Preface: long-boring entry about vehicles; proceed at your own risk!
More "progress" on the Dodge - leaf springs & install kit arrived today, my disc conversion brackets were scheduled to be made & shipped out today (meaning they should arrive Monday or Wednesday, due to the holiday). I ordered my rims & tires today too, and they should be arriving roughly the same time as my conversion kit.
I'm on vacation after Friday, for a week, and I'm going to have to clear out the garage so I can bring the car through, in order to have it towed to the spring shop for the axle/spring install. Before that happens though, I'm going to need to drop the gas tank & install the new one (I might need to take them both to a shop to have the filler necks swapped out - the new one I got is supposedly a 1/2" shorter & might present a problem when trying to fill it up). I'm going to be leaving the new rims/tires in the basement for now - no reason to install them until I get the power brake conversion kit & all the brake lines installed, since the only reason I needed them (other than looks/style) is to fit over the new calipers. No need to install calipers until the brake lines are done, so...
There really is a lot still to do, now that I think about it; install my speedometer cable (so the trans fluid doesn't leak out all over the place), run a wire from the switched power to the coil, & fill up my gas can; these are the things that need to be done before the engine can be started, which WJC said he'd help me with, as soon as I was ready. Until a few days ago, I'd forgotten that I'm going to need new exhaust installed (for which I don't believe I've budgeted), and will also need new shocks all around. Probably going to have to have the front end rebuilt too, but I'll wait until it's "maiden voyage" to determine that! Oh! I also have to fabricate a few linkages for the transmission kick-down valve - been told it won't drive/shift properly if I don't, and since the drivetrain doesn't match the vehicle, I can't just order new/find used ones, they have to be built. I don't think it'll be difficult, but I won't know until I get into it.
I did get the seats "uncovered" and they look a lot better than I thought (did I mention that already?). I swept out all of the interior floorboards and the trunk, and picked up some rattle-can rust inhibitor, which I hope will help temporarily. I also got a couple cans of semi-gloss black paint for the leaf srpings. I figure that since they're already off the car, I might as well paint them now, try to keep them from rusting too much by the time I get around to having the body work done.
WJC & I were joking around today about picking a deadline, and he came up with a pretty good one - there is a rootbeer stand literally a block from my house. The goal is to get the car in good enough working shape to drive there & back under its own power so we can have chili dogs & rootbeer. I mean, what a classic thing to do with a classic car, right? 1960's big-finned car in an old-fashioned drive-in? Too bad the wait-staff doesn't roller-skate, that'd be great!
Anyway, one step at a time. I'm going to have to make a new list, so I can start checking them off & figuring out what needs to be done next. I've also got to be careful that I don't spend more than I have set aside for this, at least not yet. Once I'm in a new place it'll be fine. In the meantime, I made a change to my 401k contributions; I had bumped it up from 10% to 25% when I hit my savings goal for the house, but since I'm not finding anything in my price range, (and I'm going a bit over budget with the Dodge, and the unexpected repair expenses now/coming up), I decided to drop it down to 10% again (which increases the amount I can put into savings). I know the number I want to hit for the house now (should hit it in 1-2 more paychecks), and then I'm going to build up the Dodge/emergency fund a bit. I think I'm going to do that until I find a house to buy. Once I move, I can change it back again.
Oh! I got my cycle back finally - it only took them 2.5 weeks! $450, which sucks, but is better than I was expecting. One unknown cost down, one more to go (regarding maintenance on the Toyota). The cycle does feel like it's handling a little odd, but it could just be because I haven't ridden it in weeks!? Note to self: Check tire pressure!
7:42 p.m. - 2017-06-29
My profile
Archives
Notes
Email Me!
Random
others:
loveherwell
dangerspouse
catsoul
alethia
annanotbob2
life-my-way
fairybones
misfitstray
swordfern
warpednormal
elusive-you
lust-
comebacktome
ahopeinhell
silver4
kelsi
stepfordtart