| 12/21/99
OK boys and girls, time to continue the saga and
inexorable march toward burning rubber and mid 7-second
ET’s! But first, we still have a little (ha!) more
work to do here. I DID get the trailer inside (at least
at the front of) the Garage Mahal right after sending you
the last update. I also spent a LOT of time FAXing
through the computer to about 30 people. NEVER AGAIN!!
Wow is that slow! I’d rather not do it at all, but
if need be, I’ll do it through the FAX machine
manually. Obviously, I’m trying to eliminate the
paper and postage thing altogether here. Help me out, get
e-mail!!
OK, the motor is in the chassis, and three tires go flat
about every two or three days. As they are tubeless, this
doesn’t speak well for them. As it turns out, the
front tires are at least 6 years old, and something is
leaking in the left front. The rear tires are too old to
be safely considered usable. Oh, they have tread and all,
and it may be a wheel or valve leak. But the esters
(solvents) that make them sticky are long gone, and I
have no interest in finding out the consequences of hard
tires like Jim Maher did back in 94 at Phoenix, where he
launched in the left lane and promptly found himself in
the right lane within 100 feet! New tires are cheap
insurance in the long haul. And this has been one LONG
haul! A great deal of crap has been moved from the garage
to the driveway. Most will be tossed, given away, or
possibly sold. I also managed to drive the Super Coupe in
the front left stall (it was tight, all right). But once
the trailer is parked in its PROPER position about a foot
and half over (there’ still stuff there), it should
work fine. I need a front view mirror to look down the
sides of the trailer while backing it in with the
Powercaster, or someone guiding me in. Of course, I could
go high tech and mount a video monitor on the tongue, and
two cameras, one per side, to help the effort. If you
recall from long ago, I had intended to mount a video
camera in the back of the trailer with a monitor in the
dually, to increase backup safety. So perhaps just one
wide angle lens at the back and a tongue monitor would
do. Hey, anybody want to SPONSOR the video for some car
and trailer ink (not to mention the e-mail plugs and
links to come). Still haven’t located the *&#$%*
stainless rod, but will be getting the concrete to fill
the other pipe as a test. Hey, it’s $50 I’m
trying to save here, OK?
While I’m searching, here are some errant
thoughts:
Children’s books that didn't make it.....
You Are Different and That's Bad
The Boy Who Died From Eating All His Vegetables
Dad's New Wife Robert
Fun four-letter Words to Know and Share
Hammers, Screwdrivers and Scissors: An I-Can-Do-It Book
The Kids' Guide to Hitchhiking
Kathy Was So Bad Her Mom Stopped Loving Her
(That’s the one with my name on from contracting).
12/24/99
No FC progress, but some HIGH limbs have been removed
from the rear trees. The guy who was going to cut them
lost his nerve, so I hiked up there and did the deed.
Just balance, and a dose of stupidity.
12/25/99-CHRISTMAS DAY
I've used the last few days, including today, to load up
yet another truckload of potential value, destined for
the dump. It’s sad to see new copper pipe with
stickers still on thrown in the truck, but it's costing
me more to keep and move it around than its potential
value. The large STUFF pile's REAL value now is highly
negative, so
adios to the old century, and try to starting the new one
as light as possible. To that end, I'm about two weeks in
on a high-protein diet (really, just no high-carbs), and
it is a transformation. I'm not 100 pounds thinner in two
weeks, but getting off the carb hamster wheel for even
this long is enlightening. I've dropped a little, but I'm
not even going near a scale for another couple of weeks.
I've also had two great days of tennis. To be able to
move forward, chase EVERYTHING down, cut off the court,
etc. is really fun. I have a long way to go to get back
to cardio shape I should be in, but this has been a
definitive start. I will be cramming in some time to hit
the mountains for some quadzilla workouts to build
strength for tennis. Man, getting old and fat SUCKS!
Meanwhile, here some more supportively titled
children’s books:
Curious George and the High-Voltage Fence
All Cats Go to Hell
The Little Sissy Who Snitched
Some Kittens Can Fly
That's it, I'm Putting You Up for Adoption
Grandpa Gets a Casket
The Magic World Inside the Abandoned Refrigerator
Garfield Gets Feline Leukemia
The Pop-Up Book of Human Anatomy
Strangers Have the Best Candy
Whining, Kicking and Crying to Get Your Way
You Were an Accident
12/26/99
Spent part of today (after tennis) working on the Condor.
Had Henry come over to continue with the cleaning and
loading of junk, and setting some roofing on a portion of
the rear guest house (over the water heater). I pulled
the right head off to check the head gasket, which looked
like it had too few water jacket holes. After a trip to
PAW and checking another gasket, I determined it was OK.
However, I had it turned backwards, as the water ports
are ONLY to be at the rear, according to engine guru Don
Barrington. Tomorrow will see me putting some time into
actually getting it assembled. The new Dart aluminum
heads use a standard sized exhaust gasket, but the
gaskets need a little trimming first. Having done that, I
realize I really need new flanges on the headers. Brad,
the header man, is out sick. It’s been 2 days over a
YEAR since I sent the car to get a new engine with the
San Berdu Bozo. Still no response from the BAR on getting
my money from him. Capt. Randy is working tomorrow, and
then should have some time to get going on his projects.
On this day after Christmas, the following story might be
of historical interest:
One particular Christmas season a long time ago, Santa
was getting ready
for his annual trip...but there were problems
everywhere.
Four of his elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not
produce the
toys as fast the regular ones so Santa was beginning to
feel the pressure of
being behind schedule. Then Mrs. Claus told
Santa that her Mom was coming to
visit. This stressed Santa even more. When he went to
harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were
about to give birth and two had jumped the fence
and were out, heaven knows where. More stress. Then
when he began to load the sleigh one of the boards
cracked and the toy bag fell to the ground and
scattered the toys.
So, frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of
coffee and a shot
of whiskey. When he went to the cupboard, he
discovered that the elves had
hidden the liquor and there was nothing to drink.
In his frustration, he
accidentally dropped the coffee pot and it broke into
hundreds of little
pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the
broom and found that mice had eaten the straw it was made
from. Just then the doorbell rang and Santa cussed on his
way to the door. He opened the door and there was a
little angel with a great big
Christmas tree. The angel said, very cheerfully,
"Merry Christmas Santa, Isn't it just
a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for
you. Isn't it just a lovely tree?
Where would you like me to put it?"
Thus began the tradition of the angel on top of the
Christmas Tree.
12/29/99
Well, the truckload of potential value has gone to
Sunshine Landfill, where it can accrue value perpetually,
without my maintenance. Header man Brad is STILL out
sick, so no new header flanges. This will require cutting
off the old ones, welding on the new, and resurfacing the
flanges for flatness. This is why it takes so long to do
this stuff without a full service welding and machine
shop on the premises.
Finally purchased the $#*&%$ stainless rod yesterday,
for about $70. I squeezed a 1.25” diameter stainless
solid rod into the eye bolts, with a little friendly
grinding courtesy of Capt Laur, and it works fine. Now
we’re trying to locate 4 plates to allow the
cables/hooks to NOT have to be wrapped around the bar in
a most unprofessional looking way. One downside from this
whole thing is that the rear of the car is now hanging
lower than before, as the right rear cable hook now hits
the pulley on the low side of the ceiling.
Over-engineering at work. So, I think I’ll cut the
hooks off, forget the plates, and just put loops on the
cable, and gain all over. Cleaner, leaner, higher,
simpler, better. Did the deed, but forgot to return the
rented crimper to the hardware store. ‘Course the
3-day weekend helps in my guilt here. I used the
discarded snap hooks to hang some fire extinguishers as
ballast on the rear cables when not in use. I’m
going to buy some bags of shot at Industrial Metals to
use as a somewhat soft, non-denting (particularly on the
head) means of holding the cables from curling up when
not in use. I will cover the bags with some additional
soft material to further insure their innocuousness. The
body now sits high out of harm’s way (and Capt
Laur’s higher forehead). I’m using just the
front cables right now to pick up the front of the body
(flopper style), to check the alignment using the bolted
down rear pivots. What I need to do next is reinstall the
lift system and get that dialed in. There are some
adjustments to the routing of the air lines to make to
clean things up, and possibly a few bulkhead fittings
will be required to accomplish this. The tubing is
pushing 4 years old now, and I’ll replace it with
new, once the rerouting scheme is complete.
Have heard nothing from Ford-man Dan Church about taking
the supercharged Ford motor and doing some body work.
I did get some more shelving secured. I had set it all in
as adjustable, but now that most spots are dedicated,
I’ve screwed the majority in solid to end the
tipping out of the shelves whilst dragging heavy items
off them.
Managed to off a large hifi speaker to nephew Scottie
Hamilton this afternoon (it looked great protruding out
the trunk of the Mitsubishi 3000 coupe), so one more
precious square foot of space has been regained. Renter
and carpenter Jason Kostrzewski will relieve me of two
other speakers tomorrow-hooray! Still got three canister
vacuums out on the driveway, 4 chrome trailer rims, and a
ski trainer to dispose of. Oh yeah, and the BRAND NEW
Kitchen Aid electric stove, Maytag electric dryer,
gallons of used oil, and a few other items. There’s
a HazMat roundup coming at the end of the month at the
Budweiser parking lot up the street, so the NUMEROUS cans
of paint, etc. will find their proper home in 3
weeks.
As Brad the Header man never showed, it’s wait
‘till Monday to try to commence a process (read:
more time) to correct the crappy header flanges for the
Condor. I’m guessing this will take at least a week
to accomplish. However, Randy Laur will be making use of
MY BBC headers to size up the cutouts on his body/engine
combo next week. He got good news in that the Palmdale
paperwork has cleared and the house will go up for
hopefully quick sale in February. This should dovetail
with his Newbury house being ready for occupancy after 5
years.
Speaking of never showing, my plumber has all but
disappeared. I had no luck in getting any other plumber
out here last week either. This is REALLY maddening. I
WANT take a steam. Hell, I NEED steam, and on a regular
basis.
Some friends were over and raved about the Garage Mahal,
commenting how great and finished it looks. Great!!
Except for me, it’s FAR from done. I guess I lose
sight of what’s been accomplished from time to time.
I’m on my way out there now to push some more stuff
around, make more lists, and pre-stage the operation a
bit more.
Son Mikey is scheduled for Monday afternoon to do more
crewing. Thankfully someone else has the heart to
get out here and help make this thing happen.
Meanwhile consider this:
HAS ANYONE GOT A HEART HERE?
The heart holds a special place in our collective psyche.
Of course the heart is synonymous with love. It has many
other associations -- What other word has as many
meanings as the word heart? Here are just a few
examples:
have a
heart - be merciful
change of heart - change your
mind
to know something by heart -
memorize something
broken heart - to lose
love
heartfelt - deeply felt
have your heart in the right
place - to be kind
cry your heart out - to
grieve
heavy heart - sadness
have your heart set on - to want
something badly
Certainly no other bodily organ
elicits this kind of response. When was the last time you
had a heavy pancreas?
How may times does you heart beat?
The average heartbeat is 72 times per minute. In the
course of one day it beats over 100,000 times. In one
year the heart beats almost 38 million times, and by the
time you are 70 years old, on average, it beats 2.5
billion times!
Does your heart rate change as we
age?
Everyone's pulse (average heart rate per minute) changes
as we age. Here is a chart of average pulses at different
ages:
Newborn-130
3 months-140
6 months-130
1 year-120
2 years-115
3 years-100
4 years-100
6 years-100
8 years-90
12 years-85
adult: 60 - 100
How much blood does your heart
pump?
An average heart pumps 2.4 ounces (70 milliliters) per
heartbeat. An average heartbeat is 72 beats per minute.
Therefore an average heart pumps 1.3 gallons (5 Liters)
per minute. In other words it pumps 1,900 gallons (7,200
Liters) per day, almost 700,000 gallons (2,628,000
Liters) per year, or 48 million gallons (184,086,000
liters) by the time someone is 70 years old. That’s
the equivalent of filling about 2000 swimming pools! Not
bad for a 10 ounce pump!
1/4/2000
Feels like I’ve been working on this FC for a
thousand years! Mikey showed up Sunday as promised, and
some things got done. Friend and intuitive mechanic
extraordinaire Randy showed up, too, and we got more
done. I had installed the lift system back in the car,
and hooked it up the way I THOUGHT the plumbing went. I
went to locate the critical rear connection to the maze
of plumbing tubes, only to NOT find it (what else is
new?). While looking around for adapters, Randy noticed
the nose of the air nozzle was the proper 1/8” NPT
pipe thread size, so he unscrewed it and we just
connected it to the fittings we had and presto!, access
into the lift system! It turns out I was right (how about
that?), and the system lifted nicely. Notwithstanding the
painstaking work done last year at Johns and Voight
Welding (now gonzo), the system did not sit the body down
correctly. It’s in fact no closer, frankly about 5
inches further than the last time it was used, just not
right. So with some artful shimming of the pivot points,
it now sits down dead nuts. A little further tuning of
the air valves on the lift rams and it goes up and down
evenly side-to-side. All in all , a very successful
Sunday, EXCEPT that Mikey walked right into the corner of
the 1.25” diameter stainless steel rod, you know:
the $&^%@*! one. Put a right nice gash across his
right eyebrow in the process. I’d hit it twice
before. So we put parachute red tags on both ends to
hopefully preempt that from ever happening again. The
days rip by, and each day it is too late to return to
M&M Tools to return, exchange, or haggle with Marty
about the lousy used 3-ton lift I got there last year. I
suppose I could hack away on it and make it work, but I
want to allow him to exchange it first. Bolted up the
rest of the rear tree (it was just sort of hanging
together), and was reminded that I need to add a sturdy
bulkhead to the front. Now it DOES work, and hasn’t
crumbled, but I just don’t feel quite right about
that .040 panel/firewall handling such a daunting lifting
task.
While I try to reach Dan Church about his remodel and
working on the fiberglass, consider the following ads
with oopses in proper spelling/grammar:
"Man wanted to work in
dynamite factory. Must be willing to travel."
"2 female Boston Terrier puppies, 7 wks old, perfect
markings, 555-1234.
Leave mess."
"Vacation Special: have your home
exterminated."
"Get rid of aunts: Zap does the job in 24
hours."
"Toaster: A gift that every member of the family
appreciates. Automatically
burns toast."
"Save regularly in our bank. You'll never regret
it."
"Wanted: Part-time married girls for soda fountain
in sandwich shop."
"Christmas tag sale. Handmade gifts for the
hard-to-find person."
"Wanted: Hair-cutter. Excellent growth
potential."
"Wanted: Preparer of food. Must be dependable, like
the food business, and be
willing to get hands
dirty."
"Mother's helper -- peasant working
conditions."
"A superb and inexpensive restaurant. Fine food
expertly served by
waitresses in appetizing
forms."
"Dinner Special -- Turkey $2.35; Chicken or Beef
$2.25; Children $2.00."
1/18/00
Dan Church is NOT doing his remodel, and from the looks
of things, he may not do the FC, either. He has been
working at the studio, and is apparently too busy to even
return calls. This puts the FC paint aspect on major
hold.
Son Mike did show up Saturday, punctually as usual, and
we accomplished installing the steering arms, box, etc.
Randy dropped by and proclaimed to be inspired (!!) at my
progress. Wow, is that ever encouraging!
Per my cousin Leslee’s e-mail thoughts: He who loses
money, loses much.
He who loses a friend, loses much more. He who loses
faith, loses all. Well, I’ve got great friend Randy
and Mikey, still got the faith, and the bleeding knuckles
to prove it!
Randy has suggested I simplify the trim piece along the
front of the roof hatch, and I concur. This piece is
necessary as the body contour in front of the hatch is
slightly curved, whereas the piano hinge mounting the
hatch is NOT. I could make some horribly time-consuming
curved piece and reinforce everything, and STILL not
achieve anything, so I’ve opted to make a plate
across the front of the hatch mount area to hold the
bolts which in turn holds the hinge. By using some
1/8” aluminum, I can flush out the bolts, get
strength, and hey, add very little weight. Yeah yeah, I
know, don’t be too shocked. Randy also has some
1/4” wheel spacers for me (next visit) to help make
room for the tin behind the wheels. I did manage to
create about 3/4” room for the tires with some
serious wheelwell trimming, so these spacers will help
make room for the tin and still not scuff the tires,
hopefully. I finally got DSL working on my internet
system, and got my printer back working, too. So I again
can receive e-mail, and courtesy of my optimistic cousin
Leslee: Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds
discuss events. Small minds discuss people. I’d like
to think this update is about ideas.
1/19/00
Miracle of miracles! Got the trailer and dually inside,
pulled the T-Bird in, and closed the door! Now boys and
girls, this may not sound like much to you, but around
these parts, this is big stuff! Rick and I moved TONS of
stuff to make it happen. Capt Laur’s reserved FC
parking space has now been secured. This was literally a
matter of inches getting the dually inside, with the
trailer tucked over within a few inches of the west wall
and at the rear of the garage where it was originally
intended.
I’d like to get the Condor inside also, but
I’ve got to be certain of the space first. I’ve
also decided to forego the redesigning of the Condor
header flanges and just get this thing running already.
Tomorrow, though busy, will hopefully find me lifting the
heads off just one more time, setting the right side
header off the car, and, if I can locate the proper small
head bolts, setting the heads back on and bolting the
manifold down for good (naw!). Man do I want to get that
beast running and over with!
1/20/00
Many people will walk in and out of your life, But only
true friends will leave footprints in your heart. Another
Leslee-ism, which applies to Capt Laur. He dropped by
this morning on his way to “plink” around at
his Newbury Park house (painting, etc.). He noticed the
lift system was not raising the car, as did I yesterday.
The compressor gauge was at 130 PSI, there appeared to be
air pressure, but no go. I changed out the rear actuator
valve to the lift system, no change.
We checked the attachment fittings and nozzle, nothing
wrong. I then noticed the gauge was STUCK (the face plate
was bent, catching on the needle). Now HOW does that
happen on a closed gauge? We suspected perhaps the
regulator/water trap was defective, so we bypassed that.
No change.
We then pulled the gauge apart, fixed it, and reinstalled
it. Only about 45 pounds in the tank. I tried the on/off
switch, no kick on. A breaker?? By golly, I checked the
breaker and it was off! Now how and why did that happen?
With a combined IQ near 300 we figured the problem out,
but not how it got to be a problem. Randy appears to
still be about a week away from getting his chassis here.
Meanwhile, he was shocked and delighted with the
improvement in the “space.” That makes two of
us. Next item is with Mikey on Sunday, we’ll set the
instrument panel and steering wheel, connect the trans
linkage, set the driveshaft. If I can get my butt out to
Enderle, I’ll get the hat and pump flowed and get
that on, and we could be approaching lighting it off.
“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live
long enough to make them all yourself.”
Went out to Gordon AuClair’s A2Z machine shop late
in the afternoon to pick up the lift system
“wedgies”, but he had mistakenly done them on
the wrong axis.
1/21/00
Gordon called @ 8:30 AM, not even introducing himself,
saying only, “Come and get ‘em” and
laughing. This guy is SUCH a pleasure to deal with. He is
definitely not free, is VERY experienced, and just a
delight to joke and talk with. Got the wedgies, and
they’re correct.
Laur came by this afternoon, and again his perspective is
so helpful. We transfer-punched the “wedgies”,
then I found an identically drilled block. This block was
the one I’d asked Gordon to use, but he demurred. It
would have saved some obvious time, but no matter.
Anyway, we got the wedgies in, and with just one little
hole needing finagling, the bolts pretty much dropped in.
The body now drops very, very slightly more to the left,
perhaps 3/8”. I may try taking the right block out
and shaving .030” or so off it to see if that
corrects it. It’s WAY good as is, but hey, gotta be
perfect. Tried Dan Church for about the 6th time, no
response. He’s obviously occupied. Told Nick Johns
about Church’s apparent unavailability, and
we’re going to work out something else to get this
thing painted. No better saying could encapsulate this
whole project: Beautiful young people are accidents of
nature, but beautiful old people are works of art. This
project is getting old, but beautiful.
As Dan Church is unavailable, I may have to run out and
buy some Lexan retail, in order to get going on the
windows. I’ll stall as long as possible, in hopes
Dan will surface. There is some redesign happening around
the windows. Dave McDannel very cleverly set his side
windows with quick release Dzus fasteners, and I will
definitely plagiarize that great idea. The front window
and surrounding tin was bolted with approximately #6 fine
thread bolts and nylocks. These are just too fragile, so
I’m going to upsize all of them to 1/4 x 28 bolts.
This will allow more fastening power, the use of air
tools to install, and much less chance of snapping them
off. As I want the whole affair to look great, new bolts
were going to be in order anyway.
The rear (fuel) wing has been causing nightmares. Mike
O’Brien commented years ago that the rear of the
T-Bird body was cockeyed. The right rear deck is about an
inch or more lower than the left rear. I tried ramming
this up when I had the local welder (now out of business)
remaking the rear tree, and we thought we’d gotten
it. Not so. The body is frankly so rigid now, that I can
not twist it at all. So a compromise is being attempted:
either shim the spill plates to achieve level, or cut the
rear spoiler in a slight wedge shape to bring the
front-on appearance into symmetry.
No final decision as of yet. I COULD just eliminate the
tall wing, but I just dig it too much. And, it REALLY
does plant the car. I noticed a significant difference
running without it. Sorta like a turtle on its belly, as
John Van Houten accurately put it.
Here are some more kid’s book titles:
Pop! Goes The Hamster...And Other Great Microwave Games
The Man in the Moon Is Actually Satan
Your Nightmares Are Real
Where Would You Like to Be Buried?
Eggs, Toilet Paper, and Your School
Why Can't Mr. Fork and Ms. Electrical Outlet Be Friends?
Places Where Mommy and Daddy Hide Neat Things
Daddy Drinks Because You Cry
1/23/00
I did get out and bolt up the Condor headers. It was so
frustrating to work on, even with the right head off. I
purchased some RP 3/8” chrome hex head bolts,
thinking these would make it possible to have access to
them critters in the tight confines of the header tubes.
NOPE. I then bolted the left header up, and found one
bolt cross-threading, due to being pushed over by the
header tube. In order to get this in, basically all other
bolts must be out or nearly so. I just said F! it after
an hour of this, and will change the flanges. This is
just crap, and I just can’t see putting myself
through continuing hassle in the future, with accessories
and HOT headers making it tough to tighten into aluminum
threads. So, more Condor delays.
There is plenty of room to run the Condor in, and Mikey
and I just might do that today. Talked to my plumber, who
said his sister had died, and that took a month out of
his life. OK, I’ll go with that. We’ll see how
it goes from now on. I'm older, here’s some of what
I've discovered:
I started out with nothing, I still
have most of it.
My wild oats have turned to prunes and All Bran.
I finally got my head together, now my body is falling
apart.
Funny, I don’t remember being absent minded.
All reports are in. Life is now officially unfair.
If all is not lost, where is it???
It is easier to get older than it is to get wiser.
Some days you’re the dog, some days you’re the
hydrant.
After ten minutes of searching,
Mike and I have found the instrument cluster, but
we’re missing two vital lower brackets, but do have
the upper stiffening bracket in place. We’ve set the
primer reservoir, tentatively positioned the primer pump,
set the driveshaft, but we’re missing one shaft
collar at the rear (to lock the end play). The oil pump
sending unit is NOT in the pan, although a nice plug is.
As this engine is full of oil, I’ll wait to connect
that for right now, particularly since the whole assembly
may be coming out soon. We also set bolts to hold the
engine plate to the chassis stands, so it won’t be
sliding forward again.
The wiring harness was a complete jumble of hoses, wires,
etc. We’re now about to try and make sense out of
the air lines for the body lift and hood latch. Once
that’s on, I’ll lower the body and see what the
deal is with the positioning of the instrument cluster
and what might be needed to replace the missing lower
bracket.
I also do not find a place for the blower pressure gauge
to attach. Seemed like the earlier set up (remember this
is pushing 4 years since it was together) had a bung
either on the blower or in the manifold for reading
pressure (never worked). Stay tuned.
1/27/00
Randy’s spacer plates were not the correct bolt
pattern, however with some drilling they will work just
fine. I’ve left the compressor hooked directly to
the lift system for several days. Yesterday, I noticed
the compressor kicked on, and after about 5 minutes
realized something had blown. Sure enough, the third
junction of the 4 year old lines had broken right at a
fitting. Easily enough repaired, but my suspicion that
these lines are too crisp is proving out. I’ll
replace the remaining old stuff on the final reassembly
after we make some shakedown runs.
We’ve decided to make a few minor changes in the
wiring, to make it easier to disconnect the body. Also,
the mystery of the 3 wire plug has been partially solved:
it was the neutral safety switch running to the shifter.
Of course, the length (short) of the loom makes no sense,
perhaps someone “fixed” it 4 years ago. No
matter, I called Brad Ochampaugh at Precision Products
(562-402-1108), and found out even more interesting stuff
about his remarkable and beautiful shifter. It REALLY is
an outstanding piece of work and finish. This is one
piece that will need nothing but a little wipe down after
4 years of sitting in the car. He has kindly forwarded to
me an improved solenoid. Mind you, this is NOT his part
to start with, but he feels so passionately about the
precision performance (I couldn’t resist) that he is
giving me this outboard piece to further improve my
shifting function. Thanks!
Talked with engine maestro Don Ratican, and even more
happily with his dragster-driver wife Rose, who sounds
much improved over her stroke of some months ago. Way to
go, Rose!!! He may be dropping in soon to view the
progress and answer a few engine questions. Next step is
to complete the wiring connections to the light bar loom
and the front shift module (can’t say computer!). As
we’re eliminating the old Auto Meter rev limiter
(actually just a kill switch), one magneto sensor and a
little wire can be eliminated, too. On the organizational
front, I’ve order some Grainger parts box racks, a
little over a $100 worth, to store about 80 wall-mounted
bolt and parts boxes right next to the FC. This
“bolt crib” will allow me to finally have an
organized stock of bolts, fasteners, etc. RIGHT at hand.
I DO have quite an array, about 10 drawers worth of
divided compartments with LOTS of stuff, but it’s in
the trailer, and not in any superb order. This alone has
been tremendously helpful in the reassembly of the car.
It’s great to reach for new bolts. There is
increasing interest in the car as it approaches a
critical mass of completeness. Now to schedule this
“interest” into meaningful hours of help! A big
thanks goes out to son Mike who has provided dependable
assistance, and enabled us to get this far.
On the lighter side:
The things that come to those that wait may be the things
left by
those who got there first.
Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of
getting
something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it
wrong.
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
Shin: A device for finding furniture in the dark.
A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for
doing well.
The only cure for insomnia is to get more sleep.
It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to
serve as a warning to others.
1/30/00
It's hard to understand how a cemetery raised its prices
and blamed
it on the cost of living. Some humor never dies. At the
conclusion of the Super Bowl game, some football thoughts
occurred:
Q: What's Jerry Jones' biggest concern?
A: Does bail money count against the salary
cap?
I understand Chicago is trying to sign Michael
Irvin. They got rid of the refrigerator and now
they want a coke machine.
Mikey and I spent some time before and after the VERY
tight Super Bowl game today getting a little done. As
Mike is not highly versed in electrical things, it was a
good experience for both of us trying to figure out what
was what. In explaining things to him I was able to
clarify some aspects of the wiring layout to myself
again. It HAS been almost 4 years since I looked at this
stuff. Randy dropped by and routed the mysterious neutral
safety switch wires to their proper place the other
day. They were just tucked in the wrong loom. We also
decided to eliminate a very trick but ultimately
pain-in-the-butt plug and use a more common Molex
connector. I had to do some hard thinking about why some
wires go wherever, and drew a wiring diagram of the car
for Mike. Electrical genius Rob Anderson dropped by
Thursday and blurted out he should really rewire the
thing for me. Right on! I don’t know if he will
actually ever bring his mil-spec level of perfection
wiring to reality, but if he does it will be a wonder to
behold. Meanwhile, Laur and I are making it quite
presentable, and I’m intending to reconstruct the
looms with same color wiring, etc. to simplify things. In
that vein, I also bought some blue air hose for the lift
system. This 1/4” plastic hose is over a buck a
foot!!! Ouch! The Presto-lock fittings aren’t cheap,
either. I’d like to get 3 or four colors to make the
functional aspect of the system (up, down, main pressure,
etc.) more apparent. I’d like also to replumb the
rear air switches into an artful design. As it is, it is
functional, well-routed, but really a spaghetti
nightmare. I’d prefer to have it mounted on a panel,
all routing and connections labeled on the board, etc.,
and with a cover (a lot of tire rubber and track dirt
ends up right there). Numatic Engineering’s Mike
Gross should be able to help greatly with this aspect.
Mike and I also re-mounted the charging plug (large
fork-lift like connection), after cleaning the primer off
the connections. The inside of the rear panel has lots of
goobers of bondo (NOT my doing!) from the sealing of all
the prior chute mount holes, etc. on the rear. I frankly
didn’t want to seal these up, but Nick seemed to
feel it would be easier to clean up the area that way. No
big, we’ll just grind away. The original holes are
quite obvious on the inside because of the bondo plugs.
The garage is making a little progress as well. Rick has
been doing a great job organizing lots of little things.
We also managed to get a run to the Hazmat site last week
(once a year), so disposed of lots of paint, etc. I also
scored 13 sheets of HEAVY particle board from a demo job,
and will use them to begin the upper cabinets. I also was
given a new $300 ladder for free!! AND, this fellow has
MORE work for us in a month! Hooray!! What a refreshing
change of events. I’ve been pondering just what
scheme to use on the prettyfying of the chassis
components. There is a thing called Chem Film
(gold-colored) that makes stuff look darned nice. There
is polishing, plating, chroming, anodizing, and
powder-coating too. I just want to clean it all up, make
it sweet, and show quality. Nothing big (ha!). We WILL
take some laps before pulling it all apart, just to
verify everything’s OK. There are a few more people
expressing interest in getting out with us on those
shakedown runs. I’d like to get their interest up to
be here BEFORE we do that. So far, it’s just been
Mike and Randy. Another potential crew member, Matt
Chambers (a Nextel person), has expressed interest, and
appears eager to be here on a regular basis. Time will
tell. We also mounted the starter, set in some shims, and
I’m now looking for the elusive gauge to measure the
proper clearance of the starter. I’ll inquire of IMI
exactly how to properly do that. The starter was one of
the bains of our first incarnation existence. It seemed
we were stripping flywheels and gears a lot. Aside from
the god-awful noise, it’s annoying, tough to start
the race car, time-consuming, and expensive to replace
flywheels and starter gears. I’ve also been
considering cutting the compressor section off the
60-gallon tank and remote-mounting the components for
space-saving. NO, I’m not considering mounting it on
the car! You know, if I didn’t give a hoot what the
car looked like beyond the paint, I could have it
essentially ready in another couple of weeks (paint not
included). But to repeat my thinking from long ago: the
car is 99% rubbing and about 1% running, and displays and
rubbing and looking at the beast really are where the
vast majority of time and energy are spent. So, why not
make it pretty? WHY? Because it takes forever and costs
big dough, that’s why! Whatever.
A few things to consider: Sex is like air, it's not
important unless you aren't getting any. This is really
how I feel about money. Always remember you're unique,
just like everyone else. If you think nobody cares if
you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments. If
you lend someone $20, and never see that person again, it
was probably worth it. If at first you don't succeed,
skydiving is not for you. And VERY much to the point with
this project: Good judgment comes from bad experience and
a lot of that comes from bad judgment. And, before you
criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and
you have their shoes.
1/31/00
Talked with Jack at IMI, who gave me the skinny on
clearances and a wealth of other info, and FAXed me
several pages on how to do this and that. I feel MUCH
more informed now. Now to go out and make it
happen. One of the rubs is that one block has been lined
bored, which raises the crank a bit, changing the factory
clearances and relationships with the starter/flywheel. I
had about .075” machined off one or both starters
years ago (see where it gets complicated?) to help
compensate for this, so it’s really a matter of
proper shimming. And it IS critical. Checked with Numatic
Engineering this morning and found that THEIR color-coded
hose is one third the price of the other supplier. Now
that’s better. I’ll be getting four reels of
that stuff, and redoing the whole affair with color-coded
tubing laid out like a large-scale circuit board with
labels, etc. to make things more obvious in the future.
It will also look a little more interesting. The more
obvious everything is on the car, the more each crew
member will be able to do in terms of maintenance and
repairs. And, Rob Anderson is willing to bring his
NASA-level wiring skills to the car. Converting that
willingness into action/time allocation is an entirely
different matter. Laur will be grabbing my headers to fit
his body/engine together on Wednesday, and that should
enable him to get his car here within a week or so of
that. You’ll be the second to know.
In the wake of the Exxon/Mobil deal and the AOL/Netscape
deal, here
are the latest mergers we can expect to see:
Hale Business Systems, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Fuller Brush,
&
W.R.Grace Company merge to become Hale Mary Fuller Grace.
Polygram Records, Warner Brothers, & Keebler Crackers
will merge
to become Polly-Warner-Cracker.
3M & Goodyear will merge to become MMMGood.
John Deere & Abitibi-Price will merge to become Deere
Abi.
Zippo Manufacturing, Audi Motors, Dofasco, & Dakota
Mining will
merge to become Zip Audi Do Da.
Honeywell, Imasco, & Home Oil will merge to become
Honey I'm
Home.
Denison Mines, Alliance, & Metal Mining will merge to
become
Mine All Mine.
Federal Express & UPS will merge to become FED UPS
Xerox & Wurlitzer will merge and begin manufacturing
reproductive
organs.
Fairchild Electronics & Honeywell Computers will
merge and
become Fairwell Honeychild
3M, J.C. Penney & The Canadian Opera Company will
merge and
become 3 Penney Opera
Grey Poupon & Dockers Pants will merge and become
Poupon Pants
Knott's Berry Farm & National Organization of Women
will merge
and become Knott NOW!
Eat right. Stay fit. Die anyway.
2/1/00
Jason has started working on the garage cabinets, only to
have the table saw shred a belt. Of course, the belt is a
mysterious item, unavailable anywhere, no one seems to
know what it is, there is no model # on the saw, we
can’t find the original manual or paperwork, Ryobi
won’t sell a part without a number, etc. Why should
this be any different? The tires are now losing air at an
alarming rate. One day and bam, down flat! Whew! Ratican
did not make it up yet to view the car. I may see him
Friday at the Winternationals.
2/2/00
After MUCH phoning, voice-mailing, etc. I found the
correct # for the belts (plural). While there is nothing
to indicate TWO belts would go on a single pulley, indeed
they do! they’re ordered, along with a new manual
for any future parts needs. Speaking of orders, Grainger
was to have shipped a pair of parts box mounting plates
which hold 40 boxes each (the bolt crib previously
mentioned), to have arrived on Monday. NOPE. Will call
tomorrow to put a tracer on it. Jason and Rick have
gotten two of the 6 upper cabinets up on the wall.
Already it’s an improvement These are way solid
units. We’ve decided to go with the sliding door
system as used on the trailer. This way, we can get
pre-finished 1/4” Applewood plywood set on sliding
tracks for the doors, and need only come up with a top
and bottom rail to finish the cabinets off, which will
actually stiffen them a bit more. So, with patience and
innovation, they are coming together as originally
intended, and cheaper. Rick has begun to comprehend the
enormity of moving the STUFF around. The organ pipes are
going into the trailer for a while, while we mount more
cabinets tomorrow.
Per his usual amazing aptitude, Randy Laur has solved in
one feel swoop MANY of his project car problems. He
traded THREE of them away, ENTIRELY and for NO cash, for
a FINISHED ‘65 2-door Chevy wagon. This car is the
rarest of all Chevys, only 665 were ever made. This car
has been restored as a panel delivery, which he is going
to reverse. And it came with all the previous windows and
moldings to make it back to a windowed wagon version. Way
to go Randy!!! It is a very slick piece, worth quite a
bundle, perhaps $20K, and he can drive it! What a
concept! Now THAT is progress.
So now he is down to a serious single unfinished car
project, the funnycar. He still has the ‘66
(10-second) Nova for Kristy, his gorgeous Ford truck,
trailer, and Isuzu (up for sale) which has never so much
as leaked a single drop of oil in 7 years. So he’ll
be down to a very manageable 5 units soon. We are gearing
up for the Winternationals on Friday, after which he will
put his attention to his FC. We’re still looking at
about a week or so to get his chassis here. Come on!
Speaking of projects, the Condor still has not had the
header flanges traced and sent to Sanderson with the
gaskets. Each day time runs out, and zip. Tomorrow, yeah,
that’s it, tomorrow. Went to Numatics today and
purchased (4) 50’ coils of tubing, color-coded (and
pretty) to replumb the lift system. I got an updated
catalog of fittings, and will begin laying out the
“circuit board” for the system. It should help
everyone, including spectators. I also found a very trick
10-line disconnect to allow a single coupling to undo the
rear air lines when we detach the body. Talked with
mil-spec Rob, who has agreed to review a layout for the
air “board”. I’ve decided to add yet
another area of storage, this time along the east side of
the house. I had previously constructed two
“closets” to hold the extra 2-door refrigerator
and a spare freezer, just outside the kitchen. I’m
now going to construct another 11’ of storage in the
same manner down the remaining area on the east side, and
use it for the big tools and whatever else I can.
I’ve put most of this stuff on dollies, so
relocating it all there will be easy. As this new closet
will be about the height of a door at the front, and a
bit higher inside, I’ll add some storage from about
4’ on up to max its use. This new area will allow
clearing the STUFF now blocking the intended area of the
street Bird and Condor, and permit FULL function of the
Garage Mahal space per the original plan. Yeah! There are
still more items to toss, but combined with the cabinets,
I should be able to get everything inside. Of course,
there STILL is a plethora of stuff along the west side of
the driveway up in the planter area to clear, but then
that’s what dump runs are for. Listening to the
Presidential primary debates, a few things occurred to
me: Taxation WITH representation isn't so hot, either! If
you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
If you haven't much education you must use your brain.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large
groups. A closed mouth gathers no foot. Diplomacy is the
art of saying "good doggie" while looking for a
bigger stick. And on a personal and domestic level: There
are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one
works.
2/3/00
Jason and Rick (with only minor help from me) got the
cabinet bodies in place. Looks cool. There’s more to
do: interior shelf tracks, front edge trim, setting the
door tracks, getting the prefinished 1/3” Appleply
door plywood, cutting it, and popping it in. But the
HEAVY stuff is done, and the 3-dimensional reality of 104
cubic feet of storage is wondrous. Of course, darling
Millie could fill that up in a wink. We’re going to
set a 40’ long continuous row of double fluorescent
tube lights under the cabinets for some really xlnt
illumination. I got the wood and the lights for FREE on
that demo job (along with the ladder). The fellow just
called and I’m going over to view the OTHER demo job
tomorrow, after the races. Spent about 90 minutes under
and in the car studying the lift system layout. I did 3
drawings of the routing, and I think I’ve finally
remembered exactly how the package works, what each valve
does, at least enough. I’ll discuss the routing with
Rob, and perhaps add a few more colors
to the design for clarity. With that scheme, it will be
easy to simply look at any part and know where it goes
and what it does. Saw some incredibly neat stuff at
Numatics, things that make you wish you could figure out
a use for them to justify buying them. Just found out Rob
can not go to Pomona, work predominates. I’ll FAX
him the layouts and let him polish. My glass etcher,
Rich, also just bailed, as he’s got a lucrative gig,
too. My neighbor has vanished for the week, so he’s
out. We still have 4 plus 3, so we’ll enjoy
ourselves.
2/4/00
WE DID. As a bonus, after the races today I stumbled into
the NHRA museum looking for Don Ratican, and it was the
semi-annual legends gathering. I spoke with KS Pittman of
A-Gas Supercharged fame, Wally Parks, and Ratican and
Ronnie Stearns, my friends. What an occasion! Saw a good
idea for the FC: different wheelie bar mounting which
could dramatically simplify the connection and
disconnection of that device. Meanwhile, Jason
constructed three more cabinets for the TOP of the east
wall of the garage, which he’ll install tomorrow.
We’re out of free wood, and there are no more places
for cabinets right now, so it’s on to the trim and
doors for them (money permitting, hopefully soon). The
new demo job will have to wait for viewing until next
week, according to the client. There may be lot more
usable material there, too. Now, where to use it? I sure
don’t want to STORE it, no no. As with the FC,
anything worth taking seriously is worth making fun of.
For instance, light travels faster than sound. This is
why some people appear bright until you hear them
speak.
And now for some nonsensical warnings:
"Warning: May cause drowsiness." -- On a bottle
of Nytol, a brand of
sleeping pills.
"Turn off motor before using this product." --
On the packaging for a
chain saw file, used to sharpen
the cutting teeth on the chain.
"Not to be used as a personal flotation
device." -- On a 6x10 inch
inflatable picture frame.
"Do not put in mouth." -- On a box of bottle
rockets.
"Please remove before driving." -- On the back
of a cardboard windshield
(for keeping the car from
getting too hot when parked).
2/5/00
Today we’re setting those WAY UP cabinets) near the
10’ wall top on the east wall over the other
cabinets and side door. We’re using every inch of
space possible. About twice the size garage probably
would have been about right! One sign of senility is
repeating yourself. Have I told you that? I’ve
literally soaked in the tub, laid in bed, and day-dreamed
repeatedly about the tubing layout for the repipe of the
lift system. I mentally ran each color, set each valve,
etc. numerous times, visualizing how each one sits
relative to the other, etc. to get it DEEP in my brain.
It appears we’ll just set the whole kaboddle on the
interior of the cockpit on the right side of the driver,
right up on the tin by my right shoulder. I saw a nice
mini-burst panel at Mark Williams’ booth, nearly
identical to the one I made for the CO2 bottle access
through my hood. I think we’ll set that in the right
side rear quarter window (as you know, really NOT a
window), thus eliminating some runs of tubing to the rear
altogether. It will also make it accessible, visible, and
provide some tech candy for displays. Randy and I saw a
lot of FC interiors yesterday, and we seem to agree the
gray color scheme is best. I saw some Mickey Thompson 33
x 16.5 slicks at Pomona, which are substantially cheaper
than the Goodyears. The MT’s are within 3/4” of
the diameter of my 34.5’s, and I can get MT’s
in varying widths. I’m investigating if they are any
good, as they might provide a bit more clearance. I
don’t want any more RPM, which is why I originally
planed to move up to 36’s when I redid the
wheelwells. I calculate about 8300 RPM in the lights now,
which is really a waste of about 100 RPM. Ratican had big
news: He is moving to Arizona. He and his wife have
property there, and he’s tired of burning cash on
rent. It’s fairly remote (he likes that), and IN the
desert, as opposed to having to drive hours to GET to the
desert now. He feels he’ll be able to rendezvous
more easily for some of our races from there. I hope so.
Jim Maher strongly advises against anything but
Goodyears. So that’s that. How many of you believe
in telekinesis? Raise my hands.
2/6/00
Experience is something you don't get until just after
you need it. The same could be said for organizing my FC
operation. What I’ve been shooting for is an
organized operation. Sadly, the process of getting that
organized operation involves pretty much building the
operation first. Granted, we do now have the FC INSIDE
the garage. This is great. And we do have the trailer and
dually inside. Also great. And we have achieved rough
cabinets I place. And Friday, UPS delivered the Grainger
parts bin racks, which Mike and I installed tonight. Now,
where are those dozens of empty Akro bins? Rick should
return in the AM Monday morning to solve that mystery. If
there are NO empties, I will fill another trash can with
the contents of about 50 of them. I need to sit down and
make a list of the varying lengths, sizes, and types of
bolts, nuts, washers, nylocks, coarse thread, fine
thread, allen head, etc. bolts we DON’T have, what
we do have, and what we need in total. Then, go to Joe
Factor or Economy Hdwe and fill in the gaps. After that,
I’ll need to label each bin, and devise a rational
order for all of it. Jason and Mike and I set the three
UPPER cabinets, which JUST barely clear the door system.
The 18 x 10 garage door is acting oddly, binding again
near closing on occasion. I’ll talk to Advance
Overhead Door in the AM and get their tech out again.
Speaking of tech, I laid out the plumbing scheme for the
revised lift system layout. I did it full scale, in
color, and laid it back on the tin. It will work great.
I’ll run it by Rob Anderson just in case, and study
the Numatics catalog before finalizing the design. The
plan is make a separate panel, mount it, and set it in
the race car complete. The rear controls are going to
move to the right rear quarter window, using a Jerry
Bickel (brand) gas tank filler door to provide a 5”
x 5” opening. The layout looks good.
I’ll need to get the access door here, make a
recessed panel to mount the latch and lift switches, and
the external air connection BEFORE DISASSEMBLING THE OLD
SYSTEM. No sir, we’re not going there. It’s
working, and I’ll leave it until it can be done
pronto. Mike asked when he thought the car would make a
lap. I suspect about a month. I’ll need to get new
tires (money is a BIG problem for that right now). I
suppose I COULD run these old tires, but I really
don’t want to be in that situation. There is some
money involved in flowing the injector and pump. I may
need some new chute cables if I modify the dual-chute
mounting to include a later style splayed
“ledge” at the rear. And there is still the new
Lexan to get. As NO money is forthcoming right now, this
stage could take a while.
Meanwhile, here are some further pearls of wisdom:
Telling a man to go to hell and making him do it are two
entirely different propositions. Tact is the ability to
tell him to go to hell and have him be happy to be on his
way. I didn't say it was your fault. I said I was going
to blame you.
Never miss a good chance to shut up.
Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your
mouth is moving.
2/7/00
Called Jerry Bickel Race Cars in Missouri this morning.
Got their catalog at Pomona and saw just what I needed.
These guys are already back from Pomona! Ordered the side
window hatch for the air connections and some trick
gold-colored Dzus fastener springs. It’s gotta be
pretty. Capt Laur is planning on picking up my headers
tomorrow for his “fitting” of his body and
engine later this week. We’re busy putting final
touches on the functional aspect of the shelves, getting
more stuff off the floor, loading up the Grainger plates
with bins (much of those contents will be chucked now
that we can actually see what’s there), and looking
to finish the functional car phase. Mike and I cleaned up
the welding-distorted threads on one of the mounting
plates for hanging the body. That all being said, my
business has now forced the progress to come to a
relative halt. We’ll put it together with whatever
is here. So this is probably a good time to get this
update out, early as it is, and BULKY as it is.
Hope to have ET’s to report in the next update.
Some parting thoughts:
"No stopping or standing." -- A sign at a bus
stop.
If God wanted me to touch my toes, he would have put them
on my knees.
It’s not hard to meet expenses....they're
everywhere.
And very much to the point right now: The only
difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
Finally (pun intended): "Beware! To touch these
wires is instant death. Anyone found doing so will be
prosecuted." -- On a sign at a railroad
station.
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