4/10/08

Well dag-nab and con-cern it! The one name that would make me reconsider my reconsideration about the hill country cruise was on the list. Harold Pace, a photographer and writer for some of the kit car magazines is supposed to be there to do another story about “Lotus Seven Inspired Sportscars.” Being the magazine whore that I am, I want to go again now. Oh sure, I want to see and hang out with the rest of the LSIS gang, but that fellowship alone isn't quite enough to drag me down there this time. Getting in another magazine however… I don’t know what I'm going to do. I really should stay here and get some work done on George. Not to mention the fact that I really don’t need to shell out a couple hundred bucks for two nights in a hotel. I'm in a quandary. Hang on a minute while I go deliver this projector. I'll do some cipherin’ and figgerin’ while I'm walking. Ok, I'm back. I didn’t do any cipherin’ or figgerin’ while I was walking. I'm still in a quandary. Ok, I think this is how it breaks down: I want to “participate” in the cruise, but I don’t want to “go to” the cruise. If it were here in north Texas, there wouldn’t be a question of my participation. It is the four to five hours getting there, and the four to five coming home Sunday, along with the two nights in a hotel which are whipping my ass. Bah and feh! I need to poop or get out of the Ganges about this tonight. Ok, no, I'm not going. I'd have to go to the shop tonight, load the car on the trailer, load up any and all spares I'd want to bring, load up any and all tools I'd think I'd need, drag all of that to work tomorrow, cut out early to make my hotel reservation, and then drive until at least 2100 h Friday night. No, logically thinking, I should not go. There, I said it. I'm not going. That’s it. Final decision. No, don’t try and talk me out of it. I'm staying home to work on George. Ok, so now that we have that out of the way, I'll tell y'all about Darth Versa’s grille. I got home from work last night to see a big box in the front hall. I opened it up and had a look. It was very nice. Of course, as I suspected from the item description, the mounting holes needed to be drilled. Mom had a Bored Meeting at the church so I knew I was on my own for dinner. I decided to take the thing to the shop and install it. It was raining a little when I left so I was trying to think of various scenarios of how I could install it without getting wet. I decided I'd just get wet. I'm not made out of sugar after all. Well, I suppose Juan could argue that if I am what I eat, I am just about 90% sugar. Of course then I'd have to kick Juan in the shins. But I digress. I pull up to the shop and pop the hood. I roll up the door behind Timmy and go in to compare the new grille to an old one. There are mold-marks on the piece where most of the holes need to be drilled so I drilled through them. The last two I had to guesstimate, which I did, and drilled them. I removed the old grille and installed the new one. Oh yeah, it looks tits! I grabbed the two Renault diamonds and had a look-see at how they would fit. I’d been thinking that the large one was the front and the small one was the rear but they fit much better the other way round. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you see the installation of the Renault diamonds on a Nissan, I was out of the double-sticky foam tape I use for such installations. I took a picture of the grille and sent it to John and then locked up and went home. Oh, John and I were discussing 200SX axles yesterday and we have a bet whether the upper axle pickup points for the four-link suspension aim inward or outward. I think John said outward and I said inward. We have lunch Saturday riding on it. Here’s why I think they point inward, I'd rather they pointed outward. No, that’s not me being paranoid and thinking that Nissan’s engineers were out to get me, it is based on the fact that I have never installed a four-link in a 1200. “So what,” you ask? Well, I wanted to install a four-link in the Chickenhawk years ago but the design of the axle prevented it, therefore I think they point inward. Now, here’s the funny part of that story, ok maybe not funny but interesting, ok maybe not even interesting… let me start over. When John and I made that bet he said, “You’re not going to run down to the shop tonight to check are you?” Well, I went to the shop last night but totally forgot to check. So, we’re still not sure that I've won that bet. We’ll know Saturday. And on that note, I think I'm going to call it a rant. Have a day.