6/5/13

Well, I guess that’ll learn me to jump to conclusions… although, that IS just about the only exercise I get.  Yesterday I assumed that the header I'd built for the Z-20 in the Chickenhawk, which I subsequently gave to John for the Z-20 in a 510 wagon and therefore had no leg upon which to stand were I to be upset if he further subsequently sold, did NOT go with said 510 wagon.  My “bundle of snakes” is still in the family!  As they would say on “Wheeler Dealers,” “I’m quite chuffed at that!”  Of course I'm still not going to use a Z-20 in George because of the rear axle in there being a bit on the wee side for that engine’s torque.  No, I think I'll go with a warmed-over A-14 and be happy with the car as a slightly spritely performer.  I'm giving thought to paint again.  Some time back, I'd thought I might mimic the paint scheme of the Chickenhawk on George but in a different color for the top.  For those not in the know, the Chickenhawk is black on the sides with a yellow top.  I'd do the black sides again, but paint the top… hmm, what color for the top?  I'd considered pink at one time because I know it would torque the ever living shit out of the grumpy old fart after whom the car was named, George.  Pink is definitely in the running.  Purple would be another choice for the top color.  It would have to be a bright, probably metallic, purple to not get lost on top of the black… I think.  Of course I could go with purple on the sides and white on the top to keep the dark/light aspect of the paint schemes similar.  Rah, rah, TCU!  If I'd gone to TCU that paint scheme would have happened a long time ago… but I didn’t.  Oh well.  What are you going to do?  So, I think that having George back on my plate, I can convince John that we otter gopher the Chickenhawk as a faux rally car.  I've wanted one for thirty years now; I think I'm finally going to do it.  I really otter put roll cages in both the Chickenhawk and Lil' Wiggly.  I need to get a short section of roll cage tubing and see if my cheap-assed, Chinese tubing bender will make satisfactory bends.  I'm not holding out much hope of it, but I suppose it might be possible.  Of course if I'm just building a cage as minimalist protection, not to be scrutinized for approval by some racing sanctioning body, slightly crimped bends would still be better than no cage at all.  Another option would be to have the main hoop bent perfessionally and do the rest myself.  I don’t know.  We’ll see.  I have seen a few “pre-bent” kits for 1200s and B-210s, to use in Le Mons and Chumpcar racing, on e-Bay before.  Hmm, I think I'm going to go take a quick look at them.  Hang on.  $500.00 plus shipping for a Datsun 1200 cage made of .125 wall ERW steel tubing.  I didn’t find one for the B-210 but the other cars listed were similarly priced so I'm guessing Lil' Wiggly's would be the same.  That is what I should do… it is probably not what I am going to do.  No, knowing Dimlight Racing, we’ll drive both cars without cages and take our chances.  I don’t know, we’ll see.  Well, it is approaching lunchtime so I think I'm going to call it a rant.  Perhaps I'll have more to say about the Chickenhawk, George, and Lil' Wiggly tomorrow after John reads this.