My name is Steve M. I never really introduced myself at the other forum, just jumped in a bit, but I will here. I'm from the Detroit downriver suburbs, 52 years old, grew up in the great era of muscle cars, and always thought that automatics are for girls. I lived very close to Detroit Dragway when I was a kid and would sneak through the hole in the fence to watch on Saturdays, I loved what I saw and heard. I knew at a young age that the 427 Fords were something special but you never really saw to many of them, when you did they won, they were expensive, and Ford never mass produced them. Played with small Chevies and B body Chryslers a little bit, but always had a soft spot for the Fords. I had some cool Mustangs when I was kid, 66 67 68 69, so I have had a bit of all of them and still like them all. But the R code Ford was always my unobtainable dream car! I am a shade tree mechanic but did spend time in as a mechanic in some dealerships. Foremost I am a body man and painter. I started at 14 riding my bike to a body shop and sweeping floors until I finally got the chance to do some real work. Painted 10 to 20 cars a day at Earl Schieb as a senior in high school, spent 11 years as a prototype mechanic at AMG corp building military prototype vehicles, I learned a lot there. I now work at Ford as a clay sculptor and have worked on some very cool stuff including the Ford GT and Shelby GT 500. Kids got in the way of car stuff for many years but since they have grown I got back into my true love, cars, and Fords. I like to do original restos or slight resto mods but keep it old school with a bit of modern tech. I am by no means a machinist or an engine builder and can not ad much technical info here, but I sure enjoy the forum and taking it in. I have always had my machining done and assembled the engines myself, but this time I am letting the pros build my shortblock. I won't pipe in unless I feel I have something to offer but I will ask questions. I do now have my R Code which is a 65 Galaxie as well as an S code Cyclone, the Cyclone being my current project. I am now working in Brazil for Ford and am in the last 6 months of a 3 year assignment, so to help pass the time I have been acquiring the parts to build a 427 for my Cyclone. I have a true admiration for all the people and things I see on this forum as well as the FE forum and am a bit intimidated to be honest, but here I am. I will post in the current project forum my Cyclone project. Steve