Father, Son, and Grand Father project. 1963 Valiant

[prorac1]

When grandpa passed away, we were in the middle of working on lowering and rebuilding the suspension on his pickup. The truck I learned to drive in, the truck my father and I honed our skills on. His name is Big Moe.

Big Moe is a 1980 Ford F100 regular cab long box 2wd. The Cab is a 1989. The engine is a 545” big block ford pump gas motor.

We had it half torn apart, so it was me and Jasons job to put it back together. That’s what grandpa would have wanted.

It turned out great. We busted *** on it. All while working 6-7 days a week during the pandemic.

Meet Big Moe

 

[Tooljunkie]

Sorry for your loss.
Great memories in that sweet car.

 

[Demonracer]

Sorry to hear your Pops passed away, he was a great example to you & your son. From your posts, he worked tirelessly on your sons car.

 

[prorac1]

But not all was bad in 2020.

The hero of our story, Jason Lee GRADUATED!!!!

Grandpa couldn’t be there, but he was there.

Because we come from a small town with small class sizes we were able to have graduation, with social distancing, on the football field. Jasons mom, who acted as our late night food runs, parts runs support staff through the entire project planned graduation and it turned out great.

Without her we couldn’t have made it through this year.

We couldn’t be prouder of Jason.

His senior year wasn’t what you would call conventional, but neither is Jason Lee. He is the most amazing, hard working, dynamic individual I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

 

[prorac1]

Oh no...sorry for your loss.

Sorry for your loss.
Great memories in that sweet car.

Sorry to hear your Pops passed away, he was a great example to you & your son. From your posts, he worked tirelessly on your sons car.

Thank you so much. This car wouldn’t be possible without him.

 

[prorac1]

We also took Jasons car to the dragstrip.

It did great. Ran about what we figured it would……Then we took out a lifter.

I think it was on its way out for a while. It probably never broke in properly. But it made it home under its own power. And that’s what matters. Lol.

Car ran 14.80. Stock 1983 318 with a 68 340 hyd cam and factory early a body exhaust manifolds through full 2.50 duals.

 

[barbee6043]

So sorry for your family's loss. I know it is hard.

 

[prorac1]

Part of me wanted to end this thread. Part of me wanted to not update it and let it fall into the category of lost threads never to be heard from again. Part of me never wants to look back.

But it deserves better then that.

I hope that people will read this thread for years to come. I hope people will find love, forgiveness, persistence, and tenacity from this thread.

Thank you so much FABO. You know who you are. You all mean so much to me and my family. Thank you for being the greatest, warmest automotive forum on the Internet.

I hope this thread goes on for years to come.

To be continued……

 

[DusterDaddy]

Sweet Lord!
I’m so sorry to read you lost your dad. The three amigos indeed..

 

[prorac1]

So sorry for your family's loss. I know it is hard.

Thank you so much

 

[chryslerfat]

Wow sorry to hear about grandpa.

 

[prorac1]

Sweet Lord!
I’m so sorry to read you lost your dad. The three amigos indeed..

Thank you so much. We loved and learned from your build thread. It was great.

 

[prorac1]

Wow sorry to hear about grandpa.

Thank you so much sir

 

[RustyRatRod]

I know it took a lot to ressurect this thread, Eric. But Jason deserves it not die. He's a fine young man any grandpa would be proud of. He's not even mine and I'm very proud of him. He could be doing so many things differently, but he's keeping it between the ditches.......unlike you know who. You see what I did there? LOL

Anyway, yall have really been through a lot this year......as we all have on one level or another. It's amazing some of us haven't taken the easy way out. Every time I see yall workin on that little car, I'm bittersweet......because I think of what could have been with my son had he stayed straight......but then, I'm overcome with joy because I know at least ONE man that did stay on the straight and narrow and a dad.......and grandpa that contributed so selflessly to m ake it happen. .......and all in doing so has made Jason appreciate the important things in life. you and Becky should be beaming everyday.....and I know you are.

 

[prorac1]

The next chapter begins……

Well, as previously mentioned, we’re down one engine. Lol

Where do we go next?

For starters, we wanted a roller cam. We also wanted more cubic inches.

We didn’t however, want to lose drive ability in our quest for more hp.

A 360 magnum fit the bill perfectly.

So our quest began to find a core engine.

Jason has been working full time since the pandemic started and school ended. He’s been saving his money and working hard. Time for him to enjoy the fruits of his labor!

We found a 1994 360 core out of a Dodge Ram 2500.

 

[prorac1]

Next we found a great deal on a set of brand new performer RPM LA heads. We started formulating our plan.

This engine is going to be epic!

 

[prorac1]

I know it took a lot to ressurect this thread, Eric. But Jason deserves it not die. He's a fine young man any grandpa would be proud of. He's not even mine and I'm very proud of him. He could be doing so many things differently, but he's keeping it between the ditches.......unlike you know who. You see what I did there? LOL

Anyway, yall have really been through a lot this year......as we all have on one level or another. It's amazing some of us haven't taken the easy way out. Every time I see yall workin on that little car, I'm bittersweet......because I think of what could have been with my son had he stayed straight......but then, I'm overcome with joy because I know at least ONE man that did stay on the straight and narrow and a dad.......and grandpa that contributed so selflessly to m ake it happen. .......and all in doing so has made Jason appreciate the important things in life. you and Becky should be beaming everyday.....and I know you are.

You and kitty are the most amazing people ever. You have no idea how much your friendship has meant to us.

You have always been an amazing source of information and research on our projects. We could never repay you.

You guys will always be our family!

 

[RustyRatRod]

You and kitty are the most amazing people ever. You have no idea how much your friendship has meant to us.

You have always been an amazing source of information and research on our projects. We could never repay you.

You guys will always be our family!

Aw shut up. Yall got that thing runnin yet? lol

 

[prorac1]

Aw shut up. Yall got that thing runnin yet? lol

We’re working on it.

We’re going to pick up more coolant on our way home from visiting grandmas house.

It will fire today. I can promise you that.

Will it run? We will see. Lol

 

[Mineallmine]

Awesome thread. Amazing car. Just finished reading from beginning to end. Sorry for the loss of your father. At least he had the pleasure of building a car with you and then his grandson. Memories that will never be forgotten. Look forward to seeing how it runs with the new power plant.

 

[RustyRatRod]

We’re working on it.

We’re going to pick up more coolant on our way home from visiting grandmas house.

It will fire today. I can promise you that.

Will it run? We will see. Lol

Oh it'll run. Jason worked on it.

 

[Brad4406]

Very sorry for your loss. Congratulation to your son on his graduation!

 

[prorac1]

More progress pics.

Here’s the block at the machine shop getting machined.

And while we were waiting for the short block to come back from the machine shop we used the old engine to test fit the oil pan and headers.

 

[prorac1]

And Jason got one of our raggedy old “*****” carburetors cleared and rebuilt in his spare time.

 

[prorac1]

Short block back from the machine shop. Ready for learning and assembly!