3/4/13

Well, the best laid plans of mice…  Here’s what went down over the weekend.  The plan was for me to swing by and pick up fuel hose, a fitting, some wire, and nuts and bolts to mount the fuel cell on my way in to the shop, right?  John pointed out that Lowe’s would have better pricing than Orally’s and/or Vato Zone.  I pointed out that Lowe’s also opened earlier so I could get there around 0730 h and still make it to the shop by 0800 h.  Yeah, turns out the “short story” I was reading on the crapper Saturday morning wasn’t as short as it could have been.  I wound up leaving the house at 0730 h… or so.  I called John and we decided that I'd come pick him up at the shop and we’d go to the Ace Hardware on Sycamore School Road and Hulen.  This we did.  They had the fitting and nuts and bolts but the fuel line was prohibitively expensive.  We decided to go to the Boys of Pep for that and the wire.  Bob, the manager who has been very helpful in this endeavor several times now, was aghast that we were considering running rubber the length of the car.  He dug out some hard line for us and threw in the short bit of rubber we’d need gratis.  I bought the line and the wire and we finally headed to the shop around 0900 h… or so.  I yanked the hard line I'd bent previously to show John where it had kinked and it was decided that it wasn’t that bad.  We ran the hard line out of the parking brake hole, along with the rear brake line, and I bent it up a little nicer along the tunnel and into the engine bay.  We secured it to the floor with Adel clamps, more or less, and got cracking on installing the cell.  I drilled the first hole and dropped a bolt in then crawled under and stuck on a nut.  I drilled the second hole and dropped in a bolt but couldn’t get the nut to start once I crawled under because the bolt just spun.  John came and held the bolt while I started the second nut.  He then said, “Stay down there.  I'll drill the rest.”  This we did.  With the nuts and bolts in the fuel cell bracket all tightened up, I asked for the new fitting for the gazinta of the fuel pump.  John taped it and handed it to me along with the proper wrench.  I installed the fitting to the pump.  I installed the cell into the bracket and hunkered down on the bolts while John put some heater hose around a section of fuel line to protect it from chafing in the hole through the floor.  We installed the hose twixt the cell and the pump and then John installed the hose from the pump to the hard line while I re-bent and connected the hard line to the regulator under the hood.  Next we ran a wire through the parking brake hole and connected it to the pump and zip-tied everything off nice and neat.  We left the other end of the wire for the time being because I have a lot more wiring to do inside the car.  I believe that was everything we accomplished… which was quite a bit if I'm honest with myself.  We went to Wasabi for sushi than I headed back to the shop to finish the installation of the railed gas-tube and Kushnapup on the 7.62x39.  I trimmed the offending material away and reinstalled the stock along with the tube.  It fits nice and tight now.  I think I'm happy with it.  I installed the optic and noticed that it sat just a bit too low.  I went home and looked to see if I'd dreamt the Picatinny riser thingy I was sure existed.  I had not as it does, in fact, exist.  I decided I'd go to Bloodbath & Beyond to get one on Sunday.  Sunday morning I waited for mom to get home from church and then we went to Saltgrass for some dead cow.  After lunch I took a quick nap then went to BB&B for the rail riser.  I bought the ½” riser and when I got it home realized I could have gone ¾” instead.  Oh well, it was $10.00, I could throw it in the trash and buy another for that matter.  I also took a hoon in Fiona on the way back from BB&B and really enjoyed myself.  I rested up until 1745 h when I headed to Freebird’s to meet Tim from Irving with the plan that we’d then go to the Southlake event.  He called to say he was turning back to go home as his bike’s taillight didn’t work.  I sympathized and said I'd wait ten more minutes at Freebird’s just in case anyone else showed up.  They didn’t.  I texted John for directions to the Southlake event and headed out when I had them understood.  At the Southlake Town Center, I got totally lost trying to find the west parking garage.  Eventually I did find it and rolled to the top floor.  Everyone was gawking at me as I drove in.  The Seven was a hit to say the least.  I parked next to a 280Z but then moved to a spot under a streetlight.  You’d think these kids had never seen a Lotus Seven before… oh, right.  They probably hadn’t except in video games.  It’ll take a few washings to get all the drool off of the thing!  At 2100 h I packed up and headed out.  As I was putting the bonnet back on, a girl squealed, “Oooh!  Take me for a ride!”  I did.  I drove her down to her car on the second level and dropped her off then went home.  I made it home by 2200 h which I felt was a reasonable time.  I posted on the JNC forum that I figure the Freebird’s event is dead and that we otter move in with the Southlake thing.  Jeff posted an argument which I couldn’t refute because I couldn’t log in at work so I'll counter-suggest something when I get home tonight.  And that is how I spent my weekend.