Still waiting on the block for the wifes 5.7 Hemi to be done, got he heads back today. Justbsettled the Mirada into her new temporary home, until the Charger is done. Sorting, cleaning and cataloging parts. And finally picking the color so I can get paint ordered this summer.
Got to get new front tires for the Fifth and an alignment. After that a Holley Sniper EFI unit goes on the big block. Since I built it last year its had an undersized carb on it. Looking forward to it.
Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of my Dad's death. In his honor, it rained. And his old 2000 Silverado that he gave me years ago decided that today was the optimum day to start slinging the driver side windshield wiper all over the place (again..). In his honor, I drove to town (slowly) behind a cattle trailer and pulled over at O'Reilly's to order a new linkage part and a new wiper arm. Which means, on Saturday (tomorrow) after the rain stops tonight and the sun comes out tomorrow.. I'll take my margarita (cinco de mayo) out to the truck and remove the cowling, replace the linkage, put on a new arm. I can then work on the A/C accuators... I managed to put one of them in wrong so the temp set on heat actually makes the a/c come on and when I change the temp to cool it makes the heater come on. lol.... kinda like my life right now.
This car is fighting me every step of the way. New a/c compressor is on but still have to draw a vacuum and charge it. On to the brakes. When I pulled the calipers off, I noticed that one pad on each side was completely worn to the rivets and the other one looked new. Yep, both calipers were stuck and would not retract causing the premature wear and the added heat that warped the rotors. New calipers ordered. While waiting for parts, I decided to put on new belts. Started to loosen the bolts on the smog pump and noticed that one of the mounting bracket was broken off allowing the belt to track at an angle. More parts ordered. I decided to put the original wheels back on for the trip to Carlisle. Took them to town to have them balanced. The local tire shop was advertising tire rotation and balance for $25. Went to pick them up and it was $60!!! Said it did not qualify for the sale price because they were not on a car. I sure hope they enjoy that money, because they will never see another dollar of mine again. Ah, the joys of these old cars.
A milestone of sorts. I lost my Dad 28 years ago, and still think of him very often, and also frequently notice things about myself which are directly from him. Most notably, my love of cars and trying to fix things up, although he was much better at it. It's no wonder - Just Wondering - that you need "some color" in your life as you said in another post. Do something nice in his honor, something that would make you both happy, and keep on moving ahead.
I decided to put the stock (wagon wheels) back on the 80 RR for the trip to Carlisle. What a difference a little paint and a lot of elbow grease will do. Before: After
