B3R Garage: The beginning of Project Bonnie and Clyde

Finally getting Started one of the two 1966 Ford Mustangs. Over the past two weeks The Boss, The Mad Scientist and I were able to completely rebuild the front suspension.

 

B3R Garage: Another Three Hour Tour on the S.S. Minnow

After a few years of the Boss watching the Mad Scientist and I hammer away on the '84 Mercury Capri, '70 Ford Maverick, '70 Ford F100 Long-Bed Custom, and now a '69 Ford F100 Short-Bed, she has decided that it was about time for her to get her own.

B3R Garage: Grandpa Go Fast's F100 is up and Running

This 1970 Ford F100 has undergone a lot of surgery and cosmetic repair. Take a look at where Gradpa's super Ford has come from and where it is right now.

B3R Garage: Getting the F100 up and Running with Down Pipes

Grandpa Go Fast's 1970 Ford F100 has taken much more time to get to where it is as than any of our other two projects. However, the Mad Scientist and I were able to get the massive monster over to the finishing garage to better prepare it for paint and the road.

B3R Garage: Two weeks of fun and productivity

The previous weekend I mustered up the courage to finally take the Capri on a drive outside the neighborhood. July 26'th marked the date of Orland Indiana's Vermont Settlement Day's and The Mad Scientist convinced me to make the trip. Conveniently, the day also marked the firs American Legion car show in Orland. After a few days of pulling the car out of the garage and making a few laps around the neighborhood I began looking for a way to put the hood back on the Capri. I rummaged through the shop and came across what was left of a cutting wheel that was just enough to cut a hole large enough for the air cleaner. Everything seemed to be going really well in the Capri until we were about two miles outside of Orland. As it turned out, for some reason a roll pin sheared off in the distributor separating the rotation of the bottom of the distributor from the top. The Mad Scientist yanked the distributor, rolled into town and got some help from Bill's Towing before shooting back down the road and dropping the dizzy back in the block. When I hit the key the car fired right up and I was able to drive the rest of the way into town. Better yet, I was even able to watch the parade and head on down to the car show at the American Legion to look at other people's really awesome cars.

B3R Garage: Still hammering away at the 1970 F100

It has been a few months since we have updated anyone on the status of Grandpa Go Fast's 1970 Ford F100. The project has been slow going, but the entire suspension is completed and a little work still needs to be completed on the body and engine. To paint a better picture, the entire frame is painted, new brake drums, brake lines, shocks, along with drive shave u-joints and bearings.

As far as the body of the truck goes; the cab, doors, front fenders, hoods are primered and ready for paint. The truck bed is still in need of a little work. A large bend in the front of the truck bed has been hammered flat again, the mounting runners have been repaired with new steel, and the underside of the truck bed has been undercoated with rubber.

The engine and transmission has been installed, and all wiring from the cab forward has been gone through. Not only has the engine been put in, but on Grandpa Go Fast's birthday we were able to jump into the cab-turn the key-and literally fire the engine-We had a bit of Carb leak.  The engine will still need a little tweaking but because there is only headers installed on the engine at the moment, we were unable to keep the engine running long enough to make any final adjustments.

B3R Garage: F100 Update

Over the past month and a half the Mad Scientist and I had to take a break from the mad dash of tearing apart Grandpa Go Fast's 1970 Ford F100. The setback was due in large part to the weather and a small part to a reduced level of financial capital for the rebuild. However, I am proud to announce that the entire bottom of the truck cab has been rebuilt and/or had sections such as the cab mounts replaced with new parts from LMC Truck. We have even been able to mount the cab to the frame as well.

Although the original big block 360 engine was not  usable, we were able to throw together a Ford 302 Small Block from an 1970 Ford Fairlane. Like the truck itself, the engine was entirely gone through and rebuilt. An old small block C6 transmission with overdrive was also pulled out from under the shelf to go into Grandpa Go Fast's new ride. In addition to fixing up the body and drivetrain, the entire interior of the truck had been refurbished with diamondpate and new fabric. Images of the current updates will be provided in the near future.   

B3R: Garage GoFast 302

We would love to have kept everyone following up-to-date over the past few weeks, but we here at B3R have been up to our ears in snow and ice for quite a while. However, before the snow completely piled us in we were able to get a little done in the horsepower garage. We spent a little money and purchased a universal Ford 302 rebuild gasket kit. We pulled a 1970 Ford 302 off the shelf, put it on the engine stand and began the teardown and rebuild. Like all Ford motors that have been put together thus far, Grandpa GoFast’s Ford 302 for his F100 was painted Ford Blue. 

Take a Look...

B3R Garage: Grandpa Go Fast's F100 Good and Bad Shakedown

Well, the Mad Scientist has had some time to tinker with Grandpa Go Fast's 1970 Ford F100 the over the past weeks. As it turns out the old truck will need quite a bit of work, but nothing the Mad Scientist and I where not prepared for. So, it just so happens that the Ford 360 Big Block has significant pitting and rust in the cylinder walls making the block currently unusable.

This leaves us-currently-with two options. 

B3R Garage: A Break in the Silence

Well B3R Garage’s plan for the next few months was to simply ride out the winter months by enjoying family while the cars stayed cooped up in the garage. However, the Mad Scientist came across some information that turned out to be too good to pass up. Over the year the Grandpa Go-Fast has not been getting around too quickly. Every truck he has ever owned has been sold and to top it all off he broke a hip a few years back. Well, my Grandpa has always had a thing for classic cars and the Mad Scientist’s find fit the bill well enough.

B3R Garage: Spinning the Wheels

Over two weeks ago I found myself, my wife, and the Mad Scientist cruising down the interstate in my '84 Mercury Capri at a more than reasonable rate of speed. Unfortunately before the ride was over the oil pump drive shaft decided it no longer wanted to participate and SNAPPED!  It was fun while it lasted. I won't lie, it is a great feeling to have been able to tear down a car and build it back up in less than a year. In fact, the Mad Scientist and I not only rebuilt one car but two. Due to a rapid shortage of funds, my poor Mercury will have to sit in the garage for a while longer. On the plus side my replacement RPM cam and lifter kit from Edelbrock was received just last week. Soon enough the winter season will be upon us and I'm not too sure that I feel safe testing the limits of the Capri in snowy conditions. So, it is likely that my 1984 Mercury Capri will simply have to sit in the garage until summer. It is looking as thought the winter project this year will be pulling the motor yet again in order to install a new oil pump drive shaft and my replacement cam and lifters.

Although the Capri has had little street time, the Mad Scientist's Maverick is still out on the prowl. If you are ever in the fort and happen to see bright blue 1970 Maverick with a three barrel carburetor scoop sticking out of the hood, you can probably bet that it is the Mad Scientist. If you are driving by, make sure to give him a "Thumbs-UP", and if you have time to stop be sure to let him know what you think of his ride. Although there where many ups and downs in building it, it turned out to be a lot of fun. Make sure to look out for the Maverick at the local cars shows as well. Perhaps the Capri will make it next year.

B3R Garage: Labor Day Weekend with Auctions America

The Mad Scientist and I took off this weekend to attend an annual even known as the Auburn Car Auction. The even started in Wednesday and went well into Sunday evening. The even had helicopter ride, Monster truck rides, a motocross show and hundreds of cars. Conveniently we were able to walk through a very large automotive parts swap meet and view acres of cars and parts that where for sale. As expected, many of the cars where classic in nature. However, there where some one-off customs that made our eyes really open up. One of the more interesting automobiles was tagged "Twice Blown Deliveries".

Here are some of the cars and carts we ended up looking at while we were out of the garage for the week.

B3R Garage: The 84 Capri Project Hits The Road

It has take quite a while, but it has happened. My 1984 Mercury Capri has finally hit the road at an acceptable speed. Over the past two weekends I have been able to jump in and cruise up and down the road in my neighborhood a few times. Doing so was convenient for calibrating the carb and testing the transmission. However, this weekend I felt comfortable enough to leave the neighborhood and head down to the local gas station. Prior to leaving I conveniently fixed a slight battery charging issue by replacing the original 1982 alternator with a fresh one. So, the trip went well. I know that the hood is still missing (I need a hole in the middle of it so that it will fit), but below is a small clip of the '84 Capri getting warmed up for the short ride.

B3R Garage: All new Still Issues

The 1984 Mercury Capri was intended to be a work in progress. However, I did have a time-frame in mind that I would like to have been driving it! Over the past few months I have been spending my weekends traveling to the Mad Scientist in order to work out the bugs with his 1970 Ford Maverick-leaving the Capri on the back burner. While helping the Mad Scientist, I would put as much spare time as I could tinkering with my Capri. Unfortunately, I could not figure out the idling issue on my own. So, I had to recruit some help from someone willing to travel just to see the engine. I called Pep!

B3R Garage: Driving the Maverick Home

That's right everyone. The Mad Scientist was able to drive his 1970 Ford Maverick out of the operating room and take her home. Unfortunately, the carburetor needs a little work and the car needs a set of front tires, but the car was able to make it 13 miles across town without too much trouble.

So what does it all mean? Will we hear about the Mad Scientist's Maverick in the weeks to come?

B3R Garage: Lifting the Carb

A whole lot has happened to the the Mad Scientist's Ford Maverick this weekend. First off, the Mad Scientist went ahead and sprung for a 1" carburetor lift plate in order to raise the carburetor scoop up height enough to avoid resting on the HEI distributor. I am not going to lie, putting the lift on his intake was significantly more of a task than I had doing the same process on my Capri. However, in just about an hour we were able to raise the roof on the newly installed street/strip carburetor scoop.

If you have been paying close attention to the pictures of the '87 truck block dropped into the Maverick you might have guessed that the Uni belt pulleys on the Edelbrock water-pump and crank might cause an alternator issue. And you would be right. So the Mad Scientist took it upon himself to drop into the nearby Pick-it-yard (takeapart.biz). He climbed up in an old Ford and walked out with a handy dandy uni-belt pulley, some hood rubbers, and window trim clips. He then went ahead and swung by the nearby NAPA and bout a new alternator, and had the employees put the used belt on it so that it would work with the current pulley setup. Pretty crafty huh!

The Mad Scientist even went so far as to acquire a handy dandy band new radiator cooling fan. Unfortunately, the fan requires that it be put on the front of the radiator (behind the bumper). As it turns out there is not a log of room there. The room that is there is currently occupied by a trim bracket. Bummer! But don't worry everyone! The Mad Scientist and I are no stranger to chopping off unneeded pieces (check out the shock tower chopping section) and/or fabricating what we need. So, hopefully the new radiator fan will be going in this weekend.

The only thing that still seems to be missing is the exhaust. The Mad Scientist has his eyes set on a pair of Lake Pipes from Jegs.com, but he may just throw together some of the spare pipes with a couple of over-the-counter mufflers just to be able to roll down the road a little earlier.

If you are interested in the Mad Scientist's 1970 Ford Maverick, be sure to keep checking in and occasionally check his Squidoo page under the Maverick tab above for more information and videos to come.

B3R Garage: The Capri gets a Scoop too!

Sorry if we have not been keeping everyone up to date with B3R happenings over the past two weeks. The Mad Scientist and I have had our fair share of issues placing the last few pieces of our cars back together. In fact, both of our allegedly good transmissions have turned out to be needing rebuilt. But that is another story for another day. Today, I want to inform everyone/(anyone interested) that I will be chopping a handy dandy hole in my hood in next few weeks to make room form a brand new carburetor air cleaner.

Check out the Capri's new Air Cleaner.

B3R Garage: Champion Radiators

With the Mad Scientist's Maverick nearing completion there are only a few essentials that still need acquiring before the beast can take to the streets. One such essential is none other than a radiator. Conveniently for my Capri, I was able to simply pick up a radiator relatively cheap. However, the Mad Scientist was not so lucky. Years ago the Mad Scientist was not opposed to sporting a significantly larger truck radiator-with no hood-in his Maverick if it meant he could race on the weekend.

However, the Mad Scientist and I decided that we would like to keep the mechanicals under the hood for this particular Maverick. So instead of buying whatever radiator we could jam into the car for the cheapest price the Mad Scientist decided to go another rout. The Mad Scientist Went ahead and dished out a few hundred on a Champion Radiator straight out of California. (note: California has a high fraud warning so don’t be surprised if you purchase something from California and have your card declined and froze until the transaction is verified by your bank.) Conveniently the radiator showed up only a few days after purchasing it and simply bolted right up.

B3R Garage: The Mad Scientist's Tranny Troubles

The Mad Scientist has cut, chopped, and welded his 1970 Ford Maverick into submission. We have finally been able to completely drop in the Ford 302 sb into the Maverick using truck mounts. We wired up the starter, and bypassed the transmission lines. However, as easy as cutting into the Maverick was it was about time it cut back!

The Maverick strikes back!

B3R Garage: Troublesome Timing Issues

When you begin to near the completion of custom car that you have never done before all of the tiny kinks and imperfections tend to reveal themselves. For my 1984 Mercury Capri, the problem laid in my inability to understand why my Edelbrock 1406 four barrel carburetor would not idle at all.

Why won't my Edelbrock 1406 idle?