3/24/08

I actually got some work done on George this weekend! And I don’t mean something trivial like “install ‘Datsun Sunny’ badges.” No, I actually installed the welded 4.11:1 differential. Of course the axles are still hanging out of the housing and the brakes are totally disconnected and the driveshaft isn't anywhere near the car, but the punkin is in. Woo hoo! Here’s the tale of the long weekend. Thursday, I get home from work to find mom entertaining three of the Chinese folks from the church. She had asked them to go to dinner so they were all waiting for me to come home. We went to Red Hot & Blue at Yizhong’s request. After dinner we went to a church service. I didn’t burst into flames upon entering the building so it wasn’t as bad as I could have expected. Friday I rolled out of bed around 0900 h or so. I wasted some time around the house then probably went to lunch with mom. I don’t remember. No wait, she had more church stuff so I went to the shop. I took Darth Versa. I looked around for things I could mess with and decided to play with the “smoothie” Versa grille I've been working on. The file was taking too long to smooth out the JB Weld so I dug out an air grinder thingy with a Roll-Lock fitting thingy attached to it. I removed the Scotch-Brite Roll-Lock thingy and replaced it with one of those heads with the little rubber fingers, the kind which are sort of, but not really, like a French-Tickler (Freedom-Tickler for those jingoistic types). I got to work “grinding away” at the JB Weld. It worked pretty well too. Actually, a little too well as I'm going to have to build it up again if I want it truly smooth. We’ll see. While I was messing with the French-Tickler thingy, I hit the stainless/chrome trim to see if it would scuff it. It did. I decided to take a break and grab the drill from Darth Versa and scuff it up. This I did. When I had the paint removed and the stainless/chrome scuffed, I hit the whole thing with more semi-flat black paint and let it dry in the sun. I went back inside and played with the other grille some more. I finally got bored with that and went back out to install the newly painted grill in Darth Versa. There is a little bit of bubbling in the paint on the plastic but I can live with it. John may want to fix it later, we’ll see. I think I went home after that. Pat had texted me earlier in the day Friday to say he and Nora (his wife) were meeting our old college buddy Rob and his wife Emily at some burger place by TCU that evening. I texted back to get better directions and cleaned up to go meet them. We all sat around and chatted for a bit then went our separate ways. Phone numbers were swapped and Oh-we-have-to-get-together-more-oftens were said. Saturday morning I met John at the shop where he was in the middle of replacing his intake/exhaust gasket on the 510. I drove Mr. Wiggly. I watched as he drilled holes in a perfectly good fender, three fenders actually, and installed fender flares and mirrors on Marty/Timmy. They look really good. Ted Schwartz from Austin showed up to buy a radiator support out of John’s 510 wagon out back. He and a buddy cut the thing off with a Sawz-All and loaded it into their truck. Marty Smith was there and took the buddy to look at Z-car parts at his shop while John and Ted finished transacting. When they left, Pat called to see if I was out and about and asked if I could swing by and help him load a refrigerator into the back of his pickup. I said we were about to head out for lunch and we would do just that. We pulled up to Pat’s house and someone misjudged the width of Mr. Wiggly as we approached the curb. Now, had it been a normal curb, nothing untoward would have happened, but since it was a 1920’s era curb it yanked the steering wheel from my hand and flung John out of his seat into my lap. It was potentially quite ugly. We regrouped and got the thing parked properly then helped Pat with the fridge. From Pat’s, John and I went to Sticker Shock Mexican Food, AKA Caro’s. John kept saying, “Order whatever you want,” which I thought odd at the time. When the bill came, he paid it. “Oh,” thought I, “that’s why he kept saying that.” It didn’t dawn on me until then. Duh. I thanked him for lunch and we headed back to the shop. It was actually on the return to the shop when John installed the fender mirrors now that I think about it. I crawled under George and installed the 4.11:1 punkin. I did the “s” word with some RTV silicone around the perimeter and lifted it into place. The bottom nuts and washers went on easily enough but the top was askew. I began tightening nuts until it went “POP” and whatever was holding it released. All the rest of the nuts went on fine then. I hunkered down on them and declared it installed. It was getting late, for a Saturday afternoon, so we called it a day. I went home and showered. Sunday was mom’s birthday as well as Easter so I had to go to church. As I sat there in the pew, I was thinking, “I’d rather see my dentist than be here right now.” Well, guess who sat down next to me, yep, my dentist. “Ok,” I thought, “I deserved that.” Around 1230 h the preacher finally finished with the sermon and we were out of there around 1245 h. It had to be the longest non-Catholic service I've ever been to. Mom was planning to cook some steaks but neither of us felt like waiting that long for food so we went to Mexican Inn for lunch. After lunch I met John Ullom at the shop so he could grok Barbecue Bob. We’re in negotiations to trade Wilmer (the red 510 John Roper and I went to rescue from Houston a few years back) for it. John U really wants Barbecue Bob but the wife wants him to pick a nest and roost. No, that’s not fair. I'm not sure what the story is there, but we left the deal in the cipherin’ and figgerin’ stage. After that I went home and waited for the return of Futurama on Comedy Central. It was pretty good, I hope they stay on the air for a while longer. And with that, I think my ranting is complete. Have a day.