Picked up a running donor car for the drivetrain to swap into my fox, but decided to keep it together, as the car is just plain awesome. :banana:
I present: The Shaggin' Wagon
83 Ford LTD Wagon.
Motor is a fully forged 12.5:1 408 w/ TFS R hogged heads, .696i/.683e lift 278/286 dur cam, ported vic senior intake, 2' hooker super comp headers into 3.5' collectors, and reduced to 3' mufflers, topped by a (suprisingly) very well dialed in Barry Grant mighty demon. It was built for spray, but I will be doing the fuel system/rear end over before a kit goes on, as the car is stout enough for the time being. Backed by a built C4 w/ reverse manual valve body. 4.10's and Hoosier Quicktime Pro's make this a dig animal on the street.
Not to mention, my friend and I split the trailer the car came with. A nice little double axle, open deck 15.5' trailer, with hydraulic brakes in great shape. The owner was sad to see the car go, as he didn't drive it, but I told him it was going to a good home, and I'd let him know when we went to the track.
Seats 5 comfortably, even with the cage, still has the AM/FM radio that works, and has a dedicated vacuum pump in the passenger fender to run power brakes, amongst tons of other goodies. Car is relatively light, checks in around 3200 curb. Tubular K-frame, suspension, airbag. The works. :rockon:
Video is at the bottom, for those of you who want feel free to scroll down.
Felt like telling a pretty cool story about my day at a recent track rental, and how we dedicated it to a friends father who just passed away.
I picked up the car about 3 weeks ago, with intentions of registering it for the season, and swapping drivetrains with my fox. I immediately fell in love with the car, and the reactions of people on the street are freakin' priceless. I had to deal with the vacuum pump overflowing catch can in like 1 mile, so I removed it, and hooked catch can up to valve cover. Problem is, there is alot of pressure in crankcase now, and it starts blowing out seals, namely valve covers.:nonono:
Someone I knew told me about a Honda day track rental @ lebanon valley 9/14/12, but everyone could sign up. So the Friday in advance, I decided to sign up, and take care of the vacuum pump situation in the interm. Over the weekend my friend fell off the grid for abit, a couple of us figured something might be up but none of us thought much of it until Monday.
My friend called me to tell me his Dad had passed. He went to the Lake George car show in upstate New York on Saturday, and had an aneurysm and dropped and hit his head at the show. My friend got the call, and rushed to upstate New York with his brother, and there was bleeding in the brain they couldn't stop, and he had lost alot of brain function, so they made the decision to pull the plug. Suffice to say, when he decided to let the rest of us know, there were about 30 people there at his house within 10-15 minutes of the call.
We all loved his father. That was was/is the local watering spot for most of our crew, we would normally end our nights there, and anyone too banged up to drive could stay. He enjoyed the company, and we would spend until the wee hours of the morning outside shooting the shit with him, regaling countless tales of all the stupid stuff we've done in our lives. He loved having his "rotten ungrateful kids" as he would term it, at the house. But he would always say it with a smile on his face in jest. I remember waking up one morning, after a bender, and he was outside looking at my GTI, and told me I don't take care of it. He had polished the headlights for me. Always one to help out. He was an old school muscle fan, and would consistently remind us the value of "Stayin' in it" during any hairy situation.
Suffice to say, everything from that phone call happened very quickly. One of our childhood friends flew up from Florida to be a Pall Bearer, and I had to dispatch my own mom, to pick him up at the airport just so he could make it midway thru Wednesday's wake, in which he had to board the plane in his funeral clothes, most of us were getting suits @ lord and taylors 1 hr prior to wake.
After the Funeral, and reception Thursday, everybody seemed to be in decent shape considering. I mentioned to my friend, we should bring the wagon to the rental, and dedicate the runs to Al, and him and his brother could race it down the track. He was excited for this, but the lawyers needed a meeting to get probate under way because there was no will. I told him I would make it happen.
So after the reception we all went back to the house to hang out. I quickly threw a set of plugs in the wagon, and put a new gasket on the valve cover. Then during the test drive the pump started to go during WOT. Eventually it would come back up, but it stopped. I limped it to my house on the fuel left in the bowls, and felt defeated knowing I couldn't put a pump in, in a couple hours, as we would of been leaving the next morning early. So I took my other car back to his house, and called it a wash. My other friends said we should still trailer it up, and see if I could make it down the track with the gas left in the carb, but I knew that was not an option.
So fast forward to the next morning. I had put 2 gallons of 110 octane in the day before when i limped it back, thinking it might be out of gas considering I had like 80 miles on the tank with unknown MPG, however, I filled it on an incline. As it turns out, the pump was fine. The car was just running out of gas, and the unsumped tank was sloshing fuel away from the pump. To top it off, the tank isn't vented, and I had the cap on it. So 7am comes around, I walk out, and flick the pump on, and pressure comes right up. My eyes lit up, the bitch was just out of gas. I frantically call my friend, and tell him the news, and tell him to get in touch with our other friend, whose vehicle we are using to tow the car. Being the first time we used this trailer, they didn't arrive to my house until about 10:45. Gates open 9am with tech. Racing starts @ 10am, and they close @ 3pm. We were 125 miles out. We had to hustle knowing we would probably only get 1 run in, if that.
I had gotten the car ready the best I could. All my tools are at my friends shop we work in. I didn't even have a tire pressure gauge, lol.
We set out around 11:45am.. 3 deep in a TBI 350 K2500.. Suffice to say, we weren't exactly breaking any land speed records. Thank God for the 4l80 backing that truck!
We arrive a little before 2pm, and the racer entry is closed. We had to swing the truck around, and go in visitor entrance. I threw the keys to my friend and told him to take the car to an air station and put 20 in the slicks, 20 in the airbag, and 40 in the fronts. I rush to the bottom of the tower, and it is locked. I call my friend who told me about the rental, and ask him where the 13203 crew is so I can ask them what to do. As it turns out, Tech inspection stops @ 12PM, and they told me it's out of there hands now, my best bet would be to run up the tower and plead my case.
So I run with my friend to the tower and knock on it. I summarized the situation and asked if I could still run my car. The gentleman there said, "We'll did you go through tech?" I told him I just got there, and he said, "Well you can't run, there is no tech, Sorry, but there is nothing we can do"
I told him this meant alot to our crew, and If he wants I would be perfectly happy just driving down the track at like 20mph, I wasn't worried about the $70, I just wanted to do this for a friend. I pleaded with him, and it seemed like he and the others in the tower understood. He told me the majority of the Honda kids there were getting past tech inspection with crappy parts/fixes, and leaking on the track, I told him the car has a cage, 5 point harness, certified to Nov 2013, driveshaft loop, and I have the helmet. He asked me to read the numbers off the belts and helmet, and he gave me a run card, and told me to take it easy, and go right lanes, I thanked him and we sped out of there.
I see my wagon going into the lanes, and my friend Jeremy throw his hands up, "The air station is off!" I'm like, SHIT! I know the car without air in the bag is just gonna liquefy the tires. So I immediately hop in the car, and proceed to the line. Not being to the track in 3 years, and having not even had the car for more than 3 weeks with all of 100 street miles on it, I knew it wasn't gonna be a good showing.
Being nervous as well, I did a pretty bad burnout at first. Stalled it to 2k at the line, and punched it on the last yellow. The car immediately started bouncing off the 7300rpm limiter in first, and I snagged second before the 60' foot mark, and the spinning continued through second. Even the 12 sec lightning next to me just flew past me. I was hazing the damn tires at the 330'ft mark! I grabbed 3rd, it bogged, so I went back down to 2nd. I didn't even want to look at the damn slip, but we got our run in, and did what we had to do. I pulled over to the trailer, considering it a wash. Pulled out the slip and it ran 12.65@122mph. I was like WTF? that was the worst pass I could possible imagine and it still ran 122? Previous owner ran a 11.3@122 at the same track, but that was on a 90* day, and 300lb driver. I was figuring another pass, I could at least match that.
I immediately threw it in drive, and went back to the lanes. Found an air station to the right of the lanes, and it worked!epper: Game on, no gauge, but I eyeballed the airbag, and took my keys to the slicks and air'ed them out.
Went back to the line again. This time as I was about to do a burnout, the tree official, started point to me and telling me to get off because of leak. As it turns out, the tower called in and told him to give me one last run. I knew I had to make this count, I did a proper burnout, cleared the carb out, and decided if I was only gonna have 1 run, to make it clean. I stalled it to 2k, and dumped the brake, let the car roll forward, then leaned into the gas, short shifted 1st to 2nd to not be a hero, and let the car eat in 2nd. Suffice to say I was happy with the result, as there is DEFINATELY room to drop into the next second range. Might not be crazy fast by today's standards, but for a N/A 5 seater wagon, it will surprise alot of people
Anyhow, sorry for the long story. Felt it might be worth the read. Onto the video.
[youtube_browser]Wfy_eAxPFSk[/youtube_browser]
I present: The Shaggin' Wagon
83 Ford LTD Wagon.
Motor is a fully forged 12.5:1 408 w/ TFS R hogged heads, .696i/.683e lift 278/286 dur cam, ported vic senior intake, 2' hooker super comp headers into 3.5' collectors, and reduced to 3' mufflers, topped by a (suprisingly) very well dialed in Barry Grant mighty demon. It was built for spray, but I will be doing the fuel system/rear end over before a kit goes on, as the car is stout enough for the time being. Backed by a built C4 w/ reverse manual valve body. 4.10's and Hoosier Quicktime Pro's make this a dig animal on the street.
Not to mention, my friend and I split the trailer the car came with. A nice little double axle, open deck 15.5' trailer, with hydraulic brakes in great shape. The owner was sad to see the car go, as he didn't drive it, but I told him it was going to a good home, and I'd let him know when we went to the track.
Seats 5 comfortably, even with the cage, still has the AM/FM radio that works, and has a dedicated vacuum pump in the passenger fender to run power brakes, amongst tons of other goodies. Car is relatively light, checks in around 3200 curb. Tubular K-frame, suspension, airbag. The works. :rockon:
Video is at the bottom, for those of you who want feel free to scroll down.
Felt like telling a pretty cool story about my day at a recent track rental, and how we dedicated it to a friends father who just passed away.
I picked up the car about 3 weeks ago, with intentions of registering it for the season, and swapping drivetrains with my fox. I immediately fell in love with the car, and the reactions of people on the street are freakin' priceless. I had to deal with the vacuum pump overflowing catch can in like 1 mile, so I removed it, and hooked catch can up to valve cover. Problem is, there is alot of pressure in crankcase now, and it starts blowing out seals, namely valve covers.:nonono:
Someone I knew told me about a Honda day track rental @ lebanon valley 9/14/12, but everyone could sign up. So the Friday in advance, I decided to sign up, and take care of the vacuum pump situation in the interm. Over the weekend my friend fell off the grid for abit, a couple of us figured something might be up but none of us thought much of it until Monday.
My friend called me to tell me his Dad had passed. He went to the Lake George car show in upstate New York on Saturday, and had an aneurysm and dropped and hit his head at the show. My friend got the call, and rushed to upstate New York with his brother, and there was bleeding in the brain they couldn't stop, and he had lost alot of brain function, so they made the decision to pull the plug. Suffice to say, when he decided to let the rest of us know, there were about 30 people there at his house within 10-15 minutes of the call.
We all loved his father. That was was/is the local watering spot for most of our crew, we would normally end our nights there, and anyone too banged up to drive could stay. He enjoyed the company, and we would spend until the wee hours of the morning outside shooting the shit with him, regaling countless tales of all the stupid stuff we've done in our lives. He loved having his "rotten ungrateful kids" as he would term it, at the house. But he would always say it with a smile on his face in jest. I remember waking up one morning, after a bender, and he was outside looking at my GTI, and told me I don't take care of it. He had polished the headlights for me. Always one to help out. He was an old school muscle fan, and would consistently remind us the value of "Stayin' in it" during any hairy situation.
Suffice to say, everything from that phone call happened very quickly. One of our childhood friends flew up from Florida to be a Pall Bearer, and I had to dispatch my own mom, to pick him up at the airport just so he could make it midway thru Wednesday's wake, in which he had to board the plane in his funeral clothes, most of us were getting suits @ lord and taylors 1 hr prior to wake.
After the Funeral, and reception Thursday, everybody seemed to be in decent shape considering. I mentioned to my friend, we should bring the wagon to the rental, and dedicate the runs to Al, and him and his brother could race it down the track. He was excited for this, but the lawyers needed a meeting to get probate under way because there was no will. I told him I would make it happen.
So after the reception we all went back to the house to hang out. I quickly threw a set of plugs in the wagon, and put a new gasket on the valve cover. Then during the test drive the pump started to go during WOT. Eventually it would come back up, but it stopped. I limped it to my house on the fuel left in the bowls, and felt defeated knowing I couldn't put a pump in, in a couple hours, as we would of been leaving the next morning early. So I took my other car back to his house, and called it a wash. My other friends said we should still trailer it up, and see if I could make it down the track with the gas left in the carb, but I knew that was not an option.
So fast forward to the next morning. I had put 2 gallons of 110 octane in the day before when i limped it back, thinking it might be out of gas considering I had like 80 miles on the tank with unknown MPG, however, I filled it on an incline. As it turns out, the pump was fine. The car was just running out of gas, and the unsumped tank was sloshing fuel away from the pump. To top it off, the tank isn't vented, and I had the cap on it. So 7am comes around, I walk out, and flick the pump on, and pressure comes right up. My eyes lit up, the bitch was just out of gas. I frantically call my friend, and tell him the news, and tell him to get in touch with our other friend, whose vehicle we are using to tow the car. Being the first time we used this trailer, they didn't arrive to my house until about 10:45. Gates open 9am with tech. Racing starts @ 10am, and they close @ 3pm. We were 125 miles out. We had to hustle knowing we would probably only get 1 run in, if that.
I had gotten the car ready the best I could. All my tools are at my friends shop we work in. I didn't even have a tire pressure gauge, lol.
We set out around 11:45am.. 3 deep in a TBI 350 K2500.. Suffice to say, we weren't exactly breaking any land speed records. Thank God for the 4l80 backing that truck!
We arrive a little before 2pm, and the racer entry is closed. We had to swing the truck around, and go in visitor entrance. I threw the keys to my friend and told him to take the car to an air station and put 20 in the slicks, 20 in the airbag, and 40 in the fronts. I rush to the bottom of the tower, and it is locked. I call my friend who told me about the rental, and ask him where the 13203 crew is so I can ask them what to do. As it turns out, Tech inspection stops @ 12PM, and they told me it's out of there hands now, my best bet would be to run up the tower and plead my case.
So I run with my friend to the tower and knock on it. I summarized the situation and asked if I could still run my car. The gentleman there said, "We'll did you go through tech?" I told him I just got there, and he said, "Well you can't run, there is no tech, Sorry, but there is nothing we can do"
I told him this meant alot to our crew, and If he wants I would be perfectly happy just driving down the track at like 20mph, I wasn't worried about the $70, I just wanted to do this for a friend. I pleaded with him, and it seemed like he and the others in the tower understood. He told me the majority of the Honda kids there were getting past tech inspection with crappy parts/fixes, and leaking on the track, I told him the car has a cage, 5 point harness, certified to Nov 2013, driveshaft loop, and I have the helmet. He asked me to read the numbers off the belts and helmet, and he gave me a run card, and told me to take it easy, and go right lanes, I thanked him and we sped out of there.
I see my wagon going into the lanes, and my friend Jeremy throw his hands up, "The air station is off!" I'm like, SHIT! I know the car without air in the bag is just gonna liquefy the tires. So I immediately hop in the car, and proceed to the line. Not being to the track in 3 years, and having not even had the car for more than 3 weeks with all of 100 street miles on it, I knew it wasn't gonna be a good showing.
Being nervous as well, I did a pretty bad burnout at first. Stalled it to 2k at the line, and punched it on the last yellow. The car immediately started bouncing off the 7300rpm limiter in first, and I snagged second before the 60' foot mark, and the spinning continued through second. Even the 12 sec lightning next to me just flew past me. I was hazing the damn tires at the 330'ft mark! I grabbed 3rd, it bogged, so I went back down to 2nd. I didn't even want to look at the damn slip, but we got our run in, and did what we had to do. I pulled over to the trailer, considering it a wash. Pulled out the slip and it ran 12.65@122mph. I was like WTF? that was the worst pass I could possible imagine and it still ran 122? Previous owner ran a 11.3@122 at the same track, but that was on a 90* day, and 300lb driver. I was figuring another pass, I could at least match that.
I immediately threw it in drive, and went back to the lanes. Found an air station to the right of the lanes, and it worked!
epper: Game on, no gauge, but I eyeballed the airbag, and took my keys to the slicks and air'ed them out. Went back to the line again. This time as I was about to do a burnout, the tree official, started point to me and telling me to get off because of leak. As it turns out, the tower called in and told him to give me one last run. I knew I had to make this count, I did a proper burnout, cleared the carb out, and decided if I was only gonna have 1 run, to make it clean. I stalled it to 2k, and dumped the brake, let the car roll forward, then leaned into the gas, short shifted 1st to 2nd to not be a hero, and let the car eat in 2nd. Suffice to say I was happy with the result, as there is DEFINATELY room to drop into the next second range. Might not be crazy fast by today's standards, but for a N/A 5 seater wagon, it will surprise alot of people
Anyhow, sorry for the long story. Felt it might be worth the read. Onto the video.
[youtube_browser]Wfy_eAxPFSk[/youtube_browser]
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