2/5/07

John is evil! He has now convinced me that we need to build a truck-framed 510 station wagon with a V8. And by “we” I do mean he and I not the royal “we” of DLR. [ Aren't those the same thing??? - SM ] His thinking, spurred by the comment about Herman last Friday I'm sure, is that we both have half the makings of this monstrosity. He has the 510 wagon with all of the bicycle sponsorship on it and I have the 620 truck frame and six-lug faux Panasport wheels. We’ll decide on final ownership once one of us ponies up for an engine and transmission. As much as I hate slush-boxes, I'm thinking the easiest route is going to be to find a Crown Vic or Caprice Classic or something of that ilk with a V8 and do a quick yank and crush. If I'm looking for the drivetrain, I'm going to look for the Crown Vic. John can look for a Gutless, Monte Carlo, Caprice, or whatever if he wants. I'm easy. I suppose a Mustang/Capri or Camaro/Firebird could be a donor as well. Looks like Craig’s List and e-Bay will be performing V8 searches for us soon. Here’s the plan. We’re going to clear out enough space in the “paint booth” to move the Seven over. The bay vacated by the Seven will become Wagonstein’s home. Oh, did I mention I'm going to call it Wagonstein? Well, there it is. Where was I? Oh, right, we’ll move the 510 wagon’s unibody in and begin stripping it and cut out the floor. When it is just a shell, well more shelly than it is now, we’ll lift it out and roll in the 620. We’ll strip it to a bare frame with front and rear suspensions and then “drop” the body back on. From there we’ll make a floor and be ready to find an engine. Well, it is lunchtime so I think I'm going to go eat. Of all the meals I have ever eaten, that was one of them. I'm full and sleepy, but not all that satisfied. Oh well, what are you going to do? So, John had made the suggestion that we slap the L-20b we had picked up last weekend into Barbecue Bob so it could go away and then we could use the drivetrain from Cave-In in Wagonstein. After we discussed it some more we decided against that course of action. Barbecue Bob is still on for the Chevy V8 after George is up and running. Speaking of which, I went to the shop yesterday and had a look at the DCOE to turbo hoozis from Australia. I decided that I wasn’t going to try and use the water/nitrous injection hole because it didn’t have threads cut in it or any sort of provision for mounting an injector. I fired up the TIG welder and zooked it closed. While I was at it I closed off one of the threaded ports as well. There is still one big threaded bung I can use though so un-bunch your knickers. Once I had those closed off I began looking at placement in the car. There is no way I can fit it between the inlet of the turbo and the firewall. Well, I could fit the manifold but not the manifold and carburetor. So, I'm going to have to make a turn. I did finally win a Hardly SU manifold so it should be on its way to me. I'll cut it up and weld the SU flange to my DCOE manifold and then be able to bolt that to the turn piece. What I'm not going to be able to do is keep the air filter under the existing hole in the hood. I can widen it if necessary but I'm not sure that I will. We’ll see. When I was on my way to the shop yesterday, I called Ray to see if he had any Amsoil and a filter for Matilda since I hit 10,000 miles in Austin Saturday and wanted to change the oil. He wasn’t at the Ranch yet but said I could come down after 1300 h. At about 1400 h, the turbo project had just about run its course, as far as I could go without the SU manifold at least, so I headed to the Motorsport Ranch. Ray had the oil but no listing for the filter. He looked up other Nissan cars and saw that many used the same filter as each other. He called a parts house in Granbury to see if they listed the Versa yet and they did. Lo and behold, it uses the same filter. He had one since it is also the same filter he runs on the Formula Mazda racecars. I even had money to pay for all of this stuff for a change. I bummed the use of the lift and changed the oil and filter. It took all of ten minutes with the lift. I need a lift at my shop. Anyhoo, once I had the oil changed I bid farewell to Ray and headed north. I went the really long way out 171 to Bear Creek and back to FM5 for a hoon. Now, apparently there was some bowling thing on TV last night that everyone was going to be watching, so mom and I had planned to go eat. I got home, shaved, showered, and dressed then that is what we did. We went to Don Pulido’s for Shrimp Quesadillas and Sopapillas. Thems good eatin’! Back at the house I wasted the rest of the evening watching TV. So, that just about gets us up to speed with DLR developments. I think I'm just about done talking to y'all for the day.