3/21/06

Mr. Wiggly is at Robert's shop. I wanted to get it done earlier in the day but it turned out to happen much, much later. I looked at the clock around 1545 and decided it was time to act. I packed up and began to roll to Robert's shop. I called on the way and it was decided that I'd just contact Rocket Tow and meet them at the shop. I called at 1600 and said it would probably be an hour before I got to the shop. They said that was fine as they had other tows going as well. I also arranged to meet them at the Mobil station so I could lead them in. That was fine as well. I went home and found the keys to Mr. Wiggly and headed to the shop. I was getting the beginnings of a headache at that point as well. I got to the shop at about 1645 and checked the keys to make sure they, and the corresponding locks, all worked. They did. Huzzah! I roamed around for a bit, waiting for Rocket to call, and finally decided to head for the Mobil to wait. I got there at 1708, I looked at the clock as I parked and this is how I know the exact time. At 1808 Robert called to say he had to leave but would leave the gate unlocked for me. I called to check on Rocket’s progress. They said they were dropping another tow and would be on their way. I told them where I was, the Mobil at the corner of Alta Mesa and Granbury road, and what I was driving, the Pimpmobile. Not long after hanging up I had to go pee. I didn’t want to go inside the Mobil since I had been loitering for over an hour, so I drove to the shop. I peed on the houseboat and headed back to the Mobil. I parked and waited. Four cop cars cruised by and looked at me over the period I was waiting but none stopped to hassle me. Finally at about 1900, Rocket showed up. They followed me to the shop and hooked up to Mr. Wiggly. We topped off the air in the front tires and headed for Robert's shop. The gate was locked. I called Robert and told him this so he said to drop it in the street. They did. I locked it up and hid the keys on top of the heater core in the engine bay. By now that headache had gone into full-blown brain-splitter mode. I drove home and was in bed at 2030. I slept like a rock until 0600 when my alarm went off but could still feel a nugget of a headache when I got up. It now feels like the headache is cocked and ready to go off but isn’t quite there yet. It’s probably a tumor or brain cancer or something. Oh well, something’s going to kill me someday. Anyhoo, I've been shopping for engines again but not really having any luck. I found a 305 in Olathe Kansas for $100.00 but it has been partially disassembled. The heads are off and it doesn’t come with an intake or distributor. I'd want to put on an intake of my choosing and I have the distributor so it seems like a good deal to me. Of course shipping may kill it. John doesn’t like the idea of a disassembled engine, and he’s probably right. I'm not going to bid on it until I find out about the shipping, and even then I probably won’t. Kevin said there is a Mustang on a trailer for sale down his neck o’ the woods. He’s going to look into it for me. My first choice for engines would be a Ford small block. I'm easy when it comes to displacement. The smaller the better, since I really don’t need a lot of torque. A 289 or 302 would be fine. Obviously a 302 will be easier to come by so that is what we’re looking for. I'd settle for a Chevy small block since I have the HEI distributor and the other parts grow on trees. I looked at crate engines at Summit and Jeg’s and found that a crate 350 ready to run was less than $2,000.00 whereas $3,400.00 was as cheap as I could find a Ford crate engine. Granted, all of those Chevy engines had powdered metal connecting rods so I wouldn’t touch them with an eleven-foot pole, but they were considerably cheaper. At some point I quit looking for Barbecue Bob's replacement engine and started shopping for hot rod parts for Mr. Wiggly. I found a dude in Oklahomo with a complete Offenhauser package for the 225 Slant Six. It came with a cam, lifters, valve springs, headers, four-barrel intake, and cast aluminum valve cover! It was at $500.00 though and there were 11 bids on it with six hours to go. I think I'll just get it up and going and see how I like it. I might put on a rorty zorst and be done with it. Then again, I might get one of those one-barrel to DGV adapters as well. Juan never knows. I did find a manifold to put three DCOE carburetors on it but I really don’t need that! Well, I've hit page two, my head hurts a little, and I need to order flowers for mom since Thursday is her birthday. I think I'll call this rant complete and talk to y’all tomorrow.