History History??? Too many choices? Open to discussion (opinions and history welcome)

I'm just leaving the motor stock for now it's a runner and a good one at that. And ya my cars a bit more then that it's a 29 that is kinda being scratch built with a 3 inch channel 3 inch drop Axle 36 ford top shift F1 steering ect,ect. But thanks will do

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You know Rich if I didn’t know better I’d say your were kinda being a prick about a project you don’t know much about being built by someone you don’t know.

But seeing as a 32 with the fenders stripped and some bolt ons is almost exactly what a pre war hot rod would be I’ll let Austin to know to take it as a compliment.

That being said Austin’s 21 stud is a professionally rebuilt motor with low miles on it, and though he’s a little green to some of the old ford stuff his friends aren’t and we can get any parts or machine work done locally with out much, if any, hassle.

The plan has actually been if it does get grenaded to a point that’s out of his budget it’ll get a late flathead or an early Y block. Pretty much like an early hot rod would be updated if it broke.

That being said his sedan build though fairly bare bones, is far from a simple “I stuck some stickers on it and now it’s a hotrod” build.

 

The timing pointer will be on the wrong side unless they moved it back on the right ( driver side) in the '90s. Just a small word of advice I am dealing with that on an '80s motor now. You can overcome it but you'll have to be creative.

 

I think you may be right. I seem to have this car confused with another thread I was following. But I did kind of back off on my above post when I realized I had misunderstood. Have fun.

 

LOL I wouldn't mind owning an A that got mistaken for a Deuce. I keep hoping some mistakes my little car for a race car.

 

Seems like your papers faculty adviser would have told the kids that' a 63 not a 64!! Is this the start of "fake news"??

 

I'm sure Jim knew the year of his car but with the other errors in the article, it doesn't appear to have been proof read. What difference do you see to say it is a '63 and not a '64?

 

64's got slab sided and ugly.

 

Beaner, if I understand you correctly what you’re saying about too much choice is close to something I’ve been trying to pin down. I think there is a parallel of sorts in music.

Hitherto, a lot of the meaning-content in music has come out of awareness of what instrument it was that you are hearing. My fear is that that layer of meaning is getting lost due to the surfeit of choice afforded by electronic instruments. Take the example of folk music, being centred very much on the acoustic guitar. When you hear a folk guitar you’re not just hearing a strummy sound; what you’re hearing is laden with the meaning which comes out of awareness that it is a sound which comes out of an acoustic guitar, and that has all kinds of connotations which come out of the practical etc. implications of what kind of thing an acoustic guitar is. In the case of folk music, the fact that an acoustic guitar is relatively cheap to buy, is easily portable, and playing it doesn’t tie up the player’s mouth has a huge bearing on what the music is all about. The musician isn’t necessarily any richer than you, can move easily from place to place both to find an audience and to evade those they might anger, and can make a useful sound without having to rely on the co-operation of a lot of other people – who might not give it unless they are paid more than the musician can afford. That’s why string sections and such often don’t ring true in folk: philharmonic orchestras are very much part of the establishment, and subversive, penniless folk singers don’t have command of them. The fact that all you’re hearing is something you know to be an acoustic guitar argues for the sincerity of what the singer is saying.

Only now you can sequence Mahler’s 8th symphony on less than a good acoustic guitar’s worth of software, so who cares what instrument it is you’re hearing? You can have any instrument for not only the same level of effort, but for the actual exact same effort as any other instrument. It’s just this kind of sound and that kind of sound, and beyond that it’s all completely meaningless. And thus by stages people lose the ability to hear.

Now, we no longer have the facility by making the small sacrifice of limiting oneself to an acoustic guitar to try to say, “Listen: I am speaking the truth. See, I have not been bribed.” I think a lot of this has to do with sacrifice; how some things reward sacrifice and others don’t. All heroism is about sacrifice: and a lot of music appeals because it is in that sense heroic. Certainly hot rods are in that sense heroic.

Hot rods aren’t cool only because they go fast. Hot rods are cool because of the sacrifices you’re willing to make in order to go fast. That is why we reckon going fast is something worth doing in the first place.

The ultimate purpose of a hot rod is to be owned, more profoundly than a stock mass-produced car can be owned, to be mine because it reflects that who I am is willing to put up with noise, questionable idling, sporadic overheating, weight-saving austerity, vibration, high fuel consumption, frequent parts breakages; is willing to learn everything which is going on in there and to know it intimately; is willing to take the time and effort to get it just so, while a lesser person is not. If this is the price of going fast, then going fast is a heroic thing.

It took me a while to figure out that the reason I dislike the modern cars – the reason I consider the automobile as such to have died some time in the ‘90s – is that the modern cars are, in the archaic sense at least, meretricious. Like cheap hookers they give all they have to every passing lowlife with a bank balance, and thus have nothing left to give the true knight. What would the noblest sacrifice gain me? Nothing. That is why a Tesla feels like a slap in the face.

It’s Don Quixote all over again. Me you can just point at the windmills …

 

Too many choices = having lots of parts laying around
It’s a good thing yet makes your head hurt sometimes due to too many options
I call it scrounges disorder
It can lay dormant for a long time then flare up suddenly after locating a cool part that makes your mind start spinning.
There is no known cure

 

My father had a 63 ford unibody. never liked the Y block and three speed on the tree. just quit driving it. he bought this 64 international with a slant 4 and three speed in the floor. He loved that little truck. It had 427 gears in a no spin rearend. and he loaded it too heavy and broke the rearend axle tube. So it was parked because he couldn't find a rearend. T

hen my brother in law gets this old 3/4 ton international 4 dr window van. rusty old thing. So he swapped the 64 binder cab on his frame and builds a wooden flatbed. Well dad gets to thinking he will put the slant 4 and trans in the 63 body. and he does and mounts a master cyl on the firewall to use the binder hyd clutch release. but the 9 inch ford 390 gears are too tall. Se he is trying to fix the 64 binder rear. and it has the small ford car pattern wheel. And I come by and took the rear end home. I installed the 427 no spin in a 56 ford Pk rear end. used the 56 axles and brakes. And I traded for his 9 inch rear. And he drove that truck for years. someone once was harping about his slow truck. He stated if I want to go fast I ride my motorcycle. Then one hot summer day in 95 he went and bought a new ford Pk with a 302 automatic and air cond. He gave the Unibody to my middle son. and he promptly removed the 4 cyl and installed a FE and C6 automatic. It would really smoke the tires but was all wound up at 70 MPH.

 

My first flathead was a 46 ford bob truck with dual 750 x 20 tires on the rear. It had a 53 sears allstate 24 stud engine. and I was glad because I could easily access the points. But a billy goat took to jumping on the hood. and someone had removed the air cleaner. and that seam in the middle was bent down and funneled water into the carb. and The water froze and busted the number one cyl from the inside. So I bought a JC whitney adapter and installed a 61 352 two bbl engine. And boy would it smoke those duals. I went to larger 825 -20 tires. And it still could smoke them. But at above 80 MPH it was a scary ride. I was a young teen with no fear. And not many would ride with me in it. I still have the front fenders and grill and the busted flathead engine. One hot day my friend Jim was driving it. We had been to the river swimming and drinking beer. Jim didn't drink so he was driving. Me and a couple others guys where on the back with a cooler full of beer and our swimming innertubes. No room in that cab for more than two people. This guy we know comes up behind us driving a red 65 chevy convertible. He is wanting us to throw him a beer. Being funny when he stands up to catch the beer I instead throw a flat innertube that has a quart or two of water in it. It catches him around the neck and drags him into the back seat. luckly his passenger was holding the steering wheel. I eventually acquired the 327 from that car. Still have it.

 

Who needs a timing pointer? I just advance the timing until it kicks back on the starter. then back it off a bit. Ive got a 260 in a 63 fairlane. Got it running 26 years ago. shut the hood and haven't messed with it since.

 

The ford top loader transmissions that came behind the FE engines are very tuff. and you can install a jeep top on them and have a old style floor shift. I think as we get older going fast is no longer a priority. My56 Pk had a 66 =352 four bbl engine backed by the heavy three speed. anD I pulled it out. I do have a 428 but Ive got this cool nail head with dual carbs and try Y hedders ect and a adapter and lasalle trans.

 

I think you are right Old wolf. Probably the reason I'm putting a stock 302 in my car instead of opening it up and putting in a cam. I'm just happy to look good getting there anymore, doesn't have to be WFO anymore.....

 

I have reached a point where playing with an old one and going fast enough to make me grin is more then enough. I think we all realize at some point that we have paid our dues.

Today when I race I am racing to make me happy and happy for me is not breaking my back for a weekend and going home broke and tired. If I can drive it in maybe uncork or maybe not and make a pass or two then drive it home I am happy as a duck.

You and I are mechanics, but we have to recognize that we are not dealing with mechanics (no offense intended). I have 3 timing lights, one old one that I get out when I have someone in my drive that doesn't understand and two dial backs new in the box that I have no clue where they came from.

The 302 in my drive is supposed to have the distributer dropped correctly. If I can't time it I'll move it until I can. Simple enough.

 

I have reached the same point myself. Packard powered Vega or a flathead four Plymouth roadster wern't going to be fast. But fun enough. And different. Then Bob roped me into his project. Way to fast for me at any time. Good thing I don't really do anything on the car itself.

 

I think engine lineage is more important that what specific displacement, but you make an interesting point. Outwardly, there are few, if any, visual differences between a 1962 327, a 1970 350, and a brand new crate 383, especially if you take the time to get an older style intake, etc. That stuff doesn't offend me. I do think that the engine lineage will date the build style, ie, a SBF first introduced in 62 looks out of place in any 50s styled build. But there are loads of options out there now for all sorts of engines, way more performance parts options and aftermarket for obsolete engines. The only limiting factor is what you can afford.

 

too many rules