1/9/12

Ugh, I don’t feel… well, actually I feel like crap, but I really don’t feel that bad. I can't explain what I mean but… well, let’s see. Ok, I am all “symptomy,” and don’t feel good, but in my head I don’t feel all that bad. I guess it just isn’t getting to me like the common cold or the flu or whatever this is usually does. Whatever. Anyhoo, Saturday morning I met John at the shop. He was there already and had big ideas and plans for his 1200. I came in and immediately rained on his parade. Basically I told him what he had designed in his head wasn’t going to work. I was 100% sure it was going to bind up the bushings and not allow the shocks to move. We “argued” back and forth over it for a bit until he came up with a “new” design. I shot it down as well until we tweaked it some more. Once he had me convinced the “New, new” plan was going to work, we started building it. A pair of control arms from a 280ZX became the shock mounts for the control arms and I zooked one of them together. While that was cooling, we made an upper clevis to mount the shock to the unibody. John then crawled under the car and “installed” it all. It worked… at least with the upper clevis loose. That was the one thing we never did try: tightening up that nut. I don’t know if it will have an effect on the finished product but… Juan never knows. Of course, all of this took several more hours than I made it appear so when we were done we went to lunch. Oh, the reason I “convinced” him to skip the Japanese Nostalgic Car Show on Sunday and come to the shop Saturday was so we could sell Nadine to that dude, remember? Well, he has a hernia and couldn’t make it this week. He says he’s 100% sure he’s “in” on the deal and will buy the car… but just not today. I, after talking to John but before talking to this dude, had been convinced that I wanted to back out of the deal. John made it clear he would rather see Nadine done than the Spitfire… at that time. After talking to the guy, he guilted me into manning-up and going through with the deal I had agreed to. I could feel John's disappointment in me from across the room. What actually did it for me was when the dude promised that the restoration would be more along the lines of what Nadine, the lady from the church who originally owned the car, would want than how I was going to “bastardize” the thing. I think I can face Nadine, someday, and tell her that. He’s “rescuing” the car from me, basically. I think everyone will be able to live with that decision. Now, what changed John's mind was when we started looking at the Spitfire. He took one of those bitchin’ badass gold wheels he just bought out and set it next to the Spit’. “Oh yeah,” he said. “Get rid of that TR, we’re building this!” We talked engines a bit and decided that the Chickenhawk's Z-20 would probably fit. He cautioned me that with that engine, the Spit’ would probably be faster than The Seven… and maybe even Fiona. I have no problem with a car being faster than another car, especially if I own both of them. Besides, my daily driver doesn’t have to be my fastest car, otherwise why have the toys in the first place? His point was, though, if the Spit’ is faster and easier to get in and out of, would The Seven become superfluous? I assured him it would not. Then we got into a rather homoerotic conversation about how the Spit’ is a hot guy in an Armani suit whereas The Seven is a hot guy athlete, like a “Baywatch” lifeguard sort of thing. I then backpedaled a bit to say the Spit’ is “Posh Spice” whereas The Seven is “Sporty Spice.” The point being, while they are both Little British Cars, or LBCs, they are different enough to keep both around. Besides, c’mon… it’s The Seven! Of course further discussion probably made that point moo because the new plan is for him to find a B-310 hatchback to build into a Sunny Cup car and I'll get its engine and transmission for the Spit’. Although, now that I'm thinking about it, what engine was he planning to use in the Sunny Cup car? Shouldn’t it have a hot rod A-series? Perhaps he’ll let us know in the comments after he reads this… assuming he actually reads this of course. Ok, so then there’s Sunday. I lay in bed until mom came home from church with Captain D’s fish and chips for lunch. I ate that then lay in front of the TV, napping, until 1800 h when I took Fiona across town to the monthly JNC car thingy. I hung out with Jeff and a couple other folks until about 2000 h when I went home and went to bed. So there you have it, my weekend.

Side note: I'm a bit pissed that FedEx can't seem to be able to deliver my CAI because the seller required a fucking signature for delivery. I'll bet the dumbshit driver is going to the back door and knocking. Mom can't fucking hear when you're in the room with her. How the fuck is she supposed to hear someone knocking on the patio door? Now I have to go to the middle of the fucking ghetto, somewhere in the 820/287/Berry/Village Creek area and find the fucking FedEx Home Delivery depot because the one near work is only Express or some such bullshit. Now I hope I DID screw up the seller's inventory by accidentally hitting the "Buy It Now" button three times before actually completing the process.