7/14/08

Well, another weekend of little to no accomplishment. Gregg and I wound up at On the Border instead of Genghis Grill Friday for lunch because the parking lot for GG is ludicrously small and was totally packed with cars trying to get in. GG also appeared to be full so we bailed. After we ate we headed down to Automotive Machine to check on my cylinder heads. Oh, he finally talked me into a plan for Shi-Chi. We’re going to install the oval port head, after it is unshrouded, on Gil’s A-14 bottom end with the rumpety cam. Both heads I dropped off at the machine shop passed the pressure test so either one is suitable for reconditioning. We all discussed the pushrod situation and “shorter pushrods” was the general consensus. I nodded as if I would do that and made the mental note to set the lash thicker and let it rattle. It’ll be the same difference. So, the plan at the machine shop is for them to flow bench the head at .600” lift then start hogging out the shrouds on the intakes of one head. If they hit a water jacket, they’ll know just how deep they can go on the other head. If they don’t hit water we’ll run that head. We still haven’t decided on just how much to shave the deck so compression doesn’t go into “diesel” territory. I imagine they’ll lop off a few thousandths, or maybe a few hundredths, and we’ll all be happy. Gregg dropped me back at work and then went to talk to Ray at the Ranch. I “worked” the rest of the afternoon, I probably took a nap to be honest, and then headed home for the weekend. Gregg called as I was leaving and asked if I was planning to go to the shop. I wasn’t but said I could. We met up there and hung out. Oh wait, I needed gas when I left work so I headed to the Exxon/Mobil station at Blue Mound and Western Center. As soon as it was too late to turn back, just out of sight of the last turn back, traffic on WC stopped dead. We inched along and finally I made it to the station. I'm still not sure what the holdup was. I filled the tank and had a look at my options for getting home. There was no way to turn south onto Blue Mound. Turning left back onto Western Center didn’t look too promising either. “I guess I'm going north,” I said to myself. Actually, I decided that while waiting to get to the gas station and reset the odometer to check the mileage to the land in Boyd. I took off and drove to Boyd. It is 21 miles from the railroad to the farm. I re-reset the odometer at the farm to see what the mileage was to the house but we’ll see why that didn’t work out in a moment. It was while I was in Boyd that Gregg called. I called mom to see what her plans were and then headed to the shop making the odometer re-reset a moot point. I also forgot to check when I got to the shop so I don’t even know what the mileage is from Boyd to Beenbroke. Oh well. Gregg and I had a look at a couple A-series flywheels. There was the one that came off of Gil’s motor which I had lightened somewhat and another one we’re calling “Explodotron!” Explodotron is a flywheel Marty Mary made for his 120Y some years ago. He bored several holes around the circumference and then welded the ring gear back on. Then he had the back side of the wheel shaved considerably. It is nice and light. In fact, there is magic marker on the back which says “11.4 pounds” or something like that. We had a look at the car and the flywheel does sit just ahead of the driver’s feet so it isn't likely to totally cripple me if it does blow up. I made the executive decision to let the machinists at Automotive Machine decide between the two. Around 0-dark-30 h, Gregg and I took off to have dinner at Genghis Grill. Have I mentioned they opened one on Bryant Irvin road? Oh yeah, I remember doing that now. It was good. We parted ways with the plan being he’d call in the morning and we might pull the engine from Shi-Chi. He called around noon saying he wasn’t going to make it. I had pretty much given up anyway and was headed for the shop. I decided to take the two flywheels to Automotive Machine. The machinist approved of Explodotron but suggested a scatter shield. Duh. I just went to Summit and ordered a transmission blanket. I'm on hold with Nissan attempting to get some new flywheel bolts. I'm not a fan of reusing those items. Crap, I may have to become a fan. Thornhill Nissan shows a dealer in Missouri having one. My luck, that is one bolt, not one set. I've sent an e-mail to Too Intense Restorations asking for their help. They’ll have them but they’ll be a quadrillion dollars, each. We’ll see. So Automotive Machine is going to spin Explodotron for balance, then resurface it. I'll probably use the Centerforce clutch that Marty bought as well. Why not? With those decisions made, I took Mr. Wiggly back to the shop. Oh yeah, I drove Mr. Wiggly to Automotive Machine by the way. Well, I have more but I think I'll save it for tomorrow. Have a day.