10/5/06

Ok, I need to clear up another thing I said yesterday. When I said, “Let me put it this way, I've got a 2005 Dodge Magnum and I'd rather drive that,” the “that” I was referring to was Matilda. In my head I was pointing at Matilda while saying that. Got it? Good. Ok so where was I in the narrative? Dang, I need to go look right quick. Hold on. Ok, got it. I was about to tell y'all about the K&N filter installation on Matilda. I opened up the hood and removed the cover and air filter from the car. I decided that I didn’t like the flat black paint I had used on the cover so I hit it with some “Hammer Time” like the fenders, roll hoop, and mirrors on the Seven. It looks much better. I next began to look at what I was going to have to remove from the filter holder mechanism thingy to make the Vauxhall filter fit. I took out the tool with the best publicist in the universe, a Dremel, and began trimming. Why does the Dremel have the best publicist in the universe? Because somehow people have been convinced that they are good tools. I hate them because they just barely, almost work the way you want them to, and then burn out. So why do I have one? I don’t know. [ Ummm... I think it's mine... - SM ]So why did I use it? I don’t have a tiny air powered cutoff wheel, which is what I'd have preferred. What is this, the Spanish Inquisition? Get off my back and let me finish! So I trimmed plastic away bit by bit until the filter fit in the holder hoozis. I took it out to the car only to find that the filter didn’t quite fit the housing. Didn’t see that coming I'll tell you. It mooshed up into place and sealed so it decided to go with it. Besides, I don’t think the stock filter will seal anymore to the holder thingy. It might but I didn’t try it. So with that done I took a look at the time. It was just about 1930h and I knew the church folks would still be watching my TV so I looked around for something else to work on. I decided to make the Plexiglas top for the replacement air filter for Mr. Wiggly. Remember I bought another base plate at Steve’s and ordered a K&N from K&N? By the way, the filter arrived the other day and is in the back of Matilda waiting for me to go to the shop again. Anyhoo, I found a couple sheets of nice thick Plexiglas and marked out an oval using the base plate as a template. I took McMahon & Tate’s greatest success story, I'm sure Darrin had Sam twitch her nose to make everyone believe in the wonders of the Dremel, and cut out the part. I cleaned up the edges on the grinder and wire wheel then sat with sand paper for a while making it smooth-ish. John had made some comment about painting a 1” edge on the doghouse window so I decided to do the same on the filter top. I taped the whole thing up and then trimmed off about ½” from the edge. I hung it up and hit it with more “Hammer Time.” I let the paint set just a bit and then pulled the tape. It looked pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. Well, it was acceptable. I sat and looked at it for a while and then checked the time again. It was 2000h or so, so I headed home. They hadn’t left yet. I drove around the neighborhood for a bit and when I came back they were leaving. I parked and went inside. So there you have it. It took me three days to tell you what I did over the course of two. Granted, if I'd left out the bits about the Theremin I could have probably squeezed it all into two days. And you thought I'd go all day today without mentioning a Theremin! Surprise! Ooooo-WEEEEEE-ooooo!