What I Did With My Weekend
Friday afternoon Ginger left for Auburn. She went down to play at the game in the alumni band. I picked up the kids after work as usual.

I drove the Miata to work on Friday even though I had to pick up the kids after work. Fortundately my route from work to school takes me within 0.5 miles of my house. This allows me to easily swing by the house and swap the Miata for the 4x4.

Saturday morning me and my posse spent some time in the garage/driveway. I attempted to remove the back bumper from the '72 GMC truck. I managed to get two of the four bolts off. I sprayed the other two down with penetrating oil. Perhaps they will be ready to be removed by next weekend. I also removed the six bolts that hold the bed to the frame. I actually only removed three with a wrench. I cut one off with a grinder. One didn't have a nut on it. The other one was already missing. I lifted the bed from the frame and did a quick inspection of all the goodies underneath.

This morning I bolted the bed back on. I drove the truck over to Troy W's to give him some stuff. He recipricated by giving me some stuff. He loaned me his floor jack and a pair of jack stands. Next I drove to Home Depot to pick up a few bolts. These bolts are going to the replace the bolts holding the back bumper on. I would have gotten some for the bed as well but I couldn't remember the size.

I also adjusted the brake switch so that the brake lights will now go off when your foot is off the pedal. The switch on the truck is under the dash, above the steering column. It is very difficult to reach. It has two nuts that connect it to a metal bracket. The throw of the switch is altered by adjusting the nuts. I had Jordan standing behind the truck telling me when the brake lights went on and off. He didn't like the job. I eventually let him go once I realized the dome light dimmed everytime the brake lights came on.

The brake switch adjustment was made easier by the fact that I could easily lay on the floor of the cab. I had already removed the seat today. And then the carpet. And then the insulation. While all this was out I did an interior rust inspection. One small area will need to be replaced but in general the floor pan is in good shape. After vacuuming the pan, carpet, and seat I put it all back in.

How to Free Up Stuck Tire Lugs
I managed to get the lugs on the front wheel free today as well. I had attempted to remove them with a impact wrench but they were stuck! I sprayed them with penetrating oil 3 days in a row. Today I used my torque wrench and they came right off. The torque wrench has a pretty long handle. I cranked it up to 200 ft-lbs hoping it wouldn't slip. W=FD. Work equals force times distance. Double the length of the handle and it requires half the force. I have previously used a galvanized 3/4" pipe stuck over the handle of a socket wrench also.

Now that the front tires will come off, I suppose I should bleed the front brake lines.

Hello World
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
printf("Hello world!\n"
return 0;
}

Stainless Steel or Zinc
I was reading some dude's web site about car restoration. He was going on and on about how he now exclusively uses stainless steel bolts in all his cars because they don't rust (ever), or so he claimed. Check out the flatware in your kitchen drawer.

So I now have a few questions. Are their any drawbacks to using stainless steel bolts. Perhaps cost? The zinc bolts I bought today were about $.45, and the washers and nuts were about $.10 a piece. Do the stainless bolts really _never_ rust? Will they sieze up over time?