Nice to see you again

[tmracing62]

I’ve been away for a long time due to work and health issues and have missed keeping up with the Forum. Hope you are all well although I read about Fred. What a loss. Such a great guy.

My monthly cruise has become popular and I am working hard to get a nationally invited cruise going next summer, probably early June. If anyone from the Forum wants to come, let me know and you’ll get VIP treatment. We’ll have a mountain cruise to Central City and Blackhawk and the casinos will be rolling out the red carpet. There will be a shorter cruise to Red Rocks Amphitheater and time at Bandimere Speedway for a burnout contest and 100 foot drags (more fun than it sounds) and whatever other wildness would be illegal on the street. A movie in the park, nightly cruises through downtown, covered parking with our own security and more for officially 3 ½ days. The Super Cruise website will fill you in more although until I get all the details worked out it won’t be mentioned there. It will be called the Colorado Blue Dot Cruise. You can see what’s going on now at http://www.goldensupercruise.com.

Justice seems rare and this is a story you might enjoy. A Sheriff’s Deputy asked me if I knew a person that is part of the car community and told me this. This guy bought a bunch of parts on eBay from a guy in Florida and didn’t pay. The buyer was not bright and it turns out that the seller had relatives here that found him. You know where this is going, right? They took the stuff and the money he had on him and he accidentally fell down a couple of times. Hee. Hee. Hee. So for anyone that’s been cheated on eBay, this might make you feel better.

I had to trim my interests to one car. Time and money. I had been working on an old campaigner for about 15 years and that was the one I kept. It's taken a lot of time and dedication to build, but it's street legal and very drivable. Having some problems with tuning the EFI, but there’s a person in Virginia that sounds like they really have it figured out. Here’s a little video before it was completely tuned. Hope you like it. http://www.goldensupercruise.com/cruise_video.htm It was running without the hood that night because it was still being tuned and also people lean on the car trying to see the engine.

Yes, I miss the 409.

DQ – the right place will find you. Something bad was in the wind and you got spared.

 

[bjburnout]

Hey tm

Welcome back.........hope all is going better for you now.........bang
One car or many, it's great that you're still turning wrenches.........


bj

 

[TomO]

TM - It is great to have you back with us!!! Your new ride is awsome.

TomO

 

[Ronnie Russell]

Welcome back Michael,,,,, you have been missed. Looking forward to your future posts........

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Good to hear from you!

Michael:

Good to learn that things are going well and that your new toy is making the rounds . The Willys looks great, sounds even better!

Sorry to learn of the '62 BA, I trust it went to a good home? Know that some of it's "original" parts have found their way into my '62, and they now have about 4-5000 more miles on them, bringing lots of smiles to this face. We zinged 2nd gear while power shifting at Norwalk, but that can be fixed next time I have the tranny out .

Thanks for the links, best of luck with the continuing organization of the event!

Cheers,
TomK

 

[MileHiSS]

I'll have to introduce myself. I'm sure we have passed in the last few years, maybe even met. I've been at the last two Golden cruises, and been rained on, at each one(oh well).

I'm building a 62 Biscayne ( 409 M-22 perid correct looking) post car. I actually busted off my new motor last night, and hope to have it finished in a couple of weeks.

I live over by Cherry Creek Lake, so Golden is a drive for me. Count me in on the Blue Dot Cruise, as long as it's not the same weekend as GoodGuys.

I've got Blue Dots in my 57, but I can't recall ever seeing a set for a 62.

see you soon

dave nickles

 

[CDNpontiac409guy]

Hey Michael... it IS good to have you backbang
Sorry to hear about the BelAir. I enjoyed showing people pictures of it, telling them... "see, I fixed mine"

 

[dq409]

WELCOME BACK MICHAEL !!!!
Give Nancy a BIG hug for me !!!!

For any of you that did see Michaels BelAir his Willys is just as outstanding !!!

It is ALL steel and has FE !!

I know how much the BelAir meant to Michael so there were good reasons to have to let it go but being able to now drive his beautiful Willys should ease the loss,,,

Way to go !!!! Jim

 

[tmracing62]

Hey DQ, call me sometime. Number is the same. Nancy says hi. We've been in your area, though not for happy reasons, but will make a point next time to look you up.

Dave – are you in the tri-five group that hangs over by Checker? They did the “survived the monsoon” sign and I was over talking to them last weekend. Did I see your car at the Burger King on Quincy last night at Van’s cruise?

Tom K. – I have a few parts we talked about and sent you an email a long time ago. I figured since I had broken the faith by selling the car you might not like that. But if you are interested, call or email me through the website I mentioned above.

A friend is editor for one of the car magazines and I am thinking about writing an article. It will be about what NOT to do when building a street car. My mistake and one I see so many people make is going for horsepower over drivability. We all have our reasons and this is not wrong, but nursing an edgy, high maintenance car around on the street is a matter of taste and not all that much fun usually. My routine was to build, race or drive or both and sell to build some more. Unfortunately I am not able to have a stable of cars. While no champion, I came from racing and applied that philosophy to building a street car. There are huge differences and trying to have a racer on the street was not rewarding for me at least.

I wanted to run Lamar’s heads and one thing led to another. I just over-built for my purposes. Regularly swapping solid roller lifters is necessary maintenance for a race car, but I let it go too long on the 409, dropped a roller, ate the cam and the time and cost to fix made me realize this car was built for a different destiny. So a dedicated muscle car racer in Georgia got it and it is leading a much happier life now running in the mid tens.

The Willys runs a BBC block from an old engine I kept. While a 509, it is very mild considering. I took the money from the 409 and put off the shelf Chevy aluminum heads on it with a mild hydraulic roller. 7.4 to 1 compression and a 6-71. I build air cleaners for Hilborn and was required by law to run that injection, but mechanical can be less than ideal for the street so converted it to EFI. I don’t have enough experience to tune it perfectly and finally found someone to help. But the car is built to drive on pump gas and be reliable. 13 mpg around town with the deep gears and 19 on the highway. Starts and runs every time and is safe too. This is what’s fun for me at this time in my life. So when asked for advice, I honestly say don’t build a monster because it really isn’t that much fun.

Thanks for reading my post guys. I have to say that Kansas City was one of the high points and I compare everything to that. Phil really did a good job. Maybe someday if Aubrey can duck under the border and I can get away, we’ll meet again and we can let the Willys bite at a few of your tires.