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9/20/01
Dr. Derek came by and gave me some more web updating training. We
did quite a bit, including the last update. So if you read #28, we
were successful. The blocking on the car is done, thanks to Mikey
making it last Sunday. There are a few VERY minor areas of repair
to complete, and then I'll just shoot another entire coat of primer,
about 4 layers, per Nick's recommendation. Then the slower process
of blocking it all with #350 wet paper. After that, it will go over
to Nick's for final painting. How many times have you heard THIS in
the last 5 years???
He is now going to go with a base and clear coat. How you color sand
a clear coat to eliminate orange peel is news to me, but he insists
that's what we'll do, using #800 and #1200 (Whew!!!). Then we buff
it. So the next phase is some repairs and more elbow work. Bob Huth
has not finished the second header. He's way busy, but I gotta get
this done. I just picked it up and I'll do it with the welder. He
apologized for the delay (hey, his life has been hell for several
months), and we're cool. I want to get the headers over for coating
so I can start this thing! I still have not found the other starter
(probably hiding with the wheelie bar net). Once discovered, they
will go to get the 12-volt re-conversion. I may just drive them down
and have Monty do them on the spot at IMI/Hi Torque. Randy commented
on how smooth the body looks. He brought a piece of his car body over
for comparison. The thickest part of his body shell is like paper
compared to the thinnest part of mine. You can just about read a paper
looking through his body! Speaking of thin bodies, Brooke is hopefully
ready to get back on the program, She just started school, and should
have solidified her schedule by now.
9/21/01
Todd at Vortech has changed the gear set in the blower, gone to a
different pulley with taller shoulders, re-shimmed the alignment,
and will do a air-fuel ratio check when they fire it up tomorrow or
Monday. I am making some inquiries into narrowing and adjusting the
9" rear end, and possibly going to a Gear Vendors unit. The torque
converter appears to be on the edge, but I will have Gene at Auto
Rite determine that for sure. The car is safe and fast, I'm just looking,
as usual, to making it better.
I'm also getting a new regulator for the driver door window, to eliminate
a little looseness there.
Mikey is not available this Sunday for FC work. I've talked with Nick,
and as soon as I do the above mentioned repairs I'll borrow his gun
again (or buy one) and get on with the next bit of primer. I will
be doing a little brazing on the headers and some grinding.
9/22/01
Went by M&M Tools and picked up an air nibbler for sheet metal
(we're doing a sheet metal job) which will come in handy for any aluminum
work later (bellypan, etc.). Also got an air angle grinder, some mandrels,
and several discs. I'll give that a shot on my brass frames. Gonna
tear open the hood and make the crack repair (ouch), and get the FC
ready for more primer. Ditt on the headers. Really just need to fill
two dents on the front tube on one, and fill in the bird-mouths around
the header bolts. Bought some additional carbide tips for the Dumor
grinder to assist in cleaning those headers up. Enough jawing, time
to start sawing…
9/26/01
Yup, been there, done that…took out about 18" of joint along
the left side of the hood scoop up near the windshield, laid in the
glass, and hit it with two coats of bondo. It'll take at least one
more finishing coat, probably a final using the thin glazing compound
(watery bondo). BB came today, took the starters to Hi Torque, and
we found one was burned. Changed the other solenoid to proper 12 volts,
and both should be right now. If that is solved, and we can get the
clearance right on the flywheel (a long time problem), then it's on
to the shifter trans brake snafu. And, once a little more dough lands,
I will send a payment out to Cool Suit so they know I'm still alive.
We are VERY busy with work, running 9 jobs and about to start another.
A couple have been a fairly sodomous experience on my end (ouch!).
Once these two are completed, I can continue with relatively productive
work on the others, and look for some FC funding to get us to the
Hangover Nats this year. Still haven't found the wheelie bar net.
9/27/01
Andy Tien (graphics designer) came over for the second round of logos
for the FC. We have decided on a total of 26 vinyls for the dually,
trailer, and FC. Basically, the race car will get a 30" x 18"
DW logo on each door, a www.dickwagner.com on the rear wing and front
bumper, and a "Learn not to Burn" logo on each rear quarter.
The trailer will get DW and .com logos on two sides and the rear door,
the dually DW and .com's on each door, and the side spill plates on
the FC will carry my 754 competition numbers. Sounds like a lot of
print. However, once up, it will mostly be lost in the enormity of
surfaces. I was in contact with Marty and M&M Auto Art again,
just alerting him that the FC headlights, modified Tbird logo, and
rear window may be coming up within the next ice age. BB will be here
next week to re-commence whittling away at the very long list of to-do's
on the race operation. She could have a full time job for the next
few weeks just polishing the trailer trim! Today I'm polishing a few
bids, looking for that all-important positive cash flow to make the
racing happen. Still glacial, but progress is occurring. I am quite
serious about making the Hangovers this time. I'll let Mauriello take
care of BEING the designated hangover.
9/27/01
Just a bit too tired now at 9:05 PM on Thursday night to start in
on the bodywork. Will get some of our jobs handled in the morning,
and devote some time then to it.
10/1/01
Got some more crack repair done on the hood last night (Sunday). I
am reaching a point of diminishing return on it. Best to let it sit
for a day or two. Probably good enough to primer and block, but want
to be absolutely certain here.
Had another puke-a-thon all yesterday, probably from the meds for
the knee. Enough of that! They're gone. We'll try something else henceforth.
Mikey was busy Sunday, so didn't make it. BB should be here Wednesday,
and we can get going on setting the starter, getting the adapter for
the oil pan sensor at Orme's, grinding on the headers, maybe shooting
some more primer. Took the Gremlin over to Gene at AutoRite and scared
the pee outa him on a test drive. He feels the clutches in 3rd gear
are just worn and on the edge. I am going to simply have him swap
the trans out for a new one from a friend, along with a converter.
Been unable to catch Jeff Kennedy at Kennedy American on the Gremlin
front end parts.
10/3/01
Gremlin parts arrived UPS yesterday. Canoga Alignment is unable to
squeeze me in until next week. Got the Gremlin back from Gene at AutoRite.
The fresh trans and rare GM C-10 converter make a whopping difference.
Now the car responds (right now) to throttle, and feels much tighter
and better. The old trans was just majorly thrashed. Junk pile material,
including the converter. I have some For Sale signs being computer-generated
by Andy Tien, along with the race car stickers. All are due Friday.
The car will go in the show on Van Nuys Blvd Sunday morning, and hopefully
we'll get some action. A guy honked at me to comment on how cool the
car was, and took my phone #. We'll see. I called Bob Jennings regarding
that promised dyno pull. I need to call him again tomorrow to set
it up.
No word from BB today. Called Nick who seems to want me to go buy
a new gun to spray the primer. That will require a run out to Harbor
Freight in Oxnard. Informed Rob Anderson at Vortech about the new
trans.
10/5/01
Cleaned up the Gremlin for a cruise at Bob's Big Boy tonight. And
made use of the old FC info stand. I repainted it, cut it down a tad,
and mounted a short history of the Gremlin in some plexi on it. Little
by little. Got the little For Sale signs for the Gremlin, and the
vinyl stickies for the FC , trailer, and dually should be here end
of next week, well in advance of being able to put them on the car,
of course. Could set them on the trailer and dually, however.
10/10/01
As the mouse has gone awry on the PC computer (used only for updating
the web site), I couldn't do any meandering there. BB hurt her back
so was out today. I was frantically busy. Ed made a comment that the
garage was hard to work in because there was too much stuff. DUH!!!!
Of course, no one except me does anything to clean it up, organize.
A good day is if someone puts away the tools they use. Ed was bitching
of course, while he was using my welder and tools to do some work
for which he was being paid. No credit there. We have a speaker project
in process, the FC painting thing happening, and trying to run a business
out of the saw table corner as well, making what we need on jobs as
we go. Yeah, another 5000 SF and two stories would help. As the headers
are here, it really is my bad if they don't get massaged and prepped
for coating. So I'll need to get myself geared up for that and go
on it. I fantasize about making laps, and taking the FC to Bob's for
a cruise night and really blowing some minds.
10/12/01
We got one speaker together, front on, no fiberglass or electronics
or wiring. HEAVY!! I should put these in the trailer! Yeoww! Actually,
we're going to hang them from the upper corners of the garage. We
will have MAJOR sounds in there. Will do some sanding one more time
on the FC hood area tomorrow, and then give it a go with the last
coat of primer. Still searching for the Zolotone for the underbody
area, and looking to do the inside of the driver's cockpit tin in
Dove gray. The masking of the windows will of course be critical to
preserving these areas when the body gets the exterior yellow paint.
Andy Tien will come this Monday with the proofs on the vinyl, and
we're looking for next Friday for final delivery on the pack of stickies.
These are early for application, obviously. I will hopefully (sorry,
but true) get some time grinding on the header brazing, too. If you
were here helping and not just reading things would go faster!!
I have not lost sight of the Hangovers goal.
10/13/01
Mikey is out for one more week with his soccer schedule. We're doing
the floor granite in the bath today-HOORAY! I WILL get on the hood
tune up just a little later today. Took the Gremlin to Bob's and Cruiser's
for a lot of gaping. Now just buy it!! It will go back to Vortech
this week for hopefully the last tune up on the bypass valve. As it
will be a few weeks until I get the proper steering parts, I may just
run the thing at Palmdale or Fontana once it's back from Vortech.
I have the plan: 5 practice launches with lamentable ET's, then one
educated blast. Then they throw me off the track for no roll bar if
I go under 12 seconds. On a sad note, Economy Hardware, a very well-stocked
place, is closing, another mom and pop victim of Home Depot. There
will be increasingly good deals in the next couple of weeks, as stock
diminishes. As it is, I just want to get some bolts while they are
local. Time to make that list!!!!
Hell, I just went over a bought literally hundreds of pounds of stuff!
Here was the deal: The bolt cribs there were 6 drawers to a drawer/box
assembly. Buy 6 full drawers of anything, and Dave threw in the drawer/box
assembly AND took 75% off the per/box bolt price, with about 3-4 boxes
per drawer. So I bought a LOT of bolts, 36 drawers worth, plus a few
other items. I'll sell some off later at half price, give people a
killer deal, and still make out. That's the plan. For now, I have
to make some time to set these things up in a usable order, and put
them up in the cabinets or somewhere. MORE stuff! Oh joy. The down
side is all the grade 5 and grade 8 and stainless steel stuff went
the first day, which was last Monday. Gads, I wish I had known! So,
back to sanding on the hood. I know who bought the allen and stainless
and Grade 5 and 8 stuff. I might talk to him and see if he wants to
off his extras.
Nick came over and pronounced the car ready for final primer. He did
a little tune up on one section, but needed some DA paper, which I
didn't have. I will go tomorrow to Harbor Freight to buy the paint
gun he specifies, and get him one, too. And, I'll stop by Modern or
D'Angelo to get some DA paper, and commit to some Zolotone paint.
I also need some Dove Gray for the tin inside the cockpit area.
In the garage, we have progressed on the monster speakers, and should
be ready to prop them in the corners in two days. My audio genius
(seriously, he REALLY IS a genius) buddy Drew says we should cant
them downward, ala studio setups. We're going to attempt to hang these
by cables for a neato look. This will require some careful thought.
I am working on scoring some used amps to run them, some classic Crown
DC 300's (150 per channel). These are virtual heavy-duty studio monitors
we're making here.
10/18/01
In a bit of happiness, Professor Roy Griffith confirmed he DOES have
the ultra-rare SpectraSonics card-tray amp setup and IBM power supplies
I sold him 20 years ago. I will go by there tomorrow to see if we
can find and load them up. If they work, it will provide a very convenient
and perfect solution for the tri-amped garage monitor system, precisely
as it had been designed to do over thirty years ago with virtually
the same components. In a mixed blessing, electronic wizard Ed Turner
has been sadly laid off by United Airlines, and will be returning
this weekend from San Francisco. This may provide me with a source
again for some needed help, electronically and otherwise. This may
be a good thing for him, too.
The other fire dept FC is about to get its air brushing done, hopefully
by the same fellow who should be doing mine, Marty Lorenzen of M&M
Auto Art. "Tiny" Ed Anctil has been sick all week, forcing
me to be out on jobs, and tomorrow to do some work with Derek "The
Giant" Kistner. AND, I've been breathlessly (and so far fruitlessly)
chasing some of the major dough due me on several jobs. I SERIOUSLY
don't like this part of the business.
Did some re-reading of Update #28. He settlement with the client is
still not settled: he owes me $3000 and is just jerking me mercilessly.
And I SO need the money, like last week (which was when it was promised).
The Gremlin, while running nicely, will not go back to Vortech until
after the SEMA show (they're real busy prepping for that). With its
good trans, it will be most interesting to see what numbers it makes.
Given how busy I am, I'll probably not get the paint guns until Saturday.
At that point I will be ready to prime, prime, prime. Then sand, sand,
sand. Haven't been back to the sell off again at Economy Hdwe, perhaps
tomorrow, to see what may be left.
10/21/01
Economy was cleaned out and loading junk into a dumpster. So much
for that. Got up to Harbor Freight and picked up the Central Pneumatic
primer gun. REAL nice little unit for under $70. Took the cans of
primer back to Nick for some shaking, just to be certain. Then, with
Mikey doing the paint mixing, we just finished primering the FC. YEOWW!!!
It went about 3 times faster with him having the paint ready. I blew
some lacquer thinner through the gun after each load, and made three
passes around the car. It took 4 passes last time, probably because
I was too cautious about laying on the paint too thick. So the rest
of the week will just be sanding, and perhaps some very minor filling
of pin holes, etc. I am shooting for the car to be done for the weekend
so Nick can shoot it. Worst case: two weeks.
I need to put pressure on him to make time for it. I'm also going
to be getting info on Zolotone paints, and primers tomorrow at D'Angelo.
I'm VERY hot to trot on the paint stuff and get this body done.
Got the vinyl stickies for the dually, trailer, and FC. Mikey correctly
noted that the red logos will not stand out much on red vehicles.
DUH!!!! I'll just have to do a cream background on the trailer and
dually behind the actual logos. The very yellow FC as a background
will allow the logos to stand out JUST FINE. Just called Nick, who
is now hemming a bit about getting it in his schedule for the weekend,
and is also now a bit indecisive about single stage versus the committed
plan of base coat/clear coat. He said why don't I just shoot it? Hell,
I'll do it, I don't care. If it comes out good, then all the better.
I asked what do I do about sanding out the orange peel? He assures
me the base coat doesn't orange peel, has no sheen, looks like rough
primer, and lays down like lacquer. Why not? Whatever. I will endeavor
to select a color from four possible yellows in the next two days.
Nick wants me to talk to him on Tuesday. Tomorrow will see me rather
busy as it is, what with chasing some idiot in small claims who sold
me the utterly no good brake master/booster for the Tbird (and refusing
to replace it), and doing the undisputed FINAL thing for the anal
retentive jerkoffs who are holding $3000 after taking 10 days to find
ONE TINY paint correction to a corner of an outside window. What utter
bozos!!! We are finishing three jobs tomorrow, so some money SHOULD
be forthcoming, (mostly spoken for already, of course, but essential
nonetheless).
10/22/01
Default judgment on the brake booster bozo, now have to wait 31 days
before attempting to collect. We'll see if he tries to appeal, although
that might be tough as he was served by the Marshal, and he has no
other ground for appeal, as he failed to show up at all. Stay tuned.
Did the anal retentive 2 square inch repair that was NOT part of our
3 previous walk throughs. Ughhh!!! These people are just ridiculous.
So I SHOULD have a check for nearly $3K tonight waiting at the guard
gate. The other (I thought) finished job is NOT. There are several
things left to do, and we'll move on them ASAP. Another client is
playing HIDE IT and is avoiding handing over $2K due now. Yet another
has stalled me off for almost a week on about $2K as well, though
not as rudely as the others. The above situations all add up to lots
of chasing, and no dough for racing. I'll spend a bit of time later
doing the initial sanding with #320 on the primer. And I will shortly
be at D/Angleo's to look at some Zolotone materials. One good win
on the Lotto and this could all be done in a couple of weeks with
a few phone calls! Ran some clients through the premises and they
were mightily impressed. They all LOVE the Garage Mahal! We should
be able to get some decent cleaning done as soon as I'm done rubbing
on the FC. The floor is quite a mess with all the rubbed-off primer.
The garage will be likely be finally perfect once everything is done,
rather than WHILE it was BEING done, which really was the point. What
else is new?
10/22/01
DID get to D'Angelo's, RIGHT at closing time. The fellow was MUCH
less than helpful, even denying me use of their bathroom while I thumbed
through the Zolotone color chart. Repeatedly picked through the charts
(about a dozen times), testing my choices, and ended up with one stock
color and one two-color blend. I'll return tomorrow, speak with the
owner this time, and order the stuff. I'm told my primer gun will
work nicely. I'm feeling a bit punked out, but will endeavor to put
a few minutes into rubbing on the primer tonight. Just to get a little
momentum. Lots of inertia, little momentum.
Did NOT get any sanding done, but DID FINALLY got the dough off the
anal *&**!*%*@% idiots. Now I can concentrate on other more productive
things, like sanding. Randy got his car over to the air brusher, Marty.
He left it there, to get it with any luck within two weeks. Maybe
by that time I'll be ready to take mine over for there. Meanwhile,
one sanding block at a time.
10/24/01
Too much pain and too fatigued to get any blocking done. Will do some
today. Will return to D'Angelo's in a few minutes to pay for and order
the Zolotone. Did dig deep and bought a new torch head set for $350
to allow me to do some brazing.
10/25/01
Good bud Ed Turner showed up yesterday, and among other things, suggested
silver soldering ("jeweler's trick) for filling the brass frames.
He's a bit too busy doing catch up on his life to get to it, so I
might give it a shot. And that's how I feel today: shot. Man, so tired,
so fatigued. Did manage a full day's work, and Derek and I got one
speaker final assembled and up onto its pocket in the garage, using
an up-high storage area which works perfectly for it.
The other speaker will be hung from chains in the opposite corner
tomorrow. Too tired to do any blocking. And Mikey is not available
this week, either. Too busy today to stop at D'Angelo's, but will
tomorrow mid-morning, and order the two Zolotone colors. Collected
some more $ today, and that helped.
10/26/01
Randy came by, and gave me a GREAT bit of info on sanding the car:
forget the guide coat on the final sanding. He was MOST correct. I
hit it initially with 150, and he followed behind with the 320. Worked
nicely that way. It'll take me a couple of hours to do the car myself
using that scheme. Took the Gremlin over to Bob's, and got a LOT of
interest with my FOR SALE: $50 sign. It continued that a 300-ticket
raffle would be held, giving the top $2000 to Red Cross, and the remainder
go for the car, with a drawing to be held at Bob's two weeks after
the final ticket is sold. I'll make up some forms to speed the process.
10/27/01
Dr. Derek came by and we had a marathon session of updating the website,
and getting further tutored on the machinations of the PC. As I am
TOTALLY wasted and exhausted (what the HELL is wrong?), I will still
attempt a little bonding with the FC body tonight and spend some time
rubbing the primer. I am reminding myself here as well we gotta make
that Jan 1 run deadline. Randy commented yesterday the body looks
incredibly smooth and show quality. Just read an article in Drag Racer
about the new MSD Digital ignition system. Boy does that sound like
the ticket. Unfortunately, we'll just have to make do with the mag
and PSI rev limiter as is.
Mikey is not able to come tomorrow. Perhaps I can get BB to get excited
about rubbing on the car. Her boyfriend owns a towing service. I'm
hoping he'll be able to take the Gremlin to LACR next week for the
Fire/Police Drags.
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