Hot Rods Boy! I never seen that before!

Ever done an engine swap and had zero clearance for the oil filter? Here's a solution we found in my FE Customline. Sump/crossmember clearance has an interesting solution also if I can find a photo.

 

Hello,

While we were teenagers, we utilized good mechanics and safety stuff for our cars. After all, if the car is not reliable, we cannot get to work, high school, surf spots, or utilize our cruising grounds. But, as it does rain in So Cal and since there were big open fields in the industrial area of Wilmington, near the Terminal Island Freeway, boys will be boys. The rains made the flat, grassy fields into open race courses. The fields were far enough away from the Wilmington oil fields and industrial buildings that it did not bother anyone.

At first, it was just driving around the muddy fields, skidding around until our necks hurt. Then it was going around in circles, sliding in the mud. Finally, a road course for timed runs, skidding all the way left and right, out to a fence and back. In all of the times we did this, the flathead in the 40 Ford Sedan Delivery performed like a race car motor. The reclaimed oil was topped out at the beginning and lasted until we went to the $.25 cents hand spray car wash near the cheapo gas station for more oil and gas.

Jnaki

Looking back at those rainy day’s, dumb, joyrides and knowing that any repairs were a distant idea because of (lack of or… ) no money, we were lucky. It just cost us a gallon of recycled oil and two uses of the $.25 cent car wash to get everything clean before we drove home. The stock flathead motor? It purred, then screamed like a wild cat during those full power turns and skids. “Oh what fun it was… in a salmon colored, skidding, sleigh ride…”

We were back in school the following Mondays and the flathead always ran like a top ! (There were some remnants of us with a lot of tire tracks and grooves in that tall grassy, muddy, empty field. But, in two weeks, it was grown over again and had wavy grass for the next escapade.)


The black 58 Impala? (No, I don’t think so…) It was a drag racer/cruiser which did its daily excursions and weekly races, but there was no extra curricular abuse. We knew its place in the pecking order of teenager cruising/racing. What happened during inclement weather days? When arriving home, in the garage, out came the chamois to dry off the Impala getting it clean and ready for the next day’s outing. Teenage fanaticism lives to this day.

The usual lively discussion with my wife and family:

“Women always feel guilty about everything. The only thing you feel guilty about is that the car(s) are not clean.” That always brings on a ton of laughter from everyone, young and old.

 

I was stationed at Pearl Harbor in the 70's and got to know most of the wrecking yards on the lee side of Oahu. During a parts hunt at a yard in Pearl City a friend and I happen upon a fairly new, '69 I think, Road Runner, lime green, no interior and one "unforgettable!" bit of body damage. On the passenger side of the hood is a big block Mopar sized head hole, which obviously was created when the head departed the engine bay at a very high rate of speed. We opened the hood and the head, part of the intake and exhaust manifolds, and some of the block were gone! There was also evidence of what looked like a home brewed Nitrous system still hanging above what was left of the intake. If there had been a passenger on board I am certain the passenger seat was probably ruined.
I know, no pictures and it never happened, but that was before I started taking my camera to the junk yard.

 

Boy I never saw that before I can't recall that I ever seen something

 

Was pulling a 56 Chevy 2 dr home with a 1973 Honda Civic, got to the first turn , steered the Honda and the 56 Chevy just pushed me straight ahead, started over and kept a load on the tow rig and it worked a little better.

 

I,m gonna break a oath I took 50 years ago ..me and my 2 buddies were in high school...we were bored to tears one sunny afternoon..we had a teacher we couldn't stand and he drove a vw bug which he parked close to our shop class...well we decided to sabotage his vw....at first we were just gonna unhook the the gasoline line...but then somebody came up with the big ideal to pull out a spark plug and put it by the gas line.......so when the last class ended we all ran outside to see what would happen....it kinda uneventful for about 500 ft he stopped for a red light....then boom the whole car burst into flames.....he barely made it out of the car ..the melted right Into the road...boys I,'ll tell you right now you've never seen 3 boys more scared in your life...we swore we would never tell no one.....they ruled it a accident and we were never found out....

 

I Was the low man at the city garage, many moons ago and was sent out to check on a 51 Ford winch truck that quit, heading back just before quitting time. Our shop truck was not fully equiped , usually just jumper cables and pliers and screw driver, lol. I found that the little piece of springy steel had broken off the rotor bug, no spark. Didn’t have another rotor, so I looked around on the street and spotted a small piece of wire, with my pliers twisted onto what brass was left on the rotor, fired right up, got the driver back before quitting time. Next day it was all over the city, “ that new kid fixed my truck with junk off the street” had my 15 minutes of fame lol. Bones

 

Back in the early '70s I worked for a Ford Truck dealership. I worked swing shift and this particular day a new guy they hired had changed the water pump on a 390 FE engine in a pickup. It was back at the shop later for a coolant leak. Come to find out the new guy couldn't get one bolt to start in the water pump. Any For guy knows there are a lot of bolts on that pump. So he takes the offending bolt over to the grinder and grinds a point on the threaded end of the bolt and drove it in with a hammer. I think that was his last day on the job.

 

You probably don't know how many times I have wanted to do that very thing! So far, I've been able to resist the urge but it gets closer every time.

 

While working at a service station in the 80s, midnight shift, late one night I heard a horribly loud scraping noise coming down the road.

Eventually I saw this huge jalopy round the corner throwing monstrous sparks from his left front wheel. It was a drunk driver who got a flat tire many miles ago and kept driving until he found a service station.

He pulled in, staggered out of his car and asked if I had a spare tire. I looked down at the remains of his smoking, glowing wheel hub, pointed and said “what am I going to mount it to?”

About a third of his hub was ground away.

On another day a lady pulled up in a brand new Jeep with white smoke pouring out of the engine bay, accompanied by very loud engine heat casting noises.

I opened the hood. The engine was so hot I had to stand back.

She explained that the check oil light had come on many miles ago, but she figured the light must be broken because she was driving home from oil change performed by the dealership.

After letting the engine cool down I removed her oil filter and discovered that half of the old oil filter O-ring was stuck on to the block resulting in a mismatch with the new filter, causing all the oil to gush out.

She asked if a new oil change would fix this.

I told her that Jeep probably owed her a new engine. Pretty sure she got it.

 

My missus was driving home in her mid '70's Holden, when it sprang a leak and overheated. She called the RAA (our equivalent of AAA), and the bloke found a nice hole corroded through the top of the thermostat housing. To get her back on the road home, he whittled a pointy stick, tapped it into the hole, filled the water, and sent her off. To his credit, he did what he could with what he had, and it worked. !

 

A friend of mine wired a complete windshield washer set up in the trunk of his Nova and put the squirt tips out the fender well in front of his tires so he could do bleach burnouts at will

 

Was in the service in the early 70,s stationed in Va.and lived in upstate ny.bought a Alfa romero,drove it back to Va.and came home a few weeks later and it broke down on 81 in Bears gap in pa.I knew my buddy was coming behind and got a ride home with him.Couple weeks later,we was going home,stopped in bears gap,hook up a chain and took off for ny,on 81,towing 50-60 with a chain,in January ,snow,cold,slush,couldn't see nothing.towed about 3 hours like that till I got so cold couldn't stand it.stopped in bingingham,about two hours from home,left it there and me and my dad went down the next day and towed it the rest of the way with a chain.my dad towed just as fast as my army buddy,laughed all the way home as I was freezing.

 

Lol some of these are funny.....

 

I thought of doing that exact same thing when I was young. A grabber orange 55 Ford draws enough attention as it is and I thought better of it.

 

We all want the local police to be on hand when any emergency applies. They put their lives on the line everyday, kudos to them. But, all of these great stories are just part of life and should be told…Besides, our memories are what gives us momentum as the years go past.

Hello,

Back in high school in Long Beach, most of my friends had fast cars. But, there was a pecking order. Some cars just did not race others as everyone knew who was the fastest. But, once in a while, some one would pop up with a new car and everyone would step back and oohh/aahhh.

This one guy was good friends with all of us, but he only drove one of his mom’s cars around. (62 custom T Bird with headrests, etc.) He kept wanting to buy a fast car, but did not know what to get. So, in 62, he ordered a bright red, 2 door, Chevy Biscayne with a 409 motor and a 4 speed. The funny thing was, he had never driven a stick shift car before.


He wanted us to teach him how to shift while the car was on order. We took him out in another friend’s 2 door 57 Chevy Bel Air where we had swapped the 3 speed column shifter with a 4 speed on the floor. We showed him as much stuff as possible, but he was just not fluent in smooth shifts, acceptable to drive around, but as far as racing, no way.

Both the owner of the 57 and myself were very good in speed shifting or power shifting while accelerating in a race. We watched all of the hot gas coupe/sedan guys at the Lions and tried to emulate what they were doing. Doug Cook, in his 37 Chevy, Jr. Thompson in the 41 Studebaker, even the S/S class racers, etc. But, for some reason, our other friend just could not get the power shifting idea. Gear grinding, funny noises, they all came from trying to shift fast.

Finally, his 62 Biscayne showed up and it was a fabulous car. Everyone was envious, mainly because it was new and sounded outstanding, just firing it up. The 409 did go fast, but the owner just could not shift well. We went out driving many times to get the shifting down. He never raced anyone because he was nervous about the gear shifts.

But, sitting in the drive-in restaurant back row, the car just looked mean and when he rolled down the alley behind the back row, the sound was outrageous. He was crowned the fastest without racing anyone. We all knew how fast those 409 cars were. Of course, the quiet, dark alley amplified the shifts or missing shifts to no end. So, he always took it easy in his shifting.

One day, we were driving down a busy street practicing at the stop lights just to get a starting program going. Accelerating and shifting into 2nd gear. (flying by Ken’s Burger’s Drive-In lot) But, by the third light he went to 3rd and took off flying in the Biscayne. We did not notice anything unusual, but by the 4th light, up rolls a black and white with two policemen looking at us in a funny way. We did not see them in the rear view mirror as they were hiding behind a couple of cars.

The conversation goes like this: We are at a stop light on Long Beach Blvd and Wardlow Rd.

What’s up boys? Just trying to learn how to shift the 4 speed in my new car, sir.
Is that car fast? Well, sir, it is a new 409 motor and we are trying to get used to it.
Is that what you were doing for the last three stop lights? Yes, sir, we were just practicing.
So, your car is fast? Well, sir, yes, it is supposed to be fast.
Then all of a sudden, out pops this gun pointed at us and says…
Do you think your car is faster than this?

We are now totally freaked out and stay where we are at the intersection, as the light turns green. The police car then peels out and takes off across the intersection and disappears from sight. (maybe late for the nightly coffee and doughnuts) We immediately pull over to the curb and start sweating and cussing. What just happened? What the $%^#$%% ! The cars behind us just could not interrupt because of the police car sitting there next to us.

Jnaki

For the rest of the night cruising around in the Biscayne, it was driving ever so slowly and shifting normally, no accelerating or speed shifting. Or trying to anyway… It was a mean, red dragon waiting to fly…

That 409 red Biscayne was really fast. I was able to drive it on our “Cherry Avenue Raceway” later in the week. The motor was powerful and I could make the 4 speed sound like an automatic going down the street. It was faster (stock) than my 58 Impala, even with the newer speed stuff we put on the Impala in 1960.

But, our C&O Hydro could always beat the Biscayne off of the line and hold a lead before he zipped by waving. But by then, he saw my 6 taillights first. So, it was a quick race with the taillights showing the winner…yes…The Impala stayed undefeated until sold in 65.


Oh, life as a teenager in fast cars…carefree days.

 

When I was a young we were loading some hay about 5 miles from the ranch, my friend John was supposed to be helping us. While tying off the load I heard a loud knocking sound and saw John flying down the dirt road about 60 ,the loose rod in his ‘50 Plymouth sounding off. He slid in the hay field and my dad said “ John, you kinda driving that old Plymouth kinda hard with that loose rod aren’t ya?” John told my dad he had to drive that fast to get here because he was almost out of gas! True story! Bones

 

Then
Hello,

We had access to several cemeteries in Long Beach back in the cruising high school days. They are still around. One is talked about more because of the certified ¼ mile marked course on the adjoining/dividing street. That cemetery is still going strong and located in the wide open spaces.

The factions of hot rodders were more familiar with the cemetery on Cherry Avenue, because of the loneliness and the 1/4 MILE race course marked on that mile long road. It was used most weekends and late evenings/early mornings.

The one that most cruising teenagers are more accustomed to is the Sunnyside Cemetery in the Long Beach portion of Signal Hill. A lot of the high school kids drove by this cemetery almost daily on their way to the local high school. At night, it was an attraction since it was quiet, secluded and eerie.

The road that ran through the whole complex was always open and accessible to everyone. We did not disrespect anyone or any property on the grounds, but used it as a “teenage scary moment drive.” It was mostly the girls that wanted to cruise through the dark cemetery. Most of us boys were not having anything to do with that dark place at any hour, even during the day.

Back in 60-64, that place was totally green, well kept up and looked like a nice drive in the country, with the exception of the headstones. For some reason, these girls always wanted to cruise through the whole dark, scary place. We were fine if the doors were locked and the windows rolled up.

Jnaki

Today, it is in recovery and dire straights as far as upkeep. It looks like an dry, deserted, weed infested property, except for the headstones standing tall.
NOW
Everyone has stories to tell about this lonely cemetery. As part of a prank when I was first starting in high school, I had to walk through this Signal Hill/Long Beach Cemetery as a result of a lost bet. That was not much fun, as I could not run through the place, but calmly walk through the central road from one side to the other.

After all bets were satisfied, I never had the cause to go back there again. Despite the teenage hoopla about bravery, macho things and a general tough persona... those things were all part of growing up.

So, when driving by the old place, I laugh at the absurdity of the teenage years.

 

Was on the way from San Antonio to Dallas on I-35 back in the early early 80s driving an early 70s OT car. Waxahachie TX, car starts getting hot. I check under the hood and find a nice size hole in the top radiator hose. Got an empty beer can out of the back floorboard, split it and wrapped it around the hose where the hole was, used electrical tape first, and then covered all that with duct tape, filled the radiator from a nearby drainage ditch, put the cap on loosely, and drove on into Garland TX like that. Didn't take but a couple of flushes to get all the muddy water out of the cooling system after replacing the hose a week or two later.

 

This is where I choose the car I want to keep and the one that I'm going to abandon.

 

A friend of mine had a 47 Chevy. He couldn't afford to have tailpipes made for it so he climbed on the roof of their house and stole the TV antenna tubing. That night his parents couldn't figure out why they couldn't get TV reception. This same guy's car had "three on the tree". The shift lever was in his way to grope his girlfriend while cruising. So he flipped it from the right hand side of the column to the left. One morning his dad had to move his car out of the way. You guessed it, he plowed right into the back of his own car. We certainly did some strange things back then.

 

how about prom night , lost bolt to positive side on battery cable so hurriedly looked on the bench in my gals dads garage and found a replacement added fifty washers and we were on our way. good times!

 

^ That'll get your attention!^

 

'60 Pontiac motor mounts broke, first one, then the other. Motor would rise up and jam the throttle down, would have to shut it off, put in neutral, restart. Removed each one, wrapped in coathanger wire, reinstalled, drove that way fine until I ordered replacements.

One beater car I had for a while someone had poorly welded these brackets under it, I guess to hold the exhaust on. Angle iron, 3 inches or so down and then a cross beam all the way across the car, bubble gum arc welds all over. Of course, in the winter a chunk of packed snow off another car that I ran over knocked one of the brackets clean off, which punctured a rear tire and gave me a flat. Not a big deal except then one lugnut rounded off and at 5:00 on a Sunday night I couldn't get any help, the parts store people wouldn't even come to the door.

So I got pissed off and said to hell with it and drove it home that way. Maybe 5 miles, stayed off the highway. It was front wheel drive and pulled just fine. Took it someplace to burn out the stud the next day. I drove that car six more months and even after it sat three more years it still ran.

 

A kid in my school had a 54 Ford, V8, auto, that had the right rear wheel cylinder go out. So instead of fixing it he just pinched off the hydraulic line to it. He be sitting in line to leave school behind the buses and give that old Ford just enough gas and hold the brakes, to slowly turn the tire, looked weird! Then when he showed up some where he would smoke that tire like crazy. Went through a lot of junk tires on that car. Bones

 

Had an early 260 Cobra---Came out of Lakeport CA going home to Bay Area Hopland grade and too much speed broke the left front hub right thru the cotter pin access hole. Retrieved wheel, had car towed back to Lakeport, called Shelby and was told to ship hub back for inspection.
Two weeks later, received new hub loaded with my old bearings from Shelby. However, there was NO grease seal with new hub. Called Dad, the mechanic, and asked him what to do.
Dad said get your sisters' scissors, some stiff corrugated cardboard and make a seal. (all it had to do was keep grease in hub).
Did exactly that, owned the car for another two years, sold it with the cardboard grease seal. Always wondered what the new owner thought when he was shown that seal!!

 

I can't believe I sat here and read the whole thread...

 

My wife and I took a L-O-N-G drive, up into British Columbia, Canada to go to the Nostalgia Drag Races at the Eagle Motorplex, driving her 65 Rustang. We got as far as Bridle Veil Falls, and stopped for gas. I noticed a wisp of steam coming from under the hood. When I popped the hood, the entire top tank of the radiator split wide open; the hood clasp had been resting on the radiator cap for who knows how long, and on this day, it decided to let go. On a SUNDAY! Nothing else open, so I scrounged up a bunch of plastic milk jugs, filled them with water, used the lug wrench to beat/tap in the top of the radiator as best I could, left the radiator cap loose, and headed home. At the border, the USA Border Guard asked if we had anything to "declare"; "just that this car is a piece of junk", I said. Left the radiator cap loose, kept stopping to refill with water, and refill the jugs, and just outside of Mt. Vernon, Wa, on the I-5 long incline, the engine really overheated for the last time; it would't start after cooling down. Left the Rustang on the freeway off-ramp, hitched a ride home, and returned with a radiator taken from our 63 Ranchero, tools, and a length of chain to pull it home if need be. I pulled the spark plugs to get an idea how things were with the engine; there was aluminum droplets on the plugs! Swapped out the radiator, filled up with water, and fired the engine off; it seemed to run fine, and she drove it back home with me following. I'm still surprised we got as far as we did with the top tank split, pounded in, and the cap left loose. I don't know how many gallon milk jugs of water we used, but at one point, I refilled them from water in a ditch. Less than 2 years later, I finally got my wife willing to trade her Rustang in on a new, 1990 LX, 5.0 Mustang. I'll leave a car permanently on the side of the road before I go through that again. That 65 Rustang was my cross to bear on this earth, for far too long, but she would't part with it for anything. Everyone would tell her, "65 Mustangs are worth a lot of money", but this one was NOT! The Ford dealer repainted the car, redid the interior, detail the engine compartment, and sold it for about 5 times what we got in trade-in. It already had new brakes, new ball joints, new transmission, swapped in the rear end from the 63 Ranchero (the stock one had a howl) , along with the aforementioned radiator. Some kid wound up with a nice looking 65 Mustang, but now he had his cross to bear. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Hello,
Driving by this old centerpiece of Signal Hill surrounded by the city of Long Beach makes one think of the old high school days. Most of our friends drove by this place every day to and from school. My experience was the adjacent roads are what lead those to the Bixby Knolls cruising grounds from Central Long Beach and our high school. But my last excursion in that neighborhood was an eye opener. It is not what it used to be and it looks awful.

What a coincidence, I was wondering how that old cemetery was able to continue its upkeep since it is totally full. The endowments from those families keep it going, but they are still in dire straits. (not the rock group) So, several local businesses have come up with a charity event for those over 21. It will hopefully raise enough to supplement the needs for daily upkeep on this big piece of Long Beach history.

A charity event created by couple of locals will present the cemetery in a way so as not to disturb those in residence.
For the complete story, go to: https://www.festivalobscura.com/

Jnaki

http://www.gazettes.com/entertainme...cle_fd4bc910-6e7a-11e8-87e9-3bcc9762ec01.html



One of the local sponsors, just next door to the Historical Society of Long Beach and their display of "CHROME" a Long Beach Hot Rod history retrospective starting July 14.
http://hslb.org/chrome/