So this place is still here?!?

A little update on myself, just figured out I've been registered on here for almost 12 YEARS!!!

Almost since StangNet's inception. Anyways, my stepdaughter is a freshman in college, which happens to be a private school I mean I'm glad she's in school, but I spent the last couple years adding a room onto the house (that I can't make into a garage!!) for her to stay in while she's at school locally, and she changes her mind in the last few months, so we get to add a zero onto the end BEFORE the decimal point, so the 'Stang still sits, as does the Fairlane.

Recently celebrated 15 years of marriage, daughter's in her last year of Jr High, son's in 4th grade, he's about the age where we can start working on the car together. (Says it's his car, and that's fine with me.)

I gotta get the garage cleaned out/up from the addition, although I need to finish the siding and stain the trim and soffit's and it's done (whew!!)

The old race 289 that I sold to a guy in Kansas with a '63 Fairlane blew it up this year after going to aluminum heads and a E85 carb. Went a fastest of 12.51 (I went 11.08 with iron heads and gasoline ) so he's building a new 306.

In 2004 I put on a FE race and had a 40th T-bolt Reunion, it was cool but cost me $7k.

Driving a '03 SportTrac now that I'm thinking about getting rid of and socking the money away for the right deal on a '99-'03 F350 7.3 Dually CrewCab, although I'll probably end up being responsible and paying off debt.

The economy hasn't been too bad here, but the engineering community has slowed down quite a bit, just now picking back up, glad I still have my job. Soon to be here for 8 years, my longest tenture at a company.

Probably like most, seems like everytime I think I'm getting ahead, I'm a little further behind, sorta like trying to walk up the down escalator.

Shoot, everything's been sitting. The cowl on the Mustang is sealed with foil tape used for HVAC work to keep leaves and dirt outta there while it sits outside under a tree. I did get some new roll-a-round tires for it pimpin on a set of 15's instead of the old 14's.

I've got a '57 Ranchero 9" sitting in the garage awaiting going thru, I've got a full set of gaskets to put the 289 back together, need to come up with a tranny though. Car was originally a 3-speed bench seat car. I traded the 3-speed to a engine guy for future machine work about 20 years ago that I never got my end and the car has had buckets since I've had it.

Still collecting FE parts for the Fairlane, got a free 428 block that needs a couple sleeves.

Right now I just want to finish the house and get the garage cleaned out so the Mustang can go back in. My rotisserie is on loan to a paint and body buddy of mine, hopefully he'll hook me up with some free labor when it's time to prime the thing. I want to get the roller in better shape than it's currently in. Probably do the Explorer discs on the rear and some roller stuff up front, change the stock front discs to something more modern as well. The rear springs are old in age, but young in miles, I had new ones built by City Spring back in the 80's, car probably doesn't have one oil change worth of miles on it since then. Once all that's done and the bottom side is in good shape, I'll strip it and have it epoxy primed and maybe the bottom POR15'd, then new brake lines, fuel lines, suspension back in, etc.

My son wants it yellow with black shelby stripes and tan interior. He also wants a game system in the back seat!!! I'm kicking around the idea of making a custom fiberglass headliner that you can glue a modern foam headliner on. The coat hooks, visors, bow mounts and front and rear weatherstrip would hold it up along with the dome light mount. I figure I'll add a modern dome light and french in a drop down monitor. The headliner will be easier to fabricate by putting the car on the rotisserie and fliping it upside down. If I got a good enough plug, I guess I could put a layer of carbon fiber down first if I wanted. The 'glass wouldn't be super thick, but I'd probably add some foam insulation between it and the roof to help quiet the car down. The 289 will probably get a EFI system eventually for it. Maybe a T-5 for the tranny.