad I didn't have to do that!  I would have done that only once.
 
RW> Too much overhead for that.
 
Now, maybe, depending on what you're buying.  The labor rates here are in
the $70+ an hour range.
 
RW> It might fit that too.
 
In that case, I'll definitely look into buying an X pipe.
 
RW> No...it does sweat a lot and I know there was water in that tip. A bit of
RW> carbon mixed with water makes a nice black paste on bumpers.
 
And anything else it touches.   (-:
 
RW> I've given up for now. Too many other priorities.
 
Okay.
 
RW> I hate it when that happens. :o)
 
You aren't ignored here.  (-:-)
 
 
Regards,
 
Roger

... The light at the end of the tunnel is a buglight
--- D'Bridge 3.31