5/14/07

Did y'all have a happy made-up holiday, er, I mean Mother’s Day? Is it “Mothers Day” or “Mother’s Day?” I mean is it a day to celebrate mothers in general or it a day belonging to mothers? Who cares? Ok, Friday I told John I would roll to the shop “in the eight o’clock hour.” I rolled out of bed about 0800 h and went in to read a magazine on the crapper. 0830 h, or so, I finished up and got dressed to go to the shop. For some reason I still wound up leaving the house at 0849 h. I tried to call him to say that ten till was still in the eight o’clock hour but his phone was off. I arrive and get to work on George. Yes, believe it or not. I decided to go ahead and start the final buttoning-up procedures. I took the turbo off again and removed the little stub thingy bolted to the carburetor base on the manifold. I searched for the gasket material for a while but gave up and installed a used carburetor gasket. Oh, I also trimmed one corner of the thing to fit the oil drain line better. With that in place, I remounted the turbo and bolted it down. I tightened the two bolts on the support bracket going to the exhaust manifold. I tightened the three bolts on the flange from the up-pipe. I tightened the four bolts on the flange for the down-pipe. I tried to line up the collector between the down-pipe and the front section of the zorst but needed to loosen the middle collector some first. Oh, John finished putting the springs and wheels on his Versa and parked the four-door 510 back inside at some point. He had to leave to go Mother’s Day shopping so I bid him farewell for the day. I changed into a jump suit because I knew I was about to do some serious crawling on the floor. I loosened the center section of the zorst and got the down-pipe to line up with the front collector. I jacked the muffler up to where I thought it needed to be and tightened the center section again. Oh, I inserted gaskets while I was doing both of these collectors by the way. I crawled out to see if the zorst tip was level so I could think about making another hanger to keep it that way. It was not. I sat back and had a think. “You know,” I said to myself, “you have enough pipe left over from the old Mr. Wiggly zorst to install a Smithy’s under here.” “Yes,” I countered, “but it would only be a 2 inch system then. It is 2.5 now.” “Good point,” I agreed. “Well, why not make duals?” “I, um, er, well,” I stammered. “Ok, why not?” So I took the Smithy’s mufflers to the chop saw and cut them free of their existing systems. I trimmed the inlet ends to the same length then welded the two mufflers together, side-by-side. I took a new 2” Hugh bend and cut it right at the start of the turn on both legs then down the middle making two ninety degree bends. These I further cut to make a couple approximately forty-five degree bends. Once they were trimmed to the point where they met up in the middle while sitting over the inlets of the mufflers, I welded them together. I welded this to the two mufflers. Next, I went back to the car to take the old system off. By the way, it was a “crimp-bend” system built by a muffler shop in Kennedale back when I installed the header on George almost ten years ago. Not that I need to justify changing zorst on my own car to the likes of you. Anyhoo, I crawl back under to remove the three bolts I had just tightened on the center collector and it was as if they had been on there for years! They had galled up and seized. Two came off and one broke. I was pissed. I remove all of the rest of the hangers and take the system to the chop saw. I cut off the collector and take it to the vice. I smash the 2.5” pipe into an oval and test fit it over the tip of the thingy I had just welded to the mufflers. I draw a line where they meet and go back to the chop saw. Once I have the upper legs of the “Y” open, I trim them and clean them up for better flow. I fit the collector and make sure it is straight-ish. I zook them together and go back for another test fit under the car. It looks good. Now I need to decide on outlet pipes. I have a look at the one from the driver’s side of Mr. Wiggly and it lines up pretty nicely to drop the tip out in front of the rear tire. I take it all back to the vice. I trim the outlet pipe where I want it and zook it in place. I zook on another ninety degree bend to the other muffler pointing the opposite direction. I take a measurement of George's width and figure out I need about 53” from tip to tip for them to poke out just a bit from the sides of the car. I measure from the driver’s side tip to the end of the other bend and see that I need 21” of straight pipe to make up the width. I trim the other leg with the other tip and zook it in place. I lug all of this back under the car and have yet another test fit. Just as I get the bolts in place and the mufflers jacked up, the bottom falls out of the sky! I mean it starts raining its ass off! The rain is blowing in halfway up the length of George, which is where I happen to be lying. I jump up and close the roll up doors then stand back to grok the zorst. “Grok the zorst,” I like that. I may have to start a band so I can call it that. “Hello Cleveland! We are Grok the Zorst! Woo hoo! Rock and roll!” Anyhoo, I like what I see but it needs to shift to the driver’s side just a bit. By this time however, I'm wet, dirty, hot, and tired. I clean up, close up, and go home. Sunday, my sister brings a smoked chicken so mom doesn’t have to cook after church so we eat that for lunch. I get a call from John Ullom asking if I am willing to help move some Model T parts from his grandfather’s back yard. I say I will and we agree that I'll call him when I'm done with lunch. I go ahead and roll to the shop since I want to pick up a pair of gloves first. I call him and we agree to meet at the 7-11 on Riverside and Belknap. I head that way in Mr. Wiggly because I just feel like driving him. I get a call from John saying he can’t find a place to rent a truck so we might as well forget it. I ask if the stuff would fit in Mr. Wiggly and am told yes. We continue with the plan. I meet him and we dig the stuff out of the back yard. Oh, it starts to rain again just as we arrive. Fortunately it isn’t as bad as Saturday. We load it all up and roll towards his house. We stop at a Walgreen’s so he can do some last minute MD shopping for his wife then continue on. At his house we unload and talk for a bit. The sky starts looking threatening so I beg off to get Mr. Wiggly home before the inundation. I stop at the Burger King at Loop 820 and Beach and have a couple Whoppers. All of the Burger Kings in Fort Worth used to be owned by the same guy. His son “raced” for us when I worked for Marty at AUTOCOMP. I suspect when that guy took over the business was when it went in the toilet and they all closed. I usually take any opportunity to have a Whopper when I find a BK open around a mealtime because of it. I eat my burgers then head for the shop. I park Mr. Wiggly and head on home. This morning I get a call from John Roper asking if I'm free at lunchtime today. He needs a ride to the shop to get the four-door 510 since the Honduh was stolen last night. I agree to help and now am waiting for my two noon-ish meetings so I can go. I also see that I have gone a little long-winded so I think I'll shut it down for the day. Talk to y'all tomorrow.