Technical Difficulties {again}. Please stand by.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation
Ok, It's not really my summer vacation.

Today I located a replacment speedometer bullet (bullit?) for the GMC. And then I came home and installed it. And then I tried to start the truck.

And then it didn't start. We have air and fire. I think there is a fuel shortage. Mainly in the tank. I hope this doesn't run up the price of gas.

I look forward to checking the garage floor tomorrow and not seeing a few red drops of transmission fluid.

The sprinkler system in the flowerbed is complete again. I added one more sprinkler head and buried all the pipe. The mulching is complete also. That will be one less thing to do this weekend.

This morning I stood on the side walk admiring my handiwork with the sprinkler. My neighbor from across the street asked if I was watching the grass grow. Sure, why not.

This evening I added a few more feet of pipe and another sprinkler head to one end of the flower bed. G' was concerned this area would not get enough water and I had one extra of everything incase I messed anything up. Fortunately I didn't

After work I made a trip to the nursery to get a couple of scoops of mulch. We put about half of in out before quiting for the day. The rest of the mulch will be waiting for me tomorrow evening when I get home from work.

Today is not really The first annual no blogging day. Had it actually been, you would not be reading this now. More than likely today is yet another example of how 365 Mindnumbing Blog Entries Make a Complete Year.

This thing started out as a flat piece of sheet metal cut in a circle with an 11.5" diameter.

18 Gauge Sheet Metal

Heart Of Dixie Metal Meet '05
I spent most of the weekend at the metal meet. I learned a lot. The metal meet was hosted by Kerry Pinkerton of Imperial Wheeling Machines at his shop in nearby Harvest, Alabama. I would like to thank Kerry, Bennett Chapman, John Jordan, and several others whose names I can't recall for all their help.

The Martin sales guy (James Chapman) did a fabulous job teaching how to bump out dents. Note to self: Get book The Key to Bumping Metal. His explanation of the techniques was astounding.

Thanks also to Dan? of Huntsville for the stump.

One guy showed up with an old Studebakers Truck, or what was left of it. He is doing a rebuild. Looked good so far. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me that those days.

Henrob Jim was working on the fenders of his '57 Ford pickup.

If you have some time and interest, check out Kerry's Chrysler Imperial restoration site.

I will post a couple of photos of the bowl I made soon.

Quick Review:
I attended Friday morning. Got started on the metal bow. Kris helped get me started. David Miller from the autobody class showed up. I had to leave around 11:00 to pick up the kids.

Saturday morning, back to the meet. More work on the bowl. I did most of the stretching using a hammer and beater bag. I also tried my hand a shrinking using tucking forks and hammer. I did some smoothing using one of the e-wheels. It was pretty sweet.

I also tried out the machine that does shrinking. It was very nice. The process is much more rapid and I felt like I had more control of the shrinking process because you could practially see it happen. I probably should not have used the machine though because I am certain I will never have one of those ($$$$). It made shrinking using a tucking fork seem to take forever.

I will try my hand at making stretching/shrinking in the near future. First I will have to make some tucking forks.

I went back again for a few hours this afternoon. Watched some guys play with a Henrob torch. The trip today involved the Miata. It was a perfect day for driving a convertible.

And finally back home to work in the sprinkler system. I believe this project is all done except for burying it.

I remembered to call my sister and wish her a happy birthday.

Tomorrow I am not going to work. I requested a vacation day so that I could attend the Heart of Dixie Metal Meet '05. I read about this over at the Metal Meet forums.

My primary goal is simply to learn more about working sheet metal. If things go well I may even apply a little effort to improving the inner fenders of the '72. Did I forget to mention I removed those earlier this week. It looks really cool to peer under the hood without the inner fenders in place. You get to see the tires, suspension, and the ground.

The metal meet is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Currently I expect to be able to attend Friday morning, most of Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. Assuming things don't change.

I finished digging around in the flower beds this evening and started laying the pipe and installed the risers and sprinker heads. Tomorrow afternoon I will probably be able to finish it up. I need to install the valve, connect the wiring, and install about two more feet of pipe. One on each side of the valve. It will be nice to get this done. You know what comes next: Mulch.

No, I didn't go see the new Star War's movie today.

This entry was brought to you today by the numbers Sixty-two and Forty-two and by the letter R.

I got another computer tech support call tonight. Terry's computer lost its ethernet adapter driver and is shutting down when no one is looking. Fortunately I put a backup copy of the driver on the HD before it went home with her so I was able to walk her through the install.

It sounds like her power supply is on its way out also. I have a spare. She will swing thru N. AL in a few weeks I will take care of it.

Tomorrow is her birthday.

I remembered what I forgot, but I have now lost all enthusiasm for posting about it. The last two episodes of Enterprise.

The last two evenings I have been digging a trench in the flower bed to put in new sprinkers. Anyone interested can show up Friday evening to help.

This coming Friday is the last day of school for the kids. Sign me up for a summer vacation please.

The motherboard arrived a day early. It has been installed and the computer is almost back to normal. Close enough for now.

I didn't upgrade anything, I just replaced with a duplicate motherboard: $58.

Heart of Dixie Metal Meet '05
I have plans for this weekend. I hope to learn enough about shaping metal to make a patch panel for the front inner right truck fender. Hopefully I can pickup a few sheet metal welding hints also.

DW is in the progress of replacing the brake lines on his '70 Charger.

Earlier today I remember something I meant to post about this last weekend. I forgot what the topic was, but at least I remembered to write a post about it.

This last weekend there was a huge Mustang Show here in Huntsville. It was held at the Space and Rocket Center. I forgot about it til Sunday and unfortunately didn't have time to make it over there.

There are a few more car shows coming up in the near future. Both over in Decatur.

The red convertible Mustang I saw a few weeks ago is still for sale. I shopped to look at it. They guy was asking $9800. While the car had very little rust, it was not worth $9800. Quite frankly considering the lack of a paint job and the shape of the interior, I doubt it was worth half that. That guy should have had the car over at the show. Some crazy guy there with 'stang fever might have bought it.

I got a Car Crazy sticker in the mail last week. Haven't quite figured out where to put it yet.

Got more prop's on the Voodoo today. G' even noticed it a week or so back.

According to my tracking number, the motherboard will arrive tomorrow.

Over the last week I did a little cleaning on the Miata. First the seats got cleaned and conditioned. While I was at it, I went ahead and did the truck seats also. About a week ago I cleaned them all with saddle soap. Then I decided to try out the aloe base Meguiars leather products. One for cleaning and one for conditioning. Between the three, I am happy with the results

Second came the wax job. For this I tried the NXT tech paste wax. This stuff is incredible and produces a really nice shine. It actually make the paint appear wet.

The third step was the cleaning the carpet. This started out with vacuuming out the Miata including the trunk. While I had the vacuum out, I went ahead and vacuumed the gold fish cracker crumbs out of the car seat in the truck. Oh, and I vacuumed the rest of the truck also.

The floor mats in the Miata have had some grungy looking spots on them since before I got bought. I decided too try to clean them also. Surprisingly I got every spot out of the mats! I used some of that Oxy stuff and a stiff brush. Except for a little bit of wear, the mats almost look new.

The transmission on the '72 has been dripping. I investigated the leak on Saturday. It appeared to be an o-ring where the speed-o cable connects to the back end of the transmission. Yesterday I replaced the o-ring. No drips so far but I am not calling it fixed til it has been driven a little bit.

I finally made it to HD yesterday to buy a nice piece of wood. The plan here is to make a replacement drawer front for a night stand my sister has. Shamefully I will admit the drawer has been in my shop for over a month, though probably not two. Saturday I intended to make the new drawer front but after getting out in the shop I was surprised to discover I had no suitable wood for this project. That was about when I decided to wax the car.

Welcome back my friend to the show that never ends...

I figured out what is wrong with the computer. After ruling out every single piece including the processor, I finally decided there is something wrong with the motherboard. I ordered a replacement from mwave. It should be here by Monday or Tuesday.

Hopefully things will get back to normal soon.

I have been doing a little welding practice whenever I get the chance. I hope to have developed enough technique in the next week or so to finally get to work on the fender. Welding is not a problem. The problem is getting the metal too hot. This causes it to shrink and warp.

Sure has been quite around here. I must be having computer problems. Hopefully I will get it all resolved soon.

The Fish

05.05.05

I apparrently have writers block today. I wanted to post just so I could use my spiffy title.

Jordan and I stayed home yesterday. He was not feeling well. He took several naps which is uncharacteristic for him. He stayed home again today, but I had to go to work. G was off today. Tomorrow it's back to the old grind stone for him.

I have a few more drops of transmission fluid on the garage floor under the truck. I guess I need to tighten a few more bolts.

...

In You Window
Brian has a new blog. It is hard not to laugh at this one. It is a thrilling read. Every blog entry is exciting. You just can't get enough of this one. Hope blogger's servers are running at peak performance. Everyone will want to hit this one.

Now go back and read the title of this post again.

My order from Chevy Duty arrived today just as promised on Friday. Photos to follow.

The order included the patch panel for the fender bed side, and all the necessary fasteners and springs to hold the head lights in place. The springs, screws, etc for the lights were about 50% present when I bought the truck.

It turns out I could have gotten the screws and springs at the local parts store. I probably paid an extra dollar tacking them onto this order. Not so bad. It could have been much worse.

I forgot to mention I changed the oil in the Miata yesterday. Note to self: Add mileage here. I wrote the value on the board in the garage, I just can't recall what it is right now.

I cleaned up the Miata this afternoon. I think I got all the pollen out.

There is a 10% chance of rain for tomorrow. Somehow I feel like I probably upped the probabability.