1/29/08

Ok, there was one more bit to the Friday story. After coming home from picking up my dingleberry and keys from the office, I get a call from Gregg. He has his rugrat for the weekend and wants me to meet them for dinner. We agree on the Hoffbrau on 377 after I shower and get ready. I shower and get ready then call to say I'm leaving. I call again as I'm passing under I-35 on Loop 820 and he says they are on their way. The wait for a table is going to be half an hour and he knows the baby won’t sit still that long so we head down the strip center to a little Thai place. I'd already eaten a sammich or something with mom so I was not very hungry. I ordered the fish cakes as an appetizer and the bowl of shrimp soup or something like that. The fish cakes were mighty tasty and the bowl of soup was more like a tureen. I think that is the correct serving utensil, a huge-assed bowl thingy for serving a family sized order of soup? Anyhoo, the point is I was a huge-assed bowl of soup. I think they just dumped one of Bubba Gump’s boats right into the thing, there were so many shrimp. When we’re done we have a look at Darth Versa and he approves of the lowering and the wheels. He asks that I wash the filthy thing though, being one of those “keep your tools clean” sorts of anal retentive, um, sorts. I head for the house and call it an evening. Saturday morning I awaken to an empty house. I remember that mom was going to some church thing all day so the garage would be free. That sure would be nicer than moving Marty and working on the filthy floor of the shop. I decide to install the zorst and strut bar at home. Of course I'd still need a jack and stands. I decide to go to the Boys of Pep and buy a set for the house. I decide against that when I further decide to install the wheel spacers on the rear while the ass is in the air. I go to the shop and get the jack, stands, impact wrench, spacers, and a can of spray paint. Back at the house I back the car into the garage and jack it up. I crawl under and remove the stock zorst. I resist the urge to fire it up open and install the Stillen zorst. When that is tightened, I do fire it up to see how it sounds. Not too loud, which is good, so I shut it down. I then remember that I wanted to listen/feel for leaks at the connection while it was in the air. I fired it up again and crawled under. No leaks. I shut down again and got to work on the spacers. I removed a wheel and hit the center of the brake drum and spindle with the black paint. I installed a spacer and hit it with paint. I reinstalled the wheel and gave it a spin. Everything seemed copacetic so I moved on to the other side. I repeated the operation and lowered the car to the ground. I took it for a hoon to see if the zorst would have any unexpected qualities that might make me regret the decision. It didn’t so I didn’t. It is very nice. It does hang down very low though so I have to be extra careful with dips and backing into parking spots. I pulled into the garage again and got to work on the strut bar. I disassembled one end and took it to the car. I removed the stock bolts and, much to my lack of surprise, discovered they were going to be too short. I hemmed and hawed for a bit and finally decided to take Fifi to the hardware store to buy bolts. I went to Southerland’s and got the bolts. The girl who gave Mario and me such a hard time about the sink fiasco back in December was there at the register. We chatted and she asked if I saw the horse. “What horse?” I asked. She looked exasperated and said, “The World’s Tallest Horse!” while pointing out the flyer on the counter. I asked where this mythical horse was and she said it was right in the back of the store. I went to have a look. Well, of all the horses I have ever seen, that was one of them. I told her so and left. Back at the house I installed the two end plates for the strut bar and went to install the bar itself. Of course it was too long. I screwed the ends all the way in to their jam nuts but it was still too long. I removed one jam nut and screwed that end in all the way but it was still, still too long. I removed the other jam nut and screwed that end all the way in and it finally fit. I realized I didn’t have any Allen wrenches so I grabbed the bolts with locking pliers. I'm not sure if they are actually Vice-Grip brand locking pliers so I'm not going to call them Vice-Grips. Deal with it. Speaking of lawsuit-happy douche-bags, Carrol Shelby is apparently suing another group for using his name. The Shelby American Automobile Club, or something like that, has been the de-facto official club for owners of real and replica Cobras, GT40s, and Daytona coupes, as well as Shelby Mustangs, for quite some time. Well, Mr. Apparently-Only-In-It-For-The-Buck has decided that he wants to have the only “official” Shelby club and is trying to shut them down. I used to have great respect for him but now I think he’s just a crybaby panty-waste asshole. I'd like to figure out how to revoke his Texas citizenship since he’s obviously become a died-in-the-wool California dickhead over the years. Ooh, I'd better watch out, he might sue me for definition of character. For those who might not get that, it was NOT a typo and I did mean “definition” not “defamation.” But I digress. So I use the Vice-Grips to hold the bolts and tighten them down. I grab the bar and try to rotate it but it doesn’t move. I'm satisfied with the installation and close the hood. The whole process, from the time I backed into the garage to the time I left, including the trip to the store for bolts and to see “The World’s Tallest Horse,” took less than an hour and a half. I had about an hour before we were supposed to meet at the Sycamore School Road exit on I-35 for the trip to Houston. I decided to leave the tools at the house for the time being and went in to get ready to go. I showered and packed then headed out. But I'm going to save the Houston trip story for tomorrow since I have got to go pee! Have a day.