10/8/2012

Let me start by saying “I friggin’ LOVE The Seven!”  Last night was the first Sunday “Japanese” car thing again so I froze my ass off and drove it across town.  Oh, I used quotes there around “Japanese” because in attendance last night was one Japanese truck, one South African copy of a British sports car, and one German “People’s car.”  Yep, Tim drove his Beetle instead of the Honda Cub and, of course, I was there in The Seven.  The only “real” Japanese classic was Jeff’s ‘Yoda pickup.  But I digress.  The Seven is running so well that, although it could still use some tuning to the carburetors, I just have to grin and giggle every time I drive it.  As I am wont to say whenever I get out of it around other people, “You gotta get one of these!”  So, there’s that going on.  Ok, did I mention that Fiona would be ready for pickup Friday after work?  Oh yeah, I remember laying out a plan where I'd meet John at his house and he’d drive Fifi to the shop Saturday morning.  Well, it went down like this… I met John at his house and he drove Fifi to the shop Saturday morning.  Ok, here’s more detail.  I was wasting time at my desk waiting for John to say he was on his way home before I headed out.  Unfortunately, I was not ready to go when he did.  I still had some paperwork to do before I could leave.  I rushed through it and headed to the truck.  I began to roll out onto Western Center when I saw traffic backing up almost to the railroad.  I bailed out and headed for the freeway via Mk IV Parkway.  That route seemed much quicker than Western Center but I might have just hit traffic at the right time.  I pulled up and sent John a text saying I was out front.  I piddled I little bit while waiting for him to come outside and finally grabbed the laptop and got out to wait by his car.  It was then that I noticed he and the boys were waiting in the car for me.  Oops, sorry.  I hopped in and we went to the body shop.  I handed over the check from the credit onion and the dude handed me the keys to Fiona.  John pulled up next to the car and we had a quick look at their work.  It looks nice.  If I were forced to complain, I'd point out that the gas door is just a wee bit askew.  John and I can probably fix that though.  I hopped in Fiona and drove home.  John sent a text Friday evening asking if I had a tape measure at the house.  I did.  He wanted to take some measurements off of The Seven before we went to the shop.  I got up Saturday morning and got ready, then rolled The Seven out and waited for John to arrive.  He did.  We took his measurements then rolled the car back in and went to the shop.  I had shown him Pumpenstein and said that I was going to take it to the shop to see if I could remove the plug which prevents the magazine from holding more than five rounds.  I meant I'd do that Sunday but he said, “Throw it in the truck and let’s go.”  This we did.  We got to the shop and I waited while he test fit a wheel on the brakes he wanted to use on one of his Datsuns.  It didn’t fit.  When he was through with the vice, I disassembled the shotgun and chucked the receiver in it.  I grabbed a rubber strap-wrench and went to work on the magazine tube.  It wouldn’t budge.  We discussed using the giant pipe wrench and decided any marring would be hidden by the fore arm of the gun.  I went for it.  It popped loose and threaded out.  I pulled the spring and follower out and had a look down the tube.  I couldn’t see anything but further examination showed that the tube is machined in such a way that there is a step at the five-round mark.  I went to put it all back together and the follower got stuck.  I disassembled it again and had a look.  I had to make a puller to get the follower out and when I did I had a look down the tube.  I could see tiny little dents where the pipe wrench had deformed the tube.  The follower jammed on them.  I tried all sorts of things to work the dents out to no avail.  Finally John convinced me to grind off the anodizing layer on the follower and see if it would clear.  It did.  I was greatly relieved.  I reassembled the gun and put it behind the seat of Fifi.  We then moved on to the triage of Lil' Wiggly.  We removed the hood and I took off the valve cover.  The number 2 or 3 exhaust rocker was broken in half.  Its pushrod was bent in a large “C” shape.  We could see that several other pushrods were also “C” shaped.  This cam has got to go!  It has been nothing but trouble in every engine and/or car in which it has been installed.  I.  Fucking.  Hate.  It.  If John does not take it away from me to put it up on e-Bay as soon as it comes out, I'm taking it to the chop saw and cutting it into 1” chunks!  We rolled the car outside and declared, “Happy Earth Day!” as we opened the pet-CAAAAHHHHWWWWCK and drained the water from the radiator.  You do know the correct pronunciation of the word “cock” is “CAAAAHHHHWWWWCK” right?  And you have to tilt your head up to the sky while saying it too.  Anyhoo, we eventually left and went to… wait for it… Wasabi for sushi.  Ok, since I've filled at least a page, I'm going to save the rest for tomorrow.