4/22/08

I see we got Monday’s rant up successfully. Huzzahs all around. I forgot to tell y'all about what else Mario and I did to Darth Versa on Sunday. Well, to start the story, John and I installed the Renault diamonds front and rear on Saturday. They look so friggin’ cool. So while we were talking about nothing in particular Sunday, I showed Mario the Renault, “RENAULT” and the “Clio” script emblems I had. We took a look at them on the back of the car and I made an executive decision. I started applying the double sticky tape to the backs. We took a tape measure and some masking tape out to the car and laid out a reference line then I began peeling the backing strips off the double sticky tape. I lightly placed the “RENAULT” and had Mario step back to see if it was centered, level, and square. It was so I stuck it down. I slid over to the other side and peeled the backing from the “Clio” badge. I lightly stuck that on and had him take a look. When it was square I pushed it on to “German specs,” guttentite. I pulled the masking tape line and stepped back for a look-see. Oh yeah! We’re rollin’ full FDM stylee now! That would be French Domestic Market by the way. Ok I know, to be full-on FDM I'll need to put the yellow film over the headlights. Hey, why don’t I put the yellow film over the headlights? That’ll cure the last hurdle of de-Versa-fying (get it?) the car! All that chrome up front has bugged me ever since installing the taillights. I just e-mailed John asking his opinion. We’ll see what he has to say. He just reminded me that he loved the idea but I “hated it.” Ok, so it takes me some time to warm to an idea sometimes. Suffices to say, I think we’ll be doing this. Oh man, I'm excited about it now. Oh, one more thing, I also ordered a 2” or 2 5/8” or some smallish sized “RENAULT” emblem for the grille. I'm thinking down in the corner on the driver’s side. We’ll see. Now all I need to do is get rid of the Nissan “hamburger” in the middle of the steering wheel and no one from the outside will be able to tell what it really is. I'm not sure how we’re going to accomplish that feat. Something will probably present itself. I wonder if a pre-stressed leather or leatherette cover could be fashioned to go over the airbag such that it would tear away in the event of a deployment. I suppose it could Velcro on. That might work. Of course I could always deactivate the bag. But that might show up on the OBD-II as a trouble code. In fact, I'm sure it would now that I think about it. I think I might go talk to my upholstery people about a slip-on fitted cover. I wish I had a picture of my steering wheel to look at right quick. I think it will work. Oh sure, it won’t be the safest thing I've ever done, but it also won’t be the dumbest. At least I don’t think it will be the dumbest. As long as there isn't anything hard like an emblem on the thing, it shouldn’t do any more damage to a face than the regular airbag and cover. I think I'd have the upholstery people brand in either a Renault diamond or, better yet a DLR logo! Or what is more likely, I could leave it smooth. Yes, I like this plan. It is just crazy enough to work. So I took off for a little while just now and tried to do some other stuff. Now I'm back talking to y'all. It really can be an impressive looking time waster, just sitting at your computer typing away at nothing. Oh, I spoke to George a little while ago. He’s taking a race trailer to Chicago, or someplace, and will be flying back Friday. He couldn’t get in to the swap meet yet to find the spot that someone supposedly has for him so we’ll be playing that by ear Saturday morning. It is entirely possible, and in fact most likely, that I'll just slap some “For Sale” signs on the thing and just park it in the regular lot. I think Tony wants to meet at the meet so I'll probably have a ride home in case Mr. Wiggly sells. I'm not going to hold my breath though. George has a really good spot at the La Grave swap meet grounds and has said that he’ll be there for the June meet. I'll try to horn in on that spot if he’ll let me. Gregg needs to get that Mustang ready to drag out to one of these meets. He needs to either find the original title or source a replacement from the state before June. I'd sure like to have that eyesore off my “property” soon. It is a little too far gone for a casual restoration. It needs to go to a proper “Concourse Quality” restoration shop. The dude from California who wants to buy Barbecue Bob e-mailed me the other day. He’s about to deploy to Iraq again and says that when he gets back he’ll have the wad of cash necessary to come get it. Of course that won’t be until sometime in 2009 so there’s no rush. I think I'm going to let John install the KA-24 in Johnny instead of Barbecue Bob. He may have a buyer for the Z-20 out of the Chickenhawk so at least that engine won’t be an orphan. I think a KA with fuel injection should make plenty of torque for a faux rally car, especially if I have to resort to all terrain truck tires in the future due to (tee hee, I said doo-doo!) availability of true rally tires. We’ll see. Another deciding factor for the KA, the header I built for the Chickenhawk should bolt right up to the KA head. The ports might need some massaging but I think we’ll be fine. I do need to find out if the KA block is the same height as the NAPS-Z though. If it is too much taller we’re screwed. I'll have to go back to the NAPS-Z then. Of course that isn't really all that big a deal, that was a strong running engine. Granted I don’t have the cam it had in the Chickenhawk but it was still pretty stupid fast in stock form. It’ll be fast enough, for the time being. Well, I guess I'm just about talked out for today. I think I'll shut her down and head for the house.