12/18/06

I got some work done on one of my projects this weekend! Saturday morning I met John at the shop and someone did some questionable welding on his car. When he was “happy with” or perhaps “satisfied with” or at least “not pissed off about” the work, we set about loading it onto the trailer so he could take it home and work on it at his convenience. One of the rear brakes had seized so he jacked that corner up and removed the shoes. He decided to install the Libra wheels that used to live on the Chickenhawk as rollers. I watched as he put a right side wheel on the left side of the car. I figured he saw it and just didn’t care at this point so I let him do it. I asked about it as soon as he had the lug nuts tight. He swapped out for the correct tire and I rolled my eyes. When he jacked the driver’s rear off the ground, I noticed the front came up as well and grabbed another tire. I installed it while he clearanced the fender on the rear. Oh yeah, he also clearanced the other fender while doing the brake shoes and two different wheels. As I finished up with my front wheel he asked if I put the correct one on. I acted indignant that he thought I'd get it wrong after pointing it out to him but then realized, as he made the next comment, that it would have been a good bit. Oh well, so many opportunities missed. He put the last wheel on and installed the driver’s side fender. We rolled the car onto the trailer, almost blowing out our nuts in the process. Marty Smith showed up and we all went to lunch. We went to Don Pablo’s and I ate too much. Marty rode there with John and back with me in Mr. Wiggly. I realized I had the key to the trailer when we got back so I called John. He informed me that the dude who was supposed to come that morning to look at Gigi was going to call me about coming in the afternoon. Well, it was about 1400 h and he was coming from about two hours away. A little quick math shows that he’ll arrive around 1600 h. I said that was fine. Marty and I roll George inside and he has to leave to have a Shaq Attack. After he is gone I think I'd really like to have Barbecue Bob in the spot George just vacated. I'm not going to move it myself so I forget about it. I start messing with the shifter in George. I straighten it out a bit so that first, third, and fifth gears aren’t so far back and sit there making racecar noises for a bit. When that gets boring I start looking at the radiator hose situation. I find another bit of right angle and see that it will complete the bottom hose. I need a splice though. I go out and steal the lower hose from Gigi. I take the splice thingy that incorporates the heater return line and weld that part shut. I do a test fit and discover that the lower bracket on the radiator has come loose from the core. I take the radiator out and have a look. Yep, both sides need to be re-soldered. I think, “While the radiator is out, I might as well remove superfluous wires from the harness.” I get started doing just that. At some point during all of this, Marty shows up again and we do roll Barbecue Bob into the spot vacated by George. Also at some point, 1600 h rolls around and I finally hear from the guy wanting to look at Gigi. He insists on coming even though it is going to be dark when he arrives. I shrug and call mom to let her know what’s what then get back to stripping the wiring harness. About dark forty-five, he calls again to ask if we’ll be able to see the car. I look out and tell him, “Nope.” We reschedule for Sunday. I clean up and call mom again to see if she wants me to grab something for dinner. She wants chicken wings from Chicken Express. I stop there and get her a couple wings and me some strips. We eat and she lays on a guilt trip about leaving her all alone all day even though we wouldn’t have done anything if I had been there. Sheesh! Women. So after dinner I have a shave and a shower then waste the rest of the evening in front of the TV. I think I'm going to save Sunday’s story for tomorrow since I've hit my page break and it is approaching lunchtime. I'm getting hungry too. Yeah, y'all have a day.