Daytona is gonna be huge this year!!!

Sunny and pleasant here in LA! It's actually been hot... 80s... We had a pot load of rain over the Holiday's. I mean a lot... CA is no longer in drought. First time in 25 years. My lawn looks AWESOME!!!

Cats are bad?

All is ok here! Just been busy... still looking for work, tho...

You all are missing my point... Let her drive the car under extreme supervision. If you trust her enough to keep the car, then you trust her enough to drive it at a slow speed.

My brother took me out for a morning exercise drive. He would, on a Saturday morning, go into the bowels of his development and run the shit outta the car. Then drive it home. Maybe 30 minutes? Kept the carbs from bogging and the plugs from fouling.

After he scared the hell outta me, he then said, "wanna drive it?" Uh, yea (like I would say no?). I drove that thing like it was made of ice.

I let my teenaged great nephew drive my C6 a few years back. He was VERY respectful.

The only exception? My niece... she drove my 1992 Prelude Si into a tree back in 1994. I must add, she was 20 and she had her future husband with her. I hoped she would show restraint, hell, I expected it. She paid for that, both through a long term guilt trip and via her wallet.

The weather sucked... Did you check the radar? OMG!! This huge green blob all over south central TX. And it wasn't moving!!!

Quote:

How old is she? I drive my bothers 67 L71 when I was 16!!! Now, I was with him and he properly scared the shit outta me first - only car where you can watch the gas gauge DROP!!

And when I did drive it, it was real slow and careful.

Find a quiet neighbourhood and let her go for it.

Manual or auto? I had a lot of manual experience by then and it wasn't a problem. 450 lb-ft of torque makes manuals real easy.

Bearcat- Glad you got logged in!!! Welcome back!

The fix for the gas problem on the 427 is to update the fuel system to use E85. 101 octane and pump available. It isn't super carburetor friendly... EFI? I would also consider a 5spd manual conversion. The OD will help a TON.

A friend FL has a 67 Roadster, it was born with a 327, 4spd and 3.56 gears. Well, at about 440k miles(!), they rebuilt the car with a 502/502 RamJet injected big block and a TKO 5spd with friendlier 3.30-3.40-ish gears. On the highway, it gets 25 MPG!!! For real! And is strong, yet easy to drive.

I haven't seen them since my last Sebring trip, that was 2019, thanks to a bad knee, COVID and unemployment, well, I haven't been back. But they bought that Vette as a very late model used car in about 1969.

They flat out drove the wheels off of it (440k miles!!!! I just had to repeat that number!) and then did a total restoration. That was, gee, 20-25 years ago. The last time I talked to her (2019), they had added another 150k miles to the car. They live near the Space Coast(moved?) and drove to Corvette events and such all over Florida and used it as a daily driver. Utterly reliable and great in traffic.

If anything has failed, well, they still got tons of life from the restoration. If it means anything, if I had the $$ and the opp, I would buy that car, no questions asked. It was DONE RIGHT.

You would have seen it at the Corral when you were there. It is a Marina Blue roadster with side pipes and a big block hood. The hood was needed to clear the RamJet intake! They typically parked it in the Corral in front of the billboard, next to the tent.

The Firebird is a great option for your daughter, if only because it should be tamer... but, I would do some mods...

I like the LS conversion idea. The E-Rod, LS3 package is all but plug and play. Toss in a modern 4L80E and she gets a 100% modern driveline with overdrive and 435 REAL horsepower. It will smoke that 455. As much as I love the old Poncho 455, it won't spin past 5500 RPM and any HP rating from pre-1972 is full of bullshit anyway. Besides, with the OD auto, it will get mid-20s on the highway. I would suggest a nice 3.33 or 3.42 rear gear. Drops the RPM down to about, or below, 2000 at 80mph. That's the trick.

Another option is the 6spd automatic, used in the Camaro, and light trucks... 6L80E or 6L90E. Double OD, but either way, they have locking torque converters. Our 2012 Escalade has one, and on a road trip to/from Denver in Jan 2024, we averaged 20 MPG. In a brick sled that weighs 5700 lbs, that's impressive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_6L_transmission

You have the luxury of getting a motor from a big SUV, the 6.2 and 6spd auto from an Escalade might be a lot cheaper, even if it requires a rebuild. Take the engine/trans and harness and start retrofitting. All options worth exploring.

Oh, if she is into manuals, the TKO 5spd is great.

There are tons of adaptor kits available, too, to fit the driveline in the car. I found this link within 5 minutes, so a little more searching will find what you need.

https://www.brphotrods.com/mm5/merchan ... QBC4Xs3H_N5BoCLccQAvD_BwE

I would also upgrade the braking system and better tires, at least. Hotchkiss has a ton of suspension products for this car:

https://www.hotchkis.net/search-by-veh ... 52&yr=1968&md=595&sm=1611

Personally, I have always liked the Firebird over the Camaro. Much better looking and, originally, much better thought out.

Sounds great!! What year? Transmission? Mileage? How long has it been stored? Sounds like a great project!!

The C5 is a great car and a great platform to modify. The sky is literally the limit.

Letty - I was watching the Cincinnati Tennis Open, and they have been HOT too!! To make matters worse, a bit thunderstorm hit and it was STILL hot!!! Yuck.

It's been very pleasant here along the Pacific coast. Mid-70s, morning clouds keeping the temps down. We did have a heat wave, so to speak, last week, but it has since broken. However, a new one is expected next week... sigh...

Guess what!! I am going to revise and republish all the tech articles from the old C4 Guru days! Be on the look out for a post.

Retirement sounds fun... unemployment sucks.

What a jam packed weekend!!! It's one of the tracks I want to go to.

Thanks for posting!!!

JB Weld makes a great product for plastics, Plastic Weld.

Works great.

cool!!!!!!

That's cool. Thanks!!!!

Dry, sometimes foggy in the morning... but typical for April.

As for electric cars... they are still in the teething stage. Forcing them is bullshit... let the market decide, not some stupid regulation.

Thanks Charley!!!!!

Also, no Corvette Corral. Without the GT Pro class running, they don't put up the tent. Until that rule changes, no Corral. This started last year.

I used to go, it was the best parking ever. In the marina, just outside the track, and a little past the start/finish line. If you check out the map, it is near the little "L", to the left of the start/finish line, right about there. Fenced and guarded. Closed circuit TV, snacks, stuff like that... it was nice.

Unless there has been a change I am unaware of, there is still no Corvette Corral at Long Beach. I assume this is due to the fact that the GT-Pro class is NOT racing here.

thanks for the update Charley!!!!

Now... to find the streaming...

Watching the NCAA college football playoffs.

So sad about the incident in New Orleans last night. How tragic. Sniff.

Happy New Year!!!

Sorry I haven't been around much... just busy with the holidays!

Hope all are well and all the best for a great 2025!!!

Sunny and 70!!

Back in October, I got laid off when my company got sold... oh, well... but I did get a 12 week severance and will get a pay check un mid-January! But I need to really start the job hunt.

Vote for Trump... this is a bandwagon I cannot get on board with. I don't speak much politics online, for any number of reasons... but Trump is becoming a dangerous man. If he keeps half the promises he is making, and enacts Project 2025, the US will rival North Korea or the Taliban for being backwards. Those policies would suck us back to 1920... or worse.

Is Harris the perfect candidate? Hell no. There hasn't ever been a perfect candidate. They all have strengths and weaknesses. In general, I do like her message, but some of her policies do exceed my centrist approach to things. At the same time, her policies must be approved, same with Trump... it's just that Trump is a really poor diplomat and that worries me on a global scale.

Yes, things ARE more expensive, but the interesting reality is that inflation is down. But I think that some companies are using it as an excuse to raise prices. I will be curious when earnings are reported.

And the IRS is not going away, neither is the Social Security or Medicare... these programs are so vital to the way our people live now. Their loss would crash our economy. I cannot image how it would go... Think of all the boomers hitting retirement age? Ouch. Tommy would be in deep trouble, if not for the nursery business.

IRS? Well, it could be simplified, but the system is a check/balance of things... it's how the FBI burned Al Capone!!!

The bottom line is this: Modern life IS complicated. Government and economies are complicated. As time has progressed and populations grow, everything becomes exponentially more complicated. As these things become more complicated, they take on a life of their own and become so complex that they are no longer understood by the general population. This is sad, because it means something is failing us... our educational system isn't teaching it or our population doesn't give a big enough shit to actually pay attention to it. I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

All I do ask is for people to vote. That vote matters... and it gives you the right to bitch when things fall apart. Apathy isn't the answer.

Just 4 months to Christmas!

A bit of a heat wave here in SoCal... That means the sun index is 10, the wind is zero, but the air temp is about 82... however, that still bakes ya.

Been quiet here. Just working away.

Hope all is great!!!

Not going down the politics rabbit hole...

But... observations...

Dr Ruth
Shannon Doherty
Richard Simmons
Shelly Duval
... all died

And an attempt was made on Trump.

What message is being sent?

If the AOC continues to select TF for the 24 Hours of Lemans, then PM needs to bolster their engineering skills...

Thanks for sharing Charley!!!!

Hi gang!!!

I still haven't figured out why they didn't invite Pratt-Miller... I guess they have won too many times...

Tommy... low energy? painful joints? time is a bitch, dude... sorry...

Good afternoon!

Finally had a few minutes to kill...

The eclipse was about 50% here. I didn't have time to head outside and check, and I didn't have a filter or glasses to check it out.

Warm here today, up in the mid-70s! Sadly, it bottoms out tomorrow... back to more normal low 60s... sigh...

Sigh... Monday Monday...

not much more to add.

I feel your pain... the electric car is a neat idea, but the infrastructure isn't ready for it.

I feel the system should be going after 2-stroke lawncare equipment... weed eaters, blowers, even chainsaws and such. For the average home owner, the new battery stuff is up to the job. And might even work for the average gardener.

This leaves gas stuff for tree trimmers and those that REALLY need it. I would not cry to lose that stench when the gardeners are using their blowers and weed eaters.

In due time, lawn mowers can be targeted. There is even enough tech there to make that viable.

At the same time, leave my gas appliances alone.

In short, our grid cannot support all of this electrification. Thanks to WWII, much of Western Europe and Japan are much more modern and can handle the loads.

Here in SoCal, we have supply issues when this stuff would be needed the most. 4PM to 9PM are the peak hours of electric consumption. Add in all the newly ordained electric ranges, dryers and heaters, that peak consumption is now a year round problem and not just a peak summer problem.

Charging cars over night is logical... but that is with the current volume. It has fail written all over it.

Also, battery recycling is a mess...

Lets toss in another tech. Synthetic gas. Aramco, Shell and others are using carbon from the atmosphere and trash, plus hydrogen from various sources, to create gasoline. It does work but it is still expensive. About $40 a litre right now. But, think of it this way... it creates a carbon negative footprint. To provide enough gas, it would require an inventory, say, 90-days. That, on a global level, would be a lot of free carbon that is currently in the air, to be stored in liquid form and then recycled into gas again. A closed loop, so to speak. The impact could be nuts.

Now, if only politicians, environmentalists and corporations and come together and create a rational solution and stop this all or nothing crap, we might get some progress.

I am planning on a return next year!!!

Tommy - I hope Sue is all better soon!!! Send her our love and best wishes!!!

We are getting rained on again... not heavy... YET.

Otherwise, back to work and the Daytona 500!

howdy!

Hope all is well!

Got an email from Sebring yesterday... the Corvette Corral is sold out. As an aside, the Corral at the Long Beach GP has been cancelled! And they already sold tix for it! They are keeping the parking lot, but no hospitality tent. GM is claiming budget cuts. I think it's a bad idea.

We are between rain storms out here!

Been busy... work, took a road trip to Denver, and got snowed on!

Hi guys!!!

It's been a while... been busy... been sick... returning to normal, finally.

SoCal has been a bit damp and a lot windy. Also rather cool for SoCal.

Rain is the word for today... supposedly, lots of rain... but so far, the storm has been a real wuss...

Getting ready for the holiday's!

Happy Monday!

the funny thing... with prices going up, they haven't had a huge impact here in SoCal... sure, some have, but in general, not that bad.

Then again, our house value has DOUBLED in 12 years.

29th?? Jeez... time traveling!

Been kinda busy... my mobile phone died last week... ATT replaced super fast!

Helped a friend with lighting issues on his old S-10 pickup...

work... life...

the yellow is back! And it's the right yellow! the yellow like colour they had been using was more of a pissy green.

2024 will be interesting...

Howdy all!

It's that time again where two people argue to the death over their own interpretations of liberty... Happy election day!

Been quiet-ish here. My brother, his wife and their dogs had to evacuate their house due to a forest/brush fire. They live here in SoCal now, out in the Temecula area, marginally more accurate, east of Temecula. Their house is ok, and they are home now.

Rather busy... and multi-tasking during a meeting!

Interesting...

Working stiff here... been busy.

Last Monday was my birthday, so what do I get? A $1400 plumbers bill! There was a chunk of sewer pipe that was as just a mess. It had to be replaced.

Great car. Great race car! A reflection on a lot of dedicated hard work. Well deserved!!

It's been hot here! 90 or so. stuffy as hell!

otherwise, just chugging along and not doing anything stupid with ladders!

Hope all goes well with Tommy and Tee's great grand daughter. Stressful stuff...

Been nice around here. Unusually cool, actually. Summer normally ramps up around here in September/October before a fall in November. It's all about 6 weeks early!

Lovely track! Must watch! Thanks for sharing!

thanks so much for sharing!!! Awesome pics.

Glad attendance was ok. I had heard some comments that attendance was down this year.

Hope you all are doing GREAT!!!!!