[uneasyrider]

WAY back in 1984 in the good old days when these cars were still on the road and could be picked up for a reasonable price in good running condition a buddy of mine bought an Admiralty Blue 1974 TA, 400, 4-spd, 0.030 over, RAIV cam, RAIII heads, and headers from the second owner of the car. The second owner had done the above work and unknown to us had put a gold bird and decals on the car and a set of 7" wide snowflakes. I didn't know that this latter stuff wasn't even offered on a TA until '77 until I found out about two months ago. Well my buddy drove the car like a mad man. He used to work at a gas station and he and the other guy that worked there used to cover each other during their shifts and take turns taking the car out and rodding the hell out of it all day. Well it stood up to this for about six months before it lost a rod bearing. My buddy pulled the pan and slipped in new bearings, no poishing or anything on the crank because no MONEY. So the night it gets done we are over there checking out the car because we want to hear it run with the open headers. It's about 10:30pm in a residetial neigborhood, always the best time to fire up uncorked. Everything sounds great, oil pressure etc. good so Chris says "Let's take it for a spin. We'll drive until I get a ticket. Ha Ha Ha" So we pull out with only the shaker on, no hood, uncorked headers, and an attitude. My other buddy Kevin is there helping Chris put it all back together so we all head down the road. First thing Chris does of course is mash the throttle down. He lives at the top of a hill that drops down about 200ft to and intersection about a mile away. He pulls away from the intersection at the top of the hill and gets into it and we look down the hill and there is a police car coming up to the intersection! So Chris shuts the car off and we coast up to the light praying it turns red for us and it does. We set there and watch the cop pull away and before he is out of sight ower light turns. Chris fires it up and I guess the cop doesn't hear us and we pull away. Chris notices we need gas so what does he do but drive right into the middle of town and stop at the 7-11. Everyone in the store is eyeballing the car. The guy at the counter tells him the windows were viberating when we pulled in. We pull out of there and merge onto the highway beside a semi. Well of course Chris jumps all over it. For some reason he desides to pull down the off ramp back into town! Well as we get about 1/2 way down the off ramp we get rollers! I think it was about that time the shaker blew off and landed in the road behind us. Well we pull over and Chris doesn't have his licence or registration. The Stater says "I was going to pull over that semi for loud exhaust until you guys pulled off and the sound followed you." So he rights Chris up for a mechanical because of the no hood thing and no mufflers. Well that over with he tells him to get it back home so we just head out into the boon docks and get with the program for another 45mins or so and then go home.

Chris sells the car a few months later to a guy that buys it as a daily driver and put a nice set of recap snow tires on it for winter and drives it around like grandma Moses. The car comes up for sale again about a year later and my buddy Kevin buys it. The guy is selling it because it doesn't get good gas mileage. N.S.! So Kevin drives the thing for a week or so until he gets us all together to take the car out for the day an take turns rodding the crap out of it. Well we get through about 3 hours of "brisk" driving and it's my turn! Well I get a chance to drive it for about 5mins before the rod bearings let go again on it.

Well there the old girl sat with 89,000 miles on her for the next 8yrs until Kevin gave it to me for a college graduation present because he thought I might get the money to do something with it. We'll it was Oct. of 2003 before I got the cash and had someone start work on it for me. I have a 472cid engine with E-heads, Crower cam (2,500-6,000rpm), RPM manifold, powder coated (silver) headers, subframe connectors, poly bushings, 4wdb, original 4-spd for now (will go to 5-spd ASAP the money thing ), and 2.73 rear gear posi. We always thought the car should be able to bury the 160mph speedo and it was WRONG to have it there if it couldn't! I've had it painted the original Admiralty Blue again and I'm putting the bird on it even though it never came with one. It should be fun when it's done.

Uneasyrider

[uneasyrider]

WAY back in 1984 in the good old days when these cars were still on the road and could be picked up for a reasonable price in good running condition a buddy of mine bought an Admiralty Blue 1974 TA, 400, 4-spd, 0.030 over, RAIV cam, RAIII heads, and headers from the second owner of the car. The second owner had done the above work and unknown to us had put a gold bird and decals on the car and a set of 7" wide snowflakes. I didn't know that this latter stuff wasn't even offered on a TA until '77 until I found out about two months ago. Well my buddy drove the car like a mad man. He used to work at a gas station and he and the other guy that worked there used to cover each other during their shifts and take turns taking the car out and rodding the hell out of it all day. Well it stood up to this for about six months before it lost a rod bearing. My buddy pulled the pan and slipped in new bearings, no poishing or anything on the crank because no MONEY. So the night it gets done we are over there checking out the car because we want to hear it run with the open headers. It's about 10:30pm in a residetial neigborhood, always the best time to fire up uncorked. Everything sounds great, oil pressure etc. good so Chris says "Let's take it for a spin. We'll drive until I get a ticket. Ha Ha Ha" So we pull out with only the shaker on, no hood, uncorked headers, and an attitude. My other buddy Kevin is there helping Chris put it all back together so we all head down the road. First thing Chris does of course is mash the throttle down. He lives at the top of a hill that drops down about 200ft to and intersection about a mile away. He pulls away from the intersection at the top of the hill and gets into it and we look down the hill and there is a police car coming up to the intersection! So Chris shuts the car off and we coast up to the light praying it turns red for us and it does. We set there and watch the cop pull away and before he is out of sight ower light turns. Chris fires it up and I guess the cop doesn't hear us and we pull away. Chris notices we need gas so what does he do but drive right into the middle of town and stop at the 7-11. Everyone in the store is eyeballing the car. The guy at the counter tells him the windows were viberating when we pulled in. We pull out of there and merge onto the highway beside a semi. Well of course Chris jumps all over it. For some reason he desides to pull down the off ramp back into town! Well as we get about 1/2 way down the off ramp we get rollers! I think it was about that time the shaker blew off and landed in the road behind us. Well we pull over and Chris doesn't have his licence or registration. The Stater says "I was going to pull over that semi for loud exhaust until you guys pulled off and the sound followed you." So he rights Chris up for a mechanical because of the no hood thing and no mufflers. Well that over with he tells him to get it back home so we just head out into the boon docks and get with the program for another 45mins or so and then go home.

Chris sells the car a few months later to a guy that buys it as a daily driver and put a nice set of recap snow tires on it for winter and drives it around like grandma Moses. The car comes up for sale again about a year later and my buddy Kevin buys it. The guy is selling it because it doesn't get good gas mileage. N.S.! So Kevin drives the thing for a week or so until he gets us all together to take the car out for the day an take turns rodding the crap out of it. Well we get through about 3 hours of "brisk" driving and it's my turn! Well I get a chance to drive it for about 5mins before the rod bearings let go again on it.

Well there the old girl sat with 89,000 miles on her for the next 8yrs until Kevin gave it to me for a college graduation present because he thought I might get the money to do something with it. We'll it was Oct. of 2003 before I got the cash and had someone start work on it for me. I have a 472cid engine with E-heads, Crower cam (2,500-6,000rpm), RPM manifold, powder coated (silver) headers, subframe connectors, poly bushings, 4wdb, original 4-spd for now (will go to 5-spd ASAP the money thing ), and 2.73 rear gear posi. We always thought the car should be able to bury the 160mph speedo and it was WRONG to have it there if it couldn't! I've had it painted the original Admiralty Blue again and I'm putting the bird on it even though it never came with one. It should be fun when it's done.

Uneasyrider