7/7/10

Wow, three years ago at this time Pat and I were at the Tail of the Dragon with a bunch of Lotus Seven folks. Part of me cannot believe it has been that long, yet another part cannot believe it was so recent. Hmm. So, here’s what I'm thinking with regards to Nadine. I’m planning to continue with the exorcism of the Prince of Darkness (Lucas Electrics) this weekend while waiting to hear from Jeff Sloan. If I don't hear from him by the time I'm to a point where the next thing to do is yank the engine, I'm yanking the engine and going ahead with a Datsun installation. John has just about got me convinced that an L-20b is the way to go after all, if for nothing but simplicity’s sake. I'll go ahead and get the car up and running with a down draft carburetor, but I'll be on the lookout for a pair of DCOEs, Solexes, OERs, or SUs in the near future. Of course if I went with an L-16, I probably have all the bits to make an intercooled blow-through turbo setup. Interesting. I mean, if I'm going to bastardize the thing, why not go all out? I'm sure John will have something to say about that when next we speak. Just exactly how much of a shit-storm would that raise? A TR-3 that goes, “Ssssssreeeeet pssssssssh,” with every shift would cause conniption fits the likes of which no Triumph event has ever seen! Juan would think. Ooh, we might have to do it just for the “Fuck you!” factor. Tee hee. OK, I'll reel it back in. I probably won't install a turbo L-16 in Nadine. No, a naturally aspirated two-liter will suffice. Hell, just losing a couple hundred pounds of dead weight ought to make for much more sprightly performance. I'm fingering that a Datsun engine and transmission will weigh at least that much less than the Hoyt-Clagwell lump in there now. OK, so we were looking at the Honduh radiator as an option in there since the gazinta and gazowta pipes are better suited to the Datsun engines, right? The biggest hurdle is filling the thing since the radiator is so far forward under the nose, right? Well, I had a thought about that. Since I am planning to delete the heater, we could run the heater hoses to a high mounted filler tank and fill it that way. It’s not like I don't have room on that firewall for an expansion tank filler hoozis, right? Besides, a Mishimoto Honduh replacement radiator, like the one in The Seven, is much cheaper than an aluminum TR-3 replacement unit. So, there you have it. Oh, I was watching my screen saver earlier and pictures of a car show were scrolling by. Well, there was a picture of a “Back to the Future” DeLorean in there. It got me to thinking. Juan always sees either bone stock DeLoreans or ones done up like the end of the first movie, right? Well, I decided that if I'm going to build one, which is so unlikely as to be moo, I'd want one like the third movie when Marty went from the fifties to the 1800s. I'd want the red wheels and big ol’ balloony white-walls! I'm not sure what else is different from the “end if the first film” version, but... um, yeah. So that’s the BttF DeLorean I'd build, were I to build one, which I probably won't. So there.