Never Be Afraid

[Marty Knox]

A chain fall hung from a chain wrapped around two 2 x 4's sitting on the garage door rails won't support a 55 Chevy 235 and Powerglide.

[Frank Castros]

My cousin and I in preparation for a Mini-bike race with a neighbor thought it be good idea to replace the spark plug and oil. So we walked down to the store and bought a Champion plug but I had this brilliant idea to buy a can of STP thinking that would be the speed secret of the day. Good enough for Richard Petty, good enough for us.
So we drained the oil and replaced it with the STP.
How do you think went? Not so good as the engine failed to start until one of the older guys in the neighborhood saw the can of STP asked a few questions, called us few names and told us to drain it and refill it with oil.
We won the race and a lesson learned.

[Terry Cain]

I remember changing a motor in a very small garage in dead winter. Half car was sticking out of garage . No heat. My buddy was helping. I'm laying under car wiring up starter and he makes the smart *** comment. Why didn't you wait til tomorrow. It's suppose to be 10 degrees warmer. It was -14 when he said that. lol

[1matcoman]

Originally Posted by Marty Knox

A chain fall hung from a chain wrapped around two 2 x 4's sitting on the garage door rails won't support a 55 Chevy 235 and Powerglide.

And, how is it that you came to know this, Marty??? :-)

[Marty Knox]

Originally Posted by 1matcoman

And, how is it that you came to know this, Marty??? :-)

Christmas Eve 1973 - pulling motor from my 55 Bel Air in my Mom's garage. The 2 x 4s broke, hit me on the way down and knocked me out.
I don't know how long I lay there.

[Jack Matyas]

So its Summer in the mid-seventies and to me that meant Englishtown and class runoffs -something I wouldn't miss for the world .Friday afternoon I made it to the semis in class but that run had its problems for sure .Can you imagine me with a stick? Yep , I was then racing my trusty '73 Ventura with a 4 speed and during that semi run I managed to miss third gear so I put 'er in high and cruised to a win .

That night while at the campfire with friends ( yes, we camped outside ) the guys were asking what I had in mind for the class final runoff the next morning .I had nothing as a spare trans wasn't something I carried or could afford .One of them stood up and said he had the answer and soon a couple of them were gone .Three hours later they returned and unloaded a shiny four speed and announced lets get it up in the air .The next morning things went as planned and I won class .I never did find out exactly where that trans came from but they headed toward New York when they left . All the names I've left out on purpose but I'm sure none were afraid ...........

[stock1080]

1965 -The good old VW bug, I purchased a Holley 500cfm 2 barrel carb, couldn't change the intake with out removing the generator(single port heads). Thought it would be easier to do if I removed the engine, out it comes, well now me might as well put a headers on it, but wait lets spilt the case and put a crane 3/4 race cam( what ever that is?) Got it all back together with only a few parts still on the ground. Fired it up, adjusted carb and timing. Did anyone re-adjust the valves? Off to the track LVD, took the fan belt off for more power. Ran mid 16's I think. Than the noise oh lord! Drove back home just as I got in the driveway boom. Didn't tighten the flywheel bolt to 300ft lbs. new crank etc, fun fun, I think we rebuilt it and blew it up at less 3 more times.

[G Schenck]

I have been saying for the last ten or so years, I should have been taking notes and writing about our racing encounters. Having race for 50+ years with the likes of Big Joe Teuton and the Southland group, The Thriller(my cousin),Rudy and Ross Laris, and Craig Bourgeois, I could write a novel that could give War and Peace a run for the money. Many funny **** and a few illegal.

The first chapter would have opened with our trip to the Gators in 1973. A year out of high school we were going to watch with 3 of us in a new Vega (painted pearl white with flames) and two in a 57 ford fairlane yellow w/black trim and a 427 big block ford. Well after 100 miles the 57 had to stop for fuel imagine that. We are in Biloxi on Hwy 90 (I 10 was not finished at the time) leaving the gas station at about midnight the 57 broke the rear end. I suggested that we leave it at the station, jump into the vega (five people) and worry about it on the way home. Well the owner ,drinking heavily, would not hear of it so we left him and his friend in Biloxi. Eight hours later we arrived at the gators walking thru the rows of cars in the parking lot. Damn if we don't see the 57 a few rows ahead of us.
Hardly anything was said about it but I hope they pulled that driveshaft out of that car before the owner tried to put it in drive.

Greg

[Dirk Olson]

I was15 years old and had a 64 chevy pickup decided to do a tune up so I put in the points set put the dwell meter on started up set the dwell ran great! but I wanted to put so neat wires and cap on (colored) pulled the wires and cap, reinstalled per the Motor Manual and it would not start, backfired and I am wondering what the hell I did wrong. looked at the book checked and rechecked still did not run. after a couple of very frustrating days i walked up the street to talk to a older guy that worked at one of the dealerships and the first thing he asked was where was number one/ I went HUUUU, WHAT? then he explain that someone may have have the distributor out and they wire it to work, meaning number one can be anywhere on the cap. My young brain had a hard time wrapping around that but he explained what I need to do. I went home found top dead center on number one, pulled the distributor reinstalled, wired per the Motor Manual, worked like a charm. Was a valuable lesson I have never forgot.

[Demon340]

As a teenager in 1977, I drove a 70 Maverick. Car wouldnt start and I discovered the neutral safety switch was bad. The switch was located above the steering column. I found that by pushing the brake pedal up againt the lower dash, the pedal would stay out of the way for the repair. I was so proud that I fixed the car and drove up the driveway towards my parents garage honking the horn in my proud "I fixed it" moment.
I forgot to push the brake pedal back down. My parents got a new garage door that year...
Larry