Sunday, March 24, 2013

True Tales - 1st car 1969 Honda

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"1st car, 1969 Honda" by Steve Wander
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Being brought up in a working class home, where I was making minimum wage $3.35 an hour while my dad was making about 10, I quickly found the value of a dollar. Any time I could save one or make one, I did. My first car became reality about 5 weeks into my drivers license. I had saved up about $150 and was really getting tired of riding my bike 3 miles to school (one way) every morning and then riding that same bike to work the closing shift at the local Wiener World.

I saw an add for a 1969 Honda AN600 coupe. I had never seen this model but the price was right, $200. I quickly had my dad drive me down to the beach community where the car lived. We turned the corner and saw the smallest car I had ever seen, It was like a Morris Mini, but about 10 inches skinnier. I curiously looked it over and declared that I would probably fit in it with a small passenger, but that was about it. It did have a back seat, but the driver seat was adjusted back so it was touching the rear seat bun. 

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Stock vs. Modified - Factory vs. Aftermarket

If you have been following along then you know I'm currently in the process of installing throttle body fuel injection on my 1966 Barracuda. Its not being done from a kit and there is a lot to alter to marry the wiring needed to power and control all the various components to the existing stock harness.

I also had to modify a distributor for the system. Here's where I find the "Great Divide". I already made the mods and went searching through various forums for more info on others who have done similar mods or upgrades to their Mopars. Many have and there are quite a few people using GM ignitors to fire their ignitions, either a full on HEI distributor setup or just an ignition module bolted to a stock Mopar electronic distributor.

Here it gets weird because there seems to be those who feel that anything but components from Ma Mopar are the ONLY suitable part to go on the car. The other side of the argument are the people who are looking for more performance or better fuel mileage from their cars. To the first group, the only ignition upgrade from points ignition that YOU SHOULD EVER DO is to install the Mopar electronic ignition. BECAUSE IT WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE FACTORY, WHY DO YOU NEED ANYTHING ELSE!

Sorry for the yelling, but that's how some of those forum posts get. Below is an exchange between two people from a Mopar forum to show the divide.