Is my 14yo daughter crazy?? Should I be worried ?? :)

Desotocrazy

Desotocrazy

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My14 yo daughter has an affinity for Mopars....from my 50 Desoto through to HER 1974 Fury (Delilah) that we bought her last year. Ok, that's wonderful...every dad's dream (on here at least) to have a daughter who not only loves cars, but OLD MOPARS!! Her and I go to the Mopar Nats every year as a daddy-daughter thing while my 9yo son and wife go to the Columbus Zoo or stay home (he's just now getting into cars though).

So yesterday, I went out to the garage to look at a problem on Delilah (74 Fury 2 dr hptp) that's been plaguing me since last year when I rebuilt her 2bbl carb. Off the line, she'd stumble a bit and coming to a stop light, she'd die. So talking to a few people here at work they all said "sounds like a vacuum leak somewhere". I've gone over every ported line, replaced the EGR with a Mopar part, routed everything as spec'd in the manuals...it's all good. Then for fun, I checked the actual carb bolts and sure as heck, the passenger front was loose...finger loose where it was wobbling at idle. So THERE was the source of my vacuum leak it seems. I tightened everything down good and tight...started her up...did a couple of idle screw adjustments and ARGH ARGH ARGH!!...the garage filled with wonderful smells. HA HA.

Here comes my quandary. My daughter then proceeds to run out to the garage upon hearing her baby fire up for the first time this year and goes "MMMMM!!! Dad, it smells sooooo good out here....like being at the track at the Nats!". Should I be worried that my daughter is addicted to the smell of noxious fumes emanating from a small block A engine? LOL My wife just looks at us and says "you two are crazy!".

She loves Emily, my 94 Lebaron GTC, which I let her drive to town occasionally (with me in the car of course), but she can't wait until she can drive Delilah (the Fury, her car), this summer a bit around the block. We live WAY out in the country, so it's not a big deal. She HATES foreign cars....can't stand Fords....tolerates older GM's....but loves her Mopars and other orphan stuff (Studebakers, AMC, etc.). I just wanted to brag on my Mopar daughter a bit. I hope everyone on here with kids has the experience of sharing their love of Mopars with those they love. They're the ones who'll carry the acetylene torch for us when we're too old to do the repairs. :)
 
No kids here but if I had one I would like to think she'd be turning out like your daughter.
 
Nothing wrong with your children learning the right values from their parents. My son loves his Chrysler's, my daughter, oh well, (at least I got one right).
 
traintech55 said:
Nothing wrong with your children learning the right values from their parents. My son loves his Chrysler's, my daughter, oh well, (at least I got one right).
Click to expand...
traintech55 said:
Nothing wrong with your children learning the right values from their parents. My son loves his Chrysler's, my daughter, oh well, (at least I got one right).
Click to expand...

HA HA! My son loves his Lionel trains (like me)....I'm slowly getting him under the hood of the cars though.
 
Great story! I have a Mopar girl too. She is 15 and not afraid to get her hands dirty. We spent last weekend breaking down a stub frame for a disk conversion. One thing is for sure, at that age they learn a lot and a lot of energy! She has already climed and named my "parts" car as her own to drive in 2 years when she gets her license. She'll be doing a fair share of welding patch panels this summer. Here she is a 9 at the beginning of the project:

image.jpg
 
70bigblockdodge said:
So you have a problem with a vacuum leak still or was the carb loose?
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As of right now, idling in the garage, it appears the fix was the carb bolt. Until I get her out of the garage driving around I'm HOPIN' and PRAYIN' that's what it was. But I did notice a marked increase in throttle response and no stumble when backing off the gas. Now that the carb is rebuilt and the leak is "plugged", I'll have to get her outside, put the vacuum gauge and timing light back on her to get her perfect. We moved into our new house just before winter and I couldn't get Delilah into my heated polebarn and work area where all of my diagnostic tools are located.
 
Samplingman said:
Great story! I have a Mopar girl too. She is 15 and not afraid to get her hands dirty. We spent last weekend breaking down a stub frame for a disk conversion. One thing is for sure, at that age they learn a lot and a lot of energy! She has already climed and named my "parts" car as her own to drive in 2 years when she gets her license. She'll be doing a fair share of welding patch panels this summer. Here she is a 9 at the beginning of the project:

View attachment 121555
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That's AWESOME!!! keep her into it! Every car project I try to involve the kids in some way, shape, or form.
 
Samplingman said:
Oh boy, a toy train nut! We have a lot in common....
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Most def....I'm a 3 rail guy (Lionel). My pole 60x40 pole barn is drywalled, a/c'd and heated, and the back 1/3 is my Chrysler "shrine" the other 1/3 is an office and movie theatre and the other 1/3 is going to be for my (an my son's) 15x18 layout that we have to build. :lol:
 
20x16 basement layout here but the kids never had an interest. Three rail postwar, prewar and standard gauge, no tiny trains here!

image.jpg
 
Samplingman said:
20x16 basement layout here but the kids never had an interest. Three rail postwar, prewar and standard gauge, no tiny trains here!

View attachment 121556
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Is that the Lionel/MTH repop version? That's a BEAUTY!!! I'm a dumpster diver (depending on where) and live in SE Mich. When Lionel was closing shop here, I was getting stuff from their layout when they were taking it apart. I have a LOT of old track that they were just tossing out. Plus, I work at a little place in Auburn Hills (lol) that I find a lot of good things for my Chrysler shrine laying around.
:rofl:
 
I grew up loving three smells, gasoline, exhaust and spray paint. The exhaust one was very particular, once catalytic converters came along, I couldn't get into it. Too lean a mixture, didn't work for me and too rich a mixture I could only tolerate for a few minutes. Then there was the freshly built motor break-in smell which I could whiff all day long .. good memories... er, diminishing memories, but good .. I think.
 
Desotocrazy said:
Is that the Lionel/MTH repop version? That's a BEAUTY!!! I'm a dumpster diver (depending on where) and live in SE Mich. When Lionel was closing shop here, I was getting stuff from their layout when they were taking it apart. I have a LOT of old track that they were just tossing out. Plus, I work at a little place in Auburn Hills (lol) that I find a lot of good things for my Chrysler shrine laying around.
:rofl:
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That's what I'd call Paradise. Yep, MTH, the only way I could afford one.
 
GJS said:
I grew up loving three smells, gasoline, exhaust and spray paint. The exhaust one was very particular, once catalytic converters came along, I couldn't get into it. Too lean a mixture, didn't work for me and too rich a mixture I could only tolerate for a few minutes. Then there was the freshly built motor break-in smell which I could whiff all day long .. good memories... er, diminishing memories, but good .. I think.
Click to expand...
LOVE that ...." I think " ....ha ha ! One of mine is the smell of a new set of headers coming up to temperature for the first time, all of the gaskets warming up...the RTV melting into place....ARGH ARGH ARGH!!! I hear ya.
 
GJS said:
I grew up loving three smells, gasoline, exhaust and spray paint. The exhaust one was very particular, once catalytic converters came along, I couldn't get into it. Too lean a mixture, didn't work for me and too rich a mixture I could only tolerate for a few minutes. Then there was the freshly built motor break-in smell which I could whiff all day long .. good memories... er, diminishing memories, but good .. I think.
Click to expand...
Also nothing like the smell of vinyl interior on a warm summer day, brings me right back to when I was 17 again.
 
Samplingman said:
That's what I'd call Paradise. Yep, MTH, the only way I could afford one.
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No knocking MTH...they're high quality units at a MUCH better price. That's why Lionel used them for so long.

Once I get my polebarn set up the way I want it, I'll send pics along. It's going to take the summer to get it there. I had to tear out a wall in my Chrysler area as it was 2 separate rooms that I converted back into one large room. But now, I have to build storage shelves and a work bench. I have so much Chrysler stuff to hang up (banners, pennants, signs, etc). I need to be careful of planning out what goes where.
 
Desotocrazy said:
LOVE that ...." I think " ....ha ha ! One of mine is the smell of a new set of headers coming up to temperature for the first time, all of the gaskets warming up...the RTV melting into place....ARGH ARGH ARGH!!! I hear ya.
Click to expand...
Yep, all of the above!
 
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