7-29-07 -- Almost nothing going on

The only thing that happened this week was that I saw another ad on the local craigslist. It is for a 302 engine and AOD tranny from a T-Bird. This one also comes with the engine harness and computer, so it is basically complete. I have no idea about its mileage though. The ad said it was sound, but I have not heard back from the seller yet. Now that I am back in town, I will try to follow up this week.

Almost nothing happening

The car project is definitely in a rut. I did find out early last week the Art did in fact have his engine buyer pick up the engine from him out in Arnold. Back to the drawing board. Nothing remotely hot on the landscape. I should call the Kansas City leads I got from Hurricane.

7-15-2007 -- Off again

Well, the engine deal with the guy in Arnold appears to be off again. I got an email from Art earlier in the week, and he said his auction winner (from Memphis) did manage to come up with a $200 deposit to hold it until yesterday. I sent Art an email today and haven't heard anything back, so I presume that I am not going to be getting the engine from him afterall. Here is a picture of it...


You never know.

I did also get an email from a guy at Hurricane. He had a couple of leads for me to call in Kansas City that might be able to supply my engine/tranny needs. Haven't gotten a chance to call them yet, but will this week, once I am sure the Arnold deal is dead.

7-9-2007--Crummy looking shed

Funny how posting pictures on the web makes you appreciate the way things really look. Take for instance, the storage shed on the side of my house. Last week I posted a picture of it, not thinking anything really all that wrong with it. Here is that picture...





So with a little encouragement from Baba, here is what it looks like after a going over with a $2 rattle can of white Rustoleum...



The grass-laden driveway will have to wait for an equally cheap solution, I am afraid.

7-8-2007--Engine deal alive again?

I got a surprise this week--an email from the guy in Arnold (Art Gordon)who had the engine/transmission auction on Ebay that I bid on and came in 2nd. Well, now it looks like his supposed auction winner is going to be backing out. Not sure why.

So I told Art that I would still be interested his stuff and that I would live up to my highest bid which was $940. I was very comfortable bidding up to $900 at the time and went a little higher just to be sure that I would not regret losing out for one last bid. I also felt okay driving the eventual price up a tad to compensate Art for the time he spent with me talking about this project.

So it looks like I may have a deal on the engine and transmission afterall! I did get Art to agree to load it on his pickup and deliver it to my house, and I also got him to include the original driveshaft, which will have to be cut down, but does save me a little bit of money in not having to buy a brand new one. For another $100, he is tossing in his engine hoist. Saves me from having to spend $180plus for a new one at Sam's. Unfortunately for me, he had sold the shifter for the transmission with the interior stuff he was selling.

Assuming our deal goes through, probably by late this upcoming week, I will still need to acquire some things to make it all work. An engine wiring harness, a computer to control things, a shifter, speedometer cabling, perhaps some things to eliminate the PS, A/C, etc. But I have plenty of wiggle room on my original $3300 budget for this stuff, and should not have to think about touching the contingency budget.

7-7-2007--Fenton Cruise-In

Last night I went to my first car show (not counting the Wentzville show where I mainly just got drenched in the rain after seeing a handful of non-Cobra cars). I heard about it from the Gateway Factory Five Racing Owners Group (FFROG). It was at the big non-denominational church on Gravois, very near my house. I figured it would be a small gathering of a few vintage car people, but I figured I could start networking with a couple of local COBRA owners.

Boy, was I ever wrong. The show was huge and the crowds were enormous. There were HUNDREDS of vintage cars there. Maybe close to a thousand! There was even a waiting line for vintage cars to even get into the display area because there were no more spaces left! Dozens just parked in a line waiting for someone to leave. And the spectator parking lot was jammed too.

I spent an hour there. I saw 4 Cobras and met a couple of the owner/builders. Tom Keiser and Skip Wiese. Got a few tips from them on paint and licensing. Mainly just made contact, though.

The dumbest thing I did was forget my camera--sorry folks. There is a standard amongst this community that if there are no pictures (or video) that it just didn't happen. That just has not become second nature for me yet. Oh well, they have this car gathering every month on the first Friday, so I will try to go back next month with a camera.

7-1-2007 -- No good news

I spent most of the week pursuing an EBAY auction on an engine/automatic transmission that was up for sale by a guy in Arnold, just 5 miles or so from my house. Man, it sounded perfect. Low miles, 5.0L 302, fuel injection, 1993 Lincoln with just 1 owner who was a real car guy, a racing engine builder, who obviously took great care of it. I spent an hour with him prior to bidding and was very comfortable with the two items. The only downsides were no wiring harness and no computer. They would have to have been purchased separately for $200-300.

Long story short, I lost the bidding. I went to $940 but the eventual winner was higher. It was very disappointing. The owner seemed intrigued by my project and could have been a great help besides just supplying the power plant. Wish we had hooked up prior to the auction, somehow.

I talked to Hurricane last week and got the impression that I could probably be grandfathered in at the old prices, once they raise them 2 grand, presumably this week. The guy there actually was going to try to help me with search.

I am not sure at this point if I should just give up or maybe just bite the bullet, figuring I will eventually get the engine thing worked out. In a way, I am leaning towards getting started under the assumption I will find an acceptable 302 deal. Maybe slow down expectations on the time frame on the whole project. This basically makes 3 or 4 different solutions that would have worked in the last 2 or 3 weeks. Just never quite the perfect deal.