1/23/13

My McMaster-Carr stuff arrived yesterday.  I also have been informed that my Summit order has shipped from Georgia.  If that stuff doesn’t arrive by Saturday, I'll still have the MM-C equipment I can play with.  I'm thinking that I'll reassemble the fuel cell and see about installing it while moving the fuel pump to the rear of the car.  I'm also thinking about “stealing” the remote battery stuff from George to put in Lil' Wiggly.  I never did remove George's battery tray so I could, in theory, re-relocate the battery to the engine bay on that car.  I don’t know, we’ll see.  But back to Lil' Wiggly, relocating the fuel pump and installing the fuel cell otter take up the whole day Saturday… at least the whole time John and I are both there.  I'll probably go back after lunch, as I am wont to do, and work on some more stuff.  We’ll see.  Oh, remember the other day when I was talking about disassembling the fuel cell and I said something about I couldn’t finger out why I'd plugged the vent in the cap?  Well, I remembered finally.  I vented the tank to the outside of the car and plugged the cap’s vent so that the cockpit wouldn’t be filled with gasoline fumes.  I'm thinking I probably otter do that again with this car.  So, there are two bungs in the bottom of the cell for fuel to feed the fuel pump, right?  There are, trust me.  What I'll do is plumb one of them to the pump, duh, and the other to the top o’ the cell vent-bung with a clear hose so I can see the fuel level.  In the “middle” of the clear hose, I'll plumb in a “T” fitting to vent to atmosphere… and I'll re-plug the vent holes in the cap.  If the “T” fitting is sufficiently high above the fuel level, it should never spill fuel from the vent either.  Another option would be to use regular black fuel hose twixt the two tank bungs, along with a “T” to the vent, but put a section of “glass” tube in the vertical section to serve as a fuel level gauge.  I probably won't do that though since I don’t have any glass tube to use as a fuel gauge.  No, regular old clear hose otter be fine… until it yellows to the point where the fuel level can't be seen anymore.  I imagine the car will have moved on to a new owner by that time and it will be an SEP, “Somebody Else’s Problem.”  Oh!  I just had a though as to how I can mount the radiator!  I have that rivet-nut kit with 6-32, 8-32, 10-24, and ¼-20 inserts, right?  I could install a couple of them in the bottom “rail” of the radiator and bolt it up to the lower core support that way!  Genius!  If I use “lard mounts” with the appropriate threads it would be isolated as well.  Super genius!  Of course this is “looking at it” from twenty miles away.  Once I see the bottom rail of the radiator it will probably be too small to accept an insert.  Well, we’ll see.  Ok, I've been to lunch and back and now I'm trying to get my train of thought back on the rails.  Hmm, what can I say now?  Well, I've been watching “Top Gear” on BBC America, as one does, and have come to the conclusion that I really like the sound of a straight six.  I'm not sure why a straight six sounds so much better than a V6, but it just does.  I began to realize this when Jenny Craig hopped in the Aston Martin in the latest James Bond flick and drove off.  That car sounds so good.  Then they were hooning in a Jaguar E-Type on “Top Gear” when it occurred to me that I've always loved the sound of a semi-uncorked 240Z… the unifying feature of all those vehicles is a straight six engine.  Even Mr. Wiggly had a pleasing rort to the zorst… once I had my true dual system replaced with a one-in/two-out Flowmaster.  Now, Fifi and Fiona do sound pretty awesome with that same muffler… but it just isn’t the same.  Ah!  I just had another thought.  The super sweet sounding straight sixes all have multiple throat intake systems as well.  I'll bet intake honk has some effect on the overall mechanical symphony I'm enjoying.  While Mr. Wiggly, Fifi, and Fiona do (or did as the case may be) have nice intake honks, individual throttles just sound so much better.  John has the hots for a Triumph TR-6 because of another British show we watch called “Wheeler Dealers.”  I asked if he was thinking Datsun L-series six or Triumph donk were he to get one.  He said he was thinking Datsun.  I agreed that it would be very cool indeed.  I wonder if he’s shopping for a blowed up TR-6 now.  We’ll see.  Well, I think I've gassed on enough for one day.  I've got to keep some inanities in reserve for tomorrow and Friday so I think I'll call it a rant.