5/21/07

I had a somewhat productive weekend, I guess. Let’s see, the facilities folks we replacing more carpet over the weekend so Friday afternoon I had to remove an input box from a conference room table by 1700 h. I got to the room around 1640 h and took the stuff out as they were removing the table. I spoke to the guys and found out they were planning to put it back in on Sunday morning. I had been debating the merits of Sunday versus 0700 h Monday. Of course Sunday won. I told them I'd see them then and left. Saturday morning I headed for the shop around 0900 h and pulled the Seven out for the drive to the Motorsport Ranch. I knew there was a CVAR race down there but hoped I could bluff my way in. I did. I pulled up to the garage where Pat was and we talked about what I had in mind for the day. I decided to forego the tune up since I could do that any time. What I was most concerned with was making sure the car was “safe” for the Tail of the Dragon trip. We put it up on the hoist and I had a look around underneath. When I reached up behind the brake disc on the passenger side of the rear axle, I came away with a handful of grease. The driver’s side was dry. “I think I have a leaky seal here,” I said to Pat. I pulled the wheel, caliper, and rotor off to have a closer look. I checked the oil level in the housing and decided that since the level wasn’t going down, I could probably live with the weeping for the time being. I asked Pat his thoughts since his butt would be riding along with me and he agreed with that plan. We’ll find out a part number for that seal and bring a couple with us as spares. I reinstalled everything and moved on to the nutting and bolting of the car. All of the suspension bits were still tight but I did find a Heim joint in the steering that was a bit flollopy. I took it off and we went to one of the other shops to see what they had to offer us. They had some all steel Heim joints but I decided to go with some left-hand thread jam nuts instead. It was the threaded portion that was the most flollopy you see. We went back and I installed the jam nuts. We decided to go into Granbury to buy the carriage bolts for the tow hook installation in the trailer and have lunch. At Lowe’s we found all the bits then went to Cotton Patch for some eats. I had chicken fried chicken, and too much of it at that. We went back to the Ranch and got to work on the trailer. We pulled the shelf out and gave the Seven a test fit. It is really tight! We grokked it for a bit and decided where we thought the hooks should go. I drilled and installed the rears while Pat went to the other trailer to get straps. We were thinking of doing a test tie-down and run around the lot but then didn’t do it. We backed the car out again and installed the front hooks. At this point we were both tired of the project and started to clean up and put stuff away. We did go for a drive around the paddock to look at the racecars for a bit though. We parked the trailer and I bid him farewell. Oh, we did do a cursory alignment after taking the steering links off. I had about ¼” toe in which we removed for a zero-toe setting. I took off to take the car home. At the 171 light I decided on the long way home and turned west. I'm not going to go through all of the roads again this time. I eventually got the car back to the shop. I decided that rather than do the usual hop-out-open-door-hop-in-park routine, I'd stop by the faucet and hose the filthy thing off before parking. Well, I ran into, not literally, Marty Smith and asked if he’d open the door for me. He did and I pulled straight in and parked. I messed around with something for a bit before leaving because I remember thinking as I left, “Well, the car ought to be cool enough to leave now.” Oh, I remember. The brake lines arrived Friday as well so I had a look at what it was going to take to install them. I installed the passenger front and made a male-to-male adapter to install the clutch line. I still need to get a slave cylinder though. I thought I welded something but now I don’t remember what it could have been. Oh well, it’ll come to me eventually. Saturday evening I spent watching a marathon of “Women of Ninja Warrior” then went to bed. I'll tell y'all about Sunday’s events tomorrow. Have a day.