6/14/10

Well, I guess I can consider this last weekend a success. Saturday morning John and I met at Mimi’s for breakfast. We discussed some of the things I mentioned the other day and he made a decision for me. Remember how I didn't want to remove the rear-sump pan from the Z-20 and was going to revert to installing that engine in Barbecue Bob? Yeah, John nixed that plan. Nipped it in the bud, as it were. He needs that pan for something he’s working on at home. It was decided that we’d go to the shop and, at the very least, he’d swap pans. While he was working on that, I got down to removing the driver’s seat from Nadine. Some of the nuts were so rusted that they weren’t even hex-heads any more. I gripped them with locking pliers and twisted them off. Well, most of them. I finally got pissed off to the point of ripping the last section out by force. Rust and metal fatigue ARE your friends sometimes. With the seat finally out, I finished vacuuming the cockpit and had a look at what I have. We tried setting one of the blue Corbeau seats in there but I think we’re going to need something thinner. With that seat as far back as it would go, we couldn't get the bottom angle, or Hockley, steep enough. My legs were into the steering wheel pretty badly when we did manage to get some Hockley in there. I'm not sure what we’re going to wind up with. We'll see. Once John had the pans swapped, he came to “help” me. We got to work removing the wiring harness. Yeah, that might have been a mistake. We got it all removed, up to the stuff under and behind the dash. We had to quit because the key was at the house and we couldn't get into the glove box. We did manage to get the steering wheel off. “So what?” I hear you asking. Triumph Tr-3s have what’s called a “Control Head” in the center of the steering wheel. It is a hub of sorts which does not turn when the wheel does. It contains the horn button and turn signal switch. The wires for this unit run down the length of the steering column and out through the steering box. It is the wildest thing I have ever seen. We consulted the “Writ of Common Knowledge” for TR-3s and read how it is done. Lo and behold, it worked. But, like I said, we couldn't go further without the keys. So we removed the road wheels! We put it up on stands and knocked off the knock-offs then removed two of the spline-drive adapters. We test fit a few Datsun wheels and I think we have decided on 280ZX six spokes. They look pretty bitchin’ on there. We also removed the water pump and... I guess had a look inside. I don't remember why we did that. Eventually we left and went our separate ways. Gregg called to say he was ready to come pick up Lil' Wiggly and Kevin called to see if he could borrow Fifi and my trailer. Both of those chores involved me being at the house so I went home. I fired up Lil' Wiggly and ran up the freeway access road to clear its little throat. Yes, I do have regrets on selling that car. No, I do not want to talk about it. I parked it and began the process of removing the Hello Kitty decals. Yeah, Gregg is so insecure in his sexuality that he can't drive it lest someone might think he was gay. Pussy. Kevin showed up as I was finishing and I handed him the Fifi keys. He was driving off as Gregg and Dave pulled up. We swapped titles and he handed over a cheque. I told him the few niggling matters about the car and they were off. An hour or so later, he called to rub in just how cool the car is. “Imagine,” one of us said, “what it will be like with that bad ass engine!” He gassed on about it for at least half an hour. I rested up and then mom and I went to have dinner with Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jim. Oh, I forgot about Friday evening! After work, Larry Shuttlebus and I went to Blood Bath & Beyond to do a little window shopping. Neither of us had any money so we left empty handed. From there we went to The Spaghetti House on Blue Mound Road for dinner. I'd been talking about this waitress saying she was a hotter version of the Goth Girl here at the railroad. Remember the Goth Girl who “cost” me over $1,000.00 at a strip club because I'd had a dream about her? Yeah, this waitress is her, but hotter. Larry agreed. So, the point of all that was that I'd had Italian for dinner Friday evening. Aunt Margaret wanted Italian for dinner Saturday. I had Italian for dinner on Friday and Saturday. OK, Sunday morning I get a text from Roger Hsieh from BNSF wanting to go have bait for lunch. I agree and go pick him and his girlfriend up. We go to Tokyo One in Not Texas. I eat way too much, as usual. After I drop them off, I head for the shop to pick up a Grant horn button for Lil' Wiggly since I wouldn't allow Gregg to have my Hello Kitty one. He would have painted it and that would have pissed me off even more than having to remove the decals. Kevin met me there and hooked up the trailer. He had apparently been using a different trailer and had a blowout. He now needed mine. I get him hooked up and then mom calls. I'd agreed to go with her to buy a new sink for her bathroom this weekend and had totally forgotten about it. I rushed home and we went to Lowe’s. I goofed off the rest of the afternoon and evening until about 2200 h when Kevin called to say he had dropped off the trailer and was bringing Fifi home. I had him park it behind mom and figured I’d just drive it today. I did. So, that’s about all there is to say about the weekend. I'm going to deposit Gregg's cheque this afternoon and try to ignore the money in my account. Tomorrow I'll tell y'all what is going to happen when I can’t ignore it any longer.