|
11/27/02
And yet more doing nothing on the car since the
last update of 2 weeks ago (blissfully finally posted, thanks to getting the new
NEW computer working). The old new computer just never made it, so it has been
discarded and completely replaced. Another colossal waste of time and money. Work
has been good, although the usual occasional difficulty in getting money from
the clients promptly has put me in another stressful "contracting moment."
We'll get through it as soon as several thousands of dollars arrives.
In an
amazing turn, I got ANOTHER check on the dually motor, this time from GM. Sadly,
my ethics required that I immediately inform Peter Chinn of the rebate on HIS
invoice to GM, so I am sending him the money. It is actually wonderful to see
two supposed adversaries reveling in each others' concern for the other, and being
ethical, all of which Chevy did NOT do in this case. I will be going back to court
FOR him to see if I can vacate the judgment altogether, to clear Chinn's credit.
I
will not be attending the CIFCA banquet this year, as Randy can't make it, Millie
knows no one there and is working. I have apparently missed the boat on the calendar,
although I might just get the car rolled out, washed, and photographed tomorrow.
If so, I'll email Jim a picture and see if I'm still in the loop before they go
to press.
Have heard nothing from Road Hog for over a month. Must be busy.
About a week ago my checkbook disappeared, which also contains my driver's
license, ID, many other non-credit cards, etc. A day later a woman called from
a store nearby saying she had my checkbook, I ran over, and she noted she had
found it WAY out in the corner of the lot under a bush. Someone HAD to have thrown
it there. It was completely intact. I postulate that it fell off the work truck
and was pitched there by some passerby. A happy and amazing turn of events. I
had to beg her to accept a $20 finder's fee. So some nice things have happened,
I have several REALLY nice clients right now, a couple of real buttholes to balance
things out, and lots of bids to follow up. I'm looking to book us up big time
over the holidays.
In a not-so-good happening, the rear glass hatch window
of the Gremlin fell on my head Friday night and shattered. No real damage to my
head other than a very minor cut, but the very concerned (about HIS car) guy in
the Cobra next to me spent the next twenty minutes complaining about how he's
sure the glass nicked his paint, and the painter will never fix it now, it's six
years old, etc. I've located a window for the Gremlin, got it paid and ordered,
and haven't heard from the Cobra.
We'll spend tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner
at my sister's sadly without the presence of her just passed husband whom we buried
two weeks ago. Real tragedy to lose him at 61, just when he was beginning to indulge
himself a bit. Everyone is great in eulogy, but Jock was really just a great guy.
Good
friend Saul is STILL in New York, but has finally gotten the last of his late
wife's properties sold (for his kids), is packing up a U-Haul van with a ton of
books, and will be heading back this way in a few days. Whoopee!!!! Man have I
missed him. I'll be making LOTS of bookshelves in his garage when he gets back. 12/2/02
Well
more evidence tonight (sadly) that I am indeed the beta-site for the universe.
Just bought an $850 mountain bike, and taken two rides. Pulled up tonight, parked
in the driveway, and some asshole stole my bike right off my car rack, right in
front of my house, in my driveway, while I was having dinner with my family!!
Unbelievable!!!! It is massively enervating (sapping of energy), and just makes
me sad. This delays my commitment to getting back in shape, sets me back almost
a thousand bucks (very hard to come by right now), and just adds more time, effort,
and expense to my life. What a stupid waste. More video surveillance, locks, cynical
thoughts whenever I pull up in front of the house, etc. Man, I would LOVE to catch
someone in the act and just pulverize them. But then, who wouldn't?? Scoured the
neighorhood, looked behind apartments, down alleys, in remote corners of parking
lots, up and down streets, etc. Obviously nothing. So I got a miracle on he wallet
last week, and now the payback for a good deed. Yuk!!! 12/5/02
The greater
good that comes out of the above is that good friend, Dan, with whom I bought
the bike originally (he got a clone), offered to pay a portion of replacing the
bike. How great is that? So he did, I plopped down more dough, and I have another
bike, THIS time we both have locks and cables. And I still have it, as it is in
the garage! The beautification in the Garage Mahal continues, with E2 finishing
it up. Looks really sweet! It's already hard to imagine it was not always this
way! Some pix will get posted on the site soon. The "NEW" new computer
continues to function, and Derek will return soon to do some more updating to
the site using that computer.
Asof this date Saul has still not left NY, but
intends to do so tomorrow (12/6/02), and I am most anxious to see him again. Dan
and I are also investing in an elliptical trainer each to get our heft down. He's
got his already, I have the tennis net (his is on the way), and we both have bikes.
So I might be able to fit in that FC more easily in the next few months. He is
down 32 pounds already!!! I need to lose 40 (ouch!!). Hey, John Force got in shape
for last season, and I SURELY need to do so. 12/8/02
While not exactly
aerobic. I did clean, with the able hep of Rogelio, the driveway sideyard. WOW!!!
We REALLY cleaned it up. Aside from a winter's worth of leaves, I tossed a lot
of stuff, will toss some more today, and can actually walk through there now.
Gonna go to John Force's party today at his shop. Also went to Dick Guldstrand's
75th celebration at his Burbank shop along with my nephew Scott (whose dad just
passed away) and we both had a wonderful time speaking with Guldstrand. He has
a $100K 500 HP 50th anniversary Corvette (Chevy did not make any), of which he
will sell only 100 (he's got 20 orders already). This car also gets 25 miles to
the gallon, is smog legal, and is good for about 190 mph!!
Mark has been working
on a locking system for the service body dually we now have loaded with job site
tools. As my bike was ripped right off my car in the driveway, we obviously can
not be too cautious. We are using 1-3/8" chrome moly tubing in sleeves to
go across the doors (and right on top of the door locks), held in with locking
tow hitch pins (1/2" diameter with key lock heads).
In the Garage Mahal,
E2 finished it off, and it looks just awesome. As noted earlier, pix to come shortly.
E2 made a lovely cordless tool drawer system with integral AC in the top drawer
(for all the chargers and batteries), so now the drills, chargers, and batteries
have a home. More places than things, that's our mantra. Oh, and pretty places
at that. As we do not use the 7x 9 area under the saw table for anything now but
junk, I'm having E2 make a series of rolling cabinets for under there to house
even more stuff. That way, should we have any need to lift the table up and pin
it to the wall (it is designed to hinge up and fold up flat against the wall),
we could always get the trailer or whatever back in that space and roll/stack
those critters wherever.
Once the final stuff is cleared off the driveway,
and the dually motor is back in, the dually can take its rightful place under
its car cover in that area. I am going to erect the Jenkins canopy there and see
how that functions. It is, after all, intended to be used at the track next to
the trailer. It is, at the moment, another one of the "things" in the
sideyard taking up space and not being of function. 12/23/02
The rains
have finally let up, and we're predicted for clear skies all week. I sincerely
hope this allows me (hell, I have to MAKE the time) to get working on the dually
motor. All the parts are here, it's just about assembling it all. I am a little
reluctant since this motor has several little additional goodies, such as valley
pan, something (I believe) in the oil pan, lifter guides, etc. with which I am
not familiar. I'll manage. I'll call Saul over, and let Fearless Fosdick himself
prod me on. 1/13/03
I have had a new crew member: John Pulver. He is
a former C/Gas dragster racer who has proven to be a very helpful guy. He came
over, we checked the timing, and I was TWO cylinders advanced!!! How I was that
far off is unfathomable. After setting the timing, it started, with the still-lean
problems. We then pullled the blower last week and found the gasket had blown
out the front. I couldn't find my spare gasket, so got two more from Good Vibrations.
I then found the spare one. We put that on last Sunday and it was better, but
still wrong. Between running the fuel low (pulling air from the tank) which REALLY
threw us off momentarily and an undetected other leak, we were moving, but not
curing. We then found the manifold gasket was leaking, and wrecked the brand new
blower gasket in the process of pulling everything apart again. Had some wrong
length manifold bolts, got a few new ones, and struggled with getting the gasket
fitting an some bolts back in. The adapter plates make it touvh using the standard
manifold on the tall deck block. We need to open up the bolt hole sizeds a bit
to get rid of that very annoying sitatuio next time. The huge ports leave VERY
little room for sealing on the top endge of the ports, a situation that really
that could only be solved with a small gasket trimmed out, or welding up the top
areas of the manifold ports to give more area, a costly a machining intensive
procedure, Make work on making our own gaskets henceforth. Anyway, it is now much
better, but still not right. Got the barrel valve down into normal range. Looks
like we're closing in on it. We've got it set 2-3 flats rich, but haven't tried
it. The pill is back to the .125 main and .65 on the high end, and it is running
more normally. Who knows, maybe we'll get the thing out in a few weeks?
Poor
Randy had a MAJOR disaster befall him today: he finally uncovered a huge amount
of stuff he had triple-tarped in his back yard at Newbury after his move from
Palmdale, only to find it immersed in 5" of condensation sweat water. EVERYTHING
was ruined. Many tools, brand new in boxes, were welded up solid with rust. Priceless
old and odd configuration carburetors are now unusable, along with a multitude
of other items like camshafts that look like fungus covered tree logs. So very
sad, after all his work. He is ruthless about this kind of thing, he just chucks
it in the dumpster and moves on, if begrudgingly. I'm talking to him and maniacally
chattering about ways to soak things, blow them out, rod them with hair-thin round
files, etc., and he is just saying, "screw it d-dub, I'll just pitch it."
He is using the opportunity to rid himself of stuff he feels should have been
tossed, along with God knows how much good stuff worth thousands. For once, it
is his bad luck and not my usual daily beta-site of the universe thing I endure.
Ah, my heart really goes out to him on this bad break. It is doubly sad because
what had kept him from uncovering it sooner was his parents' ill health, which
wiped a month out of his life, right when he could have salvaged a lot of this.
Yukkk!!! I got in the spirit and loaded up another truck of stuff and ran it to
the dump, including a crossbed tool box I'd been "saving" for years.
Gone, and glad. Also demolished the large tools container I'd been keeping for
3 years from the long-ago aborted Life Guard towers debacle. Dismantled it and
cleared that, too. So we're getting close to putting up that awning on the side
of the driveway, under which the dually will reside.
The dually is not yet
together, although all the parts are here and ready. Found one tight ring land,
and that will need to be checked or replace the piston (another hundred bucks!!!).
It is really tough to make the time when I have created work that needs starting
(JOBS!!!). A more stringent pricing structure on work this year may allow for
some personal work time.
The Tbird paint is rotting as well, and it, too,
desperately needs completing. I'll put Ed and Brad on that perhaps Thursday and
Friday, to at least get a start. Meanwhile, I'll get Randy to stop crying long
enough to help me move on assembling the dually motor.
More later. 1/18/03
John
Pulver is starting some computer training for a new career, and won't be available
henceforth very much. I'm intending to roll the FC out tomorrow and fire it up
on the new setting. Took the Gremlin for a night out last night, and it ran perky
as all heck. I'm at wits end about how to sell it. It is priced REAL cheap, and
I've had it in God knows how many venues. All, apparently, not the correct ones.
I have re-upped the Recycler ad, and will stay on that every 3 weeks until it
sells. I'm may do an Auto Trader thing for about $100-three months, including
Internet posting. I'm also going to research if tomorrow is the Pomona Swap Meet,
and if so may run over there for the day.
The hopes to have Brad do some Tbird
work have faded for now, as I have him busy on two paying jobs. 1/20/03
Just
returned from some Mercedes work, and have found a new and really good guy. Cheaper,
better, more honest. I even asked him what he would charge to put the motors in
the Tbird and dually. He said $500 each. The Tbird isn't worth it, since I would
have to tow the engine/trans combo and the car over to him. Ditto for the dually.
Randy suggested I talk to a company called Lemons, which does header work. I will
need some adaptation to the new heads with their back-to-narrow bolt pattern.
Got
the old Tbird V-6 and the 420" Windsor short block in the Recycler this week.
The Gremlin will also reappear with its picture as well on a run-until-it-sells
ad. 1/21/03
Made some progress on the dually motor today: sent Ed out
to Childs and
Albert to get a ring compressor sleeve for the 4.250 bore. I
have one for the 4.500 bore on the FC motor, and frankly never considered where
I got the first one. We discovered a 4th piston with a stuck top ring, took it
and the main bearings to Barrington, who concurred the piston needed replacement.
He said the bearings were fine. I ordered a ring set and piston from Rydell, then
called Chinn in San Leandro who offered a way better deal, and canceled the Rydell
order. Moments later, Ed sprayed some WD-40 on the piston and it loosened up fine.
So, I canceled the Chinn order as well. There are three pistons in the motor as
of now. Ed will stay on it tomorrow, and we'll shoot to get the whole thing together
tomorrow. Other pistons are soaking in lacquer thinner to optimize them as well.
On the starter front on the FC, Randy posits that the flywheel could be eccentric,
as he had a very similar situation occur to him. At some point in the next few
days (perhaps Sunday), I'll roll the best out and dial indicate the flex plate
and see. I'm rather suspicious that the wiring to the solenoid is faulty (or the
armature). We had found the master kill switch was not passing juice that well.
It may be déjà vu all over again. Never a dull moment. 2/2/03
OK,
the dually runs, and well. Ed did a wonderful job getting it all back together.
Took the Gremlin out to Irwindale Speedway's first swap meet (at 5:30 AM), got
a lot of attention, no dough. We took Randy's 69 Impala, his 65 wagon, and some
parts. All cars went unsold, although his Impala looked looked like a sure thing
at one point with a very interested inquirer. Randy sold some wheels, I sold the
McCullough blower for $100 before the swap meet even opened, and the Ford single
plane manifold for $30. I bought a pair of used Flowmaster shorties (3-chamber)
for the Gremlin for a whole $20, and I'll have Huth install those in the morning.
I had gone there yesterday, and the Walker turbo muffler had not been sent, so
Ken spent some time (and futility) welding up the split seam on the left muffler.
Jerry Garrison showed up around 2 PM at Irwindale, all the way from San Diego
to talk about the FC crew spot. His buddy instantly scored a pair of wheels from
the vendor next to me, and for cheap. Jerry is a nice fellow. We are going to
work on a schedule to possibly have him up during the week, and perhaps get the
FC out to Palmdale on a Wednesday or Friday night, although the weekend affords
a much larger window of opportunity to test and tune. I also have to get together
with the folks at Cool Suit and see what the problem is with the setup. I saw
the other interested fellow yesterday, Don Pease, who claimed to have the cash
in his pocket, but just wanted to think about it overnight. He was very effusive
in his praise for the high quality of work done on the car. If he fails to come
through, I am going to take the blower off (a sure way to have someone call wanting
with the car with the blower on within a week).
Ed will start working on the
Condor install tomorrow, to get yet another hunk of iron out of the garage. I
got the renewal forms from Oregon for my way overdue license renewal and renewals
on the dually and Condor, and have sent my license info back, so I'm looking to
be all caught up there within a couple of weeks.
Got interest from a fellow
in Vancouver, Washington on th3e Winsdsor parts. I can't get them from Duttweiler
until at least Monday afternoon, as Kenny is out racing his own car in Las Vegas.
|
