Thanks guys.. Next installment.
<span style="font-weight: bold">The Maiden Voyage</span>
After a long week and week of the install; mainly due to the shitty Hooker Comp headers I had bought at our closest Super Shops in Donelson.. Hey everybody remembers Super Shops!! The place you went to get your performance parts.. I mean I went all out on those headers too.. I stripped them down to bare metal and bought the high dollar VHT and sprayed them down and like many they were rusted in a month.. So the headers are on, the engine has fresh oil and the coolant has been filled.. Im in the driver’s seat with dad working the distributor and timing light.. Now this was a work night; Tuesday night as a matter of fact, and it’s about 8:30-9:00pm at night. I reach up with my hand, start pumping the loud pedal with my foot and turn the ignition.. Suddenly I have a quick flashback of the first time I had done this several years before but all of a sudden I am jolted back into reality when this little mouse motor ignites those gases in the chambers and this thing with its open headers roars to life and Im getting chills!!! I hop out and watch and learn as dad sets the timing at 35° of total timing.. I reach in and hit the kill switch and stand back as smoke and steam are rolling off the headers from the oils from our hands of the install and the smells of that shiny fresh paint start to bake in.. We hurry and throw the hood on it and as we tighten up the 4 bolts and check to make sure its aligned we close the hood.. It’s around 9:30 or so by this time and I look at pops and say; “let’s try it out..” He smiles and says “I know that’s right!” As he starts walking to the passenger’s side I say where you going.. He looks at me a little confused and I say, “You’re driving!” We get in and he hits the key and all I hear is the vibration in my head from the open exhaust. We back out of the driveway and as we stop for that few seconds as he goes from reverse to first; I’ll never forget this for the rest of my life btw, he says to me; “Its either gonna go!! Or its gonna blow!!.. Before I could fully process what he was saying that engine rev’d up to what seemed like 9K and he side stepped the clutch it was like I was kicked in the ass and on a rocket! As we blasted off down the road with the tires begging and screaming for mercy all I could see down that dark night road was the headlights dancing as he was bangin’ gears laughin’ and ah grinin’ the whole way..
<span style="font-weight: bold">Shortly after the removal and during the cleanup.</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">The old heart after serving its host for over 110K miles.</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">This shot was over at a high school buddies house not long after the engine swap.</span>
