I'm back to reality: home in the Midwest ! arrived at Flint airport at 4:30pm was home playing with LOKI by 5pm. Man was he wound up and happy to see me! whoo! so much energy.
After all the physical work with the 'Pile 'O Pierce' loading the truck, unloading, putting away in storage, loading the sold parts into buyer's trucks, etc, man o man was I sore when I got off the plane !!
Sitting in a cramped seat sure lets the old muscles 'set up'.. this morning was worse: it certainly was a 'Motrin Morning' !!
The valve job on George's '30 roadster went well. This is a really nice car, it took 3rd at Pebble Beach two years ago. That sure put a smile on George's face. But it was developing low compression on several cylinders. So I had to have the valves at least lapped in.. the end result was all 16 new stainless steel valves, and the seats properly cut. This engine has mechanical lifters, so the valves have to be adjusted, and will need a second adjustment in about 1000miles. The initial adjustment isn't too bad, with the intake and exhaust manifolds out of the way.. but the second adjustment is a real PITA, with having to work around the manifolds, I'll remove the carb, with it installed the job is beyond a PITA. almost impossible without a second elbow between the wrist and God-given elbow.
The car of George's that I did a valve job, hone and re-ring on last fall needed a good hard run.. George was baby-ing it, and the new rings were not wearing in and sealing to my satisfaction. Out in the Oakland bay area, there are LOTS of hills to use to work the engine hard. So we went on an hour long engine-loading run.. when we got back, the engine no longer had any blue smoke, and was idling much smoother.. Nothing like a full-throttle run in 3rd [direct] gear, from 25mph slowly accelerating up to 35-40mph, taking 20-30 seconds to accelerate this much, then repeat. There are some SERIOUS hills in some old neighborhoods out there.. The engine is really 'happy' now. it got to work, and break-in, or wear-in. It's a 385 cubic inch straight eight, 3.5"bore x 5" stroke.. serious torque at 1400-1800rpm..
I'm really glad to read in the 'health' forum that Marty is having a good spell.. Nice spring weather and feeling well, can't beat that. Freddy, I'm sure it's at least partly due to your and Eloise's care and love.
And the latests from Team Fred: he's improving and might, just maybe get out of the hospital and to a care center/rehab center in a few days to a week.. Let's keep the prayers going.
And since he's hard to communicate with via email/phone/relatives.. lets keep the Pony-Express working.. get the obnoxious, raunchy, XXX rated get-well cards out to him. I'm sure he's enjoying the cards I've sent..
Ok, time to check out my list.. er.. it's more of a scroll, maybe even a book of projects to work on..
Take care all. Hug your loved ones.
Greg L
