11/20/09

Well, John and I did mess with the TR last night. I picked him up at his house around 1700 h and we headed towards the shop. Along the way we discussed the plan of putting the “new” tires Nadine had given me on the wire wheels to make the car roll. Turns out we both had the same idea in mind about it but neither had voiced it yet. So at the shop we loaded up a jack, four stands, the “new” tires, a tool kit (a woefully inadequate one it turned out, but I digress), the impact wrench (but we forgot the 1/2” to 3/8” drive adapter), the shop-vac, and one of those Capri steel wheels. Oh , there were probably other things, but I don't remember. From the shop we went to Tractor Supply to look for inner tubes. They had one. We need four. I decided against buying the one they had so that the owner of the classic sports car, coming in from the Motorsport Ranch on a flat, could buy it in the future and make the repair to get him home. Yeah, I'm that magnanimous. I'll order some from them interwebs sometime. Hmm, I guess I ought to get on that. Hang on. OK, that’s done. Of course they won't be her for this weekend so we won't be mounting up rollers tomorrow. We need to get cracking on the de-enginification of Shichi actually. Since Gregg has paid for it, and I'm spending that money like gang busters, I really ought to get it to him. John wants me to ride along to look at a couple cars he’s interested in tomorrow. Hopefully we can get to the shop after that. I'm not holding my breath though. Perhaps I ought to make it my goal to have the engine out before returning to work after the Thanksgiving long weekend. That gives me any time after John's journey Saturday, any time I'm willing to devote to it Sunday, any time I'm able to devote to it Thursday, all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That ought to be doable. Oh, ha ha, I just realized I was in the middle of telling y'all the story of last night’s adventure. OK, so we left Tractor Supply and headed to the house. While I was inside changing clothes, John jacked up one corner and removed the wheel. I came back to see him inspecting the hub and stuff. He put it back on and lowered the car back onto the dollies so we could locate it in such a way that the garage door would close. We then whacked the two spinners off of the left side of the car. That side went up on stands and we removed those wheels. It took some wiggling, but they came off much easier than I had expected. I was really getting excited for the engine’s prospects now. Of course I jinxed it by saying so, but I'll get to that in a moment. We whanged the spinners off the other side and jacked it onto stands as well. Since the space was more limited on this side of the car, these wheels didn't come off as easily, but off they did come. I was quite pleased with the amount of work we accomplished but we didn't stop there. We had a look at removing the spline drive adapters and found the right socket in the tool kit, but without the adapter for the impact wrench we were stuck. John took a measurement of the bolt spacing and it looks like they are 4x4.5” just like a Datsun! If that is the case, my big expenditure for wheels has just been cut by two thirds! I'll be able to get a set of Panasport lookalikes for a little more than I paid for the wiring harness! I'm so very happy about that. I made the comment that I'd like to lay down and try to turn the fan and see if the engine moves. John said, “Gopher it.” I did. It didn't. Oh, now I remember and know why my shoulder is a bit stiff and sore today. Duh. OK, when I didn't have enough “assitol” to turn the thing, John lay down and tried. He thinks he got it to move but I'm not sold. I finally got him to give up and convinced him we’d done enough for one evening. We loaded up the stuff going back to the shop in Fifi, and took out the stuff staying at the house then I went in to change while John washed his hands. He’d obviously done more work than me because mine needed only a rinse. We went to Benito’s and ate then I took him home. So, “Woo hoo” number one was that the wheels came off. “Woo-hoo” number two was that it looks like Datsun bolt pattern wheels might fit. “Aw-crap” number one was that we couldn't find inner tubes. And “Aw-crap” number two was that the engine didn't turn. I'm not giving up on the Pickling Solution yet. I think we’ll remove the front apron (nose to those of us here in the colonies) and see if we can't get better leverage on that crank from the top. We shall see.