Jenn and I are working on the house with Ella our new foster Springer. We got her 2 weeks ago. So far she has been an awesome addition to the family. Working on the baking and prep area in the new kitchen this weekend. We found an old beveled crystal window,at an antique shop, for over the prep sink overlooking our south facing porch. My renewed NHRA TopFuel and comp license came this week. About 60 days until testing starts with a few changes to the Supercat dragster So what are you doing?
Just got back from a ride in the Stage 1. Beautiful afternoon out and despite all the other things on my plate, I needed a cruise. Now about to slap some beef on the grill.
taking care of my one yr old while wifes at work. Ok how do I upload a pic, i keep getting error. pic is a jpeg
Ice skated on te driveway out to the truck for pizza. Met an elderly couple at a tiny joint off the beaten path and came to find thaat we could almost be about 70th cousins from the old country. Really strange, but felt right at home! Plus they have a son that lives in MISSOULA! Details to follow, but SPRING is right around the corner LOL. Like maybe tomorrow haha! ws
Learned quite a bit in regards to upgrading these old cars from R12 to 143A. Simple stuff like the shrader valves much be changed. I am at a stopping point on each Buick now. Need to resolve a fitment issue with the Riviera compressor and I have a real deal issue with a shrader valve on the GN because it was change from R12 to 134A with out the valves being replace. The GN high side valve leaked and upon removal only the inner most piece (pin and spring) was extracted while the seal and shell remain...again wrong shrader valve. Just so everyone is aware of this minor detail, the typical black seal found on shrader valves is not compatible with 134a - its fine for R12 as OEM, you need to purchase clear/while sealed valves for 134a. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075WM9GTT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Too cold out to be working in the garage; our garage isn't heated and just gets residual heat from the house. Right now it's -30 C outside and the garage is about -15 C. So instead I rebuilt a 1928 Ball-Hamilton 16 size pocket watch and re-cased and got a few others running.
Jen's aunt passed a few days ago, so we had to shoot down to Falls Church Virginia early this morning for a memorial service they were having. For the record, Jen has a lot of relatives. I cant even keep my own family straight. We just got back home. Suffice to say, it was a really long day. So since Jen's new Mustang is a garage queen till the streets are clean, and I basically own old junk, we rented a car. It was either a Kia or for an extra $20 a day, Enterprise said they could give us a 2019 Challenger R/T 6.4 liter Hemi Scat Pack. Hmmm......tough choice...let me think....yeah, I think we'll take the Challenger! Cars got some scoot to it. And it has "launch control", a paddle shifter and a line lock. Since the car doesn't go back till Monday morning, I will be testing these features out extensively tomorrow.
Re-building another set of dual quads. Four sets down, three sets to go for people around the world. Got a couple distributors coming in the next couple weeks for re-building, re-curving & install electronic ignitions besides the other work for regular customers. Tom T.
Wife and I went to Columbus for an adoption event for Buckeye Basset Hound and Rescue to get Hank, our foster for the rescue some exposure. He wasn't adopted, that's ok tho, I told him he could stay with us as long as he needs too
Friday I replaced a missing upper control arm bushing in the Riv. The retainer bolt was MIA. Having many extra parts laying around can come in handy. Did the entire job and didn't have to leave the house! Later installed new roof rail weather striping then went to a cruise in lake city. Saturday, Went to Lowes and picked up what hopefully is the last load of lumber for the never ending deck expansion project. After unloading the stuff onto the deck it was decided that I'd rather do Buick stuff and proceeded to drill out the oil passages on my crank to 5/16". Camphor the holes and set the crank into the block. After that was complete I moved onto drilling and tapping mounting holes into the main girdle for installation of the Stephs windage screen and crank scraper I'm going to make. When it got time to bolt down the girdle and main caps I found the tube of Ultra Black RTV sealant was dried up and that ended the fun for the day. Was around 6 and getting dark and cold. To late to make dinner ( Really just didnt want to) Cleaned up and drove to KFC for a $5.00 fill up. Finished the evening with several hours of Live PD. Today is our 28th anniversary so I doubt I'll get any shop time in.
