10/23/14

Well, we fired up the Subaru Saturday!  It has been several busy days here at work so I haven’t had a chance to tell y’all about it, and subsequently have also forgotten most of the details along the way as well.  Here’s how I kind of remember it going down.  First off, the other brake caliper arrived earlier in the week but I didn’t open it until I was at the shop.  I fingered the stream of profanity would bounce of John better than it would mom.  It was unneeded as the part was correct this time.  I pointed out to John that the “extra” caliper could be used as a driveshaft brake on something if we so desired.  He had me install the caliper on the right side while he went to the store for black paint.  Oh, we also decided on a steering wheel for the car and needed black paint to finish that installation.  He got back as I was finishing up with the installation and set me to replacing the other side as well.  “Gosh!” I said in my “best” Napoleon Dynamite/George Lopez voice, “I gotta do EVERYTHING around here!”  I replaced that caliper while he painted the steering wheel installation stuff.  We bled the brakes while the paint dried and then installed the steering wheel.  I like it… a lot.  Eventually we were out of excuses and I swapped Lil' Wiggly’s battery in and we gave it a test spin with the starter.  It sounded good.  He asked if I wanted to go get a couple gallons of gasoline so we could try to fire it up so that is what I did.  I dumped as much of the gas in the tank and he poured some in the float bowl of the carb.  I turned the key and it barked to life!  This thing sounds really good too!  It settled into a nice idle and just sat there purring along… until the float bowl was empty.  Yeah, no fuel pump.  I pulled it off the car and we discussed options.  He looked online and found some replacements but then we decided to try a jumper to the battery.  The pump fired right up hooked directly to power.  We bean troubleshooting but couldn’t really make any headway.  Eventually we stopped because it was lunchtime and I knew the Chitterlings Manuel I had ordered would be in before the next shop day.  We closed up the shop and went to lunch.  I was happy that the engine runs, but am still worried about the fact that the Andrijeskis think it might need a clutch.  I am not looking forward to changing THAT.  Oh well, we gotta do what we gotta do, I guess.  In other news, all of the parts for the Volquartsen accurizing kit for the MkIII finally arrived yesterday.  I spent a couple hours last night installing all of that gear.  It was a major faff!  Just field stripping a Ruger MKI, II, or III pistol is a major pain in the ass, a detail strip to get into the inner workings is not for the faint of heart.  First off, everything goes “SPROING!” and flies apart when the pins are removed.  There is no way to really see how it came apart once it does.  Fortunately I HAD watched an You-Tube video of the process in the past and has a rudimentary idea of how everything was supposed to go together.  The instructions with the kit were written well enough but had NO pictures to follow.  I managed to get it reassembled and working… well, working as far as dry-firing will tell.  The trigger is very nice and with the adjusters set there is very little travel.  It isn’t a “hair trigger” by any means because I had to install an auxiliary spring to get the trigger to reset.  I’m sure it will “work in” once I have put a few rounds through it.  We’ll see.  So, this weekend is an “off week” at the shop, which is good because Pat, Tony, and I are going to a swap meet at Lone Star Park on Saturday.  Larry and I will be going to the gun show on Sunday as well.  I’m not sure what I will be “shopping for” at either event.  I guess I’ll know it when I see it.  Well, it is now about lunchtime so I guess I will call this one an rant.  Have an day.