Saturday, July 2,
2022
Laundry led the hit parade. I had the last of the wash hung on the line to dry a little after noon. Last week Ron Patterson (The Coil Man) invited me to send him the set of coils he restored for me eleven years ago for checking and readjustment if necessary. They came back from him in yesterday's mail and today I put them in the the car and tried them out. They work perfectly, of course. But starting the car was not so perfect. The crank handle kept slipping loose because the ratchet was pretty badly worn and slipped off the pin. I went to the parts room in search of a better ratchet. The box labeled CRANK PULLEYS & RATCHETS was full of crank pulleys and no ratchets. So where did I put them? I have no idea. I searched and searched and found none, so I robbed one off the touring car and installed it in the runabout. I'll need to find those other ratchets before I reassemble the touring.
Sunday, July 3, 2022
This is not going to be fun. The forecast is showing 99º tomorrow, then 100º+ for the following seven days. Of course you can add another five or six degrees to that for the heat index. This morning I watered the little trees, then mixed up ten gallons of weed killer and sprayed Johnson grass and its relatives behind the shop. Thanks to spraying last year and before, there was not a lot of it to draw my attention. I finished that a little before noon and retreated to indoor work. I'll use up the rest of that mixture in the cool of the morning. Most of the afternoon I cleaned and polished brass. I even took the side mirror apart and polished the individual pieces. The cleaning is with CLR to remove tarnish, then a thorough rinse with clean water, and finally polishing with Mother's. I've tried most of the polishes available, and I find Mother's as good as or better than most. It polishes well with minimal effort, costs a lot less than many of the others, and is readily available in local stores. Some people prefer tarnish, often called "patina". That's appropriate for an unrestored original brass car, but for a restored car or one that presents as a seven-year-old used car like mine, I say shine it up.
Laundry led the hit parade. I had the last of the wash hung on the line to dry a little after noon. Last week Ron Patterson (The Coil Man) invited me to send him the set of coils he restored for me eleven years ago for checking and readjustment if necessary. They came back from him in yesterday's mail and today I put them in the the car and tried them out. They work perfectly, of course. But starting the car was not so perfect. The crank handle kept slipping loose because the ratchet was pretty badly worn and slipped off the pin. I went to the parts room in search of a better ratchet. The box labeled CRANK PULLEYS & RATCHETS was full of crank pulleys and no ratchets. So where did I put them? I have no idea. I searched and searched and found none, so I robbed one off the touring car and installed it in the runabout. I'll need to find those other ratchets before I reassemble the touring.
Sunday, July 3, 2022
This is not going to be fun. The forecast is showing 99º tomorrow, then 100º+ for the following seven days. Of course you can add another five or six degrees to that for the heat index. This morning I watered the little trees, then mixed up ten gallons of weed killer and sprayed Johnson grass and its relatives behind the shop. Thanks to spraying last year and before, there was not a lot of it to draw my attention. I finished that a little before noon and retreated to indoor work. I'll use up the rest of that mixture in the cool of the morning. Most of the afternoon I cleaned and polished brass. I even took the side mirror apart and polished the individual pieces. The cleaning is with CLR to remove tarnish, then a thorough rinse with clean water, and finally polishing with Mother's. I've tried most of the polishes available, and I find Mother's as good as or better than most. It polishes well with minimal effort, costs a lot less than many of the others, and is readily available in local stores. Some people prefer tarnish, often called "patina". That's appropriate for an unrestored original brass car, but for a restored car or one that presents as a seven-year-old used car like mine, I say shine it up.
