The FORD Lounge

[ArdWrknTrk]

Drenched this afternoon in Vermont.
Gusty, but not ridiculous winds.

[1986F150Six]

Meanwhile, here in northwest Alabama, it was 64F, this morning with clear skies. We still have time for warm weather, though, as August is usually our hottest month!

[Gary Lewis]

Yep, it was 65 here in Okiehoma this morn.  Sitting on the back porch sipping coffee was chilly, but good!  Going to take advantage of the cool weather and mow this afternoon.  

[Dorsai]

Through a series of unfortunate events, my brother James is now the owner of his son's 1995 F-250. He had been considering trading in his gasoline Ch*vy Silverado for a diesel Ford to more easily trailer his tractor around to jobs, but has now decided instead to upgrade the 5.8L engine in the '95 to a 5.9L Cummins turbodiesel. Having located a suitable engine via Facebook, James asked me if I'd like to take a little trip with him to pick it up. I told him I'd be happy to, but why did he want me along? As it happened, the engine was in the possession of none other than , and he thought it would be best to have backup. Being the loyal brother that I am, I of course agreed. As put it, "Google maps can't get you here", so we had a carefully detailed route into the Osceola National Forest plotted out. We left Atlanta at 7am, followed the directions carefully, and ended up at a likely-looking place deep in the woods. We weren't sure we were at the right place until we pulled up close:

That's when we saw it - the universal symbol of the northern variety Florida Man. We were in the right place! Or we thought we were, anyway...there are many Florida Men, were we sure this was the right one? Going around the back, we knew for certain that this was indeed where we were supposed to be:

Yep, has his own private junkyard. There were probably three dozen trucks in various states of disassembly, ranging from early 1990s into the early 2010s. The red 2003 1995 Dodge on the right of the photo was our target. James (understandably) wanted to see the engine start and run before he bought it, so had agreed to leave it in the truck and start it cold after we arrived. He did, it started and ran perfectly, and the deal was made. James and I left for a long lunch, and when we returned two hours later the engine was ready to go:

The truth of the matter is that James (back to the camera) and I were both born in Florida, so there are four in the photo, and one behind the camera. We hit the road just before 3pm, and a little after 7pm we had made it back to Atlanta with the cargo intact:

600 miles round trip, 12 hours start to finish, and some quality brotherly bonding time - all in all it was a successful mission. And...now that I've had my fun with the whole thing, let me just say that Mike (whose last name I never got) was a gentleman and 100% as good as his word. So if Mike in the Osceola National Forest near Sanderson FL offers to sell you truck parts, buy with confidence.

[Gary Lewis]

Florida seems to be the destination for some brotherly bonding time.  My brother and I went to retrieve Big Blue from there.

But, apparently there are good  and not so good ?  Yours not only proved the engine was good but pulled it and set it in your truck.  Mine took four years to deliver Vernon's 460, but it appears it was actually pulled from a salvage and just prettied up.

Anyway, glad you had a good trip, Matthew.  

[grumpin]

Cool story bro!

They used to say that right?

Seriously, that is cool!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Maybe it was pulled from Mike's backyard????  

[ArdWrknTrk]

Matthew, James has a project on his hands.

Does he know what he's gotten into, and have the facility to pull it off?

Good to hear from you!  

Sorry to hear about your nephew.

[Gary Lewis]

Dane - Yes, they used to say that.  My brother still calls me "bro".  Started it back "then" and hasn't stopped.

Jim - My  may have gotten it from Matthew's , but with the understanding that it was worn out.  Imagine putting a Edelbrock intake and water pump, and supposedly cam, on a worn out engine?

[ArdWrknTrk]

I personally can't imagine it...

But some low down snake in the grass might try to pull that on Vernon, sadly.
I hear  has a problem with snakes now.

Maybe Burmese Python will become the new alligator nuggets?
If it starts selling for $15/Lb the 'problem' would quickly be rectified.

As for Vern's snake? I'm of a mind that he should be unmasked and subject to public ridicule.
But then, I'm not opposed to both stocks and gallows.

[Dorsai]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Matthew, James has a project on his hands.

Does he know what he's gotten into, and have the facility to pull it off?

He does, and he does.  He's a former diesel mechanic by trade, he maintained transit buses and later school buses for a number of years.  Now he's a parts guy for Georgia Power, so between home and work he has everything he needs.

Good to hear from you!  

Sorry to hear about your nephew.

Thank you.  For those of you whose Google Fu is weaker than Jim's, my nephew was killed in a drug deal/robbery attempt gone bad.  He had refused to sell (yes, he was the dealer - we're all real proud right now) to someone he didn't know, so the guy came back with some friends to rob him.  Ryan fought back, and they shot him.

I will say this about that...you know how, many times, a reporter interviews the family of someone who dies in a situation like this, and they say "Little Jimmy was such a good young man, I can't believe something like this happened"?  I always rolled my eyes at statements like that, but now I understand.  Yeah, Ryan made some really foolish life choices, but he genuinely was a good person - he loved his family, he loved my son, he treated everyone kindly and well, and he busted ass the best way he knew how for his children and fiancee.  I always looked forward to the day when he would realize he was on the wrong path, but unfortunately that never happened.

So...the truck is partly a way for my brother to meet a need that he has, but more so it's a way for him to keep something of his son's, as well as a way to work through his pain.  I'll be helping him as I can, so if I pop in here with an occasional left field question about engine swaps or interior refits you'll know why.

Speaking of which, is Paul a member here?  I have a question about what front suspension mods he did or did not do for his conversion...

[ArdWrknTrk]

Matthew, I'm sorry for your family's loss.
And especially Ryan's girl and their children.

My Google-fu is fine. I don't see any need to pry into other people's affairs.
I appreciate your candor, and realization that no one should be judged for one small part of their character.

And I'm glad to see James has found a way to work through his grief and honor his son.
I had no idea of his mechanical background, and didn't intend to be diminishing.

I've certainly made some poor life choices, and understood the possible repercussions.
The perspective that I gained makes me the person that I am now.
I was just lucky, and not as careful as I may have thought I was.

[Dorsai]

Nope, it's all good - the question wasn't taken as derogatory or dismissive, it's a perfectly reasonable question regarding a project like this.  In this case the answer just happens to be yes, he's good to go.

I hadn't thought about it until just now, but I suspect he's always wanted to do a project of this type - when I first got my truck he tried to talk me into dropping an IDI into it.  That didn't line up with what I wanted the truck to be, but now he has an opportunity to do it anyway.  

Besides the Cummins he wants to put an Allison transmission in there, although he hasn't quite yet talked himself into spending the money.  He also wants to strip out the gray interior (which is trashed - the truck was pretty beat when Ryan got it, and he was not the best housekeeper) and redo it in tan leather.  Some minor bodywork and a new paint job, and it should be a pretty sweet hauler.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Because of my autism and complete lack of social skills I often wonder if a simple observation or question is being taken the wrong way.
Oh well, insecurity rears its head.

I also suspect it is the kind of bonding project James would have wanted to share with Ryan, and that's sad.

Those Allison's are beasts. I've pulled apart a couple from 550/650's.
I'm not sure he wants a pickup that drives like a dump truck but from what you've said he certainly knows what he is doing.

[Gary Lewis]

Matthew - I'm sorry for your loss.  That must be really hard.

[Dorsai]

Gary Lewis wrote

Matthew - I'm sorry for your loss.  That must be really hard.

Thank you.  Yeah, it is...I mean, we all had a pretty good idea what crowd he was running with and what he was up to with his spare time, but it's still a shocker to get that call.  

[Dorsai]

OK, I think I’ve done enough to depress everyone here, so let’s move on to something more fun...

I’ve been meaning to share these photos for a while now, but never seemed to get around to it.  There’s a used car lot a couple miles down the street from me, with an inventory of decent looking vehicles mostly in the $5K-$15K range.  I’d guess their target demographic is upper-middle class parents buying for their HS/college student, or maybe the au pair.  Lots of small Japanese or Korean SUVs, BMW and Mercedes sedans, and the like.  But every now and again something more interesting shows up on the lot:





I believe that’s a 1952 Studebaker Land Cruiser.  It looked good from the street, but up close you could see the body wasn’t really straight, and had just been given a quick repaint.  Even so, it classed the place up nicely for the few days it was there.  It never got a price tag that I saw and so probably wasn’t part of the regular inventory, but it was nice while it lasted.

Last year a mid-60s Rolls spent a few weeks in the same spot, long enough that I almost went in to ask how much.  I’ll have to see if I can find those photos.

[Gary Lewis]

Other than the wheels, I like the Studebaker - or Stupidbaker as we called them.  

[Dorsai]

It's a snazzy car.  And I agree with you on the wheels...it's very rare that I think flashy modern wheels look good on a classic car.

[grumpin]

I went with my Dad in a Silver Hawk, test drive on a lot. I was young but thought it was cool!

Ok, took some pictures of a friends bull. Said this evening he had been driving it for 30 years. Thought you all might like it.