The Gun Counter

Our county fair has a demolition derby every year and last year they started a youth class. Driver must be 12-15 years old without a driver license and the parent rides in the front seat. I've run compact cars before but this class requires a bit larger car but it can't be v8 powered.
Only very limited (for safety) modifications are allowed.
Well my son will be 12 next year and really wants to be involved with derby sports...
So my buddy at the junkyard found this:

[img][img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa28 ... eu4lde.jpg[/img]

83 Ford Fairmont. 90k original miles, owned by one old man. 200 straight six. C5 trans. 7.5" rear end. Car is basically (miraculously) nearly rust free.

I found a 3.73 diff & ring & pinion in a Ranger. Going to put that in and weld the spiders. Already stripped most of the smog parts and it runs better. Needs floor shift conversion, moving some wiring, fab a new transmission crossmember, build the safety cage, relocate fuel and battery, and judicious application of welder. Already bought another 10# of 7014 rod and two spools of .030 mig wire. The winter project.

My nefarious plan is to teach about how cars go together and come apart and how to build things with your hands.

Great thing: i found a Fairmont enthusiast site on the Facebooks and posted and a fellow a couple hours away posted that he wanted to convert his old high school car to air conditioning....so he came to my place, stripped the entire dash & hvac system and all the ac hardware under the hood...and he paid me for the privilege!

Should be enough money from those parts to pay for a set of skid loader tires for the drive axle and a bunch of steel for new bumpers.

That sounds like a really fun project.

Youre pic isnt showing up for me, but if the car is straight, rust free, and has halfway decent paint, I'd stick an ls into it with a cheapo twin turbo setup, and go snake hunting.