4/28/06

I actually got some work done on George last night! I arrived to find myself alone because John hadn’t made it there yet. I went to call him but my phone was dead. It would not relight either. I sat back in the Pimpmobile to try the charger but it still wouldn’t come on. I pulled out the work phone to call John and see where he was. He picked up and when I asked where he was he gave me the exasperated, “Tsk, at the shop.” I looked around and said, “Um, where?” He replied that he was at the gate. I told him of my phone, thinking we might ditch the shop and go phone shopping, but while talking I removed and replaced the battery and it came on again. I said I'd see him when he arrived and he did just that. He had with him a hunk of roll cage tubing with fish mouths at both ends to make a harness bar in the red 510. I followed him around back and we did a test fit. We weren’t sure if it was going to work so we played with some more options. It was decided that nothing could be decided until the sets he was going to use were at least test fit so he began removing the seats that were in the car. Actually, we went inside to see how horrible the mirrors that came with the red car were going to look on George and played with the option of fender mounting them. I said I really ought to cut off the transmission mounts and he said he had thought about coming down early and just doing it. He hadn’t done that though. It shamed me to the point of actually changing clothes and crawling under the car. I decided that the saw-saw (saws-all) wouldn’t work and that I'd have to get the plasma cutter out. He answered his phone and started giving someone directions to the shop. I mentioned a better route and was handed the phone. At first I thought it was the muffler dude because we have been expecting him for a few weeks now but it was some 210 guy. I gave him the directions and crawled under George again. I made the first cut but the kerf filled back in and welded itself back together. I think my tip might be too small or something because Marty's plasma cuts Datsuns like a warm knife through hot butter in July on the floor of Death Valley in an unventilated tin shack at noon… I can’t think of anything else to make it hotter than that. Anyhoo, I keep having the same trouble of kerf re-welding sometimes. I finally get it to make a nice cut and move on to another plane on the mount. This cuts a little better. The third plane cuts well too but my angle is off and I blow through the floor. Oops. At least there isn’t any carpet to burn like I did in Gil. I decide to not cut the last section because it would be going right through the floor. I metal fatigue it off and crawl out to show John what a 1200 transmission mount looks like. They are really hard to describe and are “better felt than tell’t” as it were. I hang out and talk to the 210 guy for a bit because he’s also a Slant Six guy as well. We discover that the oversized valves I bought really aren’t, either that or the head I bought already has oversized valves. I need to actually measure them before accusing the guy of ripping me off. When I finally get John to take over the baby-sitting of the visitor, I crawl back under George to cut off the other mount. First plane cut fine. Second plane cut fine. Third plane sit and spattered all over me. In fact I had a pretty bad scare under there. A glob of molten Datsun dropped and fell right between the safety glasses and my face to land on my eyelid! I could feel and smell it burning my eye and started batting at it pretty quickly. I got out from under there and checked it out. Turns out I had done an Aeon Flux and caught the ember between my eyelashes. What I felt was the flesh of the lid being singed but the proximity to the eyeball transmitted the “burn” as if it was being scorched. I had feared the contact had caught it and melted but it is fine as well. I do have a bald spot in my lashes though. The upper lid is still a bit tender but all in all it could have been worse. I got out the welding helmet for the last cut. With three sides cut away I worried the part off and tossed it out back with the other. 210 dude left and I asked John to position the mirror so I could see from the driver’s seat. When he had it set I asked if the hood would clear. It would not. We looked at mounting it on the side of the fender but there wasn’t enough adjustment. So, it looks like I'll have to readjust my mirrors every time I open my hood if I want to do the fender thing. We’ll see. John did a test fit of his seat and we think the harness bar will work after all. Well, I've had a pretty busy day here so I think I'm going to call it a week and head for the house. Buh bye.