Hello!
My name is Todd, and I've been a car nut pretty much from the time I learned to walk. I was a young kid during the height of the muscle car era and by the time I was about 8 or 9 I could quote you specs on any car you wanted to know about. This was also about the time that I got a brand new bike for my birthday. When my dad came home from work the next day, I had the bike completely disassembled and I was just looking at the parts to see how they worked. He was highly upset until he got home the next day to see me riding around on said bike.
I translated this love of greasy stuff into a Mechanical Engineering degree. After a few years in the Aerospace industry, I got a job in the Automotive industry and never looked back. I have spent the last 20 years designing shock absorbers and suspension modules, which has given me the unique opportunity of working with several SCCA and IMSA professional race teams over the years as a shock tuning consultant.
My car jones started with a '74 Pontiac Bonneville that ended up with a Ram Air III cam and JC Whitney headers for a Tempest that I heated with a mapp gas torch and bent with a baseball bat until they cleared the floorboards. I also learned a lot about rust repair using old street signs, how to start a car by shorting the terminals on the starter solenoid with a screwdriver, and rebuilding a QuadraJet. I also learned that touching the tip of the screwdriver to the block while shorting the solenoid makes for a dandy arc welder. :lol: I bought an '85 Mustang GT when I graduated from college, made several engine and suspension changes to it, and went autocrossing. I loved that car, but I sold it when I got the deal of a lifetime on a brand new 1989 Corvette. I still have the Corvette after almost 20 years, thousands of autocross and drag strip runs, and several driving schools. The car hasn't run for the last three years, but I'm currently in the process of building a 383 for the car so it should be back on the road in the spring. My search for knowledge as I prepared to start the build led me to several of grumpyvette's posts in various forums, and I realized that this guy is a goldmine of information.
When he notified me of this forum, I had to join. I've learned a lot from grumpyvette so far, and I look forward to digging through all the information here. I really appreciate all the time and effort you have put into posting your accumulated knowledge so that others can learn.
My name is Todd, and I've been a car nut pretty much from the time I learned to walk. I was a young kid during the height of the muscle car era and by the time I was about 8 or 9 I could quote you specs on any car you wanted to know about. This was also about the time that I got a brand new bike for my birthday. When my dad came home from work the next day, I had the bike completely disassembled and I was just looking at the parts to see how they worked. He was highly upset until he got home the next day to see me riding around on said bike.
I translated this love of greasy stuff into a Mechanical Engineering degree. After a few years in the Aerospace industry, I got a job in the Automotive industry and never looked back. I have spent the last 20 years designing shock absorbers and suspension modules, which has given me the unique opportunity of working with several SCCA and IMSA professional race teams over the years as a shock tuning consultant.
My car jones started with a '74 Pontiac Bonneville that ended up with a Ram Air III cam and JC Whitney headers for a Tempest that I heated with a mapp gas torch and bent with a baseball bat until they cleared the floorboards. I also learned a lot about rust repair using old street signs, how to start a car by shorting the terminals on the starter solenoid with a screwdriver, and rebuilding a QuadraJet. I also learned that touching the tip of the screwdriver to the block while shorting the solenoid makes for a dandy arc welder. :lol: I bought an '85 Mustang GT when I graduated from college, made several engine and suspension changes to it, and went autocrossing. I loved that car, but I sold it when I got the deal of a lifetime on a brand new 1989 Corvette. I still have the Corvette after almost 20 years, thousands of autocross and drag strip runs, and several driving schools. The car hasn't run for the last three years, but I'm currently in the process of building a 383 for the car so it should be back on the road in the spring. My search for knowledge as I prepared to start the build led me to several of grumpyvette's posts in various forums, and I realized that this guy is a goldmine of information.
When he notified me of this forum, I had to join. I've learned a lot from grumpyvette so far, and I look forward to digging through all the information here. I really appreciate all the time and effort you have put into posting your accumulated knowledge so that others can learn.
