Haloo, Monday!
It finally [properly] rained this weekend...and rained so much yesterday that the river is way up and we're calling insurance today to talk about how wet my basement got. And my yard will undoubtedly shoot up a foot today. All of that aside, the weekend was still reasonably productive.
I worked Saturday. Once I finally broke free I made my way home where I had to immediately change clothes and head to a graduation party for the young lady who lives across the street. After working and socializing, I was glad to finish the day with some light dinner and couch-time with Kelly. I know, the peak of drama. I can't keep E! from beating on my door trying to film a reality series.
SUNDAY
The part you all look forward to the most...when I'm not in an engine-building crisis and posting every 20 hours.
Slept in until after 0800 for the first time in forever. A very rapid shower was had and we made it to breakfast after our self-imposed 0900 cut-off. (The churchies mob all the breakfast places in the area starting at 0900 and I cannot abide people who are rude to restaurant staff. It's best that we get in and out while the world is still quiet. This also serves to avoid open conflict with large groups of people who are dressed up and talking down to their servers.)
I digress.
After breakfast, we were homeward bound. I wandered around the house for a little bit before getting together a game plan and finally changing clothes and heading to the garage.
I still hadn't fully cleared the fog from sleeping in, so opted to start with a simple task...swapping the window winders.
Old URO winder. Note the knob is absent and the drag marks in my black tweed from my knuckles dragging as I lift/lower the window.
Remember when I mentioned I was in a fog?
Yeah, I failed to take a picture of the new winder in situ.
Here's where it gets fun. When I moved over to Kelly's side, I was reminded that the spindle the winder fixes to has no usable threads. I texted Tweet to confirm what I already knew to be true. The whole assembly was destined for the bin. As luck would have it, when I purchased window regs, I bought a pair. I never swapped the offside window lift as it already had the correct regulator. (It had some totally 80s manual-to-power conversion garbage stuck in there so I ripped all that out and stuck a winder on it and VOILA! it worked.) So the other offside reg was hung from a hook in the garage and remained there for years until yesterday.
Some two hours elapsed and this happened.
In this poorly captured image, you can [almost] see the new billet winder from Actungkraft. These winders are crafted in such a way that they move the knob away from the panel so you don't drag your knuckles all over the place. They also feel excellent in the hand.
You'd think I'd move on to my next planned project, but I had visions of my door mirror flying off the car again so I thought it prudent to sort that out. So off came that newly installed window winder, then the upper trim bit, then the panel itself. This was all so I could see inside and confirm what I guessed to be true. The dog (hook?) on the mirror base was not hooking over the doubler plate installed to reinforce the doorskin.
Note the witness mark on the dog/hook/ear in this sorta fuzzy pic.
If you look closely at that last pic, you'll probably also see the crack that I cracked by over-tightening this thing trying to get it to stay on the door for the drive home Saturday. :grumbleemoji:
Here's some more pics of the forkery I managed after the mirror survived a great tumble at 70mph.
Not being one to quit, I decided to fix it. So I drilled a hole in the peg that went all the way to just below the surface of the outermost surface of the base. I did this by feel. Literally held it in my left hand with my thumb over where I expected the bit to break through, and went slowly until I could feel the drill bit. I managed to do this without punching through the surface. I then screwed in a small screw and using that same thumb technology managed to not punch that through either.
Aforementioned screw-reinforced peg/leg
Once reinforced and the doubler plate removed, the mirror is rock solid without the use of a 1/2" impact wrench to tighten it.
I have been in contact with Chern (Pegaroo Racing) and we discussed how the doubler has caused this problem for others. He is sending me a new base, free of charge...from Australia. I am extremely happy with the level of service I've received throughout this purchase. Chern has been great to deal with. I only reached out to share what happened so he wouldn't be blindsided later and possibly update the instructions. I did not ask for a replacement, much less a free replacement. 10/10, do recommend.
You'd think after all those words, and those few miserable pictures that I'm done. Alas, I am not.
Some time ago, I purchased the Ultimate Shift Rod Bushing from the admirable JPNovak. It's been sitting on a shelf in the garage, in plain view, since I received it. To say it's been mocking my laziness might be an overstatement...but not by much. Yesterday, I rectified that.
Get a good look at the new bushing next to the 'old' bushing, because I sure as heck didn't take any more pics. :facepalm:
While I had the shifter out of the car, I [also finally] shortened the shifter. This is 15-18mm cut right off the end. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it's huge. The new shorter height means I no longer mash my phone on the Rennline phone holder when shifting into third. It also means I don't occasionally hit my hand on the wheel shifting in the 1-2 plane. (yes, I have large hands)
That concluded yesterday's activities.
I was wrapping up the shifter when Kelly advised, "Honey, the basement flooded."
"Yours or ours?"
*stern glare* "Ours."
"Well crap. I'm almost done. I'll be down in a minute."
That about brings this tale full-circle.
Here's a glamour shot from this morning showing just how hard my car is to see in certain light. It also illustrates why I so strongly considered Rubystone for the paint color.
~CB