Happy New Years

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas. I got to see my son for most of my visit to NW Indiana and my nieces as well. First time we had a whole crew going to my cousins for Christmas get together in quite a few years. Had a nice dinner at my brother's house. His girlfriend is a great cook. Was nice to visit with my brother and Vella. Could not ask for better winter weather. It didn't snow until after I was back home. My kid is still off for another week, so he got to enjoy the holidays for a change. He usually worked them before. He got in at the Ford plant a couple months back. One less thing to worry about. Did miss seeing Og while I was up there. No time for a Cabella trip either.

 Went down to Whitakers gun shop in Kentucky yesterday. It was a nice journey. They had several M1A's, but not the exact one I am looking for. Had a good day today. The sun was out most of the day and it was in the 60,s. Suppose to go back down to normal tomorrow. Might head over to the club for a little target shooting tomorrow. It isn't suppose to rain. Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year.

Back on line

Laptop bit the dust. Battled through the Christmas crowd to get a new one at Christmas sale price. Still trying to resist urge to beat the old one into rubble. It won't let me transfer my  photos out no matter how I try. It can not see it's dvd burner. It does not want to see the flash drive. Hard drive on it is dying fast. Each startup reveals more bad sectors. I usually have photos backed up on cd, but failed to do so during the car rebuild. So much for Dell. The computer isn't that old. It does have a western digital hard drive. When I use to build my own desktop pc's, I quit using western digital due to the fact they have a high failure rate. They honored the warranty, but you get tired of packing up drive, sending it back, and waiting for a replacement to arrive. Not to mention having to reinstall everything including the operating system and all the updates.

Merry Christmas everyone. Stay warm and safe.

Happy Thanksgiving

Have a great Holiday everyone

Time to find a new barber

I went to get my haircut and find the barbershop closed. So as not to make a complete wasted trip, I went two doors down to a nice little store that sells military surplus and other memorabilia. The owners son has a space set up where he sells some old odds and ends as well. I checked out some of the military stuff, but his father wasn't around, so I couldn't check on the prices of items of interest. I did find a nice little oddity. His kid had one of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd Street Survivor albums with the flames in the back ground. The album released at the time of the airplane crash, and they did a recall of the album and rereleased it with the band standing against a plain black background. It isn't worth alot, but I still have all my old LP's and thought this would be a nice one to keep. Upon checking out, I asked about the barber. Come to find out they were running a meth lab out of the basement. Can't beat that for a cover. One old grey haired barber and what appeared to be his wife doing the hair cutting. Back to finding a barber that actually cuts the hair the way you ask them to again. Oh well, I guess it will be easier for me to find a new barber than the crackheads finding their new supplier : )

After 100 years

Mark Twain's autobiography (part one) comes out Monday. Have to make a trip to the bookstore. Read everything else he has written, will be nice to get some fresh material. Suppose to be three in all. Just in time for winter reading.  Leave it to Mark Twain to delay the release of it until one hundred years after his death.

The beast lives....

I went through the wiring harness and fixed a couple of shorts. One wire had almost no insulation on it and the copper was green. This was the wire that ran from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid. I cut it out and put a new run in. I put all the connectors on and turned the key. Just a click. I check things again. I put new cables on positive side, but negative is the old one. Changed cable out and car cranked good. Cranked it until gas hit carb. It fired and purred nicely. The carb needed no adjustment and the timing was almost dead on. I filled the radiator and let it run. When I shut it down, it hadn't occurred to me to dig up the radiator cap, so coolant flowed onto my garage floor. I put the cap on and started her back up and let it run for a while. After I was happy that all was well, I shut it down and taped the harness back up. After taping, I snaked the harness back through all the holes and plugged everything back in. Once again, I start the engine up. She is running fine and I start checking the lights out. Headlights and taillights come on fine. Try the turn signal, the engine dies. Turn signal off and restart engine. Try signal again, engine dies and smoke comes from light switch area. Had enough fun for one day. Engine runs. I will have to check the light situation tomorrow. I did not have the lights plugged in earlier when running engine, so I am hoping it is just a short in the harness that is only a foot long and runs from turn signals to the harness that I worked on today. Maybe it shorted out while I was plugging in back in to main harness.  Well, at least it runs and no fluids leaked out of engine or trans so that is good.

Found elecrical gremlin

A little work with the meter and I found the starter has a dead short. Disconnected it and checked all the fuses. Fuses were all intact. I still did not have lights, radio or any electric anywhere. It dawns on me that the new negative cable is not grounded to chassis, just the engine. I run jumper to chassis, all electric works.Starter is only $45, but the sticker on it shows it is only two years old. It worked fine when removed so I don't understand what the deal is, but I will swing by tomorrow and pick up a new one tomorrow. Should be able to crank her up then unless it finds something else to puke out. Should be running out of old components. I checked all the lights and need to troubleshoot the back up light switch which shouldn't be a big deal. All other lights and blinkers work fine as does radio and interior. 

staying on course

Got home and went to work on car. Got the trans filled and topped off the oil. Finished plumbing the coolant lines and finished wiring starter and solenoid. I go to crank it, battery is stone dead. I charged the battery and hit it again. It kicks the breaker and had to wait for it to reset. Tomorrow I will have to look for short in system. There was one wire in loom I did not like the looks of and after looking at schematic, I will just run a new wire to replace it. There was also a couple wires down by the steering column that I forgot about that someone had twisted and taped that were coming loose. I wanted to splice them after determining their function, but forgot about until now. Nothing else, tomorrow I can just bypass the ignition switch and hotwire it under hood to check engine function. I am going to be pulling steering column to replace toe board, so that will make wire splicing and IDing easier. The clown who put the column in spliced the wires coming out of column and taped and twisted wires. Not a whole lot to the wire harness on this car, so it shouldn't be too bad to patch up the mess.

Almost ready to fire up

Managed to get the driveshaft installed after replacing u-joints. I found the card from the vendor that was at Frog Follies with the mustang stuff. He has some genuine new old stock ford parts. Some items I have not been able to find anywhere. I bought a new torque box and toe board for the drivers side. I welded the new battery tray insert in place. I will not do anymore welding of sheet metal until I get tank. I used the flux wire and it is some horrible stuff. I figured I would try it on a panel that was not structural. I will re weld battery tray when I get tank. Finished wiring the coil and distributor, installed battery, installed radiator, and shifter. Tomorrow, I will top off oil, fill trans and radiator, and hopefully start motor. Can not drive it without seats in, but I can verify it runs and let it idle for a while. I am going back next week to get the carpet kit and sound deadener. He actually has brand new still in box ford 3 speed chrome shifter handles. I can not find them even in reproduction anywhere else. The torque box is really beefy. Found out my car did not come with passenger torque box from factory but I am going to install one since I am this far in anyway. It is suppose to firm up the ride quite a bit.I measured and the new torque box looks like it will fit perfectly and it has welded in reinforcements as well as stamped in reinforcements. Much nicer than the ones I have seen offered anywhere else and I can pick them up a few minutes from my house. I was hoping on welding them in without pulling fender, but this is impossible. Guess I will start pulling fenders during the week. Toe board look perfect except for lacking hole for parking brake cable. I will have to measure old one for hole location before cutting it out.

Did not get to the machine gun shoot this time around. Figured I would stay focused on the car this weekend. Practiced with some scrap pieces with the welder. I think I will like it when I get the CO2/argon tank for it.  Welds nice, but the flux core spatters and does not lay a nice bead.  The machine itself feeds really smooth. I am use to stick welding so the concept of a trigger fed wire is really cool.

Progress on floor

I made some progress on the floor and hit a temporary roadblock at the same time. After cutting out the bad metal on the driver side floorpan, I found I had overlooked the rust in the toe board  and I decided to change out the torque box while I am in there. Bad part is I have to wait for them to come in to weld floor in place.  The passenger side is in real good shape. After cleaning it, I primed and painted it. With the floor cut out of the way, I can easily weld the new parking brake brackets to the frame rails from inside car as opposed to hanging underneath.

It's finally the weekend.....

I came home to find the subframe connectors I ordered waiting for me on the stoop. Managed to get quite a bit done during the week. I snaked the new prebent gas line into place. Not an easy task seeing as how it is almost the length of the car and has to run over the rear axle, around muffler and around several obstacles. I had to drop rear exhaust, but the line is there ready to install once I drain tank. I ran my work vehicle low so I can transfer fuel over to it. I need to check the fuel gage sending unit as well before reinstalling the line.

I finished removing the carpet on the inside and the floor is in decent shape other than the driver side front which I am replacing. A good sanding,  priming and paint before installing carpet should take care of floor.
Once floor is done,  I can install the frame rail connectors and weld them in place. It should stiffen the ride up somewhat. Once that is done, I can run the new brake lines and parking brake cables. It has been real pleasant weather lately making it nice working in the garage.

They have a gun show at the armory tomorrow, so that should be a nice start for the weekend. Next weekend is the fall machine gun shoot. Should be able to restock my ammo for the Garrand. Nothing beats the smell of gun powder and flame throwers. Throw in a gun show and it is a great weekend. I believe Indy gun show is this month as well.

Took a lazy day Sunday

Instead of working on the mustang, I chose to go see Resident Evil 3D.  3D has come a long way since the cheap glasses with the green and red lenses. It actually looked like 3D. Movie needed more zombies though, never enough zombies. Saw previews for Saw 3D. That looks like a must see.

Have to get back to the Mustang tomorrow. Have a shopping list for the last of the parts I need. Want to change out all the heater hoses. This car is old enough, the hoses go through the firewall into the heater core. I am going to take heater box apart and hopefully not damage heater core in the process. New one is only about $35 so if it breaks, not out too much.

Exhaust on

Managed to dig the workbench off enough to organize tools and make room for welder. I broke it in by welding ear back on exhaust manifold. I also managed to get the exhaust manifold and system hooked back up. I also found another source for welding gas. Seems Rural King has a trade in system like propane tanks for welding gas. I can buy filled tank and trade it in as needed for full tank. Price is substantially cheaper than Air Gas and Rural King is open on weekends. The battery tray inner fender part is ready to weld in place. I will pick up tank tomorrow and get it taken care of. I am going to install radiator and hopefully start car tomorrow, so it may turn into a decent day.

Mig welder worked pretty nice. First time I used a mig welder. Alot nicer than Stick and acetylene like I have done before. Trigger controlled wire feed is nice. Need to practice on some scraps of sheet metal tomorrow to get a feel for how it welds before starting on real panels.

Found it

Made some progress today. I ordered gaskets for the carb Monday and they came in yesterday so I was able to get it mounted and the linkage back on today. I cleaned up the drive shaft and repainted it. Need to go to store and get new u-joints on the way home tomorrow so I can reinstall drive shaft. Need to pick up some new heater hose as well. I figure the blue hose will go good with the engine.

I looked everywhere I could think of for the exhaust manifold, and I finally found it. When I had problems with the breaker blowing and ran a new power line for the garage, I was sand blasting. I left it in the blast cabinet. I also found the ear that broke off of it that had been welded on by the previous owner and came off upon removal from car. I will try re welding it tomorrow and hopefully get the exhaust remounted. Hope to fire it up on Saturday if I can get radiator back by then. Everything else should be together tomorrow. I got an e-mail from the place I ordered parts for the car, and the last of the parts should be here tomorrow, including the alternator mounting bolts.



Most of accessories back on

I managed to get some time in on the Mustang today after catching up on some house chores. I mounted the alternator with new harness extension. I have it in place with a stud temporarily while waiting on bolt kit to come in. I found some more damage in one of the wiring harnesses and got a price on changing out the whole section of harness. I will take it out during the week and see if I can replace one nasty wire or if more of them are damaged. It is a pretty long harness as it feeds the headlights, voltage regulator, alternator, starter relay and turn signals.

I also installed the water pump, thermostat with housing, coil, spark plugs, Distributor, spark plug wires and the missing freeze plug. I pulled the valve cover and found top dead center and set initial timing. I also put in an electronic ignition conversion kit. I bought a new z-bar for the clutch as the old one was unsalvagable. It was used off e-bay and needed some modifications as the previous owner welded up worn holes, but failed to drill new holes to accommodate the linkage. Once I found my 1/2 drill and chuck key (which was a job in it self in my nightmare of a garage) I managed to get holes in and get it installed. Ford did not allow much clearance between z-bar and steering shaft. Had to adjust height of z-bar bracket to clear the shaft. Now if I can only remember where I stowed the exhaust manifold, I can get the exhaust back in place. Rebuild kit did not include gaskets for carburetor, so I will have to order some from the parts store. She is just about there. I will try and get radiator dropped at shop during the week. I keep forgetting about it. It is in good shape, just want to have it hot tanked and have a new hose fitting installed as old one is bent.

Sharp pointy things

I went to the club today to check out their second gun show. They had more attendees than the first one, but nothing worth bringing home. They had one poor mangled Krag that I should have bought and buried to put the poor thing out of it's misery. The guy had hacked the barrel back quite excessively and had a jammed it into a small stock that had been hacked up poorly to accommodate what was left of the Krag. They only charged a dollar at the door, so that wasn't too bad. Bumped into the guy I bought my Garrand off of. He reminded me of the gun show at the armory next month. He usually has a nice layout there. I keep drooling over an Enfield he has that has never been shot. Several years back, they sold off an inventory of Enfields that had never seen service at all. They are referred to as mummified Enfields. They shipped in the cosmoline they were dipped in at the armory and wrapped in cloth. It comes with matching accouterments including matching bayonet. I love the look of the Enfields, and this thing is mint. If he brings it this time around, I may have to buy myself a present. Don't think I can bring myself to firing it seeing how it has made it half a century without anyone doing so, but I wouldn't mind having it around to polish and enjoy just for the sake of preserving a piece of history.

I went to Whitaker Gun store in Owensboro Kentucky after the show at the club. They advertised a couple Krags for around $500 each. One carbine and a rifle. After looking through their massive inventory, I could not find the Krags and had to do what no guy likes to do, ask the clerk for help. Yes, that is almost as bad as having to stop along the road and ask directions. While the clerk looked around, I went back and grabbed a Winchester 1917 that I found that was in pretty decent shape. It has the original barrel and stock and came with a bayonet with sheath (but no frog). Bayonet is marked Remington, but the rest of the rifle is all correct. Now my Remington 1917 won't be so lonely in the safe. The clerk made it back and wasn't having any luck when the store owner hollered over that he had sold the rifle yesterday, and the carbine had been put on layaway by someone earlier that day. I proceeded with the paper work for the 1917 and had a few people checking it out wondering if there were more of them on the rack. Probably could have sold it to one who was quite interested in it while I was waiting on papers to clear. I still want a P1914 Enfield to round out the Enfield collection, but have been unable to find one yet. The friends of the NRA show had a beautiful restored one in their raffle, but I did not win. I would have been happy to purchase it if they would have allowed. Beautiful gun.

Tomorrow, I will put the motor accessories back on and try to get the dash put back together. I still need to get my welding tank to finish up on welding. They don't make it easy with the hours they are open. Sure do wish one of them had the smarts to be open on Saturday. Would like to start the motor and hear it run. Might head to the range tomorrow for a while too. It has been great weather out there. Not too hot, not humid, perfect weather.

Motor and trans are in : )

I installed the transmission to the motor this morning. Wasn't too bad getting it together.I picked up a couple 7/16 bolts and lopped the heads off to use as guide pins. Worked great.

Next up is dropping it in. I had the car on rollers and it made it nice rolling car into position. I had hoist at angle in corner of garage and rolled car into 45 degree angle under hoist. Gave me more room around car and hoist. Install went pretty good. Would have been a lot easier with another set of hands. I borrowed a load leveler from a buddy which made putting engine at an angle to allow for trans to enter a lot easier. Once it clears part of firewall, you can start leveling motor out as you drop it in.

After I lined the engine up, I put a bolt in on each motor mount to allow swiveling. I then was able to jack the trans up level and install new trans mount and cross member.Old trans mount came off in two pieces. Forty year old rubber tends to do that. I will try and get the water pump, plugs, coil, wires, thermostat and miscellaneous brackets on tomorrow. If I get off on time, I can get my welding tank and start doing some of the welding. I still need to get the alternator bracket off old alternator. The old bolt is in love with the hole in the alternator, so I will need to take to work and use the press. I need to install  freeze plug shop missed as well. Would be nice to fire it up next weekend. I want to replace the u-joints while shaft is down as well. Lots more to do, but I am getting there slow but sure.

trans going back on

I finally got back to work on the car. I put the flywheel back on and installed the new clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing and pilot bearing. I also got the old seals out of the trans and installed the new ones. I will repaint it the same color. My year is the last year to use old ford blue. The shop painted the motor corporate ford blue (which actually looks better) , so I am going to paint trans to match engine. It is not going to be a show car anyway, so I will paint it the newer ford blue.

 Still have not done the welding. I priced the tank, and am now trying to catch the place open to pick it up. Anyone I talk to says not to use flux core wire with body panels due to burn through and contamination. I found a place that has the Argon/Co2  mix at a very reasonable price. The only problem is they are closed weekends and not open late (4:30) during the week. The place a couple blocks down from work (AirGas) has the tanks, but they want three times what the other place does for the same amount of gas. They are one of the big companies, but their prices are a lot higher than their competition. I am going to try and get the motor and trans back in and run the lines tomorrow. I will try and get floor welded in during week. If they let me out on time one day, I can get the tank. Still need to get carpet ordered, but I can always bolt a seat and run without carpet until it comes in. Will be nice to get engine in and break down cherry picker to get some room back in the garage again.

Frog Follies part2

Well, I went back to the car show and picked up my HEI conversion kit and other miscellaneous parts. Unfortunately they gave me the wrong coil for it so I have to go tomorrow and exchange for the proper one. I did not notice that I left the house minus my camera so there are no new pics for today. I did get some tips from one of the vendors on welding in the floor pan. The sales corral had some new additions. Today being the weekend, there were a lot more people in attendance. You almost need a map to find your way around in there. I could not find the booth with the frame coating I wanted yesterday. Might have better luck tomorrow. Only one more day of vacation, but there is a long weekend coming up next week, so that makes it a little more tolerable. I put the conversion kit in the distributor. I need to get a new o-ring when I get back to work as the old one is over forty years old and not to pliable.

Frog Follies

Got up early and went to Frog Follies this morning. What a beautiful day for it. You couldn't ask for better weather. I found a full floor pan for the mustang and another guy has the conversion kit for HEI ignition system. Typical luck though. I have to look at distributor and see which of the two ford used on mine. Apparently, my car is a borderline changeover year. I found out yesterday that the engine mounts I ordered for it are the wrong ones. Mine use the 1964-1966 ones instead of the ones for 1967. I will go back and get the parts over the weekend. Gives me an excuse to go back and gawk at the nice cars some more.

FlamingRiver had a booth set up there. I was able to see their latest steering gear for the car. It has the flaming river manual steering upgrade and it looks to have an after market steering column. The guy showed me what to look for to see if it is one of theirs or not. It has some slop in it, so if it is one of theirs, he said even though I did not purchase it new, they could still work on it and fix it instead of me buying a new one.

I got a chance to look through a lot of tools and bought some odds and ends in the bargain bins. They had some nice cars in the sale corral. I just don't have the room at present for any more toys. They had couple mustangs for sale, but they were in really bad shape. I did see a really nice Bronco there. I only work about 4 miles from home now, so mileage wouldn't be an issue. I always liked the old Broncos.  I found some info on chrome platers and powdercoaters as well as upholsterers while looking around. Did not find shifter console, but I will keep an eye out in the future. One will show up eventually.

Still have to determine what to do over weekend. Have the Indy gun show going on, and I definitely want to hit the car show again. It was a blast. I stayed until they were closing some of the sales tents and it appeared most of the cars were getting ready to go on a cruise. It was pretty neat, when I left the show, the old cars were everywhere you drove in town. There are thousands of them. One of the attendants at the gate said as of midday, they had 5000 registered so far and they were still coming.

Motor is back

Well, I finally got the motor back today. I lucked out and walked into the shop while they were putting the final touches on it. The kid working on it offered to deliver it for twenty bucks. I couldn't rent a truck for that. I gave him forty and still consider myself money ahead. Motor looks good. I will assemble clutch and install tranny to motor tomorrow. I don't want to install motor until I get the floor pan installed. I removed the carpet and cleaned up the area. Tomorrow, I will go to Frog Follies in the morning, and cut floor out in the evening. Still need to line up and see if anyone is going to Indy gun show and what day so I know how to plan weekend. I am hoping on getting floor welded in this weekend. I am still working up the nerve to try welding it in myself as opposed to taking it in. The driver side front is the only bad one. The rear and tunnel area look like new. They still have the paint on them.Drivers side rear is in great shape as well. I am still waiting on the subframe connectors to show up. They are bolt in, but I intend on bolting and welding them in.

I bought a new z-bar to get the car going. Still want to go hydraulic with the clutch in the future, but this will get it to the street sooner. The old one was beyond repair. Someone welded a slug off center in it and rigged it to sorta work. I found one on e-bay to get it going. I also got a new frame bracket and new washers and bushings for it.

I should have some great pics tomorrow from the Frog Follies. It has to be one of the best car shows around. I am going to try to find a better shifter for the mustang while I am there. Would be nice to find a floor console as well. I need to get new carpet as well. The carpet did not come up where it can be reused.

Pics from the past project

It has been too hot to work on the car, and work has been too crazy to permit the time. I figured I would post a few pics of the last project car I worked on. It is a 1989 corvette. It was similar to the stang as I did not really plan on going in as deep as I did on it when I did, but circumstances led to a new top end and clutch. It started out as my father's project which I took over upon his passing. I recovered the seats, which taught me to never undertake upholstery again. The seats have alot of tucks, each requiring a ton of hog rings to install. They turned out good, just not fun. Next up was a paint job. Guy did an excellent job. My brother later took his 72 Monte Carlo to him and it came out excellent. Got the car back from paint and went to the weekend car show in my town. Coming home from the car show, I smell coolant. Turns out it was the Vette. Crawl under and look. Coolant was coming from hole in transmission housing. I figure it is rear freeze plug since no water up above. I look at manual and see the nightmare of dropping trans and it is off to the shop. I have them install clutch while it is out. Call comes from shop. Good news, clutch done, bad news, not freeze plug, head gasket was leaking and water was traveling down through trans and coming out bottom. This is what led to the rebuild of the top end of the motor.

Towed  Vette home and tore into motor. She got new fuel injectors, a bored out throttle body, a new chip for  the computer, and  the air pump and all associated plumbing magically disappeared making maintenance much easier. The heads were redone and all new springs and hardware installed. Did some powder coating and ceramic coating of alot of components while apart. I polished the plenum and painted the grooves the same color as car exterior. I was able to match valve cover powder coat to match exterior color as well. The powder coater was only a block away from work, so that was convenient. She moves out pretty good now. I do need to put in a new ignition switch this winter though. GM makes it so you need to pull the column to get to it.

Friends of the NRA

My friend from work acquired a couple extra tickets to a friends of the NRA banquet and raffle. His cousin is a business partner and had tickets he couldn't use. It was a blast. Guns, reloading supplies, a safe and many nice items available as prizes and for auction. Saw some people from the sportsman's club there. The caretaker of the club won the safe. It is the exact model I have. It has a rifle rack built into the inside of the door. Very slick idea. Next year, I will go again, it was a blast. I am hoping on going to the annual NRA meet next year. Was planning on going this year, but couldn't get off at work. Ted Nugent, Chuck Norris and Sarah Palin were there. Just have to plan a vacation for next years meet.

Mustang has been on hold. Work is going crazy. Working ten to twelve hours a day, seven days a week at present. At least it will help pay for the motor. A couple more weeks and it will be vacation time again. Hope to get the motor back in and start driving it. The humidity and heat have been unbearable lately. Still have welding to do, but it has just been way too hot. hope to post some new pics as soon as I get time to get back to the toy. Can't wait to drive it. Indy gun show is coming up in a couple weeks as is the Frog Follies. The Frog Follies has to be my absolute favorite car show ever. They fill the fairgrounds with vehicles 1948 and older. Stock, rods, rat rods, car parts (used and new) and a heck of a lot of project cars. I finish the Mustang, I may have to move one more time. My garage is full and I would still love to build a rat rod. Nothing fancy, just a T-bucket type of ride for the fun of it. I will post some pics of the Follies when I go. It's large enough, I usually go all three days, but I will have to miss one day to go up to the Indy gun show. Hate to miss that. Meet up with Og and my brother and hopefully see Brigid as well ( and Barkley) . It's always a good time.

Up on dolleys

Finally got the beast up on the car dolleys I picked up at Harbor Freight. They work real well. I was able to move the car around fairly easily by myself. I pushed the car to the side and cleaned the mess up that was under it. Then I pushed it back. Tomorrow I can pull the vette out and push it back in the middle to work on it.  I want to pull the carpet and get the floor pan in this weekend. Motor should be done anytime now and I need to be ready. Seats are out,just need to pull kick panels and peel carpet up. Hoping on no rain this weekend so vette can stay outside during day and I can get some work done. I am hoping on getting the sandblaster piped in too now that compressor is back on line. Looking forward to trying new welder out.

Making a little progress.

Finally got off my duff and back in the garage. Crawled under and pulled the seat bolts out and yanked the seats. I am pulling the trim and carpet tomorrow. Went to move the Vette out of the way, and found the battery completely dead. I purchased some car dollies to put the mustang on to make moving it around easier while doing work. I am anxious to see how they work out. Hope to start welding panels tomorrow once I can get car away from flammables.

Simple solution

Why not make our immigration laws identical to those of Mexico?  Mexican President is condeming America for racism and blaming us for the illegal full auto weapons drug cartels use. American government puts up with too much guff from this dictator. Hats off to Arizona and hopefully right will prevail. Check this link for what Mexican government does to control their illegal immigrant problem. Still trying to find those gun shops in America where I can walk up and buy full auto cool toys, no luck though. Maybe I can go to Mexico and get some : )

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/03/mexicos-illegals-laws-tougher-than-arizonas/

Transmission cleaned up

Sorted out some of the things in garage. I cleaned the transmission up, painted it and installed new boot. Old boot was gone and there was a lot of dirt and grunge in housing.I put the shifter on and aligned the linkage. She shifts real smooth now that the rust is gone and new springs in shifter. It actually centers itself like it should when released. I still need to replace seals on transmission shaft. I will get round stock at work to seat seals. I managed to pick up a helmet and some welding blankets. Should hear something from shop this week as far as when to expect motor and go over spec of what I want done. I told them to go with the new rubber gaskets as opposed to cork wherever possible. Hoping I can get a rubber oil pan gasket. They redid the valve seats to handle the unleaded gas. Back to work tomorrow. I don't know why vacations go by so quick. At least it is only a four day week.

The club

Thought I would post some pictures of the sportsman club down here. It's very close by and has a rifle range, stocked lake, Archery range, spot shoot area, clay thrower, and cowboy town. They did a nice job laying it out, and just purchased several additional acres behind range area that is currently wildlife area. Hopefully they will push range back further. It goes to 100 yard now. The NCOWS started having their shoots here a few years back, and just got done with their event a couple weeks back. It is pretty neat checking out their shoot. They dress up in era appropriate clothing and use only era correct firearms. They also set up a onsite store with clothing,gear and accessories. They set up old time tent areas and camp there for the week.

This is the building they use for the registration and scorekeeping.

This is the mine car. It rolls down the track which is arched. Sometimes people ride in it while shooting down range at steel targets, stationary and moving. Sometimes, it is used as an obstruction to shoot around object that is in it and moving back and forth.

A look down range through back of saloon.

Another one of the scenarios. They have a cantina, church, train, fort,rail car,just to mention a few.

The range goes to 100 yards with a gong on the side. They put a nice shed at the end to keep targets, hearing and eye protection, bowling pins for the shoots,  rifle rests, and miscellaneous shooting gear. They also have mats in there that fit the tables to protect your gear as tables are concrete. One of the nicer ranges I have been to. It has a nice club house the members can rent out for family events and a cookhouse. A nice pavillion with lots of tables for cookouts is also available and a playground for the kiddies. They also have a nice scenic area to picnic in. I moved down here to Evansville,IN a couple years ago and a coworker was kind enough to get me in the club. They have all sorts of events going on year around.