8/26/09

Well, I forgot that today would have been my parent’s 60th wedding anniversary. I probably ought to take mom out to dinner or something. Having said that, I guess you should be able to finger out there will be no shop night tonight. Sorry John. I think we’ll plan to install the brake master cylinder on Lil' Wiggly Saturday and then take the manifold stuff to Automotive Machine for, duh, machining. John suggested that I consider Lil' Wiggly as the BNSF Family Day Car Show entry this year. I had already sent in the registration form for both cars, just in case of an eventuality such as this. We will probably do a bit more tarting up of Lil' Wiggly after we install the master cylinder. I think a trip to Lowe’s for some fiberglass cloth and resin to “fix” the floor of the hatch might be in order. Yes I know it isn't the “right way” to fix it, but it should work well enough for a thirty-two year old car. We shall see. Oh, I rectum we’ll be making an attempt to install the leather Saturn seats as well. That would be nice. I can see a bit of paint being spritzed on there too. Maybe a couple cans of matte white should be on the Lowe’s shopping list. No, we probably won't have time for that, now that I think about it. Besides, I already listed the color of the car as “white and rust” on the entry form. I'm debating whether or not to drop $80.00 or more for a dash pad cover thingy. It sure would help that ratty interior to look, well, less ratty. John says, “Gopher it!” so I guess I will. I'm off to e-Bay for a moment to spend money I shouldn't on a car which, to be honest, isn't worth it. OK, I'm back. The dash pad should be on its way here soon. I have thirty days before the show. I think we’ll make it. Neither one of us has made the “dual SU and header” suggestion yet. It will probably come up Saturday. I need to stick to my guns and say, “No, the reason this car is being used for the show is it runs and drives while Shichi does not. We are not going to disable Lil' Wiggly until Shichi is going again.” Yes, it might only take a few hours to do the swap. Yes, it would be really cool. Yes, I would prefer to have that setup to show. I'm still not going to do it, so there. Actually, to be honest, I kind of hope the engine has round ports. If it has round ports I'll probably lobby for the single DCOE and the header. I know John prefers the dual SU setup but... OK, it is my car. There, I said it. I'm not going to justify it any more than that, mainly because my justifications sounded a bit spurious once I put them in writing. Suffices to say, if it has oval ports, it’ll get the SU’s. If it has round ports, it will get the DCOE. Unless I change my mind when the time comes. We shall see. Hey, I just thought of something, Shichi rolls. We can work on Lil' Wiggly in the main bay for a change. I'm not sure what that car will think about that. It has never had any work done on it in the main bay. Wait, that isn't true now that I think about it. Kevin and Jesse replace the fuel line at the tank in the main bay, I think. Speaking of which, I need to replace the mechanical fuel pump and radiator fan for electric units. No, they aren’t bad, but they are sapping horsepower from the wheels. I wonder if there is a place on the internot where I can find out how much power difference there is between direct impingement mechanical stuff and indirect power robbing through the electrical system. TANSTAAFL, after all. Look it up. Anyhoo, I'm sure the electrical load is less than the mechanical load. At least that’s how I'm justifying it in my mind. I also want to remove all of that A/C equipment. I doubt I'll ever use it so all it is doing is adding weight. No, we probably won't tackle those items before the car show either, I'm just talking. So, yeah, if we can get the master cylinder swapped, some fiberglass laid down in the hatch area, and possibly the seats in, I think I'll be a happy camper. Oh, John suggested looking at that tachometer installation too. We’ll see. OK, I'm bored with y'all. I'm going to do something else for a while.