12/8/08

I did not fire a single bullet this last weekend! Oh, I thought about going to the range a few times, and then there were the ubiquitous “people who need a good killing” I thought about obliging, but I never did make it. No, Saturday we actually got some stuff cone at the shop! First off, I didn’t ride with John to drop off and pick up those two cars. I rolled towards the shop around 0900 h, and thinking he’d be much later than he was, took a quick hoon “on the way.” He called to ascertain my whereabouts as I was approaching Old Granbury Road on 1187 near the end of the hoon. I told him I was five minutes away. I rolled up to see his newest acquisition. He was as giddy as a schoolgirl. I'm still not telling what it is until I'm given specific instructions that it is ok. We discuss the eviction of George and how we want to arrange the other cars in the fleet. I suggest that we roll the Chickenhawk to the spot to be vacated by Barbecue Bob and put George back behind the shop. John is ok with that but further suggested putting George where his orange 510 is and that car in the spot vacated by the Chickenhawk. I'm fine with that so it becomes the de facto plan. We further discuss the indoor arrangements and decide that Timmy will go in George’s vacated spot while Barbecue Bob will go in the main bay vacated by Timmy. With a game plan in mind, we get to work. He gets Timmy ready to roll while I begin to get George ready. He finishes first so we roll Timmy out. He pulls the “new” car in and starts on the front suspension work. He’s going to cut the springs and install the Watanabe wheels I used to have on Darth Versa. Meanwhile, I'm still clearing off George and dropping the hood back on. Marty Smith shows up and John starts telling him all about the “new” car. I keep working, helping John when he needs assistance. I get George ready to roll but don’t move it because of Marty’s truck being in the way. I move on to helping John. We get the right side front suspension done and he asks if I'm going to go get us some lunch. We agree on Taco Bueno and I roll. I realize about halfway there that I should have taken Shichi. I didn’t go back for it. I got lunch and returned. John washed up and we ate. Marty returned when we were about ¾ finished with lunch and hung out with us some more. When John went back to work on the left side of the car, Marty and I rolled George out. Once I got air in the flat tire and the fender rolled away from interfering, the car rolled pretty well, in a straight line. It still didn’t want to turn due to (tee hee, I said doo-doo!) the welded differential, but I expected that. After moving George out, we “cleaned up” that spot a bit and rolled Timmy in. We rolled Barbecue Bob into a pre-insertion position and waited for John to finish in the main bay. We rolled George into Barbecue Bob’s vacated spot because we were all getting pretty tired of moving stuff by this point. Oh, while we were rolling cars around, John finished with the front suspension and backed the “new” car in to do the rear. We decide to not cut the rear springs at this point and see how it sits on the Watanabe wheels. I thought it looked fine but he wants ¼” spacers behind the wheels. It’s his car, I'm easy. We rolled Barbecue Bob in and called it a day. We got a car between us before we left the shop grounds so I couldn’t follow him but I was stopping for gas and a carwash anyway. His new thing does look pretty cool rolling down the road. Oh, we discussed Barbecue Bob’s engine situation some more and have decided on the KA-24E. John wants to do carburetors but I want the “jump in and turn the key” reliability of fuel injection. Besides, we have most, if not all, of the bits to do FI. Not to mention, it IS my car. I head for the house and decide to not go shoosting. I waste the rest of the evening. Sunday morning I wait for mom and my sister to call about lunch. They do call but I'm on the phone with John. I try to call back but they don’t answer. Why carry a damned phone if you aren’t going to answer it? I contemplate putting the guns in the trunk of Darth Versa so I can shoost after we eat but don’t do it. It is going to be a car weekend. When we finally do make contact, we agree on El Fenix for lunch. I head out and get us a table. They eventually join me and we eat. I drop mom off at her car then head for the shop. I'm planning to go for a hoon in Shichi before the “First Sunday Japanese Car” thing we have every month but I'll tell y'all about that tomorrow.