New Ford Bronco Sheetmetal at SEMA 2012 (Click to see full size) I've always been a fan of early Ford Broncos. It's got rough, rugged lines to go with it's four wheel drive ability and performance thanks to Ford V8 performance. My buddies got one sitting next to his 1965 Mustang fastback for off-roading with his sons.  That sounds like fun. So maybe like you, I scan for deals on Broncos online. When I do, it seems like in any Craigslist ad, I hear the same thing... "no rust" or "uncut". Then, the pictures show a tattered rig with it's best days on the range long gone. So when I saw this completely new, ready  to bolt on set up from Dynacorn, I knew some hardcore Bronco folks would be into it. Dynacorn makes new body panels for a bunch of  popular muscle cars like the Mustang, Camaro, Nova and now the Bronco. Hope this saves some of those old 4-wheelers from the scrap heap. Am I right? Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe...

SpinTron Roller Tappets, Rockers and Friction Testing From our friends at Goodink and Jesel, here's your chance for an inside look into the highest performance race engine component development and the special equipment needed to break records at Bonneville or in the NHRA. In this case, it's a dyno, it's got a laser... it's SpinTron! - pikesan Story by: Ray T. Bohacz Jesel, one of the best competition valve train specialists to emerge in the past thirty years, owes much of its supremacy to extensive developing and testing of its competition parts. The test machine is a SpinTron. The parts being tested are principally roller tappets and rocker arms. “Ten or twelve years ago when I first pressed the SpinTron into action,” says Danny Jesel, “my immediate response was one of shock—the racket it generated was incredible! I just wasn’t expecting the opening and closing of two valves to be so loud, and initially I thought something was broken.” Once Danny Jesel became accustomed to the commotion, his next challenge was grappling with the phenomenon known as "lofting". Lofting occurs when engine speeds increase, usually above 4,000rpm, causing the...

Ford Falcon Gas Door Relocation - No More Gas Cap As I continue to fill you in on the progress of my 1963 Ford Falcon wagon build/restoration/customization/marathon, feel free to follow along here:  1963 Ford Falcon Wagon Build I had someone ask me about what I did on the gas filler door on my 63 Falcon Wagon after seeing it painted. Here's the update on that... Could there have been a worse place to put the factory filler tube? The filler was relocated on my 63 Falcon Wagon before I bought it, up onto the top of the rear quarter panel. The original owner shaped a piece of sheetmetal, then threw a hinge on it with a cabinet "pop-lock" thing to keep it shut. It looked bad... lots of bondo and for some reason, the door opened "suicide" or the hinge was on the back. I was afraid it'd pop up at speed. See below. Rather than try to fix what was there, I searched around and when I had the body work done (one of the only things the guy did well) I had this pop-up filler installed....

1963 Ford Falcon Power Tailgate or Squire Trim For those of you following along at home, I've been SLOWLY wrenching on my 1963 Ford Falcon wagon in between creating the website you've found here, MyRideisMe.com. I decided to fill you in on a couple details of what I've been up to. (see, I'm doing something!) On display this time is the crown jewel of my Falcon wagon, the chrome tailgate bezel found on Falcon Squire models and on some sedan deliveries. Even before I had it restored and re-chromed, it was my favorite part on the whole car. It oozes cool! Taking you back a few steps, here's what I originally purchased: (click to see larger pic) Sexy as hell, but pitted and in need of restoration. This is what happens to pot metal, so no need to panic. I did call in the help of an expert though, Norm Huie at Shine on Me Automotive Trim Restoration. Norm had a flawless 1965 Falcon Wagon I called, "Plain Jane". If you're a Falcon guy, it's worth a look. For a very reasonable price, Norm fixed all the pitting in...

Trend Pushrods - New Ways to Combat Pushrod Troubles Seeking and finding stories about great engine builders and the high performance parts they use, every once in a while, you find yourself asking. "What makes xyz so special?" In this case, I got to talking about high performance pushrods and didn't know much about them. Luckily, Trend Performance makes pushrods for everybody from the weekend warrior to the best of NHRA and NASCAR. So I asked a few questions... An interview with Bob Fox, founder of Trend Performance By Sam Logan with photos by Moore Good Ink Today the Michigan firm Trend Performance is the largest manufacturer and supplier of pushrods in racing and the performance aftermarket. But in 1988 when Bob Fox founded his pushrod company, after working the phones as a tech rep at Diamond Racing, things were different. During his time at the piston company, he noticed that the performance of competition pushrods was little better than adequate—their lengths varied and their ends failed—both ends! Manufacturers would reduce the material thickness of the cup ends in order to form them, and as a result they would...

Cylinder Head Innovations for 302w Heads & 351w Heads I made an appointment with the Engine Doctor, Jon Kaase. The good doctor told me about a new set of 302w or 351w heads that are ahead of their time like morphine to a cheap bottle of whiskey. Before we trust any doctor, it's best to look'm up and see where they come from. Kaase, as fate would have it, is the self-described "black sheep" in a family full of actual medical professionals... Kaase, on the other hand, "...liked mechanical things from the time I was little, and I never gave it up." Sound like anyone you know? With references checking out fine, let's learn about the new  P-38 canted-valve Windsor cylinder heads. (Text and images provided by Moore Good Ink) Small Block Ford Aluminum Heads with Better Cylinder Filling Jon Kaase keeps his eyes peeled. Over the years, the engine builder has seen an endless string of improvements and aftermarket components visited upon the 302 Windsor heads but he was woefully aware that there were no real advancements beyond the original cylinder head configuration. He thought he could produce...

Camshaft Assembly Lube & Break in Lube Part of my 1963 Ford Falcon engine build is researching how to build and break-in the engine... the right way. To get great advice, I asked the experts at Edelbrock. They've been building engines and hot rod parts forever... not to mention they've been very cool helping me with my engine build and with MyRideisMe.com. Hope these tips are helpful! Tech with Edelbrock: Camshaft Break-in for Hydraulic Flat Tappet Camshafts Upgrading your hydraulic, flat tappet cam is a very popular performance upgrade. In many cases, cam changes happen independently of a complete engine rebuild. With or without engine rebuild, when changing cams, proper steps must be taken to ensure a hassle-free installation, break-in period, and of course, good cam and lifter life. The following are the basic steps for camshaft break-in. Read and follow the included instructions with every Edelbrock cam and lifter kit. We're skipping the assembly and disassembly steps because there's too many variations to cover it all. 1) Always use new lifters with a new camshaft. Do not use existing lifters with a new camshaft. Cam lobe wear is...

Points Conversion for Distributor or Stick with Points and an MSD Box Sometimes simple is best. Or sometimes... we're low on cash! So when it comes time to upgrade or convert your points distributor to electronic type, maybe you can wait on the distributor mod, pickup the MSD box and still get all the benefits of an MSD box. Sound good? Read on... For those of you who simply can’t find an aftermarket distributor or the conversion parts needed for you nostalgic distributor to upgrade from points, the MSD box will work well for you too. When you install an MSD to your points distributor, you’ll still receive the powerful, multiple sparks that MSD is known for along with the performance that comes from it! Specifically, with an MSD installed: The points will last much longer Adjusting or "gapping" the points isn't crucial to performance You'll rock MSD’s multiple sparks and Capacitive Discharge (CD) power The points will last much longer It is true, that a magnetic pickup distributor is much more accurate than a points distributor, especially when it is complemented with an adjustable advance, sealed bearings and...

Hot Rod Tires How-To - Gotta Drive Fast! Simple question: What's wrong with this photo?   If you answered, A) Dude's running Centerlines on a hot rod (What a loser); Well, you'd be part right. Why would I do such a thing? Does the car look better like this:   Take your time.... YES!! Much better. The bias plys on Bonnie make the vintage look, just like bias plys do on tons of other hot rods going for a straight out of the 50s, nostalgic look. (I'll also agree the backdrop of the Bonneville Salt Falts doesn't hurt!) So why have I replaced my bias plys with radials? Simple: I want to drive... drive fast on the freeway.   I originally had a set of white wall, radial tires on my roadster. I dig the white wall look, but like I said before, I wanted my roadster to be more early 50s looking. Plus the blackwalls look more hard core hot rod to me, like my main focus is running fast, not looks.   Anyway, I had the radials on before, and when people asked, "How fast is it?"...

Ford Falcon Inline Six Long Block Build Video I've been working on my 1963 Ford Falcon wagon for way to long now. Ever get the feeling about your project like... "It'll never be done!" Well, let's celebrate some progress! The short block's put together and waiting the next couple steps in the powertrain build:   Assemble the head and the rest of the long block Prep and Install of the T5 transmission (I know, I was planning on re-using the Dagenham 4 speed)   The video below is a step by step build of the 200 inline six. With guidance from my pops, a retired Ford mechanic, he shows me how-to, then I proceed to give it my best shot. I'm not always successful the first time, maybe like you might be... so, I hope everyone interested in building their own engine can learn a little something, and maybe have a laugh at the same time!   If you're looking for more info on building or modifying a ford inline six engine, make sure to check out this discussion forum:  Fordsix.com. With members from all over the world, including...

Custom Car Gauges by Classic Instrument Motor Through Detroit Recognize this car? This is the Peace family's 1955 Ford Thunderbird that won the 2012 Ridler Award. If there's one word to describe it, it's CUSTOM. You could also say, "One-off" or even "One of a Kind". All of those words would accurately describe the cars found in the "Great 8" contending for the Ridler. They're all amazing- amazingly custom, all the way down to their custom gauges. Rules for winning the Ridler read fairly simple: The cars should show: Creativity, Engineering and Workmanship. One of the accepted, maybe expected, ways to show creativity and workmanship is with one of a kind parts, like custom gauges. That's why SEVEN of the "Great 8" cars from Detroit chose Classic Instruments. Here's where the Peace's 55 T'Bird started and how it all ended up: Johnathan Peace is an Art Center student, so every part of this 55 was carefully planned, then perfected... then covered in gleaming red paint, leather or chrome! Keeping things simple, the Thunderbird now runs a single gauge, a custom tach. When finished, here's how it looked: If one...

Must Have Mechanics Tools In my quest to learn about working on cars, I'm realizing that there's a lot I've learned about tools alongside learning about cars! When I first started working on my newly purchased Studebaker around five years ago - the only tools I had were neatly packed into an aptly named "Do-It-Herself" toolkit I'd received for high school graduation years before. Those got me by around the house - but weren't much help in the garage. Having a handy and helpful Dad, it didn't take him long to wrangle me up some spare tools from his garage. Soon enough I had a starter mechanics toolkit. A small assortment of sockets, wrenches,and a screwdriver were about all I started with. Its also about all hot rodding young people had back in the fifties! But as anyone who's worked on cars know - different jobs call for different tools. Sometimes you can make do with what you have and sometimes you've gotta go out and buy or borrow the right tool for the job. For everybody else out there who's learning as they go or just getting into cars - here's...