6/19/06

I got no work done over the weekend. Ok, so I did get the weld-on bung welded onto the fitting for the oil pan on George, but that’s about it. I got a call from Gregg Saturday morning saying he needed his trailer, or at least the license plate from it, back that weekend. We agreed to have a look at unloading the Mustang. He showed up and we had a look in the spitting rain. It was decided that we weren’t going to get that car off the trailer that day so he took his license plate. Pat showed up in the Mazda truck he brought back from Colorado. I was a tad jealous because it looked pretty good all black with the black wagon wheels. Oh, I stopped at the credit onion to deposit me paycheck and get the money to buy his Subaru on my way to the shop that morning as well. He had other plans for the day so we blew that transaction off for a bit. I did make him an offer on the Mazda but he didn’t go for it. One: it was low-ball and B: he’d have felt guilty and would have had to send the money to his brother-in-law. I went ahead and gave him the 4.10 ring and pinion set I bought for my 1996 Ranger but never installed. We all stood around and talked for a bit and Pat finally left. Gregg and I talked about the shop in Boyd, about which I'll tell in a bit, and V8 stuff. It came about that his friend Jerry had a T-5 transmission sitting in his shed. We called and asked what he planned to do with it. For me, he’d sell cheap. We headed to that side of town to kill some time until he got back from Waco or wherever he was that morning. I took the Seven and followed Gregg to his house. That would be Gregg’s not Jerry’s. We hung out for a bit and ordered a pizza. I took his mother-in-law for a ride around the block and we waited. He had a jackhammer rented so he could remove the “decorative” rocks from his front porch so we did that. After a while Jerry called to say he was home so we went over there. We found the transmission and a nice billet aluminum harmonic balancer in the shed. He also pulled out a monster camshaft that Gregg thinks will work. It will be a very lumpy top-end cam if I decide to go with it. I bought the whole lot for $100.00 and we loaded it into Gregg’s truck and the Seven. The transmission went in the truck, the rest in the Seven. Jerry took a ride with me in the Seven and was all giggly. They were excited enough about the prospect of a small block Datsun 610 that they both volunteered their trucks to meet John when he brings my engines back from Not-Texas. I called John but he was busy and we couldn’t hammer out any details. Incidentally, he called me back later and gave the “martyr’s sigh” then said he’d arrange for his father-in-law to leave his Mitsubishi at the house this week so we could get the engines. Thank you John, I really do appreciate all you do for the cause. But back to Jerry’s house where we were standing around looking at the Seven. It became obvious they were going to drink beer for a while so I took my leave and went home. I debated taking the Seven home but honestly couldn’t remember if I'd locked up the Pimpmobile when we left it at the shop. I took the Seven to its home instead. I went home and watched TV all evening. Now, about the Boyd shop, Friday night I'd had dinner with family at Spring Creek Barbecue. That part is only important for the fact that the family I had dinner with included the Boyd contingent. Mike, who still lives on the land, told me that he thinks the spot I have chosen may be a ravine filled with old brush and stuff. Mike’s son-in-law, who is about to build out there as well, told me he’s been talking to the City of Boyd about utilities and such. I'm going to let him do all the fighting and ride in on his coattails. So, with those two conversations fresh in my mind, I spoke to Gregg again about building my place. I asked why we were setting a mobile home inside when we could just finish out an apartment instead. I went on to ask if a finished apartment wouldn’t be cheaper than said mobile home. My long-term plan isn’t to live in the shop forever so a simple one-bedroom apartment with a kitchen, bath and living area would be perfect. Basically build exactly what the mobile home would have provided without having a mobile home! When he said it would be the difference between about $2,000.00 for the apartment versus $20,000.00 for the mobile home, I was convinced! He got on the phone and requested a quote for the building but I haven’t heard back on that. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high but it looks like I might be getting into this place for less than half what I had originally planned! We decided that one third of the interior would have HVAC and part of that would be the finished apartment. I'm beginning to think more along the lines of half the building with HVAC though. The whole place would be a waste of money, but it sure would be nice! Well, I've filled my quota of a page today so I think I'll give the keyboard a rest for a bit. Perhaps I'll go re-draw the floor plan of my shop in Paint! Toodles.