4/30/15

Well, I have gone and done it.  I put in my two week notice and am officially leaving the railroad.  I’m going to miss the place and the people… the job?  Not so much!  I’ve been telling people the choice came down to, “I can go to this other job and work with old cars, which I like, or I can stay here and work with new technology, which I hate.”  I sent an e-mail out to all the admins asking them to inform their respective “groups” and have been inundated with e-mails in return.  Most are incredulous that I’ve been here for fourteen years (I don’t recall breaking two mirrors!) as a contractor without being hired by the railroad.  I usually just smile and say, “Yep, they had plenty of chances,” or something equally asinine.  I also like to point out that they had the chance to keep me as a contractor if they had just added the second person to the contract.  Alas, t’was not to be.  So, I’m moving on.  Shitless… that is how scared I am right now.  I’m sure it will work out ok, but… yeah, scared shitless.  Ok, so lettuce talk about my van, shall we?  First off, Juan might remember this statement, “Henceforth, until something else comes along, I christen thee: Biggly Wiggly!”  Well, something else has come along.  While we both “like” the name “Biggly Wiggly,” we feel it is a bit of an mouthful.  So, John suggested “Millie.”  I scratched my head for a bit and gave up as to the reason so he pointed out that it is a “Falcon” Econoline van.  Hmm, what else has “Falcon” in its name?  Ah!  Han Solo’s ship!  So, we’re now calling it “Millie” which is short for “Millennium Falcon.”  Hmm, now that I have ‘splained it, it sounds kinda dumb.  I might make an executive decision and go with the mouthful, “Biggly Wiggly” after all.  We’ll see.  Ok, so there’s that going on.  John has also talked me down from the L-28 ledge.  We’re going to install a Ford 200 cubic inch “Falcon Six” John found on the Craigslist.  It should, we hope, bolt right up and be a runner in short order.  He first halfway talked me into a 300 “Big Six” so I started shopping for hotrod bits for that engine.  It turns out that a four barrel intake and carb for that and the L-28 would be the exact same price… which sent me back down the L-28 rabbit hole for a bit… especially since we have a header for that engine and a 300 Ford header would cost $250.00 or so.  Then one evening, while “shopping” for hot rod shit, it occurred to me that I was being a dumbass.  Mr. Wiggly, the 1976 Dodge Van I used to own, had a 32/36 on an adapter choked down through a one-barrel manifold and it ran just fine.  In fact, it was the vehicle which sparked my “If you’re not in a hurry, this thing is pretty fun,” slow-car preference.  Besides, if I don’t go hog wild with a mondo engine, I won’t need to drop another $900.00 on a front disc brake conversion.  I’m not scared of drum brakes because they WILL stop the vehicle.  They’ll even stop the vehicle from speed.  What they won’t do is stop the vehicle from speed over and over again.  I’m not going to take this thing on the track!  An occasional panic stop is not going to overtax the factory drum brakes.  I’m not saying I won’t do it in the future, but I don’t feel the need right now… sort of thing.  But I digress.  With the realization that I’d be happy without an expensive manifold and four barrel carb, I relented and set John on the task of finding a “Small Six” for me… or something like that.  Perhaps he’d already found it and I finally just gave in.  Yeah, that seems likely.  Anyhoo, he’s going to pick it up tomorrow.  I wonder how much will be left in the kitty after that purchase because I’m still going to put some six-to-two headers on it and run dual zorst.  I also want to get a two-to-one carb adapter so I can install a Weber 32/36 on it.  I should probably spring for some tires as well pretty soon.  Hmm, stuff to think about.  Well, I guess that’s about all I have for today.  I’m going to be here at the railroad for another two weeks so y’all might get a rant or two during that time but after that… I just don’t know.  I’ll discuss it with Spiderman and see if this thing has run its course.