12/28/09

I hate Christmas. Sure, this was just about the “perfect” Christmas this year, what with the siblings agreeing to “no presents” leading to a relaxed shopping season for me, as well as the Christmas Eve snowstorm which canceled the church service I'm always dragged to, but I still feel like I didn't get to do what I wanted to do. Granted, part of the problem is that I'm still waiting to get Shichi's engine out of hock at the machine shop. I'll go drop another $200.00 on that bill today and hopefully will be able to pick it up next Monday. No point in getting it this week since I've been informed we’re going to meet the Austin branch of the family in Waco next Saturday. So, I think I'm going to plan on spending Thursday and Friday at the shop piddling with the wiring of Shichi. I'm going to relocate the horn button while trying to finger out why it is shorting out. Well, I guess I won't really be fingering anything out, but excising the problem with a re-wire, sort of thing. I may try to stiffen up the scuttle a bit while I'm in there. The flange at the bottom, where it bolts to the frame, is developing stress cracks which are making the whole thing a bit flollopy. I'm not sure how I'm going to stiffen it up, but it is on my “To Do” list. I'm also giving some thought to relocating the fuse box to the engine bay, right behind the horns. I probably won't do that, but I'm thinking about it. Actually, what I ought to mount right behind the horns is an MSD 6-AL spark box. I ought to steal the one from George and buy a boost-retard equipped 6-BTM to replace it. Hmm, that’s a thought. The wires from the distributor to the coil on Shichi are a tad too short and could stand a little strain relief. Rewiring the ignition would rectify that as well. Am I talking myself into this? Sounds like it. Is it working? Quite possibly. While it is true that the valve train parts I'm using ought to significantly raise the red line of that engine, a rev-limiter wouldn't be a bad idea. Extra zap to the spark plugs can't hurt either. OK, I think I'm going to steal George's MSD for Shichi. That’s George the 1200, not George the Grumpy Old Fart, by the way. Oops, gotta run for a bit. I may be back later. We’ll see. OK, so Sunday I went to the range to shoost Big Millie. I fired off one hundred rounds. Instead of buying another 100 rounds of ball ammo though, I wanted to replenish with JHPs. Unfortunately, they had a two-box limit on ammo. Thay also appear to not sell as much self defense ammo as ball because their price was still pretty high for a twenty-round box. I went ahead and bought forty rounds thinking I'd swing by Blood Bath and Beyond for another sixty this afternoon. From there I'll go to Automotive Machine and plop down some more cash on Shichi's engine. Well, I think since I've had my afternoon nap now, I guess there really isn't anything else to do around here. I'll talk to y'all again tomorrow.