292 upgrade

[whisper38]

highjacked

[Ford Blue blood]

Don't think there is anything that will bolt up to the stock transmission.  Small block 302/351W with a C4 or an AOD is fairly easy, trans mount the biggest issue.

[RICH MUISE]

Good advise as usual, Bill....Were ya been?...you been on vacation AGAIN?

[Ford Blue blood]

Yup....long trip, 3700 miles, family in WI, wedding in IA, family in CO.  Did it all in the Shelby, hit the top of Pikes Peak, all 14,114 feet of it.  Son-in-law is a mega runner, met him at the top, he ran and this 66 year old balding fat man drove to the top having a ball!  Thin air is fun too!

Wanted to hook up with a couple of 57 Ford guys but there just was not time to get it all done.  Kids looking for a new new house found one that they wanted me to look at and bless, two nights in town and back on the road.  Thought my rushing from one place to another days were done after I retired but not so.  Seems folks have expectations and since I don't "work".....you know how that goes.  We will be back up there again soon.

[RICH MUISE]

Awesome trip. I'm not sure I could handle the thin air at the top of PP..I have a hard enough time with it at the bottom. If I had known you were doing that I would have told you to get some home made donuts at the cafe at the top....exactly like my mom use to make. I use to go up there just to get donuts! I heard the road up there is paved all the way now...use to be just at the half way point. Also, there's an awesome German bakery in Manitou, and the best damn mexican burrito shop I've ever had.
If you ever go thru Amarillo on one of your Colorado trips, I'd love to shake hands with ya! I do understand the difficulties of trying to do car stuff when the family is with you.

[57 Ford Kustom]

Glad to here you had a safe trip FBb! Tim

[Ford Blue blood]

Did the donut thing and we did eat at the burrito place, son-in-law is in love with them.  Manitou is where he started his run up to the top.  My daughter dropped him off there at 6 AM, I met him at the top at 9:15.  Yes the road is paved all the way, kinda knarly, above the tree line it hits you hard, there is no shoulder on the road, if a wheel drops off, that ain't the only thing that will drop off!  The lanes are 8' wide, did a little hot dogging on the way up, just couldn't help myself.....only one car ahead of me for the entire trip and he was going 5 MPH but pulled to the side so I could pass him.

Air is a little thin, got light headed at first but this old body adjusted some.  Not going to do any running up there!  The run up and back down were just incredible, took me all day and into the evening to come down off that high!

BTW, love the 75 MPH limits in the western states, set the cruise on 83 and made time!  Averaged 19.5 MPG for the trip, not too bad for a 502 RWHP/Air/stereo hot rod....

[RICH MUISE]

man, we can sure hijack a thread can't we! My first wife's uncle delivered that huge marble monument at the top of the peak on a 40' flatbed!! I believe it was dirt the whole way back then. They had to close the road for a day to give him time to get it up and back down. He told me some of the real nasty hairpin turns took a hell of alot of manuvering back and forth to make each of those turns. I don't think I would have wanted to ride shotgun on that trip.

[Ford Blue blood]

I guess we did....I could go on for hours about that drive up the hill....can't imagine doing it in a 40' flat bed.

[RICH MUISE]

highjacked

Sorry about that Whisper....bad habit of mine.

[whisper38]

Rich
I've done it myself,it was the only thing I could think of today,all the rain we are having ,the ranchero still pouring water in under the front part of the bed into the  back , the nut job garage that cost over $400.00 buck and only used bondo with filber glass to patch the area with,it been a rough week.I tried to get autobody shop to come out and tell what it would cost to cut out the bad sheetmetal and replace it.No show for a week now on their part.So my next step is just get the entire bed sprayed with a liner,because I'm covering it up with wood anyway,just need to stop the leaks.

[Ford Blue blood]

highjacked

Me too, I have a tendencey to wander from time to time.....