In my advancing decrepitude, I'm as guilty as the next geezer bemoaning the state of America's callow youth, what with their twist music and beatnik hair and what-not. Imagine my delight then when I stumbled upon this scene today: a team of five kids from Belvidere (IL) North High School stripping a small block Chevy V8 down to the bare block and reassembling it in the mind-boggling time of 24 minutes, 30 seconds.
Carb and intake off; valve train removed; timing chain out; heads off; pistons removed; then the whole shebang put back together, including correct torque specs on the heads, all with hand tools, in less time than it takes to get through level 1 of an XBox game.
The team performed their magic at Belvidere's annual Scrap Drive hot rod show, and I wasn't the only old gearhead there with mist in his eyes. The team was raising dough to travel to the national championship at SEMA in Las Vegas in October, where they will be competing against 11 other teams from across the country. I know I'll be rooting them on. Go Blue Thunder!
