6/20/08    
Nick did in fact do the hood, and within the week.
Gary and I brought it back here last night, It looks great. Now to bring the rest of the car up to that prior level of finish quality. Just a lot of polishing for the most part will be needed.

Josh Deeds has STILL not gotten over to Burbank Speed with the revised Big Stuff 3 components, so no dyno time yet for the monster motor. These pieces are a compatible IAC, TPS, some new ends on his controller cable, and a crank trigger package.

Obviously Hot Rodding has its niche of VERY busy people. Seems form the outside like it would be a very good business right now.
Selling finished cars does not appear good at all, as I can personally attest. But building them, perhaps.

6/23/08
Randy and I put the hood on the Bird just to get it off the floor, and covered the car. So the Condor is as finished as it will be for some time now.
I will hound Deeds today to get over to Burbank with the parts and harness, and once that is accomplished we will be able to dyno the motor.
Salim of Act asked me to bring my Funnycar to Woodley Park as a display in his booth. It was well over a 100 degrees. With some help from my rear tenant, we got al the stuff out of the way, aired up the tires, and got the car and trailer over to the park. I left the car there, and returned before 3 PM to pick it up.
Salim offered to re-seal the AOD trans a s a gesture of thanks I’ll take him up on that tomorrow when Roy is here.

The body of the Bird needs to be buffed. I don’t know whether Nick will actually make any time in the near future to do that. If so, I’ll watch closely and finish it off myself. That car will remain under cover, on the upper lift, out of the way, likely for some time to come.

9/9/08
Nothing whatsoever has been accomplished on the Condor since the last writing. Josh Deeds has continued to fall into the QMP/Ollie mode. He is now at 7 months since I ordered the Big Stuff 3 system. In retrospect, as I have been TOTALLY out of money, this is probably not a terrible thing, although I did have the funds 7 months ago. As I have just sold the Funnycar, and will be getting the cash tomorrow, I will be in a position to seek alternative vendors if Josh just cannot get this “stuff” together. What I need to do, as a general rule, is do MORE research, do my due diligence by talking to several vendors on each little phase and getting prices and time commitments, and then at least have a chance at going to the alternates if something stalls. This is not the norm for this hobby, but is obviously necessary now.

I figure I am $5000 away from finishing the Bird. I estimate $3000 more for Jay to get the front brakes plumbed, get the motor and trans back in, touch up the exhaust, assemble the front clip, etc

Salim resealed the AOD, and promptly moved out of his own building at home. He has leased it for $4500 a month to a sound production outfit. Salim is moving to Santa Clarita for his mechanical stuff, sharing a space with a friend. SO no storage there, no more work of any kind from him, at least not locally for me.

Today and tomorrow we are prepping the FC for pickup This includes detailing the trailer and car, removing the lift system. Et This will leave LOTS of room in the front for jockeying cars around. Of course, the plan is not have no cars to jockey. The goal is to get to three cars: the Condor, KiloKub, and Impala And that is to be it. I want to rent out half the garage to hot rod parking if possible.

The lathe and mill have been moved back to West Valley Tools where I purchased them, and I hope someone buys them from there. More stuff will be going on the sale block shortly.

9/16/08
I took the Hemi to the Oxnard Harbor Cruise, and made some good connections there. One was the name of a different tuner. I could not locate him, but decided to call Kenny Duttweiler just for laughs. No laughing matter, he was kind enough to speak with me, remembered the project, and I’m taking the motor to his shop tomorrow.
I picked up the motor and parts from Josh Deeds today. His bill is $557. On principle I refused to pay him on the spot. I’ll send him a check. I SHOULD make him wait months for it, but I’ll keep my side clean here.
Kenny cannot work on my motor until late October. That’s fine. It will be done perfectly, be right, and I can count on him. I am SO sick of waiting for non-performers.
I need to set aside some cash for Kenny so there is no hedging around when he’s done.
I will put $2000 aside right now in cash.
I SURE hope I get more work soon! The finish install and final frame, exhaust, brake and fuel lines, etc. will probably run me another $3000 with Jay.

9/17/08
John and I dropped the engine at Duttweiler’s today. I handed Kenny $1000 in cash, he spent quite some time with us, and I basically cut it short to let him work. I will return tomorrow with some other miscellaneous parts like the power steering pump, alternator and belt, etc.
It is so comforting to have the motor in the RIGHT place finally.
I am running short on dough, so there is no money left at the moment for Jay to do an install. This will not occur until sometime in November anyway.