1/25/13

My Summit order arrived yesterday and it is only screwed up a little bit.  The grommets which came with the valve covers aren’t quite right.  Well, one of them is but the other has a smaller hole in it… like, I just realized, for a PCV valve.  Shit!  Well, I guess I only needed one cap after all.  I guess we’ll run a PCV line to the other cover now.  Damn, that makes it look like I give a shit about the environment.  Well, I can always play the “evacuated crankcase makes for more potential horsepower” card.  I've got to go to Lowe’s and get some NPT to hose nipple fittings for the fuel cell, one more for the PCV shouldn’t be a deal breaker.  Of course I could go to Orally’s, Vato Zone, or the Boys of Pep and see if I can get another big grommet.  I think I've seen them at the BoP.  Hmm, well, we’ll see.  Speaking of the fuel cell, I've also got to finger out how I'm going to seal those bulkhead fittings.  Juan would think they would self-seal… but I'm not going to hold my breath.  What makes me nervous about the fittings I bought are the “star washers” that came with them.  I'll probably discard them and make gaskets out of… hell, I don’t know, some sort of gasoline-proof rubber?  I wonder if Lowe’s might have something like that.  I'd say, “Let’s pookie the things,” but I'm not sure any of the silicone sealants we have will stand up to petrol.  I guess John and I will be discussing these things tomorrow.  I wonder how he’d feel about meeting at Mimi’s in the morning and then going shopping at Lowe’s.  No, that always eats up the whole morning.  We’ll meet at the shop as usual… unless he makes the “meet elsewhere” call.  I'm easy.  So, what else is there to say?  Well, John has convinced me to go with an Etcetera brake master cylinder and has ordered one for me from Rock Lobster… along with new brake pads.  We should have them for next weekend.  And speaking of brakes, I've been looking at line-locks on Summit.  The $28.00 unit they have looks pretty good.  The instructions say, several times, that the line lock is to be used for no more than sixty seconds.  I think I have a plan.  What I'm thinking is this, wire up a relay so that a momentary push button activates the line lock.  If the “signal” terminal to the relay is fed from the momentary switch AND the relay’s own “load” or “output,” it will lock “on” as long as there is power.  Then, when I shut off the master kill to the battery, the relay will de-energize and line lock will release.  Of course I'll have to put the momentary button somewhere where it won't get pushed by accident or the line lock will set and driving would become… interesting, to say the least.  Ah!  I have it.  Put another momentary switch in the… no, that won't work.  Hang on, I need to cipher and figger on this for a bit.  Ok, I've got it.  In the circuit from the relay’s “output” terminal to the “signal” terminal, I'd put a regular toggle switch.  That way the line lock could still function AS a line lock when that switch is turned off.  So, in order to park the car, I'd flip the “Parking Brake” switch on, step on the brake pedal, push the “Line Lock” button, and release the brake pedal.  Then I could either release the line lock relay with the “Parking Brake” switch or the master kill to the battery.  To use it as a line lock for burnouts and such, I'd leave the “Parking Brake” switch off, step on the brake pedal, push the “Line Lock” button, and release the pedal.  With the “Parking Brake” switch off, the line lock relay will de-energize as soon as the “Line Lock” button is released, releasing the line lock.  I suppose a warning light, and maybe a buzzer, should be wired into the “Parking Brake” switch circuit as well.  Wait, no that wouldn’t work because it would still light up and buzz when the “Line Lock” button was used.  Is that so bad?  I suppose not, if Juan knows to flip the “Parking Brake” switch off if the buzzer keeps going after releasing the “Line Lock” button.  Although, if a diode were in line to prevent the buzzer from “seeing” 12 volts when the “Parking Brake” switch is off, it would work as a warning.  Well, I've got to go to the Viewing Gallery right quick.  I guess we’ll call this rant complete.