Off Season

Sweet ride, two of my cars are Fords. What drivetrain have you got in that thing ? In my 88 Ford Falcon panel van im running a 302W and in my XB Falcon Coupe a 351C. If Hotwheels would bring out there XB Coupe casting in Black - id be ecstatic.

US Ford dont do panel vans anymore, so heres what a 1988 Falcon Panel van looks like:

On the dyno

I just like this photo...

Sweet ride, two of my cars are Fords. What drivetrain have you got in that thing ? In my 88 Ford Falcon panel van im running a 302W and in my XB Falcon Coupe a 351C. If Hotwheels would bring out there XB Coupe casting in Black - id be ecstatic.

Very cool cars. Where are you? Australia? (edited) I just looked at your blog. I hope you faired well thru the flooding. You wouldnt by chance be following the Tour Down Under Cycling race would you? Cycling is another of my hobbies.

My Maverick has a 302W stroker motor(347ci) which I'll be adding fuel injection to in the next month or so. I've got several of the Maverick Grabber Hotwheels. I'll be modding one of them soon to match my car. I'll have to get creative with the wheels and hood and lower it a little. Custom paint of course but that should be about it.

I guess I don't do much during the off season. I pick up new Hot Wheels in spurts. I won't go for months then splurge at the pegs and get all the cars I don't have in one trip, dropping $20. But hopefully my drag track will be arriving soon so I can play with that and pick it apart, that should be fun.

What I need to start doing is working on the league improvements and backend stuff. There's a few things I want to do and haven't had the motivation quite yet. Most of the additions on the list aren't fixing anything, they're just wish list and I'm usually hesitant to dig back into a system that is otherwise working just fine.

And I might be the only person here that doesn't have a real car project in his garage. I love cars but style is what drives my car fandom, I'm not a guy that knows specs for cars - or really cars. I'm a web developer by trade so in my free time I'm usually working on web projects and computer stuff. Right now I'm working on make some video games, but someday I'd love to have a nice muscle car to ride around in. Although I think Hot Wheels is a much cheaper way to enjoy cars

I'd love to take the off-season to work on my own race track improvements but the winter just isn't a good time to work unless you have a dedicated workshop, which I don't. I want to get back into figuring out a mechanical finish line and also want to add some leveling hardware to my track. But all in good time, I guess...

I'd love to take the off-season to work on my own race track improvements but the winter just isn't a good time to work unless you have a dedicated workshop, which I don't. I want to get back into figuring out a mechanical finish line and also want to add some leveling hardware to my track. But all in good time, I guess...

I'm happy with my track. I do plan to make some enhancements to its stability and leveling though. You'll notice when you get yours that the legs can vary in angle from one side to the next and there is no fixed angle or slope for the track. So setting it up and keeping it the same from one use to the next is almost impossible.The legs are kind of flimsy also. Especially with a 4 year old boy running around panting like a 10 month old Labrador. I plan to solidly mount the track to a base board to keep it strait and level. It will also provide a fixed point for the new legs I create for the start line. They will be one piece and fixed to the base. It should be pretty neat once completed.

Off season? GT you must be in Texas or nearby for the Lone Star show...I'm in Austin.

I have a slew of other projects...

Getting my 1962 Cadillac sedan driver ready to sell soon.
Keeping the 1972 GMC truck running as it's my daily driver.
Getting back to work on my other 1962 Cadillac project.
Might be buying a major project 1962 Cadillac convertible.
Also buying two 1960 Cadillacs to part out/flip here soon.
I'm starting a line of custom steel furniture in my spare time (what is that?)

I'm also still on the search for new cars, I usually pick up a few every week or so. Need to pull my track out and test but since we closed my wife's office and moved her back into the house, there hasn't been room to set it up...

Just last night I was in my 2 year old's room playing with hot wheels...he's a bit on the harsh side playing with them but athere I was laying on the floor making peel out and engine reving sounds with him...then we organized some of his newer cars by color...

I have a slew of other projects...

Getting my 1962 Cadillac sedan driver ready to sell soon.
Keeping the 1972 GMC truck running as it's my daily driver.
Getting back to work on my other 1962 Cadillac project.
Might be buying a major project 1962 Cadillac convertible.
Also buying two 1960 Cadillacs to part out/flip here soon.

Sweet. I spotted a pic of your car then when perusing your pics on the Austindiecast page. VERY NICE looking car.

Very cool cars. Where are you? Australia? (edited) I just looked at your blog. I hope you faired well thru the flooding. You wouldnt by chance be following the Tour Down Under Cycling race would you? Cycling is another of my hobbies.

My Maverick has a 302W stroker motor(347ci) which I'll be adding fuel injection to in the next month or so. I've got several of the Maverick Grabber Hotwheels. I'll be modding one of them soon to match my car. I'll have to get creative with the wheels and hood and lower it a little. Custom paint of course but that should be about it.

Yep - Im in Australia. I live in Canberra, which has been fairly flood free, but Queanbeyan just over the border flooded right through its CBD in December. It caused tens of dollars of damage (thats a joke, as its considered quite a mmm not so desirable area.... and im sure theres none of those in the US). All of my mates in Queensland are fine, one claims if it rose another meter he could fish from his bedroom window.

My brother is in Victoria, out in the bush, and its flooding badly there as well. A few levee banks have been exceeded. My brother left his farm in the morning and when he came back (his house is about 25km from a highway) he drove through rising creeks, finally he reached one about 2 m from his place he couldn't cross in his truck, so he went back, but in the 15 minutes he had been cut off at both ends. He drove to some high ground, parked his truck and waited for two days until the water receded, all he had was beer and snack food.

Why did you stroke the 302 to 347 instead of just dropping a 351W in it ? One of my plans for the Pano is to drop a 351W and a 4 Spd trans from an early 80's mustang or crown vic. Installing a 351C would be difficult due to space issues at the firewall. I do like the sound of a 351C and they are easy to work on, plus it has insane mid and high end power. Down low, not so good.

The Maverick is an interesting car, it was the mid-size Ford sold after they dropped the Falcon name in the US. We have kept the name and the car has evolved. Ford did sell a Maverick here in the late 80's it was a rebadged Toyota Patrol 4WD.

Why did you stroke the 302 to 347 instead of just dropping a 351W in it ?

The 351 would have been cool but I already had the nice heads, intake, and all from the 302 already in it. The 351 would have required that I use stock exhaust manifolds and notch the shock towers to make it fit and be serviceable. The 347 with oversized valve covers is hard enough to work around. The 347 also weighs less.