About Me

Ed's Home Page

| | | | | |

About Me

Boring Details About Me

Where I have lived:

Born 1953 in Chowan Hospital, Edenton, NC
from Birth to about 5 - Bethel Township, Perquimans County, NC in my Gransparent's home (along with my parent's, and a sister)
5 to 8 - lived on Grubb Street in Hertford, NC
8 to 11 - back at my Grandparent's home after our house in town burned
11 to 18 - my parent's new home on the farm in Bethel Township (on a road now named Holiday Island Road)
18 to 22 - mostly at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC with summer jobs in Hertford, NC, East Hartford, Ct, and Orange, Texas
22 to 23 - El Dorado, Arkansas
23 to 24 - Back at NC State U
24 to 25 - Dearborn Heights, Michigan
25 to present - Raleigh, NC (various addresses)

Where I have worked:

1963 to present - Family farm in Perquimans County, NC. You name it, I do it.
Summer 1972 - Albermarle EMC - repaired / tested elctrical meters and other stuff
Summer 1973 - Pratt and Whitney Aircraft, East Hartford, Ct - worked as a jet engine test stand helper which mostly meant I tightened bolts, swept the floor, and read instruments as needed. Once you got away from the cities, New England was beautiful.
Summer 1974 - DuPont, Orange, Tx - Spent the summer testing pipes looking for corrosion. This was one hot place.
1975-1976 - Philips Petroleum, Smackover, Ar - Petroleum Engineer trainee. Spent many hours setting in drilling rigs waiting for Schlumberger to conduct well evaluations. I got to see a lot of the mid south (Arkansas, Northern Louisanna, Mississippi, and Alabama). Great people, great job, isolated location, but I decided to go to graduate school after 1 year rather than be sent to Indonessia for a year.
1978 - Ford Motor Company Heavy Truck Engineering - loved the job, hated Michigan winters. My highlight was driving big rigs around the Ford Michigan proving grounds. I also loved going through the engineering shops looking at upcoming models (the Fox Mustang was an upcoming model when I worked there).
1978 - present - IBM Raleigh/RTP, NC - I have drawn a lot of pretty pictures and caused a lot of metal to be bent and plastic to be molded. I am sure you've seen at least one thing I worked on at a local fast food place or on one of the IBM eServer TV commercials

Family

Married 1986, divorced 1994 - enough said about that

Two sons; Charles (born 1987), Henry (born 1989)

Two sisters; Martha and Frances (ages unknown or at least I'm not telling)

Sgnificant Other - Sandy

The Big Picture

"Home"

Here is a very large scale view of where I am from - Bethel Township, Perquimans County, NC

Engine Configurations I have owned:

Inline OHV 4 cylinder (2 valves per cylinder)

- 1963 AH Sprite MK III - 1098 cc

- 1968 AH Sprite Mk IV - 1275 cc

- 1978 Ford Fiesta - 1.6L

Inline SOHC 4 cylinder (2 valves per cylinder)

- 1972 Ford Pinto - 2L

- 1973 Ford Pinto - 2L

- 1978 Ford Courier - 2.3L

- 1983 Mazda 626 - 2L

- 1986 Plymount Reliant - 2.2L

Inline DOHC 4 cylinder (4 valves per cylinder)

- 1974 Jensen Healey - 2L

- 1975 Jensen Healey - 2L

- 2003 Saturn Vue - 2.2L

Inline SOHC 5 cylinder (2 valves per cylinder)

- 1981 Audi Coupe - 2.2L

Inline OHV 6 cylinder (2 valves per cylinder)

- 1992 Ford F150 - 4.9L

Inline SOHC 6 cylinder (2 valve per cylinder)

- 1975 Datsun 280z - 2.8L

- 1983 Toyota Cressida - 2.8L

V-6 OHV 6 cylinder (2 valves per cylinder)

- 1986 Ford Ranger - 2.8L

- 1986 Mercury Sable - 3.0L

- 1989 Ford Taurus - 3.8L

- 1995 Pontiac Firebird - 3.4L

- 1996 Ford Explorer - 4.0L

V-6 SOHC 6 cylinder (2 vales per cylinder)

- 2006 Ford Mustang - 4.0L

V-6 DOHC 6 cylinder (4 valves per cylinder)

- 2006 Nissan Frontier - 4.0L

- 2007 Ford Fusion - 3.0L

V-8 OHV 8 cylinder (2 valves per cylinder)

- 1981 Ford Fairmont - 5L

V-8 SOHC 8 cylinder (2 valves per cylinder)

- 1997 Ford Expedition - 5.4L

- 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis - 4.6L

- 2001 Ford Mustang - 4.6L

- 2003 Ford Expedition - 5.4L

V-8 DOHC 8 cylinder (4 valves per cylinder)

- 2004 Ford Thunderbird - 3.9L

Favorites

Here's a list of cars I've personally owned:

1972 Ford Pinto (new)

1975 Datsun 280Z (new)

1962 Austin-Healey Sprite Roadster (Mk III, used)

1968 Austin-Healey Sprite Convertible (Mk IV, used)

1978 Ford Fairmont Futura Coupe (new)

1974 Jensen-Healey (used)

1974 Jensen-Healey (wrecked)

1973 Ford Pinto (used)

1981 Plymouth Reliant K (new)

1981 Audi Coupe (new)

1978 Ford Courier (used)

1975 Jensen-Healey (used)

1983 Mazda 626 5 Door (new)

1978 Ford Fiesta (used)

1986 Mercury Sable (new)

1983 Toyota Cressida (new, came with the ex)

1989 Ford Taurus Wagon (new, went with the ex)

1986 Ford Ranger (used)

1992 Ford F150 (new, sold after my Son toasted the transmission)

1995 Pontiac Firebird Coupe (Used)

1996 Ford Explorer (new)

1997 Ford Expedtion (new)

2001 Ford Mustang GT Convertible (new)

2003 Ford Expedition (new)

2003 Saturn Vue (new, sold after my Son toasted the transmission)

2004 Ford Thunderbird (used)

2006 Nissan Frontier King Cab 4X4 (new, still own)

2005 Ford Mustang (new, still own, my Son drives this)

2007 Ford Fusion SEL AWD V6(new, still own)

Here's a list of stupid car things I've done:

Bent the valves in a Ford 260 V-8 when I pushed in the clutch without taking my foot off the accelerator pedal

Blew a hole in the rear end cap of my dad's F150 with a shotgun

Watched a race at VIR in the rain while drinking warm Milwaukee's Best beer (you had to be there to apprecaite it)

Bought gas that was 50% water at a local self service station during a gas shortage. The bad gas eventually led to a dead starter and a lot of work.

Added a knot in the throttle cable of my Pinto so I'd get better throttle response when autocrossing. Unfortunately the cable broke at the knot just north of Atlanta, Ga while driving to Road Atlanta to watch sports car races. We made it to the track by using duct tape to reattach the cable. I spent most of Saturday looking for a replacement. Found one at a junk yard in Commerce, GA.

Did a bootlegger turn while crossing the finish line at an autocross while driving a Pinto

Assembled an Austin-Healey Sprite from parts in the parking lot of my apartment while in graduate school

While assembling the Sprite, I ignored an unused bolt hole in the transmission bell housing. Unfortunately, the transmission emptied all it lubricant through this hole and I had to rebuild the transmission

Allowed the Father of a friend to paint my Austin-Healey Sprite behind some grain bins. Later on when someone hit the car, the body shop that estimated the reapirs told me they could match the color, but not the texture

Replaced the Austin-Healey Sprite's head gasket on the side of US-64 in the rain while suffering from mononucleouis

Drove to Conneticut over a weekend with a friend to purchase a wrecked 2002tii. We drove a Lincoln Mark something. Drove all night. I almost lost it when my friend decided he needed to renegotiate the deal. He spent hours negotiating, then we drove straight through back to NC with the tii on a trailer.

With two freinds I drove from Houston, Texas to Raleigh, NC after watching the 1974 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl on the night of December 23. The game ended late at night. I was home in time for Christmas, despite getting lost in the fog north of Lake Pontchartrain in the early hours of December 24.

Single handedly replaced the clutch in a Datsun 280Z in the middle of a Michigan winter - that transmisison got heavy.

Sold the Datsun 280Z and bought a Ford Fairmont Coupe (my only car with a vinyl roof)

Tried autocrossing a Ford Fairmont with a 302 V-8 (I actually won my class, but then the competition was limited)

Rebuilt the water pump of a Jensen-Healey I bought off the side of the road. Unfortunately, I didn't see the new fan hub in the box and repressed the old hub one on the shaft. The first time I reved the motor, the fan and hub flew off the shaft and chewed up the radiator

Told a friend that couldn't find both ends of the seat belt in my Jensen-Healey, not to worry about it because I wouldn't hit anything - then I got involved in a four car chain reaction (nothing like watching a big old Pontiac ram you from the rear)

Rebuilt and repainted a Jensen-Healey in an old pig shelter

Didn't learn from my mistakes and did another Jensen-Healey in the same pig shelter. This time I was extra stupid becasue I repainted a black car white.

Bought a Plymouth

Tried autocrossing a Ford Courier

Traded an Audi Coupe for a Mazda 626

Drove a Fiesta 20 miles flat out and burned a piston becasue the EGR was plugged up

Added so much Freon to a Toyota A/C that the condensor blew out. Turned out there was a restriction in the receiver drier.

Replaced the transmission in my Sisters Jetta single handedly. A week later I had to replace the clutch release disk (if you've worked on one, you know what I mean)

Replaced the head gasket of a Mazda 626 (my Sister's) while the car was parked on the street in front of her house.

Dropped a tree on a Ford Ranger

Got mad that the body shop was taking to long to fix the Ranger and I kept the insurance money and gave the truck to the body shop

Bought a 2004 Thunderbird off Ebay and trusted the salesman to send me the title after paying for it (it took over six nervre wracking weeks) - never again

Allowed a 16 year old to drive my realtively new Vue. After 1 coil pack, 1 front air damn, 1 bent driveshaft carrier bearing, 1 horn button (which was part of the $800 air bag), 4 flat spotted tires, and 1 transmission, I let him drive my 14 year old F150. After 1 E4OD transmission, he is back to walking and I replaced the Vue and F150 with a 2006 Nissan Frontier. My Son used his money to buy a 1995 Pontiac Firebird Coupe.

Spend significant dollars on repairs on my sons 1995 FIrebird, only to have the engine develop a loud bearing knock. At this point I dumped the Firebird for a 2006 Mustang V-5.

ceiling fans