3/28/06

I was going to start with a rampage about how I hate people, but I think I'll let it pass. Sunday morning I go to the shop and pull the Seven out. It is very windy. I decide I'm going to make at least one pass around the lake and then out to FM5 for a quick hoon. On all roads that led me west, the cross wind was such that it blew my left sinus shut. It was quite uncomfortable. I got stuck behind a Jeep Cherokee on the park road leading to the lake and decided to not follow him around the actual lake road. I took off up through the “neighborhood” there by the lake and drove that semi-twisty road to its end. I turned back and then went around the lake road. There was actually water in the marina! The lake was very choppy from the wind so I really couldn’t see how much the level had risen from last weekend’s rain. I drove the lake road and got caught behind the Jeep again on the way back out. I followed him all the way to 377 and then he got a break in traffic whereas I had to wait a bit. I finally made it onto 377 and turned onto Gun Club Road. I got stuck by a train at the railroad crossing. Duh, where else would it have been? I waited and turned onto Aledo road when all of the other traffic got by. I was behind a Triumph motorcycle and we took off down the way. He must know that road well because he missed all of the bumps and such that I had to hit. Needless to say, I didn’t really keep up all that well. He turned off and I kept going. I slowed for the railroad tracks and then took off again when I noticed a truck behind me. We got to 1187 and I really took off on the smooth pavement. At the junction of 1187 and FM5 I took a right since there were several cars going down FM5. I passed the gas station thinking I should probably stop and top off since the gauge was well below empty even though I had only traveled 145 miles since fill up. I pressed on. I took, um, whatever the road is from Aledo to the other end of FM5. I got to the “corkscrew” at the quarry and noticed a Corvette coming up the hill. I don’t know why, probably the fact that the road drops off in the middle of the turn, but I chickened out and down shifted to fourth. I chastised myself because I could have taken the turn much faster. Oh well. I took the next few turns better and continued on my way. I finally got to FM5 and hit the gas to accelerate up to speed. Man, those carburetors sound good with your foot in them! Up to a speed where the wind noise and buffeting were just about to become annoying I went. At the junction of Muir road I dropped down to fourth again and started my FM5 run. I dropped below sixty one time for the huge dip between turns three and four but kept a pretty good pace going. When I got back to the 1187 turn, I decided to go ahead and fill the tank. I went back to the Shell station and filled up. I still had a few gallons left. I calculated about thirty miles per gallon so I'm not going to worry about gas until 250 to 275 miles from now on. Rather than turn left and head straight back to 1187 and then the shop, I turned right and went for another lap! This time I got stuck behind a mini-van about three quarters of the way back down FM5. Fortunately he was keeping up a decent pace so I stuck behind him. This time I turned at 1187 and headed back to 377 in Whisky Flats. The mini-van turned on Aledo road so I had clear sailing down 1187 most of the way. I stuck the earplugs in and cranked the speed up to about seventy. Fun car! About three quarters of the way to 377 I got stuck behind another slow vehicle. I followed him all the way to 377 where I passed him before we both hit the turn lane to continue 1187. I was tuck behind several cars then so it was a slow trip for a bit. Three of the cars turned off leaving just the pickup with a trailer. After the railroad tracks I hopped out to pass and shot on up to about ninety, which I held until the light at Old Granbury Road. I turned left there and headed back to the shop. With the Seven tucked away I decided to continue with the heat shield I had started last weekend. I drilled the holes for the mounting bolts and bent it so it would mount up. I decided it needed to be between the two manifolds so I took it off and trimmed it to bend that way. I reinstalled it and had a look at things. I now had the intake mostly isolated from the hot side of the turbo’s works, except for the support for the turbine. That was a piece of metal that ran from the turbine to the intake manifold. “This will not do,” I said to myself. I made another support bracket that went to the exhaust manifold instead. I was pleased. I decided to go ahead and weld the one slip fit on the up pipe that didn’t need to be a slip fit and then reinstalled that. While looking at the heat shield, I decided that it needed to go between the turbine and intake manifold so I took it off again to trim it. Upon reinstallation, I broke the bolt in the exhaust manifold holding my new support bracket. I had had enough by that point so I went home. I'll make a new support bracket that goes to a hole without a broken bolt in it next weekend. Well, that’s about it for my weekend. I think I'm going to call the rant complete and talk to y’all tomorrow. Have a day.