4/26/10

I am rather excited about this last weekend. Here’s what went down. Saturday morning I was preparing to go to the shop when I got a text from John. Samantha, his wife, returned early from her thing and so he was free to join me at the shop. I finished getting ready, rolled The Seven out, and headed to the shop. Yeah, that car is way fun. I really like driving it. * Sigh * I'm afraid I'm going to have to admit something else to y'all. It is something John has been trying to get me to do for a while. Now, I'm not saying I need to do this all the time, but in The Seven I'm afeared I do. I need to move my wallet out of my back pocket when I drive. What? Did you think it was something more grandiose than that? Sorry. OK, so I get to the shop and “hop” out. I used quotes because I'm still not to the true “hop” out stage of my weight loss regimen. Anyhoo, I start to look at Nadine's nose. I grab a Phillip’s head screwdriver and begin taking the grille out. John arrives as I'm unhooking the park and turn signal lights. We won't go into the ludicrous British wiring at this time. With the grille out of the way, we get cracking on the myriad of bolts holding the nose on. With the nose off, finally, we have a look at the radiator. Yep, Standard/Triumph was definitely a union shop. It takes two people to do tasks which would have been one minute jobs on a Datsun. But I digress. The radiator removal required removal of a frame member to access the bolts. Said frame member will be getting access holes drilled in it before it goes back on. Once the radiator was out of the way, I removed the fan. We looked for a socket to go on the crank bolt but I don't have one. John handed me the ludicrously large adjustable wrench and I set it to the bolt. The engine turned! We tried a more reasonable adjustable wrench and the engine still turned! It was tight, but it turned. I was happy. Granted, the whelm level of realizing what I monumental task was ahead of me tempered my enthusiasm a bit, but I was happy. I think we fiddled with a few more things on Nadine and then moved on to The Seven. John removed the valve cover and we set the valves then I re-torqued the head bolts. He put the valve cover back on but made me do the final hunker on the nuts. I do not blame him one bit there, I'd have done the same to him on his car (assuming he hadn't taken the wrench out of my hand already on his). I decided to reattach the Birkini top for some sun protection and did so. We washed up and stood there looking at stuff for a few more minutes then left. We had discussed going to KFC for that new “Double Down” sandwich, but then forgot. We wound up at Freebird’s for burritos. A couple folks eyeballed The Seven while we ate and I wound up allowing a kid to sit in it. Made his day. We parted company at that point. I went to the credit onion and got some cash then went to the Kreblechistani tire store and got The Seven inspected. I then went a-hoonin’. Eventually I made it back to the house and had a shower and a nap. Mom asked if we could go try the “Double Down” sandwich, so we did. It is made of 100% pure, grade A, all American Awesome! All they need now is John's idea of a “mashed potato & gravy” shake, and the ultimate KFC meal would be complete. So, all in all, I think I can call it a successful Saturday. I'll tell y'all about Sunday tomorrow.