Today I finished cleaning up the batch of spark plugs I started last week. Next will be testing to see how many of them actually work in a car.


Monday, July 2, 2018

This was radiator day. I drove to Wichita to take my leaking radiator to the shop, and drove home. I went to gas up the Camry, came home, received the call telling me that the radiator was fixed, went back to Wichita to get it, and brought it home. I had it cleaned up and back on the car by 5:00 PM. I drove about 250 miles today.


Tuesday, July 3, 2018

This morning I finished getting the runabout back in business. I reconnected the headlight wiring, installed new bulbs, and replaced the Autolite 3095's with four of those Champion X plugs I finished Sunday. That solved the hard starting problem. Now I get a cold start with one choke and one pull of the crank. With the engine warmed up there's no choking. Just turn on the ignition switch, pull the crank once, and the car is running. With that done, I moved on to reassembling the touring car. I reinstalled the generator and timer and put in a set of those Champion X plugs. I still have a few more things to do to it, but I should have it running soon.


Wednesday, July 4, 2018

All morning trimmed trees to get rid of branches that were in the way, then I took pictures. In the evening Shorty and I went to town in the runabout to see the fireworks. Photos are here.


Thursday, July 5, 2018
Today I got started on a proper 1915 steering column for the roadster. The one that's in it is for later cars. Removing old rivets can be mighty slow going, but I finally got it all apart. This project will involve sandblasting, painting, brass plating, and assembly with new rivets.


Friday, July 6, 2018

Life was spicy today, with a variety of activities. I trimmed one more branch off the big oak tree in the front yard before putting away the saw. An afternoon gullywasher dumped .9" in the rain gauge, and even shut the power off for almost a minute. While the rain fell I worked in the shop, first straightening the mashed horn wire tube on my "new" steering column, then installing an on-off switch on the roadster's speedometer light. In the daytime the light being on all the time is no problem, but I need to be able to shut it off at night because it makes reflections in the windshield that make it hard to see out.


Saturday, July 7, 2018

Another auction in Winfield was today's first entertainment. I bought a sprayer for $3, a welding helmet for $6, and a router for $7. This afternoon I moved the suburban and trailer from behind the shop to make way for taking down a big dead tree, and started unloading the bricks that have been sitting on the trailer since I brought them home two months ago. Ill use some of them to pave the path to the shop where it gets swampy in wet weather.


Sunday, July 8, 2018

Is it the warm weather making me feel so lazy? Around noon I took a nice siesta for a couple of hours on the front porch swing, then did the same this evening after dinner, and I'm still feeling drowsy. About the only work I got done today was hauling a couple of loads of tree trimmings to the brush pile. Maybe I'll feel more ambitious tomorrow.


Monday, July 9, 2018

After two naps yesterday and eight hours of sack time overnight, the old man was indeed a bit more ambitious today. I spent the morning with the sprayer, attacking the johnson grass and other weeds. As usual, I'll give the magic potion some time to work and then I'll go after what I missed. Fortunately the sprayer didn't go south on me until the very end. Then I spent an hour unclogging the thing. I try to screen everything I put in it, but it seems the tiniest little bug part or bit of plant matter renders the thing useless. In the afternoon I fired up the splitter and took care of the wood piled next to it. This year I aim to have lots of firewood split and stacked before cold weather arrives.


Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Mowing day. I was going to install the new belt on my mowing tractor, but found it was too short. I'll have to return it and get a longer one. Meanwhile, I used the little Dixon mower. It's slower work than the tractor, but I still got most of the place done. A little more mowing in the morning will finish it up.


Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Well, that little bit of mowing will have to wait until next week. I'm leaving tomorrow morning for the Model T Museum Homecoming, so I spent today taking care of some things I have to do before I go: laundry, airing up tires, filling the tank, buying a working phone charger, etc. Last year I didn't get started until after noon. I hope to improve on that considerably this year.


Thursday, July 12, 2018

Travel day. I was on the road at 10:05 AM, reached Missouri at 12:35, crossed the Mississippi at Saint Louis at 5:15, and stopped for gas and dinner in Vandalia at 6:20. On the road again at 7:45, I stopped at the Greenfield rest area in Indiana at 11:30 and bedded down there. It was a 700 mile day.


Friday, July 13, 2018

Today I shot a lot of pictures, but l'll post just this one now. The rest are here.



Saturday, July 14, 2018

The museum homecoming and swap meet kicked off with lots of Model T's on display and lost of folks peddling parts. I bought a correct 1915 steering gear cover and five bulbs for magneto headlights. I'll get to the pictures later. The whole thing was pretty much over by three, and I hit the road for home. I made it to the I-44 mile 110 Missouri rest area before stopping to snooze.


Sunday, July  15, 2018

I was up at five and on the home stretch, and pulled in here a few minutes before ten AM. Other than grocery shopping I was pretty much worthless for getting any work done. I took a couple of naps during the day, followed by eight hours of sack time overnight.


Monday, July, 16, 2018

In the morning I did a lot of picture editing. In the afternoon I went to AC Steel and bought some 5/16" round stock for making a pair of spark and throttle levers for my 1915. Sometimes I make things myself to save money, and sometimes I do it because it's easier than finding the actual item. In this case both reasons apply.


Tuesday July 17, 2018  

I spent the day making my new 1915 spark and throttle rods. They aren't a perfect reproduction, but I think they're pretty good.


Wednesday, July 18, 2018

My only real work today was trying to install the new belt on my mowing tractor. It's the belt I bought to replace the one I bought a week earlier, which was too short. This one wasn't fitting either, so I went online and posted a question on the allischalmers.com discussion forum. One of the guys there said I should move the mower deck back a notch. I tried that, and it did the trick. With any luck I'll be able to get a little mowing done in the cool of the morning before we head for 100º.


Thursday, July 19, 2018

Starting the mowing in the cool of the morning was a good idea, but the humidity was so high and the grass was so sopping wet that it bogged down the tractor and I gave it up. While waiting for drier conditions, I decided to take the blades off the mower and sharpen them. Getting them off was tough, but I managed to do it with the two outer ones. Even with a breaker bar and a three-foot cheater, the center blade remained stuck in place. I tried to sharpen it on the mower with a pneumatic grinder, but I wasn't impressed with the results.


Friday, July 20, 2018

Despite spending way too much of the day sitting in front of a fan, I did get the tractor out and mow around the house. The blade I couldn't get off to sharpen doesn't cut very well, so the results are not pretty.


Saturday, July 21, 2018

Today I dealt with the kind of wood that warms you twice. First, when you cut it, split it, and stack it. And second, when you burn it next fall or winter.  I cut up the branches left from tree trimming a couple of weeks ago, and split the pieces that were big enough to need splitting, and stacked it all in the garage to dry until I need it. What I have laid in so far looks like enough to last a couple of weeks to a month, depending on how cold the weather gets.


Sunday, July 22, 2018

Today I did some online research looking for county road maps in a couple of states.  The Illinois Department of Transportation has some pretty good county maps. But I had no luck finding anything on the Michigan DOT website. I may have to resort to Google maps for Michigan, Indiana, and some other states.


Monday, July 23, 2018

This morning I had a tree service guy look at the three big dead trees I need taken down. He gave me a surprisingly good price, so he gets the job. He's scheduled to start next week. I think the result will be enough firewood to last all next winter. Meanwhile, the mowing tractor is giving me trouble. When I mowed today it was doing a lousy job, and I found out why. One of the blades had fallen off! I think before I use the mower again I'll buy the correct cup washers that are supposed to hold the blades on, since the ordinary split lock washer I used didn't do the job. I also want to get that stubborn middle blade off and sharpen it. I'm afraid that's going to be an ordeal.


Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Success! (Sort of.) I finally managed to get that middle blade off, sharpen it, and bolt it back on. Then I proceded to drive myself nuts trying to find where I left the bolt and washer for the left blade. I looked for it off and on all day, and never did find it. Absolutely maddening. Between wastes of time searching, I went online and researched charging a phone off a six volt car system. Looks likeI'll need to buy a 6 to 12 volt converter, or I won't, depending on which source I believe.


Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Well, I finally gave up looking for that lost bolt and bought a new one. Soon after that, I found it on the ground in front of the mower. I phoned the parts dealer to cancel the order, but it had already shipped.  So I'll have a spare bolt if I lose one for real. Of course, that means I'll never lose one.


Thursday, Juy 26, 2018

It was a day wasted on the mowing tractor. The starter was intermittent, with the Bendix sometimes working but usually not. So I pulled the starter off the tractor, took it apart, and gave the moving parts, including the Bendix, a good oiling. I put the starter back on and tried it, and it worked once. After that the Bendix still failed to engage. So I resorted to starting with the hand crank. The next problem was the mower. When I put it in gear the middle blade wouldn't turn. It was stuck solid and the belt could turn only the outer blades. I suppose the thing needs new bearings. I'm not taking the time to deal with that now. I'll use the little Dixon mower and deal with this thing later.


Friday, July 27, 2018

Today's waste of time was trying to work online. I would get a little done, then everything would stop when the connection failed. It was off and on all day. I went out and did some actual work, mowing in the back yard and east of the barn, where I do my sandblasting. I have some things to blast, but the forecast claims that incoming weather may keep me from getting to it for a few days. The internet dropouts continued into the evening, with a  normal connection for awhile then nothing working. Mighty annoying.

Saturday, July 28, 2018 When you're using air tools and water squirts out of them it's annoying and bad for the tools. So today I adapted an air bubble to serve as a water trap. I added legs, in and out connectors, and a drain valve. When I tried it out, it actually worked. So the project was time well spent. Sunday, July 29, 2018 Today I mounted a new tire. This was a replacement for the tire that blew out and disappeared in Butler County a couple of months ago. When that happened I fetched a spare wheel from home, and it's been on the car since then. Actually putting the tire on the wheel took four minutes. Removing the rubber valve stem from the tube and installing a metal one took over half an hour. It was nice having dry air to do the job.

Monday, July 30, 2018

The sirens went off about a quarter to two today. I never saw a funnel cloud, but the rain was a real gully washer. In less than an hour it left 1.1" in the gauge. The forecast calls for several dry days this week, so tomorrow will be spray day. There's a lot of johnson grass and other weeds to attack. My pleasing accomplishment today was  an IT  improvement.  There's a router in the house, in the attic,  that sends a wi-fi signal out to the computer in my office above the shop. Recently my internet connection has been very spotty, with a "No network detected" notice often showing up  on my screen. So today I put a box under the router, raising it about a foot and a half. Since I did that I've had a strong, steady signal with no interruptions. I love an easy fix that really works.


Tuesday, July 31, 2018

As planned, today was spray day. I used up ten gallons of my magic potion waging war on inconvenient vegetation. I used, or tried to use, three different sprayers. The first was one I bought new at full retail. It was a waste of money. Today it would no longer hold any pressure to spray. So I tried one of the old sprayers I bought at an auction for a few dollars. It didn't work either. The third was another auction cheapie, and it works fine. I'll pick up a few more at auctions. If only a third or a quarter of them are any good I'll still be money ahead of buying another new piece of junk.