10/30/06

Mr. Wiggly is roadworthy yet again! Saturday morning I went to the shop and met up with John. He was rolling his 510 to the front of the shop as I pulled up. I moved Mr. Wiggly around behind him and we both got to work. He redesigned his seat bracket so he could move back a few inches while I replaced the parking brake cable on Mr. Wiggly. I may have looked at something else on Mr. Wiggly but I don’t remember. John Ullom showed up since he was looking at buying a car from Marty Smith and we all, minus Marty Smith, hung out for a while. I piddled with George some but didn’t really do any work on it. After a while, the Johns went to finalize the deal with Marty Smith and came back pushing another 510. I moved Roger’s BMW over one spot and they rolled the 510 into the opening it vacated. When lunchtime rolled around we locked up the shop and I drove Mr. Wiggly to Sweet Home Chicago. From there I went to the Boys of Pep to have the charging system checked, even though I knew it to be bad. They did so and looked up the alternator and voltage regulator. I decided to go ahead and be lazy and had them installed there. Yeah, it was more expensive, by a long way, but I didn’t really feel like doing it. When I left the system was charging at 14.5 volts, not 16 like before or 0 immediately before for that matter. I decided to go ahead and drive it home. I'm beginning to rethink the zorst. I get home right before dark and call it a day. I waste the evening watching TV then go to bed. Sunday morning I head for the shop. I stop at the Mobil station at Old Granbury Road and Dirks to fill up. I put in about 15 gallons and it acts like it won’t hold any more so I stop. The gauge reads half full. I'm not too pleased but I'm also not going to do anything about it right now. I decide I'm not ready to go to the shop so I take off across town. I swing through the parking lot of AUTOCOMP but no one is there. I go to Gregg's house and show him Mr. Wiggly. He owned Mr. Wiggly “originally” ten or twelve years ago. I mean he was the one who bought it and got it in the “family” originally. Anyhoo, he had a good laugh at it and we drove around the block. I'm really beginning to rethink the zorst. His wife arrives and they take off to go do something so I head to the shop. I decide to take the loop all the way around town to see how it would be on a “long trip” at highway speed. I'm almost certain I need to do something about the zorst. I get to the shop and park Mr. Wiggly for the week, or so I thought but I'll get to that in a moment. Pat and Marty show up and ask if I've had lunch yet. I reply in the negative so we pile into Matilda to go to, wait for it, Sweet Home Chicago. While there, the stepdaughter of the owner comes in and chats with us for a bit. She was looking pretty good too. Since she quit working there this was the first time I'd seen her in several months. Before long the three of us dudes left and headed back to the shop. I dropped Marty off at his place then Pat and I went to mine. I took all of the turbo bits off of George and installed the thick washers and nuts on the bottom of the manifolds finally. I decided that was enough work for one day and called it quits. I hopped in Matilda and followed Pat out. About the time we were rolling down Old Granbury Road between the two railroad crossings, I decided I wanted to go back and get Mr. Wiggly to drive to work today. I had nothing pressing early on the schedule so I knew I had time for an emergency on the drive in. At Dirks road I turned left and Pat went straight. I hooked a Hugh turn and headed back to the shop. I parked Matilda and apologized to her for paying so much attention to another vehicle. I grabbed the keys to Mr. Wiggly, oh by the way earlier in the day I bought a locking gas cap for Mr. Wiggly and that’s why it is “keys” plural instead of “key” singular now, where was I? Oh, I see, I grabbed the keys to Mr. Wiggly and relocked the shop. I drove home and crashed out for the night. This morning I drove Mr. Wiggly to work and I'm totally convinced I need to do something with the zorst. My thinking is, “If it is this loud and buzzy inside, what must it sound like to the rest of the world?” I'll take it to Steve/John and have another system built sometime. I'm thinking a pair of Flowmaster mufflers in 2.25” or 2.5” and some “Big Wazoo” type tips. I'll keep the Smithy’s glass packs though. I'll find a use for them somewhere I'm sure.