5/19/10

Whew, I was afeared that yesterday’s rant would make me out as some kind of gun nut. After reading it, I didn't get that impression. Of course I might be a little too close to the crazy-assed trees to see the nut-job forest. If you know what I mean. Do you? Because I've got no clue. Anyhoo, last night I took a look at the Auto 5 shotgun. I knew there was a wooden plug of some kind in the magazine, put there to limit the capacity to two rounds for hunting legalities, and I wanted to see if I could remove it. I did. Woo hoo! Now “my” Auto 5 will actually hold five rounds of 12 gauge shells! Also, after inspecting it some more myself, I think I an going to declare it safe to fire. The pitting in the barrel isn't as bad as I'd originally thought and the chamber and action all look good. I think I'm going to buy some ammo for it. What is really cool about a 12 gauge is you can get some neat stuff for it. I think I'm going to get some of that Centurion Multi Defense. It has one 0.650” ball and six #1 buckshot balls. For those wondering, #1 buck is equivalent to .30 caliber while 0.650” would equal .65 caliber, if such a thing existed. That’s just nasty. I like it. But enough of that. I spoke to a dude here at the railroad yesterday who asked about the progress on Nadine. I told him that I'd gone to the Triumph thing in OKC and that it had inspired me some. I ‘splained my plan to revive it as a semi-Rat Rod/survivor car. I'm still not planning to do a whole lot of cosmetic work on it and the interior is going to be rather Spartan. Oh, speaking of the interior, John asked if he could “dibs” the seats coming out. I said he could before looking at the actual condition of the driver’s. It is rusted beyond repair, I'm afeared. You’re welcome to the passenger seat though. I'd be willing to bet we both wind up with aluminum Kirkey type seats though. Woo! Gotta go pee! I'll be back after lunch. Ugh. OK, so after I ate lunch I was wandering around campus, as I am wont to. Out in the courtyard between the NOC and the Marketing Building some folks were grilling and selling hot dogs and bratwursts for the Make a Wish Foundation. Now, we all know how I feel about children (in case you don't, I don't like them) so Juan would be hard pressed to imagine me partaking, right? Well, c’mon! They’re bratwursts! I bought a couple and sat down with Fay from the mail room and ate them. Now I'm uncomfortably stuffed. Maybe I'll skip dinner tonight. No wait, mom has a Bored Meeting at the church tonight. She was going to stop at Joe’s Pizza & Pasta to get us Philly Cheese Steak sammiches. I gots to has my Philly Cheese Steak. Oh, I wasn't finished with the bratwurst story. The lady selling them told me that the “Wish” they were granting is going to be a trip on the business car up to Gainsville and back in October. I smarted off and asked if they needed more chaperons on the trip. “YES!” she exclaimed with way more emphasis than I expected. “Oh crap,” I thought, “now what?” We discussed me sending her an e-mail about it and I will probably follow through with it. I would like to take a ride on the train, I just don't want any responsibility. OK, I just sent the e-mail. I guess I'm committed now, or ought to be! OK, where was I on the Nadine story? Right, seats. I know I'm planning to run a pair of Kirkey type aluminum racing seats in Nadine. I'll probably panel the interior in a very basic manner, maybe not bare aluminum but... I don't know, something. I will probably pop for the door caps and cockpit edge kits though. We'll see. I was thinking of sending the carburetors off to Z-Therapy, the folks who did such a bang up job rebuilding the carburetors for The Seven but it doesn't look like they do Triumph stuff. I began to research prices and found another place in Colorado who’ll do them for $425.00 plus a $200.00 core charge. I'll probably go with these folks. I may talk to Jeff Sloan at British Auto Specialists to see what he recommends. I wonder if anyone could do an “ugly” rebuild. What I mean is I'd like “new” carburetors that still look old and crusty. Hmm. Methinks an e-mail is in order. As I was typing the e-mail I thought, “Hey dumbass! Rebuild them yourself if you don't want them all tarted up.” Of course I'm far too lazy to rebuild them myself, not to mention I'd like some experienced hands doing the work, so I'll probably wind up going to BAS after all. Now that I think about it, there is a British car guru in Not Texas at... University Motors? Hmm, I think I need to do a little more legwork. Is it still “legwork” if it is done on them world wide interwebs? So, I guess I'll go do that. Have a day.