About This Website
Before I turned to writing as a career, I served in the U.S. Air Force as a Peacekeeper Security Force Airman at the Titan II missile silos surrounding Tucson, AZ; Graduated as a law enforcement officer at the Arizona Law Enforcement Training Academy; and, earned a Ph.D. in Molecular & Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona.
Using my life experiences, training, and education I built a writing career publishing in newspapers, magazines, online and business copy, covering a broad range of topics. In short, I am accurately described as a topic content expert. If there is a topic I am not an expert in, I'm the guy who uses his research and critical thinking skills to learn about the topic and then create content that is accurate and accessible to the lay reader.
Today, I am semi-retired and work as an automotive journalist for Torque News. My focus is on new and used vehicles as well as DIY car repair advice for non-mechanics, which is unusual in one sense because I am not a trained and certified mechanic. However, not so unusual in the sense that I am a writer and content expert, have worked on cars and trucks in the past as a novice and have experience with vintage vehicle restorations including a 1926 Model T, 1932 Model A, 1947 Packard, and a 1956 Chevy sedan.
As an automotive journalist I have been (and still am) involved in what began as a restoration project but then turned into a rebuild project of a 1973 Ford F-100 I bought after returning to the U.S. following a 4-year stay in Singapore when I retired. Both the move from retirement to semi-retirement as an automotive journalist and the desire to rebuild an old truck rather than buy a new vehicle upon my return to the U.S. became a fortunate timing coincidence that complemented each other: I focused my writing skills and interests toward the automotive world and at the same time earned money to support my project with the goal of rebuilding and improving the F-100 for potential camper towing capabilities. In short, more horse power, improved cooling and suspension, and an optimized differential.
Today I have decided that after a complete rebuild and upgrade of the 1973 FE engine followed by a successful dyno test, and the fact that I have been writing for the past 2 and 1/2 years on automotive-related content, now is the perfect time to share what I have learned during the rebuild and my automotive research and writing.
To be clear, this is not a step-by-step instruction; but rather, an APPROACH* that I believe is applicable not just to taking an old Ford truck apart and putting it back together again, but can be applicable to almost any project. Hence, the title of this blog: "The Zen of Rebuilding a 1973 Ford F-100 Truck".
*Approach: to take preliminary steps toward accomplishment or full knowledge or experience of something especial.