That slide is circa 1974. Our parents divorced and we spent Christmases with Mom each year in the Chicago suburbs. One winter there was a great snowing and our flight home was canceled and Mom just took us back to her home on Castle Street in Sandwich, Illinois, where @Ttyymmnn and I hung out for three days while Mom went back to work. We led the unexamined life and emptied the cupboards and refrigerator. The horn Ttyymmnn's playing in this photo, I believe, belonged to Mom's husband.
My church congregation adopted several local families for Christmas and put out a list where we can volunteer to provide specific things for the families. One of these was a request for LEGO for a girl. So I ordered this:
Banana spice cake, vanilla custard, cream cheese icing and candied pecans.
Machined to my exact specification by @CobraJoe . Message him. Have him machine one for you!
He also machined this five-ball shifter, also to my specification, for Mrs. Vandura's Mazda 3:
Now with improved oxidation.
This is my rusty 1971 GMC Vandura. '71 is the year GM introduced that body style of vanola and went on to produce it for about 24 years. I bought this one from its original owner and about 80,000 miles, five years ago, for $1,800. The van had been special-ordered as a base model, with windows, and new for 1971: disc brakes! Entirely base model otherwise, though I think it's got an oversized radiator because "towing package." 250 inline-six with a three-on-the-tree.
Because reasons, I took Rusty to my friend Rich's equipment yard around Thanksgiving 2019 and there it's sat. Recently, our good friend @Sovande rebuilt Rusty's Monojet carburetor, so my aim is to get it marginally roadworthy this Spring.
Rich and I loaded Rusty up on a heavy equipment trailer and drayed it back to the house behind Rich's 2012 Kenworth T800, which I believe was well up to the task at hand. (560,000 miles on that beast; just broken in, says Rich.)
My pal Rich in his Sterling-based crane truck. Now, that's a burly truck. Thanks again, Rich!
His birthday is a week from now, so he wasn't quite here yet when I had my birthday last year.
Story: Mrs. Vandura wanted us to decorate the fruitless mulberry tree since we just had it pollarded. Those decorative globes are about $10 apiece anywhere that's selling them. I was driving up the freeway near my home and I noticed an entire collection of these decorations that had fallen off some vehicle and were scattered up against the sound wall. So I did quite a lot of driving in order to line myself up correctly, pulled over, and picked them all up. The shoulder was very wide at that point. That, and some LED C-9 lights -- which my ammeter tells me burn a minuscule amount of electricity -- and voila!!
Turns out Rusty has a LSD.
So we're at that stage where I've dug deeply enough to begin finding out what I am up against. The wiring behind the dash is extra-borked, though I've spent a good deal of time studying the schematic and I have a good idea of what it's supposed to be. In the back of my mind, I'd hoped to preserve functionality of some of the original gauges, but I think that plan is out the window now. There was an oil pressure gauge, but it's driven by a copper tube and I removed the tube and plugged the resultant hole in the block. No oil in the tube... I can replace it later if I want to, but I think a simple telltale light will suffice.
Making progress, though. The manual choke allows me to start the engine without removing the engine cover. Once I get some lights working, I'll drive it around a bit. I'll keep us posted.
Just got it re-registered!
The replacement turn signal switch assembly has a different connector from the first model year. So that's going to take some connectors... at least the colors match as they should, and according to the disservice manual.
Do you like the wire hooked directly to the spade terminal? Some quality modifications goin' on here...
Gotta new knob coming from @CobraJoe which will be the spiffiest feature on the entire project.
Just motoring a little with the carburetor that @Sovande rebuilt for me. All I need are brake lights and we can go for an extended drive!
@aestheticsinmotion Anytime a package arrives and Missus or I are here, we offer the driver a cold Rockstar. They're usually like, "Huh?" Then they smile and say "Yeah!"
@beefchips said in Watchloponik - Fossil Hybrid HR Extended Review:
I know when I’m walking or sleeping so I don’t need my watch to tell me…
Sounds like Apple to me... And let's not call that wrist worn thing that Apple sells a watch, okay?
@ttyymmnn Yes, I sent you Such Men. The pilots are from the 77th Something-or-other, flying from carriers in the Sea of Japan during the Korean War. I enjoyed the book very much. I have another title for you when you're ready.
I love the seat belts.
Lots of cool aeroplanes in this post to mention. Hard for me to choose a favorite.
Are you doing any reading these days?
@pyroholtz said in It's Pointless:
@rusty-vandura HEI is certainly where it's at, points are horrid and you've made the right decision here. We did an HEI conversion inside the stock distributor cap for the 440 20 years ago and that thing is still going just as strong as the day it was installed.
Points are lousy. I fired the parts cannon on this particular thing about four years ago, so I have zero recollection how much I payed for the parts, but I am very happy with the results.
I installed the HEI distributor yesterday and I was tickled that Rusty started -- cold -- immediately. I was off by a few degrees of timing, but it started right up. Runs much better, but it wants to burp and hiccup in the middling throttle range. I am going to experiment with adjusting the timing and see how that effects how it runs.
Plug gap: The new plugs came gapped at .035, but the internet says .045 is what people are running for the AC R44T plug. So that's where I set them. What do you think?
@someoneatacura said in Are we attacking Canada?:
Attacking Canada in Winter... see how well that worked for the Germans in WW2 vs Russia.
That was before extreme weather.
@ttyymmnn I don't know, but the Buff is a singularly glorious smoke generator aircraft.
