2/19/13

Ok, so here’s what went down Saturday.  First off, Juan might remember that John was not coming to the shop because we were going to the Import Car Show thingy in Southlake Sunday evening.  If Juan does NOT remember this… well, quit smoking so much weed, I'm sure I told y'all.  Anyhoo, so I head to the shop solo to see what I can accomplish.  I stopped at a hardware store to get a 3/8” hose nipple “T” and some other stuff.  I know there was a chop-saw blade in there and something else, but it probably isn’t all that important to the narrative.  At the shop I had a look at installing the “T” fitting but decided to wait until the fuel cell was going in for its permanent installation.  Speaking of which, I decided I'd build a framework sort of thing to support and mount said fuel cell.  What I wound up with was two rails to bolt to the floor interconnected by two “stringers.”  One “stringer” is a locating device while the other supports the middle of the cell underneath… sort of thing.  I then welded in the third item from the hardware store, which I just remembered was a section of flat steel perforated with holes every inch or so, to use as the straps to hold the cell to the framework.  I drilled and located the other end of the straps and the cell is nice and rigid in the frame.  It could use a bit of a tweak to make it sit flat on the floor, or we’ll let the mounting bolts do the job.  I'm easy.  After I had the cell mount made I stood back to admire it.  I decided I'd let John paint it before we install it.  John, you’re welcome.  Next I scratched my head for a while trying to think where I wanted to mount the fuel pump.  I crawled under the car and had a look.  I decided that the bracket thingy which used to support the fuel tank could be used with a little work.  I cut it down a little and hammered the lip flat then mounted the pump to the plate.  The plate then mounted back under the car and I declared it a good thing.  Next I drilled the big-assed hole in the floor to run the fuel line from the cell to the pump.  I also attempted to bend up a fuel line but it kind of kinked and made it ugly.  We’ll see if it passes inspection next weekend when John has a look at it.  Then I had a look at the strut thingies which used to hold up the hatch.  I cut the pistons out of the tubes and bolted one back to the hatch.  I then cut the tab off of the bottom of one of the tubes, spraying oil everywhere and making lots of smoke with the chop-saw.  This I welded to a tube which fit the piston rod nicely.  I bolted the tube to the car and had a look to see if the piston could be inserted into the tube while holding the hatch up.  It could not.  I cut off an inch of tube and now they could be fitted together.  I marked and drilled a hole in the tube where the piston needed to stop to hold the hatch up and inserted a rivet.  Now I have a nice lightweight hatch support which is only a minor pain in the ass to use.  I have an idea to make it a little better but it will take some fiddling.  We’ll see if it happens.  Eventually I got bored and went home.  Sunday I met Larry at the credit onion so we could go to the gun show.  I was a good boy and didn’t buy anything extravagant.  I did buy some ammo and some eyeglass cleaning stuff… oh, and re-upped my membership in the NRA, but I didn’t buy any guns.  After the show, I waited around for time to go pick John up for the car show.  Wow!  That was an amazing event.  The whole parking garage was full of imports of all kinds.  I'm going to come back with The Seven when the weather gets a tad warmer.  I did put a “For Sale” sign on Fiona but have not gotten any phone calls about it.  Meh, I didn’t expect to anyway.  Monday I went to the eye doctor to see if I could renew my prescription and get some new contacts.  Yes I could… but I couldn’t afford to.  I went back home then mom and I trekked across town to Two Brother’s Bistro for lunch.  We ate too much.  Back at home I took a nap with the cat.  About an hour later my work phone rings.  “Can we not switch screen nine off remotely?” I'm asked.  Apparently one of the dispatchers saw something “offensive” on the news streamer at the top of the screen.  I offered to come in and fix the issue but was told to not worry about it.  Of course I did worry about it and headed to the railroad.  About halfway here I realized my badge was on the dresser.  I waited at the campus cop shop while they made me a temporary.  As I got the projector switched off of the “offensive” material, I saw the guy who called me.  He had come in too to see what was what.  I headed back down the stairs to chat with him about it.  I was hit with an urgent need to poo!  I almost made it too.  Ok, no I didn’t have “Mud Butt,” however… there was a bit of leakage just before I got the drawers fully off.  A roll or two of paper and I felt I could rush out and get home.  I stood well away from Ray while we discussed the screen situation.  Apparently the words, “Ask and you shall receive” were offensive enough for some douche-bag to call the union and complain.  I wanted to go shit on that person’s desk for being such a waste of skin.  “You sir,” I would say to this individual, “should have been a blow job.”  Of course I feel that way about all union “workers.”  I returned the temporary badge and went home to take a shower.  And that is just about everything I did over the long weekend.