Reinventing the wheel

I sometimes wonder about people, and by people I often mean me....but it's less self deprecating to talk in the third person....but alas I digress. I wonder because often we see people who engineer their own demise. The scenario can range from someone using negative self talk and imagery before a competitive situation (usually sport) right up to the more serious poor life choices which set someone on the road to ruin. Now my following post definitely doesn't get into the same category of ruin but sometimes I wonder if I am making choice that purposefully slow down the rate of progress or if I am just taking my time and doing things the way my heart wants them.











Take for example the furnace.....
Last year Randy and I mounted the furnace in it's little cubby hole. I then removed it when Fillmore went to paint. That then gave me time to think.....(never a good thing)... and I decided that our mounting system could be improved upon for ease of access.
So, it was time to start fabricating new brackets and supports.

A coat or two of my favourite rust inhibiting paint (POR-15)

This is just the test fit, the system allows me to shift the furnace forward or back a few inches in each direction to idealize the final position. It also allows easy access from the bottom for servicing. Once the floors in place, access from the top is not easily obtained.Thus you can appreciate my question to myself, am I just reinventing the wheel here?

All the while life goes on.

The weekend also included some automotive classes.

Some on the road...                                                                         And some in the garage...
(yes in Alberta you can get your learners licence at 14)

And while my genetic pit crew swapped out the winter tires for the summer slicks, I stayed close to all the action while doing some storage bay prep work.

Hip, Slick and Cool

I think it's payback. What I mean is, in my earlier life I was a procrastinator. If there was something that intimidated me, or a job I felt was easy and would only take a short stint of my time I would often be guilty of putting it off until later.What I didn't realize was that it wasn't just hurting myself by limiting my future options with my time, but it would affect others time as well.

And no I feel it's karma payback. Now I am the one waiting. The good news is that I am not waiting because someone is putting things off work has been done. It's just that when you are on the "no control over time" end of the stick it feels like forever, and when you are waiting forever you have lots of time to think about your past transgressions on other peoples time.

Last time you could see where everything(evaporator) was going to go in the dash now we have a housing in place. There was lots of discussion about bringing the whole lower face of the front dash out to be flush. But after consideration, I decided that I wanted just the area where the evaporator was to get the bump out. Partly because space is at a premium. Every possible inch of room can make or break the feeling of comfort vs constriction.

The second reason is, if you look back at original photos the front heater core was already a bump out. So doing the bump out that we did was a little nod to the original flavour!

The front panel will be redone, it was the original mock up panel I made a while back and my intent was always to make it better, thus the random holes will go.





















I was happy to see the guys at Polar gave the same attention to detail that I did when it came to neat and tidy hoses and wiring. Everything is loomed!

Also duly impressed with the schematic!












Relays, fuses,loom,zip ties....

All shoe horned into a wee little space

4 Vents: 2 dash, 1 passenger, 1 for drivers feet

And finally, the compressor....I wish everything on the engine looked as bright and shiny!

Gepetto here I come

The biggest mistake you could ever make 

is being to scared to make one.

-Author Unknown-

It was a great day yesterday. After a lovely Mothers Day supper in Banff with Michelle and the kids, we watched Anna dance and then Jeff and I returned home. Jeff hit the sheets while I played in the workshop listening to the hockey game. Unfortunately my Flames lost and have been pushed out of the playoffs for Lord Stanley's Cup, but I did have some fun getting back in touch with my inner Gepetto.

I knew for years now that I will have to construct arms for the couch in Fillmore. I made a play on the old Bridal Rhyme "Something old, something new, something borrowed and use some glue." Some of the wood I was using for the box body was recycled, some was new, the wood trim for on top actually comes from a couch my parents bought back in the 80's and was gifted to us many many years ago. The couch is long since gone but I had a premonition that I might be able to use the uniquely shaped wood one day!

The arm frame is quite simple in design, I will take it to an upholstery shop with the extra material I have and have it padded and covered.

I decided to add a little future flare, the wood trim on top is hinged. The plan is to have an airplane style table tray that will emerge from the arm.

Some day.....some day!

Canadiana

In 1995 Michelle and I decided that we needed to see a little of the world. The possible destinations were endless but we decided to trek in Africa. It made sense as Michelle was born there when her parents were teaching with CIDA back in the 60's. We spent some time on our own in Kenya and then hooked up with an overland trip from Zimbabwe back to Kenya for the remainder of the time in Africa. The rest of the group was all from Australia and New Zealand, and were all affiliated with each other from University. They quickly accepted us into their ranks as their Canadian counterparts, and affectionately gave me the nickname "Moose"

Last weekend Michelle and I went for dinner at a co-worker of Michelle's. After dinner we had a visitor who wanted to partake in the dinner party. When it was suggested the guy move along and not eat all the new tree shoots, he showed no fear of these strange two legged people. Rather than being frightened away, he was curious enough to cause our host to back away himself.

 As we watched the scene unfold, I could hear the voices from my past yelling "Moooooooose" and wonder if they knew how  friendly an awkward and gangly moose can be.

As I patiently await Fillmore to be finished at Polar mobility, I am "tinkering" in the garage. My latest quest is to get the furnace up and running, ready to have a simple plug and play when we are ready.

Now I love the precision of German engineering, I deal with it every day with dental implants. The issue that you often have is specificity. In particular, you have to have the right tool for the right job, and no other tool will fit let alone work. Webasto is no different from Nobel Biocare, you need a special screw driver to torque down a screw.

After numerous tries(first two fails were because I actually forgot to plug the fuel pump in) the unit fired up and beautiful heat come flowing out. I was really surprised at how little of a  diesel smell the exhaust produced!