3/27/13

Yesterday SUCKED!  First off, I felt like shit on a shingle, still do to some extent, because I only slept about 30 minutes out of each hour Tuesday night.  Secondly, everyone needed me to be at different places at the same time.  I was busting my ass all day… well, as ass-busterly as it gets out here… sort of thing.  Anyhoo, that was why there was no rant yesterday.  Last night I did manage to sleep straight through from about midnight to 0530 h when the alarm went off.  I still feel like crap but the cough is more manageable.  I need someone to come sing “Soft Kitty” to me… ok, I need Penny to come sing “Soft Kitty” to me.  That would be swell.  So mom got a cheque from the energy company drilling for gas on the land in Boyd because they had to lay a pipeline and were compensating for damages.  She’s thinking of giving each of us kids $1,000.00 of the money.  $1,000.00 would just about pay for the Track T body from Speedway Motors.  That thought crossed my mind as mom and I were eating tacos for dinner last night.  I'd already prepped her for the possible eventuality of me building another kit car for my fiftieth birthday.  When I mentioned her money would just about cover the cost of the body, she said she wasn’t against the idea… she’s not FOR it, but she’s not against it.  I don’t know if I'm really going to do it though.  I'm sure John and I will discuss it.  I like the idea of a steel body, now that John has found that they are available on Craigslist.  Another thought I had was, instead of a ’27 Track T, I could do a ’29 something or other.  Mom was born in 1929 is why I'm thinking along those lines.  Of course dad was born in 1927 so a Track T also makes sense, but he’s gone and mom is still around to appreciate the homage.  Of course, since it would be a Rat Rod, how much of an honor would it actually be?  Hmm, perhaps the Track T is the way to go… if I build one that is.  I don’t know.  We do have an “extra” KA-24 and five-speed lying around and I have always wanted to double the engine displacement in the Chickenhawk.  I was never really happy that I only went 800 cc bigger with the two liter engine.  I always wanted a 2.4 liter to… well, as I just said, to double the stock displacement.  A fuel injected KA in the Chickenhawk would be quite the ass of badness as well.  Hmm, perhaps I otter consider building the Spit to sell along with George.  John keeps pointing out that I don’t really need two Little British Cars, or LBCs as he calls them.  I keep making the feeble argument that the Spit would be slightly easier to hop in and drive than The Seven.  It might be a little more livable… sort of thing.  But seriously, is it really?  And there is also the fact that the Spit is really rusty.  I wonder if we should even be thinking about reviving that car.  Yeah, we have “extra” A-series engines and stuff, and it would be pretty fun with a Datsun engine in it.  I guess we should go ahead and build the Spit… even if the plan is to sell it to the first suck… I mean, interested party who comes along.  Ok, so George needs to be built as mercenary as possible.  We need to do what the rest of the world would want, not what is my taste… necessarily.  Hmm, I do have the K&N carburetor “Top Hat” and a bunch of turbo stuff.  We could slap a snail on the Z-20 and blow it through a DGV.  If we use that wheezy little Mitsubishi turbo we shouldn’t stress the engine too much either I shouldn’t think.  Ah, there’s the operative phase!  “I shouldn’t think.”  But we’ll just keep moving, shall we?  According to my sketchy math, 150 horsepower should be pretty easy with that turbo and engine.  That should sell pretty well.  Of course, the Chickenhawk was stupid fast with the original tired-ass engine before I rebuilt it.  George should be scary fast enough to sell with the engine as is.  I'm sure John and I will discuss this at length as well… and I'll probably be talked out of plopping a hair-dryer on the Z-20 in George.  We’ll see.  Hmm, hear me out though.  The gauges for a turbo setup are already installed and plumbed in George's dash.  He’s got the boost and mixture gauges I'm going to have to remove.  It also has the turbine wheels which really tie the room together.  We don’t have to get it perfect, just running well enough for the next guy to sort out.  I don’t think it is a totally stupid idea… except that it might make it hard for me to want to sell once I drive it.  Well, ok.  It IS a totally stupid idea, but not that much more stupid than the whole “Z-20 in a 1200” idea in the first place.  I'm going to have to give this some more thought.  We’ll see what John has to say when he reads this tonight.  I'll let y'all know tomorrow.