hemihotrod402
04-09-2014, 07:21 PM
Hey guys! :seizure:
I'm Andrew, a 21 year old college student at Purdue studying mechanical engineering. I'm actually from Ohio, and after lurking around the site and its vast wealth of knowledge for a while, I finally decided to join up. My current and sort of first project is a derivation of my first car: a 1981 Ford LTD. Granted this isn't really the starting point for a high performance build, but here's its story.
My grandfather purchased what was my first car, a 1987 LTD brand new from my dad, who was working at the local Ford dealer at the time. He sadly got to the point where he wasn't able to drive anymore, and when I was 15 he signed the car over to me to be me first car. Being around cars literally since I was born (we have pictures) the first thing I wanted to do is see what I could customize on it. By the time I had graduated high school, I had opted for the older style front end with rare turn signals, tightened up the suspension, performed a full rebuild on the engine, and had a set of gunmetal gray Coys C-5 wheels, which offset the dark metallic blue paint very well. Then, last summer about a week before I went back to college, I was rear ended in the car by girl ion her temporary permit without an adult in the car. If it goes to show how heavy/tough those cars are, I was able to drive the car home to assess the damage, whereas the minivan that hit me had to be towed away on account of the massive hole in the radiator.
Well, after I had calmed down enough to assess the situation, and a 6 month long legal battle, Vicky (what I had called it) had been totalled by the insurance company and was on a salvage title. Even worse, my original plan to restore the car due to the high sentimental value got thrown away because of the rust situation that had grown fairly rapidly, and then breaking and buckling due to the impact. So I started hunting for a replacement, and a craigslist ad led me to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where there was a virtually rust free 1981 LTD with 61,000 original miles. With the insurance money I had gotten I purchased the car and now it is my new project.
Plans for it include a frame off restoration, replacing the anemic 302 Ford put in that year with a fuel injected 427w, a Lentech transmission linked to a non-granny 3.73 or 4.10 trac-loc rear end. Potential plans include a custom front and rear coilover suspension setup, along with Wilwood disc brakes all the way around, and a new set of wheels. I like the look of the Coys, but they just kind of feel cheap. I'm essentially cloning my first car (which I still have for reference/parts) with this one, so it will end up blue as well. I'll get some pics up when I get a chance, but don't expect too much progress for a little while, between the car being 200 miles away for 3/4 of the year, and me having better things to spend money on like student loans. I'll be around absorbing info when and providing info when I can!
I'm Andrew, a 21 year old college student at Purdue studying mechanical engineering. I'm actually from Ohio, and after lurking around the site and its vast wealth of knowledge for a while, I finally decided to join up. My current and sort of first project is a derivation of my first car: a 1981 Ford LTD. Granted this isn't really the starting point for a high performance build, but here's its story.
My grandfather purchased what was my first car, a 1987 LTD brand new from my dad, who was working at the local Ford dealer at the time. He sadly got to the point where he wasn't able to drive anymore, and when I was 15 he signed the car over to me to be me first car. Being around cars literally since I was born (we have pictures) the first thing I wanted to do is see what I could customize on it. By the time I had graduated high school, I had opted for the older style front end with rare turn signals, tightened up the suspension, performed a full rebuild on the engine, and had a set of gunmetal gray Coys C-5 wheels, which offset the dark metallic blue paint very well. Then, last summer about a week before I went back to college, I was rear ended in the car by girl ion her temporary permit without an adult in the car. If it goes to show how heavy/tough those cars are, I was able to drive the car home to assess the damage, whereas the minivan that hit me had to be towed away on account of the massive hole in the radiator.
Well, after I had calmed down enough to assess the situation, and a 6 month long legal battle, Vicky (what I had called it) had been totalled by the insurance company and was on a salvage title. Even worse, my original plan to restore the car due to the high sentimental value got thrown away because of the rust situation that had grown fairly rapidly, and then breaking and buckling due to the impact. So I started hunting for a replacement, and a craigslist ad led me to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where there was a virtually rust free 1981 LTD with 61,000 original miles. With the insurance money I had gotten I purchased the car and now it is my new project.
Plans for it include a frame off restoration, replacing the anemic 302 Ford put in that year with a fuel injected 427w, a Lentech transmission linked to a non-granny 3.73 or 4.10 trac-loc rear end. Potential plans include a custom front and rear coilover suspension setup, along with Wilwood disc brakes all the way around, and a new set of wheels. I like the look of the Coys, but they just kind of feel cheap. I'm essentially cloning my first car (which I still have for reference/parts) with this one, so it will end up blue as well. I'll get some pics up when I get a chance, but don't expect too much progress for a little while, between the car being 200 miles away for 3/4 of the year, and me having better things to spend money on like student loans. I'll be around absorbing info when and providing info when I can!