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11/22/01
If you're reading this, you obviously know that we uploaded #30 today.
So the morning was FC-related but not rubbing, rather it was dubbing,
so to speak. We made some changes to the website to reflect the Gremlin
raffle, and I'm very slowly getting closer to being able to do the
updates myself. Derek is going to put together a tutorial with screen
shots to help me along. On the car, I discovered a yet better way
to remove the black paint on the tin, using lacquer thinner AND a
cheap 2" brush. Combined with double latex gloves, this has proved
the least painful and least strenuous way to accomplish the task.
And what a relief from the dust!! I sanded down a few glazing putty
spots and the car is now ready for one last shot of touch-up primer
and then final paint. I now recognize the red streaks I've seen on
other cars being prepped for nice paint. Randy asked me a few days
ago. "Hey D-Dub, when are you going to be done walking around
that car nit-picking the little holes?" My answer was when I
can't find any more. I believe I'm there. The inside tin is all cleaned
off, though not finally douched. I am using lacquer thinner which
is a bit contaminated with the paint and oil, and the interior will
need to be final wiped with clean thinner. The lacquer thinner does
not seems to affect the Zolotone at all. That's good. As I look at
the clean tin, I'm tempted to leave it natural, only because it shows
more of the workmanship. But that will undoubtedly give way to a coat
of nice Ford Gray enamel once it is ready. Actually, the gray looks
real nice on nice metal, and the metal is looking pretty nice. I will
do some filling of some dents, etc. before painting it, and after
metal priming. I have all the primer and paint for the "tin"
panels, and will get to them ASAP. I want all the interior stuff done
prior to the outside paint, for obvious reasons. If John is available,
I'll have him do the underside cleaning, as well as spraying the Zolotone
after metal priming. Carrying the thought process a little further:
once the interior is done being painted, I can get to polishing and
sealing the aluminum beams that stiffen the car for the lift system.
If I can get the polishing done first, I'd prefer that, but I really
do need to just get the interior done, and if the beams have to wait,
then so be it. I also have a little aluminum welding that needs doing
on the front and rear bulkheads and "collar", that stuff
that makes a seal around the roll bar and along the frame rails. I
would also like to get some soft rubber or vinyl edge on that area
to prevent scuffing the frame rails. Actually a complete rubber collar
wouldn't be bad, or at least perhaps an inch or so of rubber to interface
to the frame. All that being done, I can reinstall the lift system
tubing and control board (mirrored stainless steel), for the eye candy.
I've toyed with the idea of having the air-brusher do a "dash"
on the firewall. But that's definitely down the road a bit. I'm gonna
have Gene help me with fabricating the bellypan and setting some additional
Dzus fastener springs/plates to hold it.
11/23/01
Ed "The Genius" Turner returned with the hifi goodies. They
work, but just barely. We think that a preamp is needed to drive the
amps harder. I'll work on getting something tomorrow to do that. Meanwhile,
the speakers play directly off the CD player (it has a headphone volume
control)! These studio monitors should be able to shake the garage,
notwithstanding they'll usually be played at very moderate levels.
So more progress! I still have the three other electronic crossovers
in the box (Speaker City: PLEASE take them back!!). I was all ready
to buy three more amps from a potential studio remodel client, but
he never got back to me (lucky thing). Ed also did some silver-solder
tests on the steam surrounds using my new torch, and while it works,
it will be slow going. So tonight, Friday, no Bob's Big Boy, as the
Gremlin is still apart. I'll get to its intake tomorrow in the light.
Tonight, more cleaning of the interior tin. Derek located the angle
grinder, right in the red box where we put it, and right where I looked
RIGHT at it a half dozen times. Wow……scary……Of
course the label was not showing, so that is some consolation. I'll
spray the tin down with my siphon gun and fresh lacquer thinner, wipe
it with paper towels, and dress it with the angle grinder and some
scotchbrite pads. Then, etching primer, maybe a little dent tune up,
some primer, and then the color. THEN we shoot the yellow.
UH OH……..You know that old saying: If it weren't for bad
luck, I'd have no luck at all? Yup, right here, right now. Was out
working on the FC, running the angle grinder on the tin, doing the
first stage of buffing some of the areas out, when the sparkling new
compressor started making nasty noises, then stopped, then started,
then stopped. Let's see if I can quote Joe correctly: "You're
NEVER going to have any problem with this compressor. It will run
forever…" Yeah, yeah. It ran for two days. That was REALLY
impressive. The oil sight glass is half full, just like when it left
their shop. So I find the angle grinder, now no compressor to run
it! And of course they are not open on the weekends. So I switched
gears and did some silver-soldering of the steam room brass frames,
until I ran out of silver solder, of course. Well, it's coming up
on midnight, so a good time to call it a night. I'll endeavor to find
some solder tomorrow, and perhaps locate one of my other two compressors
to use (although rather small). One (the trailer unit) is at a job,
and Derek will be using that tomorrow, the other (I hope) is here
somewhere, hopefully working. You know, I had that 2 HP Craftsman
thing completely overhauled at All American about 8 months ago. That
means nothing at this point. The angle grinder opened up a whole new
vista of cleaning up aluminum. Using gradually finer discs, I should
be able to get some REAL nice shine on the trailer trim, and the major
bars inside the driver compartment. The standup grinder/polisher is
of no value inside the car or on the trailer trim, but that little
angle grinder gizmo may do the trick. So NO painting this weekend,
not at all it appears. The medium compressor just won't have the juice
to keep up, and I don't feel like risking that.
11/24/01
Hooked both compressors up, and they do OK. Had a surprise visit from
Randy, and we got some breakfast, then I spent the day running on
bids. Got back in time to do a little garage stuff, grind on the brass
frames, but no time for silver solder finding, nor working on the
Gremlin (it rained CRAZY for most of the day). Now at 11:52 PM, the
sky is crystalline, stars are shining, so Sunday looks to be good.
Gene showed up about 5:15 PM, just to visit, and will return tomorrow
with my Condor AOD trans, and to help with wiring, trans shifter cable,
etc. Downloaded some Gremlin and FC sanding pix into the computer,
and will post them to the website perhaps three days from now, once
Dr. Derek gets a free moment. Derek the Giant ran the speaker raceways
and got the drywall back up, so tomorrow I MAY find a few more flex
connectors and set the last boxes and pull the wires through, clearing
up a wee little morass of wires temporarily run to the speakers. Got
the garage relatively cleaned out, with the aid of the BIG fan at
one end, an open door at the front, and air nozzle. Have not gotten
to Nick's for the Zolotone paint. Mikey will be here early to continue
on the underside of the tin, and it appear we will get the primer
on the tin, maybe a little glazing putty, and maybe even the gray
paint. Gene and I will work on the starter, wiring, trans brake switch
(the shifter one doesn't work, the one on the steering wheel does),
the trans cable, and the front wheel reassembly. I feel the trans
cable is a bit short. Perhaps Gene can show me a creative way to route
it for better results. Come Monday, I will cruise over to MM Tools
and get some more gradations of angle grinder wheels for polishing,
IF he had them.
11/26/01
It's 12:24 AM Monday morning, and Mikey and I spent some serious time
on the FC. Gene never made it, due to some shop emergency.
We finished cleaning the tin, and then I hand-brushed the primer to
save on masking. We then lightly sanded it, which essentially removed
most of it (perhaps three coats would have been better). So we masked
the WHOLE damn thing (really a touch job), and I'll have John spray
the primer again tomorrow. He can also do the Zolotone remainder on
the underside. Once we get the gray on the tin, we'll probably re-mask
it and spray another coat of Zolotone on the cockpit area. The 2HP
Craftsman compressor is not working well, blowing breakers. It appears
the starter capacitor is NG, as it struggles to get started, pulling
too much current. So BOTH compressors go back to All American at 8
AM. Oh joy. I will try one other thing first: eliminating the extension
cords to that 2 HP compressor, and plugging it straight in to a wall
outlet. That can sometimes make a large difference (due to a voltage
drop in the cords). Hmm, what am I gong to do for a compressor for
John to use for spraying? Both Ed and Derek need compressors. Well,
Joe will have to fix the Craftsman immediately, that's all there is
to it.
Found a dozen more little acne marks in the paint (these are VERY
tiny things), so touched them up. Once the big compressor is good,
I'll re-shoot the primer on those touch-ups, and THEN we'll be good
for color, presuming the cockpit is finished. I will also be looking
for a recycled oxygen tank to cut in half for the front coupler guard,
per Randy's sage advice. Also did some more soldering on the brass
frames, but the silver solder I got seems to be much lower temperature
stuff, and tends to fall out more easily when the parts are reheated.
I'll consult Mr. Ed in the morning on that. And the angle grinder
pads wear quite quickly on the brass. So I'll need to visit Marty
and MM Tools for a bag of discs in assorted grits. I'll look into
polishing disks as well, for the rest of the aluminum and the trailer
trim. I also will likely fire up the TIG welder to repair a broken
seam in the rollbar collar. This should be MOST interesting. If I
totally suck, I may call a welder to come over and do it here. The
interior of the FC should look pretty nifty: I am doing a combination
of a few selected polished items and the rest the Zolotone and the
gray enamel. I'm keeping the polished stuff only where it is easily
maintainable (a novel concept for me).
Did score a REAL nice used NAD preamp for the Garage Mahal hifi (met
the guy at a freeway off ramp and did the exchange), and while it
is now louder it still doesn't shake the walls. I feel strongly there
is a master level control on those amps that we're not seeing, or
something is amiss. The highs tend to smear with higher levels, indicating
a current problem of some sort. Hey Pete, wanna sell your EQT equalizers?
I'll also need to get a LOT more tape for additional masking from
here on out. So, no yellow paint, yet, but we're closing in on it.
Trust me, I REALLY am hot to post some pix on the site showing actual
color on the car!!
11/26/01
Big compressor is on the way to repair. Turns out the belt went bad,
and the compressor head is fine. Now that's good news. The 2 HP did
just need a direct plug in, the voltage drop was the apparent problem.
Ed is sick today, so Derek lucked out and has the other compressor.
In trailer action, thanks to Bonneville racer Ken Walkey I found a
canopy maker in Pomona who makes the neatest units: Jenkins Canopy.
As my FC body tilts up too high for my trailer awning, I will be getting
a 12 x 30 unit with 9' legs to allow for the car to be raised. As
an aside, Earl Wooden, Walkey's Bonneville partner, whose 300 mph
Crosley blew a tire and tumbled for a mile, is looking for a streamliner
roller. They basically got $8.25 for the frame and rollcage, and cut
the body up and tossed it in the dumpster. As both guys are over 70,
they don't want to take two years to fabricate another car, so Earl
will be looking to go over 400 with his new blown hemi AA-fuel streamliner.
WOW!!!!
John is toasted from a 24-hour drive back from Oregon over the weekend
in the snow and rain, so no painting today. No news to other racers,
but you see how tough it is to get help on the race operation?
11/26/01
Grabbed the Zolotone from Nick, some miscellaneous tools from Marty
at MM Tools, and ran out of time to get the surplus oxygen tank. Of
course Marty reported he had just thrown a couple of tanks out last
week!!! And in a nice surprise, glass etcher extraordinaire Richard
Baida (father of BB) offered to help a bit with the painting. He is
a very good painter, as he has YEARS of glass sandblasting practice.
So it's out to the garage for a little "plinking" (as Randy
calls it), wiping the car down, organizing a little bit.
11/27/01
Ran the torch until the gas ran out! John is here now spraying the
primer coats for the cockpit area. I did a little touch up here and
there between coats on some small dents in the tin. Man, I hope this
looks as good as the effort! The sounds in the garage are wonderful.
Even so, Ed is scheduled to be coming any moment to look further into
the system for final touches and tuning. Ed was a no show today, Brooke
did show, but John and I were at the paint store, and my mobile had
shut off. Her next window of work is a week away. Of course the trip
to Modern paint was not a total loss, but nearly so, as I got a $60
ticket for parking partly in the red on an essentially deserted side
street. The streak continues!!! Dan kindly gave us another quart of
primer free as the etching primer had settled out, hence its water-like
quality, and he is getting me another quart of a different mix Zolotone
at cost to overspray what we've done to see if we can achieve "more
fleck." Found another round of little pinholes, and coated the
wheel wells with red one-part to clean them up a bit. I'm sure Randy
will be ballistic if he sees how anal I'm getting on this. I did a
little more tin filling and sanding, and our next step is the Transtar
3-part primer, both in the cockpit and on all the little repair areas
on the body. A bit of primer on the underside of the tin, a shot of
Zolotone on the unfinished underside areas, and that SHOULD be it
(GAAAHHDDS!!). The cockpit primer will need a little sanding with
300#, then the finish gray color goes on the inside. That may require
a bit of color sanding as well, with final buffing on the interior
paint down the road. THEN the outside gets its color. REALLY.
Randy dropped by, and did not go ballistic at my continued anality.
Rather, he calmly commented, "You'll keep doing it until you
stop." He showed me the cool way to pack wheel bearings, a little
trick I heretofore hadn't known. He also informed me NOT to lubricate
the edge of the seal, as it is intended to run as dry as possible.
I told you this guy is good. I set the front wheel back on, but the
rotor just does not line up right with the caliper on the left front.
This has been a problem all along, and I noticed shims behind the
rotor against the back of the wheel long ago when I disassembled the
front end. I think I gotta put MORE shims in there (on the order a
1/4"), as it just ain't right now. The outside pad is about half
the thickness of the inside pad, not a proper thing at all. This really
and truly has been a nearly ground up rebuild of the car. I had it
a little more apart in 94 when I first got it (ask John Van Houten),
but I think I'm doing more changes now than then. Of course back then
I could afford to have others do it! Randy also gave me a better idea
on how to construct the new driveshaft tunnel/coupler guard. Tomorrow
I will be stopping by the recycle yard on the way back from an early
morning job visit and just might get something done tomorrow on it.
I also will bring out the TIG welder and give it a shot on the broken
seams on some of the collar area in the cockpit. Randy just laughed
at the front end setup on my car, as it is identical to his. You have
to pull the caliper mounts off, etc. just to pull the front wheel.
Now for about $600 we could get Mark Williams to machine up some really
titty stuff to eliminate that, but we'll both just hang with it for
now. He appreciates having another car to look at for ideas. I noticed
a little play on the right wheel, looking like a kingpin. I'll research
it later. I remounted the big compressor, and set it on the 80# rated
springs I got from McMaster-Carr. I should have gone to the 100# units,
as it BARELY avoids coil bind. I had figured the unit weighed about
200-240 pounds, and it appears closer to 230 or so. But my isolator
setup works, and the compressor is completely isolated, though still
not silent by any means.
11/28/01
Got the Zolotone at Modern. Came back and found that the left front
wheel rotor to caliper alignment was just not right, so I took both
wheels off, added washers to get the rotors more centered, repacked
the right wheel bearings, and put a new seal on the right hub as well.
That right wheel bearing was VERY dry. Electronics Ed showed today,
and VERY long story made short, I'm having him reconfigure the amp
pack to provide mid and high amps, and a pair of jacks for low out
to go to a separate amp. Turns out the HIGH outputs were NOT amplified,
hence no real level, basically about what a tuner or CD player was
driving by itself. I can not fathom how the system got changed around
from its original setup (I mean this is 30 years ago!!), but we're
just making it right, much like the FC. So at this point on the FC
we have proper front brakes, bearings, and seals. I do need to get
the rear end bolting back in place, set the rear coupler cover, and
yes, get to the recycler for that oxygen bottle. Just ran out of time
again today, due to "Tiny" Ed Anctil being sick for a third
straight day, causing me to have to go and work a job site. Will do
a little rubbing on the pinhole repair areas tonight, in prep for
a re-priming of those many spots and the tin. Webmaster Derek came
today, but both our schedules were ballistic, so we did not do the
web updates, maybe next Monday.
Rubbed on the touch-up spots, found a couple more. That is IT on the
touch-ups! Sanded the spill plates and the hatch (the spill plates
are the side "wings" if you will). They will need a little
red stuff, as I just did on the hatch tonight. That should do them.
Hooked up a standard hifi with some primo KLH 6's from my uncle's
estate of 7 years ago, and they sound just great. The monster system
should be way better than this. We'll see once Mr. Ed gets it back
together.
11/29/01
John made it over in the nasty rain, and we attacked the priming and
touch- up stuff. The spill plates (sides of the wing) needed some
red work, and I did that, sanded it, and we primed them. Ditto for
the hatch. We also got the cockpit area primed, and re-shot the numerous
little areas on the body. So now back to the glamorous world of 300#
circle blocking. I have three tiny little dents in the tin to fill
with red stuff inside the cockpit, and we'll hit that area with a
quick dab of primer, and then shoot it with finish color. I'm going
to do that little bit of filler now, and let the primer sit overnight
before sanding. John is off getting the gas bottles refilled to allow
me to continue on the silver-soldering/brazing nightmare (man, it
is taking so many times to get these little pinholes filled in the
brass steam room frames, to be chromed once completed, kinda like
the FC!!). Ah, the price of perfection…..We found the HVLP (high
volume low pressure) spray gun was not delivering paint very well,
and true to Nick's and Randy's suggestions, the vent was clogged.
BIG difference! OK, back to it……..
After a major energy crash and some sitting down for a couple of hours,
I'm about 3/4 around the car with 300#, rubbing it for the next to
last time before paint. I'll basically touchy-feely the whole thing
with lacquer thinner and Acrylsol once before actually spraying the
paint, to feel for any possible runs or sanding misses, and to completely
scrub and degrease the surface immediately prior to painting. We still
have a little interior spraying to do, and there MIGHT be some overspray
off that.
11/30/01
I finished sanding and washing the body down (whooppee!!). Sanded
the hatch and spill plates, wrapped them in paper, and stashed them
behind a cabinet for safety, along with the windows. I tried yesterday
on that recycled bottle, but they no had. I'll call again this morning.
Asked around at Airgas and Praxair and NL Curtis, and the latter may
have one. My fingers are just getting dry, chopped, split, and painful.
Even with latex gloves, damage is being done. John is back with our
torch tanks, and he'll do a little bit of sanding before taking off
for real work.
MEANWHLE, Ed returned and the amp system still was not right. My amp
for the bass did NOT like the single grounding system of the bi-amp
pack. With some brainstorming he and I figured out how to make it
work. I hooked up one of the three electronic crossovers I had purchased
thinking I would not have this bi-amp system, and used it and one
amp for the bass. All better, and now it SHAKES the place. Did a little
more work inside the cockpit, and will have to let the red dry until
tomorrow. Doing some put-away and organizing, cleaning, consolidating.
Boy, does the garage need it. I mean it is a wonderful place, and
the luxury of being able to do so any different projects at once in
there makes it SO tough to keep clean and organized (particularly
when a half dozen people are moving things around, taking tools to
jobs, etc.), but ultimately it is not just about a pretty place, but
an efficient place. And when everything is in its place, there is
a LOT more room in the middle to work! Plus, I know where to find
everything. For example, there was one pull out shelf that always
annoyed me, and I just reached for the pin nailer (and it was in its
proper place!), whipped up some spacers, and bingo! The drawer now
is a thing of utility. That's how the whole shop should function,
instead of the incessant looking, looking, looking for tools and supplies.
I suppose when the car is all done, THEN it will be organized. Hey
Pete, that's when YOUR garage got spotless, right?
12/1/01
Didn't make it to NL Curtis, will call this morning on off chance
they are open. Hey, they are (until noon). Randy's puke tank came
in (I found it on our CIFCA/Good Vibrations site). NICE piece from
Jim Broome. That was a big one for Randy, saving many hours of fabrication
time. Nice to return one of the many favors. I did get to Curtis,
and found a perfect tank, except that it was exactly half the length
I needed, but it was free. So began the odyssey toward the ecstacy.
I tried using my new torch/cutting head. Took me 25 minutes just to
cut the neck off for practice. Next plan: the Makita grinder with
cutting wheels. Much better, though still quite slow, like 3 hours
(THIS IS A STEEL TANK). I cut both ends off and split it down the
middle. Went through a dozen cutting wheels. Ran out for more at MM
Tools, including a box of dust masks. STILL spitting black. After
finally getting the thing sectioned, I welded it together as a half
circle now 26" long. THEN began the nightmare of making it look
pretty. I didn't want the welds to show, so MUCHO brazing and silver
soldering. It's quite good now, though not perfect. Tried my handy
disc/upright belt sander and promptly lost the belt. The disc portion
was of no help. Many, many times grinding, sanding, redoing. YUK!.
Once that was done I scrounged up some 2" angle iron, finding
a 29" piece, just enough for two sides at 14-1/2". Tacked
those in place, and used some paint to spot the holes through the
previously-in-place welded nuts and brackets for the earlier very
thin driveshaft tunnel. I drilled some small pilot holes, everything
lined up, so I finished welding up the legs. Of course it warped somewhat.
So three times enlarging the holes and it now fits. That's all I can
do, as it's now 1 AM!! I'm about to hit the steam and Jacuzzi and
see if I can get my back to straighten up. So this little project
basically took a SOLID ten hours. Yikes! But, it was KEY to getting
on with the program, and a big one at that. I'll trim the little aluminum
block-off plates under the seat tomorrow to complete that portion.
I'll also need to find some (grade 8) 1/4 x 20 x 3/4 bolts to be 100%
legal (and smart-who the hell wants to rely on anything but the best
if that driveshaft were ever to come apart? While very heavy, that
tunnel is steel, almost three times the thickness of the old cover,
and I'm very happy about it. I can now set the stand for the fuel
shutoff on the tunnel, and that will get another vital element completed.
Mikey is not making it tomorrow, due to a soccer conflict. I'll do
some sanding on the tin, maybe shoot some primer in the cockpit to
finish that area, and maybe even do the underside Zolotone. Should
I accomplish all that, I'll start looking at fabricating the bellypan.
Remember my comment about my fingers? Well, I caught my left index
finger with the grinder tonight, right through the gloves. Shoved
a sliver of metal under the nail, and burned a nice little chunk out
next to the nail. Ah yes, the joys of do-it-yourself.
12/2/01
Did a little more repositioning and re-drilling of the bolt holes
on the tunnel, and refit the tin around it. So that's a done thing,
except for getting the grade 8 bolts. Actually, it never had them,
but now is the time. And took a few minutes to FINALLY anchor the
grinder to the work bench. Next step is to mount the fuel shutoff
cable stand, tighten up the driveshaft collars, and hopefully get
Gene over here soon to set up the shifter and cable. He claims he'll
come by tomorrow morning about 9:30 AM, check out the shifter cable
and attachment, and pick up my Tbird to do a trans service (I hope
that's all it needs). If need be he'll just send me to B&M for
another shifter cable for the FC. It's always been on the tight and
just-about-short side.
OK, back to working.
Couldn't locate the stand for the cable right off, so launched into
a MAJOR clean up. Spent ALL day (10 to 5:30) vacuuming a lot of metal
grindings, putting away tools, tossing stuff, then blowing the garage
out with air. To make it really work and not just stir up a dust cloud,
I put the 30" fan (on a stand) at the back door, and pressurized
the garage out the front walk-in door. That works well. It would work
nicely with the big garage door open, but I can't do that right now
with all the plastic up for the spray booth. So no sanding or painting
today. I'm running over now to Home Depot for some electrical goodies,
to clean up the wiring "clothesline" running from the amps
to the speakers. I've noted it before, but I do not spend enough time
"sharpening the axe" so to speak. The tools need organizing,
the garage needs cleaning, the operation needs maintenance, too. Anyway,
got a LOT done on that front today. BB is due here Tuesday. I'll have
her start the clean-up on the pit bike I bought from Gary Densham
a few years ago, and see if we MAYBE can get some paint on that at
the same time as the car. There is a bit of bodywork, re-fastening
panels, etc. that needs to be done, definitely not a one-day job there.
I'm also going to have her get on the tool box organizing. I have
literally three layers of tools in some drawers, and they need to
be "boxed", that is a place cut out of foam for each one,
and that foam glued on 1/4" plywood dividers. And I put a little
heat on Tiny Ed Anctil to get the tools computer system finished.
12/3/01
Randy picked up his puke tank, and is thrilled. He was most complimentary
on my tunnel fabrication. As I still can't find the cable stand, I'll
contact B&M or Jim Maher about that and a little longer shifter
cable, and a flywheel shield, and the latest on the automatic shifter
module (or not) discussion in the by-laws. Gene did not make it today,
no call, either. He's a busy boy, too. Most of the day not on jobs
was spent on the garage hifi, rewiring the "clothesline"
array inside the walls. Got it all done, looks much better, works
great. Set the components on the workbench behind the corner sink,
shortening the wiring, and making it all much more accessible. I'll
need to build some cabinet affair around it just for general dust,
water, and prying fingers protection. If I'm smart, I'll incorporate
some muffin fans to move air through it, too. Gotta say how nice it
is to have studio-quality sounds in the garage while working. Major
plus. Electronic Ed needs to return to tune up the CD player, which
has some skipitis. Randy demanded we set a day aside to work on my
car. Like I've said endlessly, this guy is just the greatest. I feel
sincerely honored he takes time away from his own overloaded schedule
to push on my car. I spent the later evening tightening the adjustments
on the brake rods, installing the rear end LARGE bolts (so much easier
with the wheels off), setting one end of the battery hold-down rods,
cleaning the frame in the master cylinder area and doing some touch-up
painting of the frame tubing near the seat belt anchor points. I looked
for the Deist belts, and not finding them called it a night at 10
PM. I trust they'll turn up in the trailer. Finished the night by
putting EVERYTHING away. So nice to just take 10 minutes to get it
all back in bed. Tomorrow will see BB starting on her list.
12/4/01
BB confirmed her presence today. I checked with Jim Orme and he has
the fittings needed to connect the oil temperature sensor to the 3/8"
pipe thread bung in the pan. I'll get two fittings, one for each motor.
Jim also can adapt the oil galley plugs to an oil pressure connection.
The tap at the filter is very tight on the frame rail, and if I recall
I used to hook up to the galley. The sensor is laced to come out at
that point as well. Brad at Lambeck engines confirms it's OK.
BB had some time problems, so will be here Friday. I ran over to Orme
and got the fittings needed. I'll go out in a moment to see if they
ARE the needed ones. Talked with Brad Ochampaugh at Precision Products,
maker of the WAY bitchin' billet shifter, and he is sending me a new
billet-ends cable a foot longer than existing. Randy is devoting this
Thursday to my car (THANK you). Derek thinks the belts are in the
back of the trailer. I'll check that in a moment, too. Randy expressed
some concern about the cool weather but Nick verified that the two-stage
paint can be sprayed at pretty much any temperature. He actually prefers
shooting the base coat in the colder temps, as it dries more slowly
and "lays in better." He says 70 degrees is the ideal, but
no biggie. I MIGHT be able to get the heater working if I can get
the thermostat wired in the garage. Hector, are your ears burning???
Travis at Good Vibrations (if Bible Bob took over the company he'd
change the name to God Vibrations) will be sending the all-important
swing-over cable stand for the fuel shutoff, and a new quick-release
end for the throttle cable where it connects with the injector. He
says I'll need to drill out the arm and thread it for the 10-32 threads.
Everyone apparently has to do this. In the past I've always had to
unscrew the darn thing. Ah, such simple fixes. Oh, I didn't call Airheart
Brakes regarding the hold-down screws for the master cylinder covers.
Tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I rearranged the garage hifi equipment a bit, cleaned the
place up, got a scolding from my wife about how she can hear music
through the walls (aren't you all just SHOCKED???), and installed
the oil temp and oil pressure bungs in both motors. I pulled a beauty
while doing it: I drained the oil out of the motor to allow me to
remove the bung plug in the pan. I pulled the distributor block off
plate out and poured the oil back in there, saving time and effort
on jerking off the valve cover. Of course I left the drain plug out
for the first half a quart!!! Oh well.
12/5/01
John is here, prepping for the last primering of the cockpit, one
small area of etching primer on the underside. I did some sanding
and one more coat of red touch up. I'll sand that off in 2 hours or
so. We're going to remask the windows, etc. as the plastic is sagging
into the tin, not a good thing. Plus, the accumulation of paint provides
for ample opportunity to get debris in the paint. No thanks. JJ is
out getting some mixing buckets, tape, lacquer thinner, tape, and
plastic.
Randy and I are looking to attack the following tomorrow: bellypan,
trans cable and fuel shutoff anchor (if UPS gets here early enough),
toe-in adjustment, and puke tank tubing. We might get to setting the
wheelie bars, too. I'll hunt up some Dzus tabs and springs for anchoring
the bellypan. And Team C (562-866-3887) or Speedomotive apparently
are the local sources for a flywheel shield. I do have two JW bellhousings,
but I'll need Gene's OK to cut the stock ones off and bolts these
on. I did this on my prior units, but there is some debate as to the
viability of hanging the trans off the front pump bolts. It appears
that NHRA has now required the JW housing to be re-certified every
5 years as well, just like the Dedenbear case. For a mere $40 each
plus shipping I can do that. More joy. Team C is shipping the shield
today, so the UPS guy may have several bundles of joy tomorrow for
us. If I decide to go the JW route, Randy will probably be happy to
take the shield, as he needs one, too.
12/6/01
It's 6 AM and I'm off to my LeTip meeting, after which Randy and will
have a WHOLE day to get stuff done. We could conceivably light the
thing up today, provided I have trans fluid and rear end lube in there.
OK, now it's 6 PM, Randy was incredibly focused and helpful, and here's
what we got done: trans shield in (needed longer bolts), fuel shutoff
and spring stands welded and tunnel installed, driveshaft and couplings
in and lubed with anti-seize, brake pedal moved over about 1/3"
inch to clear new trans cable, trans cable installed, adjusted, and
functional, shifter installed WITH trans brake working just fine,
throttle toe loop in and cable lubed and working SO smoothly, toe-in
adjusted on front end, tie rod stripped and painted (the chrome was
flaking off), starter in and working (no shims needed!!!), front aluminum
tray removed (nothing up there anymore), fuel pump inlet fitting purchased
and installed with cleaned and blown out fuel line (critters were
living in there), cable end at injector replaced and butterfly arm
rethreaded for new quick connect unit and spring catch. And, John
did some final priming, sanding, and remasking for interior paint
tomorrow. John is on his way back from Camarillo with a Harbor Freight
shear and brake for bending the bellypan. The most annoying stuff
is searching for bolts and parts, like the OTHER starter bolt. I went
to the 5-gallon bucket and it was right there at the bottom. Checked
the electrical functions on the steering wheel and all work: starter,
primer, trans brake, horn, CD changer, and the air-conditioning………just
kidding. Actually, I WILL have a sort of AC between the Parker Pumper
and the Cool Suit. If we had the headers on, we COULD have lighted
the thing. Tomorrow BB is coming, and I'll have her on the aforementioned
list, and polishing and painting a few items. A few more days like
this and I'm ready for a cruise down the street!
12/7/01
Webmaster Derek showed up, and he and I again are BEAT. So we're going
to upload another update a little later, like next week. BB showed,
did some tasks, and is off again until Dec 20, taking her finals.
John did the interior of the car, so that's drying (rather slowly).
We'll do some touch ups to the Zolotone perhaps Monday, then start
washing down the exterior to shoot the YELLOW. Got the HUGELY heavy
brake/shear and now have to figure a way to hoist it up on the saw
table so we can use it to fab up the the bellypan.
12/9/01
Mark and I hefted that 297-pound puppy up in one shot. It is a Central
Machinery piece built in China, but made in a very old world (mucho
heavy construction) way. I hope it lasts like it looks, since it's
probably the only one like this I'll ever be buying. It will handle
a 30" wide piece, which is fine, except that the bellypan is
much longer, so I guess we'll be making it in several pieces. I know
Mike Kirby has a 4' and a 6' unit (which he made himself), that are
HUGELY heavy. Today sees some drywall and painting work indside, and
maybe a Zolotone overspray attempt later. The interior paint came
out OK, but needs a little sanding with 800# or so. We'll do all that
after we pull out the masking. For now, it's get the yellow on next.
12/10/01
Randy came by this afternoon and we spent about an hour and a half
cleaning and lubing the brake/shear. It was coated with industrial
strength cosmoline, a thick oily protectant. MUCHO lacquer thinner
and cleaning. The instructions are nearly useless, and only Randy's
familiarity with other brakes gave us an edge. With his help, we pulled
a lot of it apart, lubed some critical areas, did some adjustments,
and it works nicely. Now to practice and get familiar with what it
does.
John repsrayed the Zolotone today, so the entire underside and cockpit
are done. We'll pull the masking off tomorrow, and remask and prep
it for exterior paint. It's still uncertain who will actually shoot
the paint. It's looking like Richard Baida as #1 at this point, John
as #2, and DW as #3.
I'll clean the garage once more, vacuuming, fanning, blowing out,
rehanging some plastic, and putting water on the floor for dust control.
THEN we'll shoot it. Still can't find the tie rod bolts (dammit, I
HATE looking for stuff), so may have to synthesize another set to
do the job. And they don't even have legs! I'll also need to get to
polishing the aluminum pieces on the outside, like the lift hole plates,
the blower opening collar. These CAN be done later, and may. Once
we shoot it, then we'll get those trims on, roll it back under the
hoist, reset the tree, and I can get to making the chute pack mounts.
That HAS to be done after the tree is back in, as it must be removable.
12/11/01
John is remasking the car for exterior paint, and we picked up a little
touch-up sprayer kit for some areas of the interior tin. This little
device is a small sprayer with a CO-2 cartridge, allowing for small
areas to be hit, and without having to remask everything. I had some
spray can Ford Gray, but it was too dark. The Zolotone looks good,
although I could have just gone with that final color from the get
go. Oh well. A friend of a friend, Bob Jacobs, has about 6 cars, and
expressed interest in looking at my operation this weekend. He has
a killer sheet metal fabricator, who may be useful down the road.
At this point, I don't know his availability or interest in doing
things for me. Richard Baida has confirmed he is OK for Thursday to
shoot the car. Checked with Nick to verify some details: shoot all
base coats continuously, if possible. And shoot the clear within 30
minutes to 8 hours of the base coats. So we should probably hold back
a pint or so of the color in case we have any runs, etc., requiring
some sanding and spot touch up. Weather report says cloudy for Thursday,
mattering little as we are indoors. The interior gray is frankly not
as good as I had hoped. While I went anal on the tin, there are other
areas of non-perfection which annoy me. I mean it does look good.
We'll see how it all plays once the car is back together. I might
just go ape on it at some later time, using spray cans or the little
CO2 setup. But I have to move ahead on this thing, and it'll have
to do at this point. I'm sure a new eye looking will be thrilled.
I've had my head in it WAY too long now. The body is as good as I
can get it, and again, I hope it reflects the enormous care put into
it. Given how good Randy's looks and how imperfect his glass is, I
should be cool. Way cool. So I now have some BEING CAREFUL to look
forward to after Friday. There will be several days of rubbing the
clear, and then putting a good buffing on it. I can't do any waxing
for a while, and certainly not until after any air-brushing and graphics
are in place. Getting the tree back in and hanging the body from its
hoist will feel good. I am not going to performance coat the headers
before the New Year. We'll bolt it all together and go run it, then
get some parts off after Jan 1 to get plated, polished, etc. I can
reinstall the lift system valving in the cockpit, however. That's
a two-man thing owing to the bolting. Perhaps tomorrow with John.
12/12/01
John finished masking off the car, and when we washed it down TWICE
with lacquer thinner we found the car to be very gritty. There were
some areas of Zolotone overspray,a nd one spot of interior gray that
had snuck past the masking, But apparently the dust and dirt and static
electricity have REALLY worked to suck dirt onto the surface. Randy
happened by just about then and noted he had found the same thing
on his very pretty red Hillman several years ago just prior to his
painting it. He noted he had (lightly) scrubbed his car with mild
scotchbrite. We did the same, and it helped, but as I inspected more
closely I found a "zipper" down the left rear quarter panel.
This was a series of non-fill pinholes from a water drip during priming.
Never caught it. Whew! Found two other pinholes in the roof area at
the front. Randy also reminded me that I had to secure the left rear
wheel well inner moulding, so we did that, ground it down, and filled
the seam. I will sand all the "red" areas in the morning,
and not bother with any primer on those spots. He also felt the window
openings could use a little work, so we did more red there. I also
found several areas which had not been sufficiently sanded after the
last round of primer touch ups. Baida called and we're still good
for tomorrow at 11 AM. He suggested some tack rags. I have always
wondered how one does NOT get the wax from those rags on the car.
"A light touch" is the answer. I wiped the car down with
a wet cloth to attempt to kill some of the static attraction, and
I think it helped. The surface now feels good to paint.
A VERY satisfying and critical accomplishment in addition was fabricating
the blower belt guard. Several years ago I had popped $200 for the
very trick-looking and extremely complicatedly-machined RCD guard,
only to discover it works only up to a 29-tooth upper pulley, pretty
much the (low end of boost) limit on fuel cars. We sportsman racers
running 36 teeth on the top (at MUCH less boost) are therefore screwed.
Randy and I pondered it a bit, took it apart, and by drilling out
two threaded holes found a partial way to secure it. Randy had to
run, so I fabricated two other brackets, one using a perfect little
piece of machined aluminum from my 5-gallon misc bolts barrel, and
the other from a surplus (although brand new) transmission cable mount.
Oh, and I found the missing fuel shutoff stand (of course), right
up in the cabinet where I had looked perhaps a dozen times. So now
I have an extra. I also fabbed a fuel line strap as part of the belt
guard. This keeps the fuel lines a few more inches away from the belt
in case of a belt breakage. All in all, a pretty nice bit of work.
So we're basically down to finding two grade 8 bolts 3/8 x 1.5"
fine thread and nylocks for the tie rod, and hunting down the seat
belts. That, and getting the bellypan done should make the car functional.
There will of course be testing of the light bar, Parker Pumper, Cool
Suit, etc. But in order to take it down the track, those three above
items appear to be all that's left. We MAY stumble upon something
else, but so far that's it. We'll need to check the valve clearances
for drill, possibly pre-oil the engine (although the Titan pump should
make it OK-it pumps TONS of oil), check the timing with the buzz box
prior to starting it, then check it again with the timing light. I'm
going with a fairly midrange fuel setting to start. In times past
I had run it quite fat (lots fuel), and the plugs never got clean.
I'm going to go fatter than the tune up on the "little"
431 motor, about .075 in the high speed (up from .060 on the old 542,
with fairly lazy high end), and about .140 on the main (up from .120).
The 431 ended at .150/.75, and ran the number sweetly. This is a bigger
motor, needs more fuel, and so should work OK. The blower overdrive
on the 431 was 20%, the old 542 was 8%, but with 13.2:1 compression.
We're now about 10.5 and again about 8% overdrive if my pulleys are
39/36. I'll count 'em tomorrow.
I'm both anxious to get this painted and apprehensive that I've missed
something in the prep. Randy assured me that his quite beautiful Hillman's
best body areas were not as good as the worst ones on my car.
12/13/01
OK!!!! The car is YELLOW. Man oh man oh man. Twelve hours of solid
work from start to finish. Richard Baida came over about 11 AM, after
John and I spent about an hour getting the car ready. We threw on
nearly a gallon and a quarter of pure color, about 2.5 gallons of
actual paint mix. Then another gallon and a quarter of clear plus
reducer, for about two gallons of mix. This is a LOT of paint. Richard
was absolutely fantastic, just cranking the WHOLE time. He ran home
to get some lights, ran to his shop to get a better water trap. And
no overspray on the underbody Zolotone! So a VERY long chapter has
ended, and another about to commence. For one: LOTS more sanding.
For another: getting rid of all the plastic in the "spray booth."
Randy dropped by just as we were finishing the base coats. He was
mightily impressed. He assured me I would be very happy with the finished
product. He warned, "just wait 'till you hit it with the clear.
It's gonna light up." As we did, I walked back in and asked him
for some sunglasses. So there's still quite a bit of rubbing to do,
but all we lack at this point for a running car is the bellypan and
seat belts. There will be some polishing to do on the lift hole covers,
blower surround, etc., and I hope we won't have to take them off after
we bolt them on. But a deadline has been set, and we're gonna make
the Hangover Nationals. I did shoot about 2' feet of the base coat,
but that's it.
12/14/01
John got all the plastic down and the masking off the car. Randy dropped
by a bit ago and we talked about how to prevent people from lifting
the front of the car and breaking the air dam. This has been a recurrent
problem, and is so with his car as well. As mine is SO heavy, it is
particularly weak in that area. I have reinforced it a lot, but the
glass flexes, and therefore cracks at the corners. I suggested we
put a sissy bar down from the front tree. So we threw the wheels on
the chassis, some bolts in the tie rod, opened the big door, rolled
it out a bit, rolled the body back under the hoist, and searched for
the lifting pins. After some #$%*% and such, I found them and all
went well. We threw the front tree in, and Randy feels my idea for
the bar will work. It is SO nice to see the garage open again! The
undersid eof the car looks quite transformed. Very clean. My day tomorrow
is quite full away from the FC, but in the afternoon I will endeavor
to open the front door, turn on the fan, and blow the place out again.
I also have access to a fair amount of STUFF that should pitched.
There is a fine coating of yellow paint on just about everything,
although it doesn't look like it at first glance. My wish list is
to get the trailer back inside tomorrow. I need to also rearrange
the larger tools to make a shop area on the west wall with the grinder,
polisher, drill press, maybe even move the shear/brake over there
(but I'll need to make a stand for that). The foregoing is NOT a tomorrow
list, but next on the agenda. Next comes the rear tree, and fabricating
the chute rods out the back.
12/15/01
Chinto came over this morning, and we discussed him color-sanding
and buffing the FC. He said bring it over Dec 26th, and so I will.
He will have it done Friday Dec 28th. My plan is to take it right
over to Bob's Big Boy and roll it out in the parking lot! I will need
to clean out the trailer (HUGE), and get the rear tree mounted (no
biggie), and drop the body back on the chassis. I will deliver it
without the headers on, to make it easier for them (and save their
shins). I'll bolt them on when I pick it up, more than likely. Spent
the afternoon blowing out the garage, several times. No time to get
the trailer in. But tomorrow, I will. Chinto was concerned there is
no good way to sand the interior paint once the body is one the chassis,
plus, yo can't get any buffers in there. I may just have to do that
myself, as I will not risk taking the body off anywhere but here.
Boy, it has sure taken a ton of work just to get what I thought was
a complete car back together…So, on to moving the trailer in,
fabbing the bellypan, buzzing the mag, and lighting the sweetheart
up. I MIGHT just get a trip down the street in the next week. We had
the MOST enormous wind here Friday night. Musta been Pete warming
up his monologue for the CIFCA party. It blew so hard it opened the
Gremlin hood. Really. Spoke with Rob Anderson re: direct -reading
head temp gauges (for air-cooled engines), as we don't run water.
He suggests talking to Ian Mann for some data acquisition. Ian is
the data man for Ron Main's 265 mph Bonneville flathead streamliner
running a Vortech blower and a full-on Motech data system (HUGE $).
I've asked Rob to take on the crew chief position, and he is "considering"
it. He'd right off require that I put $2-$3K of data acquisition on
the car. He does not do any "wet fingers in the wind" tuning.
He talks about peak brake torque versus crank angle, etc. This kind
of thinking requires many sensors on the motor. But for now, gotta
wash a trailer.
Did NOT wash the trailer, rather just cleaned and move d a lot of
stuff. Put the wheelie bars on, and they ft fine. Still gotta find
the net, so I can weld my tabs and rods to hold it. Still can't find
the seat belts, either. Crap!! Mikey showed, and we dropped the body
onto the chassis, and all looks fine. Got the trailer in, and the
Gremlin. Really can't do much of anything else on the body until after
it is detailed. I would like to set the light bar, reinstall the air
lift system, set the Parker Pumper, put in the windows. But that all
would be premature. I'll just have to do all the on Sat Dec 29th.
Gotta get going on that bellypan, perhaps Tuesday. Then we're gonna
light it up, and perhaps take a little ride down the street. I can
move on the parachute tray, and get going on those rods to extend
out the back. We installed the rear tree, and all works well, after
drilling out the holes closed down a bit by powder coating. It sure
is nice to be able to reach into the Economy Hdwe stock and just get
new nuts and bolts as needed.
Tomorrow will see some moving of excess stuff outside, now that I
can actually get to the storage area of the driveway.
12/17/01
After a back-wrenching day of moving and loading junk form another
job, and schlepping a bunch of stuff around the garage, Derek showed
today, took the stuffed dually to the dump, and returned to massage
the "stuff" out in the driveway. Now I get to go through
and cull out what I can (and must). I'm about to call Deist and I
pray they have my seat belts, because it appears they are not here.
12/18/01
My prayers have not been answered. Joseph at Deist can not find any
record of them there. Randy clearly remembers them being in a box
and in the trailer. That makes two of us. So today, a searching we
will go. Worked until midnight sanding the gray interior with 1200#
and 2000# paper. There are some areas which were too thin, and the
metal has come through. I'll need to reshoot those areas with the
CO2 sprayer and grind on them again. I also sanded one run out of
the yellow paint, just for drill. LONG process with 1200# paper. Electronic
Ed is coming today to start on the also long list of fix-it items
I have here, two of which are finding the wheelie bar net and belts.
John will get the job of reshooting the thin gray areas in the next
few days. I will, time permitting, do some test cuts on the thinner
(.032) aluminum I have here for the bellypan. I intend to make it
with the .063 stuff, but I'll do some test bends with the other. I'm
limited to about 30" x 30" pieces, and that'll work OK.
Well, I went ahead and reshot the gray, after doing some masking.
There is really no issue for overspray, as the entire exterior is
going to be majorly sanded, but I did some interior (needed) and exterior
masking anyway. I used the last of the gray, and if I'm lucky enough
not to sand through it again, we'll be good. That little CO2 unit
works really well, and no big mess. We should have done the whole
interior with that to begin with. Not so for the underside of the
car, but the little areas, definitely. EE (Electronic Ed) fixed the
CD in the garage. Whooppee! Sounds again. I'll look in earnest again
tomorrow for those belts and net. I'll also do some tossing of "excess
stuff" into the truck tomorrow for another dump run soon. And
I'm going to make the pilgrimage to Lukie's Hardware (formerly Joe
Factor) in Burbank for a quantity of grade 8 bolts and nylocks. I
FINALLY made a bolt list. As it is by the pound, the quantities can
be liberal. As I've said before, after the car is done I'll get the
garage bolt crib done so I can find everything I need to put the car
together……
12/19/01
Didn't get to Lukie's (shocking, eh?). And those sounds? Derek shorted
the speakers while doing some work on the speaker lines, and blew
the amp(s). So I have to wait for EE to come and fix it. Sanded a
bit on the fresh gray paint. It laid down nicely for the most part.
I may get some more and shoot it again, so I have enough to really
grind it smooth. Looked completely through the trailer, and no belts
or net. Of course, the surest way to find them is to buy another set.
I put a call into Jim Maher at Good Vibrations to see what the damage
would be. I'm gonna sand a bit more on the gray tonight, and then
fly the body back up out of the way. I also REALLY need to get the
Gremlin back together for a few reasons: I need the space to put the
11 boxes (9' long) of organ pipes now filling the trailer (look at
the pix section), I need to get it back to Vortech for the dyno pull
and some tuning on the bypass valve, and I can't make room if I can't
drive it out. It also isn't getting any sales exposure sitting inside
or on the driveway.
I wanted to unload the organ pipes and put them in the organ (a really
neat place for them, and you can see them, too!), but the lovely wife
just won't let me do it before Christmas, and I need to run the car
to Chinto the morning after Christmas. Gotta love it.
12/20/01
Cash flow stress has just left me beat. I did finally discover how
to find my seat belts: I ordered a set from God Vibrations. So I'll
undoubtedly locate my set within a few days. Will work on the Gremlin
tomorrow. EE showed today and repaired one blown amp card by replacing
4 power transistors and some resistors, only to discover that one
power supply was toasted. I bought these 30 years ago from Apex Surplus
(still there). I checked with Mike today and he couldn't locate a
perfect match. Now what kind of service is THAT? He's looking for
another of equal spec in the "warehouse" tomorrow. To repair
it is really just a matter of replacing several components, but these
are not immediately available: silicone-controlled rectifier, and
some resistors. It will likely be cheaper to just buy another supply
for the one side. I did find a neat relay-activated power strip to
plug everything into, for FUTURE f-ups. Well meaning Derek the Giant
put us a giant step back on the hifi road. Put a page out to BB to
come and get going on cleaning and polishing, but no reply as yet.
Transmission guru Gene Christianson claims he'll come by Saturday
to view the yellow "submarine". Got the Gremlin posted on
ebay, and with about 1200 hits in 2 days it's gotten one local response
from a kid in Lancaster who wants to be sure it is streetable. If
so, he'll send in his raffle ticket money. Oh yes, it most certainly
is. Derek and I loaded the 7500-watt generator back in the front (!!)
of the trailer, and removed the handle and loading hook, so it will
fit under the counter. The problem really is just the exhaust. Unlike
the Onan, it doesn't have a pipe, more like a grille. I can get to
the pipe part, and I'll just have to make some tubing and direct the
exhaust under the trailer or out the side. I had Derek make a compressor
stand so that unit now sits above the winch in a permanent way. A
few more steps forward. I'm also debating about taking back the 10'
wide by 30' canopy from Jenkins (also crowding up the trailer insides)
and getting the narrower one. I'll call Dave in the morning and ask
his thoughts. It rained pretty stoutly tonight, and I'm so very glad
to have everything inside the Garage Mahal. Oh, gotta make some aluminum
covers for the absent trailer skylights (a nasty source of unwanted
water). Boy, the list never ends, eh? Boy could I have fun doing block
long burnouts right now! I'm posting this in the morning, so a very
Merry Christmas and Holidays to all. Hope the next words are about
the successful outing Jan 1.
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