1/18/13

Well, it is Friday again.  I guess we’ll be going to the shop as usual tomorrow… at least I hope that is the plan.  I just ordered a bunch of stuff from McMaster-Carr online but it won't be here for this weekend… of course.  A few weeks ago, probably on one of those days when I was at the shop by myself, in fact I know it was one of those days because I was wearing an onion on my belt, as that was the style of the day… wait, let me start over without the asides.  A few weeks ago I took apart the old fuel cell from the Chickenhawk.  I removed the cap system and wondered why I had plugged the vent.  I cleaned out the silicone I'd put in there to stop it up and set it aside.  I zooked the bolts to the inner ring so it would be much easier to reinstall when the time came.  I took all the foam out to inspect it and see if it was deteriorating… it was not.  I removed the -8 fittings from the sump and the -6 vent fitting from the top and cleaned out the shell.  I fingered I'd go to Lowe’s and buy some bulkhead fittings to convert it from -8 and -6 AN fittings to regular hose nipples… yeah, Lowe’s doesn’t carry bulkhead fittings that I could find.  So, I said all of that to say this, I went to McMaster-Carr today to look for bulkhead fittings and bought three which I hope will work.  While on the MM-C site, I looked at fuel level gauges for the cell.  I decided against buying one.  I had a look at rivet-nuts and added a kit with 120 inserts, the tool, and a neat little case for it all.  The inserts come as a selection of aluminum and steel 10-32 and ¼-20… um, inserts.  After that, I looked at wheel chocks to use as a “Parking Brake” for Lil' Wiggly since we abandoned the mechanical Wilwood calipers I bought.  I might still add a “line lock” for short term parking, but I don’t want to rely on it for long periods.  After adding a pair of chocks to the order I had a look at other things MM-C had to offer.  I resisted the temptation to buy a three-wheel cycle cart thingy, mainly because they were over a thousand dollars!  I looked at the fuel level gauges again and rejected that idea… again.  I then saw that they had line wrenches and put a 10mm guy on the order.  Finally I debated with myself long and hard (tee hee, I said "long and hard!") about… um, what the hell was that last semi-expensive thing I considered and finally bought?  Hang on, I gotta go look at the order again.  Oh, I guess I decided against whatever that last semi-expensive thing was because the order only shows the items I just described.  So, there’s all that on the way to me.  Tomorrow, I imagine, we’ll finish buttoning up the front suspension and get Lil' Wiggly rolling again.  I really need to get the wiring done and the radiator installation sussed out.  Of course we’ll probably just get cracking on converting the 302 engine we got last weekend over to a carburetor and distributor.  We also need to swap oil pans since the 302 has a double-hump pan and the car is setup for a front sump.  I wonder if I otter buy a bitchin’ aftermarket pan for it.  Ok, NO, I shouldn’t do that… but I wonder if I am going to.  Hmm, I'm off to Summit to see what they have to offer.  Yeah, I'm dumb… but not as dumb as Juan might imagine.  I decided against ordering a pan after all.  We’ll clean and paint the pan off of the 289 after all.  I hope I don’t need to replace the oil pump though due to (tee hee, I said "doo doo!") the double-humpedness of the pan being replaced.  With any luck the pickup tube from the 289 will bolt on to the 302’s pump.  Of course it won't, I know that.  You didn’t have to go and spoil my day by saying it.  Sheesh, let a guy have a few minutes of dreamy hopefulness.  Well, I'm cold, getting hungry, and it is just about close enough to lunchtime to go hang out with Larry for a bit.  I'm going to do just that.  I'll tell y'all about… well, you know the drill.