April 17th, 2003 (Post #28)

April 17, 2003
Need a Lift?
“Your gonna need a lift.” Kurt said, when I picked up my new exhaust at Rover Cannibal. As you probably remember my current exhaust has a bad case of rust and corrosion. Maybe just rust as there is not enough of it left to notice any corrosion. I was inspired by Mr. Fat Jack in the 1984 movie Splash in which he states to Tom Hanks while waving a hammer, “I can fix it, I’m mechanical.”

Well I got it home and after a thorough investigation at a minimum I am going to have to jack up the body a bit. Maybe more like lift the body up. Okay so I call my buddy JagGuy and he says why don’t you take it over to Roger’s. I’m thinking great, I can litter Roger’s driveway with my burden and maybe if I buy enough beer he’ll do the work too.
So I say, “Why should I take it to Roger’s?”
“He has a lift.”
“Really, you don’t say?”
He is my hero truly. He doesn’t know it yet, but he is. I haven’t asked him yet but I am assured by JagGuy he will say no problem.

Head gasket update
I still haven’t acquired the funds to purchase the gasket kit and the price of having my heads at the shop yet. JagGuy assures me that I can get another 100,000 out of the motor if I do the heads when I get them off truck. I’m all about maximizing my vehicle value so I will have the
heads re-done when they are off the truck. It makes a weekend project into a multi-weekend project.

But what am I if I am not made out of money? I have time, for I am young. Now what am I gonna drive that week? Maybe JagGuy has a spare Jaguar for me, or maybe even his Rover. Yet another thing to ask of him while he is assisting me with my heads. I have already determined this job will be a 4.5 difficulty on the Difficulty Scale.

Cupholder Goodness Update
I have unboxed my new wood lathe. I have gotten out all the tools and actually turned a piece of wood. It is harder than it looks. I have gotten some tips from Ford Stepsides and the next attempt will be better. I have a friend that felled some red cedars at his ranch and I can have as much of it as I want. I think I will try turning some bowls with that this weekend maybe.