Newest Newbie

[jehrbear]

Hey all,
New to the sport, but I've been a spectator for many years, and a couple years back decided to trade my perfectly good Mustang toy for a rusty beater with the hopes of slowly building it into a respectable 1/4 mile beast. Even though all this activity coincided with my 40th birthday 2 years back, it has nothing to do with a midlife crisis no matter what my wife says

Since I didn't ever have the heart to cut up the stang (really nice driver 88 5.0 convert), I replaced it with something i had no history with so I could really create a "hot rod" with no guilt of tearing up a great car. I had a few offers to trade for mid to late 80s Trans Ams with stock 350 crate swaps or a stock 305, a really killer 50 ford with a flathead, and I probably should have taken one of those "high and easy roads" as parts are cheap and plentiful, but then I heard this mild cam Cleveland with headers fire up just once, and as they say, the rest is history:



So now I'm trying to make a 4000 pound rust bucket run like the wind with some skilz and a pocket change budget, but a passion to have fun and make it happen. With a blown carb, and a lot of cobwebs, I was able to limp the car to a 15 second ET during one of the Midnight Madness runs. This was a much improved run from the first night which gave me an embarassing 19 second slip which ended our night pushing the car on the trailer after one pass due to a fuel pump failure (and a new dent in the fender as I "missed" loading it on the "too small" trailer. Big fun.

If I get this beast to run a 12.999, I've got a bottle of Single Barrel up on the shelf we'll crack open in celebration.

Since last year I have gotten a new much improved carb, and I've got the parts for a shifter,
Carb is installed and somewhat street tested, and I've got the parts for a shifter (free B&M prostick from racer buddy, just needed to swap the cable and the gate from a glide to a 3speed, not a bad deal).

Still looking for the right answer on gearing, just know i need to do something. The stock 9" pegleg has 2:75 gears, racer buddy has a spool to donate, just need to pick the gearing, and "get around to it". Still needing recommendations for gearing (any opinions?
Specs are 25" tire currently, C4 auto, 2v Clev with v4 conversion, Edelbrock intake and a 600 holley dp, headers, flowmasters, 2.5" exhaust. Not exactly sure on ponies yet, guessing (hoping for)300 plus, but due to the carb, I think my MPH at the stripe will be much improved with the carb as i was barely shifting 3d and pulling really hard still, but best so far is 90mph. One of my crew is telling me 4:56 but I"m scared i'll be way above the powerband, and I really don't want to stress this engine much above 6k until I open her up myself, and would like to put that off until the bodywork is done. Feel free to chime in, always looking for that experienced constructive critisism (I pull my Ford with a Chevy truck, and my first car was a Dodge so no Ford haters please....and ironically, my tow vehicle is faster than my race car...but we're working on that)

Hopefully with the experience and wisdom of others, along with a couple racer friends who have passed along some trick parts and installation assistance we'll get there.

Wow, this was long winded, can you tell i'm bored at work today

[Crossbones Dennis]

Welcome to the site. I love the dare to be different crowd.

Here's some calculators you can play with

www.golenengineservice.com/html/calculators.html#DRcalc

www.richmondgear.com/01calculators.html

www.wallaceracing.com/Calculators.htm

[bobby]

72?

[jehrbear]

Mar 10, 2010 11:50:22 GMT -6 Crossbones Dennis said:

Welcome to the site. I love the dare to be different crowd.

Yeah man, it was somewhat unintentional, but being a cheapskate at heart, i tend to end up off the beaten path quite a bit and didn't want to have to compete for attention against the high dollar Camaros/Stangs/hemi croud that's out there. I was suprized when i rolled the Torino into MM with the crappy primer black and rust holes in every panel...I had some older guys and ricer kids taking pictures of it cause they had one once, or they're parents had one when they were little kids. Heck nobody e..v..e..r.. took pictures of my fox mustang except.....ME. Gave me the push to continue with this car instead of craigslist trading it up for something lighter weight with an SBC or SBF in it.

(the primer idea was to try to stop the rot as best as possible as I worked over each panel one at a time, then when it was complete give it a real paint job, working out pretty good so far plus it makes the car look meaner than it is).

[jehrbear]

Mar 10, 2010 12:01:41 GMT -6 bobby said:

72?

yes sir, 1972 Ford Gran Torino formal roof. H Cleveland with some work done to it. Still has the "Brougham" emblems on the door panels, so it was a "real grocery gitr"

I figure it has to be one of the least expensive "muscle cars" to get started in the "real muscle car" projects, as some folks say the muscle car era died after 72 with the EPA choking out the cars, and forcing that 5mph bumper on cars (most looking like 4x4 posts bolted to the front ends). 80s Stangaros are still cool, but the muscle cars were hot when i was a kid so that's what I wanted.

Eventually I may end up figuring out how to slightly modify the front end to lessen the "fishmouth" look with some custom treatments or find parts to convert to the "non gran", base Torino" grill which will set it further apart from the crowd.

Dig the Pontiac btw, first "hot rod" was a 77 455HO, miss that car. Almost had a 68, but was 18 at the time, already had the 77, and pop said if i brought it home, i'd sleep in it....so i had to let it go

[Crossbones Dennis]

When I was in my teens, My dad had a guy working for him that drove a green four door Torino. It was rusted so badly, you could see the spare tire laying in the trunk.

[bobby]

I was going to post this until I found out I was wrong



then I found this and knew I was real close

[racerone]

welcome aboard . Its OK to be different their is some Pontiac's on here ;D.
Really don't know of any Fords yet .But like most advice is FREE and we want you to spend your money .
Really a converter is a big step to improving ET with a heavy car ,some more gear .
Good Luck with the project.
Dr
<a href="http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w19/11nqtr/?action=view¤t=BKD9-09-15_032A.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w19/11nqtr/BKD9-09-15_032A.jpg" border="0" alt="1st 9 second run 2009"></a>[/img]

[senior]

Mar 10, 2010 12:42:10 GMT -6 jehrbear said:

Mar 10, 2010 12:01:41 GMT -6 bobby said:

72?

yes sir, 1972 Ford Gran Torino formal roof. H Cleveland with some work done to it. Still has the "Brougham" emblems on the door panels, so it was a "real grocery gitr"

I figure it has to be one of the least expensive "muscle cars" to get started in the "real muscle car" projects, as some folks say the muscle car era died after 72 with the EPA choking out the cars, and forcing that 5mph bumper on cars (most looking like 4x4 posts bolted to the front ends). 80s Stangaros are still cool, but the muscle cars were hot when i was a kid so that's what I wanted.

Eventually I may end up figuring out how to slightly modify the front end to lessen the "fishmouth" look with some custom treatments or find parts to convert to the "non gran", base Torino" grill which will set it further apart from the crowd.

Dig the Pontiac btw, first "hot rod" was a 77 455HO, miss that car. Almost had a 68, but was 18 at the time, already had the 77, and pop said if i brought it home, i'd sleep in it....so i had to let it go

76 was the last year for a Pontiac 455. No HO
There's a few early Ford racers at Gateway, hunt them down & pick their brain.

[bobby]

Mar 12, 2010 20:25:11 GMT -6 SENIOR said:

Mar 10, 2010 12:42:10 GMT -6 jehrbear said:

yes sir, 1972 Ford Gran Torino formal roof. H Cleveland with some work done to it. Still has the "Brougham" emblems on the door panels, so it was a "real grocery gitr"

I figure it has to be one of the least expensive "muscle cars" to get started in the "real muscle car" projects, as some folks say the muscle car era died after 72 with the EPA choking out the cars, and forcing that 5mph bumper on cars (most looking like 4x4 posts bolted to the front ends). 80s Stangaros are still cool, but the muscle cars were hot when i was a kid so that's what I wanted.

Eventually I may end up figuring out how to slightly modify the front end to lessen the "fishmouth" look with some custom treatments or find parts to convert to the "non gran", base Torino" grill which will set it further apart from the crowd.

Dig the Pontiac btw, first "hot rod" was a 77 455HO, miss that car. Almost had a 68, but was 18 at the time, already had the 77, and pop said if i brought it home, i'd sleep in it....so i had to let it go

76 was the last year for a Pontiac 455. No HO
There's a few early Ford racers at Gateway, hunt them down & pick their brain.

Actually 76 was the last year Pontiac produced the 455, you could get them up into 78 if you knew how to order the engine for the car. ;D Had a buddy in the early 80's that had a 78 TA with a 455/4 speed.

[bracketracing]

Hey Don cardoc is a ford(bbc and glide)

[Crossbones Dennis]

Mar 15, 2010 15:26:15 GMT -6 bracketracing said:

Hey Don cardoc is a ford(bbc and glide)

And we don't hold it against him. ;D

[jehrbear]

Mar 12, 2010 20:25:11 GMT -6 SENIOR said:

76 was the last year for a Pontiac 455. No HO

Agree whole heartedly, i had a 75 block 455 HO built motor that was put into one of those V6 Espirit "Skybird" Firebirds.
My buddies nicknamed the car the "powder puff" due to the feminine baby blue color and the bird decal. The honey combs even had the baby blue paint.


Nothing on the outside showed that it was a "street beast" except the little 455 emblem on the front fenders....By the time i hit the key, the bet was already made, and they knew they'd "been had"

[bobby]

77 or 78? My 2nd Pontiac was a 77 Formula. Every Pontiac I have owned has been an F body. 1st one was a 75 T/A, second was the 77, 3rd is my 68 racecar and 4th is my dd 94 v-6.

[bobby]

Oh yea, you need to jump into the trivia quiz with us.