A few years down the road, I got the bug for more power, as is usually the case with the maturing gearhead, and sometime around the winter of my senior year I had saved enough money to buy a 454 longblock from a friend of my Dad's for $800, but it turned out to be blown, and not the good kind of blown. Unfortunately I didn't know it was blown until I had done the full 'Krylon rebuild" on it and had it sitting between the fenderwells ready to drive. A few seconds at idle and it was apparent something was drastically wrong. Back out it came and a friend offered to open it up for me and inspect the damage. It was determined that the bearings were chewed up so he offered to put new rod and mains in it and help me put it back in to have another go at it. I was on a shoestring budget and was already in deeper than I had anticipated, beginning to regret yanking the perfectly good running original 307. After the second installation, and a half day spent trying to get all the bolts in the automatic tranny housing while laying on the firewall, she was in and ready to fire. Again it blew in less than a minute. It seems the crank was way out of round an dthe new bearings only lasted a few hundred RPMs. I saved my money and took the engine to a reputable machine shop and had it completely redone. Pistons, crank cut, heads done, the whole nine, some $3200 later she was back between the federwells and looking like you see here.
All in all, the car has been a terrific learning experience and I still own it today, some ten years after getting as a 14th birthday present. I know it's not a "real" anything, but I wouldn't trade it for the world, as you only ever get one 'first" car.
01-21-2004, 02:17 AM
Re: First Car Stories!
Hybrid Mode
