Good friends, good times

This past week was a busy week, we had lots of activity at the Sinclair household. Our old stomping grounds, Manitoba, had their spring break. So like so many flatlanders, there is a little spring fever for some last chance snow in the mountains, one more hit of the good stuff. As a kid some of the fondest memories I have are the family ski trips out to the rockies. I look back at all those trips with a smile, even when there was like a dozen of us crammed into a small Acadian it was still fun!
OK we didn't all cram into an Acadian...just Harold's family, but there was 9 of us in  in McIvor's van once with a Burton Cummings tape stuck in the radio that played over and over and over. THAT made the car seem small let me tell you!



So we were fortunate enough to host two Families for a few nights. The Smiths and the Ketlers.
Naturally as any good host, I welcomed them with open arms, fed them a good meal, gave them a nice bed to sleep in.
And then slapped coveralls on them and put them to work in the Fillmore sweatshop.



Figuratively, I mean yes I am a slave driver but the temp was quite pleasant, a mere 3 degrees C....there was no sweat.
My childhood buddy Harold was given the task of heat shield for the muffler. The wires from the battery to the starter and alternator, and the frame ground all run over top of the muffler. We decided to pull the boom can out and place a heat shield above it to deflect heat. As well I am wrapping all the wires in a firesleeve.





Trevor, the Manitoba secret agent guy was given a much less glamorous job than what he is used to back home.
Once again, working on the heater cores at the front. Trev ran hose from the second core, spliced them together and then ran bulkhead fittings through the floor to Fillmore's underbelly.

I must tip my hat to all the ladies in our lives. Knowing the joy shared by us all to putter around on Fillmore together , they packed up the brood and went for an afternoon of skiing, allowing us to work away the day. The boys did their families proud, a lot was accomplished....

Despite the civil servant mentality of a lunch break....all right get back to it!

At days end Harold had done as much as he could with the heat shield. We had to wait for the firesleeve before we could re install the muffler. So he moved on to the removable panels for the engine compartment.

Trev got the front up and running, and ten moved on to creating a template for the drivers area floor.

Old,New Borrowed&Blue

What is this a wedding?
Well work goes on!  Friday Randy came over and we puttered away on the bus. Before he got there I was getting ready for the day, went to put on my trusty SORELS, and yes they are straight from the late 80's neon pink(used to be red) and all, and pushed my foot right out of the back of the boot.






Thank God for duct tape

Then I went to don my coveralls. As I reached up into the closet, I pulled out this pair. My Dads.
In the last few days before he passed away, he and I would spend time together in his den, "going through stuff".
One afternoon he reached down by his desk and pulled these out of a bag. They are the coveralls I gave him last June as a fathers day present.
He held them out to me and said" I don't imagine I'll get the opportunity to put these to work. You'd better have them, that way I'll have a presence out there on Fillmore."

I haven't had the guts to wear them yet, I didn't want to get them dirty.

But today was the day....time to go to work Dad!

So we covered old and new...

I put Randy to work cleaning off the 60 years of crud off the dash. I was working under the bus, but I started to smell a combination of burnt dirt and paint. When I poked my head inside to see how things were progressing......the air was blue.....smokey blue

So then, on to the need for the borrowed....

As Randy was creating a good argument against second hand smoke I was, once again, on hide and tide duty.

Split loom for every thing!

Long time no see!

Hello, my name is Blake....have we met yet?
It feels like forever since I have been on the blog. I could come up with elaborate reasons why I haven't been on the blog, but bottom line is I have been busy with family,friends and music. Sound pretty idyllic to me really.
Last post I was telling you about my visit with Chris. Chris once again made the journey to the great white north. It was great to see him, I have to say I have not seen someone get so involved in what he is doing than Chris, his enthusiasm is infectious!

Chris eagerly spent his time getting everything hooked up, after the first day and a half all the engine hook ups were complete!

Chris then moved up to the garden....a term I affectionately call the front Dash these days as the wire loom looks like some sort of flowering plant. Getting all the connections labeled...lovin' the label maker!!

All the while I was doing the "hide and tide". Basically I was covering everything with split loom....(that should make you happy Bryce).... protecting the lines from abrasion and dirt etc.
Here in end the happy times...... Remember when I said "things didn't exactly turn out the way we had intended. We made a lot of progress, but we had a few MAJOR set backs"

When Bryce and Chris were here in Feb. They left me a "to do" list. The last item on the list was a note about the starter, Chris said...(and I am paraphrasing)....'the starter looks old and may need to be replaced or rebuilt.' After some thought I decided that I would leave it for now...get what I could out of it and then deal with it when it is a problem.

Houston, we have a problem!....yes, among other things, the starter crapped out. It had a dead spot...or two. Chris and I talked about getting a new gear reduction starter, but in the end I found a little mom&pop operation and the guy rebuilt the starter in a couple of hours!

The 'major' set back was the the electrical. Chris worked like a dog all week getting the system all hooked up. He was right on schedule, the plan was that Thursday he would finish up and then Friday spend the day with me showing me everything that was done, what needs to be reviewed etc.
However!....when Chris went to test the circuits there were issues, it took some time and investigative work but in the end he found two problems. First the 20 wire connection loom we had to run the low amp switches was buggered. Although to the naked eye the wire loom looked great, there were spots of corrosion in it, rendering the wire useless. Second was the fuse block itself. The connections in the fuses were tenuous at best, there were corrosion issues as well.After spending a number of hours chasing the problems Chris and I decided to do a last minute hunting and gathering Friday morning. I got the aforementioned starter rebuilt and sourced out a new 20 wire connector loom. Chris went on the hunt for a new fuse block. The bad news is to buy a new one, they wanted a HUGE some of money!, the good news is Chris went back to our friends at Empire truck parts and got two other blocks for a reasonable price.Chris packed up up the faulty block and the two new(old) ones and took them back to Montana with him. The plan is that he is going to return mid April with a  new and improved refurbished fuse block, a conglomerate of the three.

Hasta la vista Fillmore

 So the thing with a blog is that often you have a number of picture that you want to post. The issue is that you want to spread the wealth....or attempt not to bore the reader with 17 photos in one blog entry and none for a week. There you have it.....I told you the secret, the honeymoon is over, the magic is gone.
 Or not....What I mean is that although this isn't today's events, it is still note worthy.
 With redesigning the tower there were a few tid-bits we needed to tidy up. Sheet metal work is always fun... a bit like a jig saw puzzle, but you design the pieces, cut them out and then fit them together.

 So we designed....

 Cut....

 Then Jeff and I had to figure out how to put a special bend in the short side. Just a simple 90 in the last 1 1/2"

 So here is my sheet metal worker making it happen!

 Not bad young buck!

 With all the holes drilled it was time to put it into position and clean things up.

Today, is the last post for a while, I am heading down to Guatemala again to do volunteer work in the dental realm, I am taking my assistant Amy and my niece Jess with me this time. I get back on the 11th of March. As for the present? This week has been great, and this week has been a real bugger.
" It was the best of times it was the worst of times." Mr Charles Dickens Chris Kruse came back to get Fillmore up and running. That was the plan...it was a great plan....on paper it looked even better-I actually saw it on paper-. Anyway things didn't exactly turn out the way we had intended. We made a lot of progress, but we had a few MAJOR set backs, but that is for another day...just remember what doesn't kill us makes us stronger!

Better than Hide and Tide

It's nice to get to a point where your goal helps to create a less chaotic environment rather than continuing to have to say to yourself..."It's OK in the end this will be better". Every now and again the jobs that need to get done, have a added spin off that it makes things look better...and by better I mean cleaner...they make more sense.

I would like to say that my workshop is a very neat and ordered environment. It was at one point, there was a time when I could tell you where to find something without having to physically be there to do the search myself....but alas no more. So I take my 'little hit from the bong' of order when and where I can. Today it was the brass fittings collection that I seem to have amassed. Breakfast with Anna and numerous assorted bags of metal.....ahhhh bliss

In the end we get a very tight,compact and structured little piece of heaven........As I read this I see how OCD I sound.

While I was busy making order, Michelle and the kids were pulling the numerous small plastic containers of pocket change from all over the house to roll coins....I affectionately call it the Fillmore Fund.

Keeping with the theme of creating order it was time to make sense of the spider web of air hoses I have created. Best way was to create a bulkhead plate, a designated place where the air hoses would transcend through the floor.

Ahhh nirvana

And last but not least.... the mystery pic of last time....yes the black dots were crap in my eye!!

Playin' around

 So some times you are super productive and other times you decide to start a job that isn't perhaps high on the list of top priorities, but can be kind of fun. If you think problem solving is fun.
I know that perhaps I'm a little out there in terms of what I find to be entertaining, you know cleaning up a rusted hunk of steel to me is a real kick! Others may not agree.So it's a good thing that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, in that I have a built in buddy when it comes to trying new things.
  So Jeff and I decided that we will need to fabricate a chair stand for the 'Captains chair'... Yes I did capitalize that on purpose and yes I did put it in italics.....and just FYI in my mind the theme from Star Trek is playing.....green chicks look out!

 Seriously (for the record I was serious)   Jeff and I were talking about the accelerator and brake pedals , which lead the conversation to the floor near the front, which lead to the chair needing some modifications before we can lay the floor. Just wanted to keep you up to speed in terms of the stream of consciousness....I know, I know, it's a scary place to be. None the less, we started our exploration, we began with determining the pneumatic chair lift that we got last spring. First was to test the chair lift control.

Then to examine the bolt pattern on both the base and the chair it's self. Which by the way didn't match despite the reassurances of the guy who sold it to me. We'll have to fabricate a mounting plate, but before we do, we determined that in all likelihood, we would need to have a pedestal of some sort. The base didn't seem as high as the old one we removed.
I know it looks like I am giving the minor, my child laborer the dangerous job, but lets face it this kid last Wednesday was taking 12 ft high jumps at seemingly mock 6....I think he can handle the inherent danger of this...

As we suspected we will need a lift, only about 4 inches but it should do the trick. So we planned it out, and cut the metal.

And that's where we called it quits for the night. For two reasons...
1. Jeff was yawning and having a hard time keeping his eyes open.











And #2...........any guesses what this is??

Ready for round two

My friend Matt and his wife Fabiola were here the other day for a visit, we had a great chat and shared some memories and laughs. He recently sent me a pic of an artists piece which I loved. It often sums up how I feel about some of the things I do.

 Often my wife Michelle looks at some of the things our son does, like taking huge jumps on the ski hill, and she says with a pained puzzled look..."Why??"

Why?....who in their right mind jumps out of an airplane, or bungee jumps, or rides a Harley, who wants to dump a ton of time and money into something that will be worth a fraction of the monetary value? None of it makes sense....unless it's on your list. Carrying regrets is a heavy burden, acting on your passion is freeing!

OK, a little less psychoanalytical and a little more practical....gauge. It's all about the gauge. I was down to close to the last item on the to do list from Chris(as he returns in a day or two). And that is replacing the battery cable wires. All was well, I placed the neg ground to frame cable...a 2/0 Gauge. And then moved on to the positive....but it was a pure 2 gauge...slightly smaller.....I tried to talk myself into the belief that it was OK to use. But the little voice in my head was clearing it's throat in that annoying " Don't even waste your time trying to make due "kind of way. So I did what every self respecting dentist doing electrical work would do..... I called the mechanic. Yes Chris confirmed what I already knew but hoped differently. The 2/0 is the way to go, especially because we have a longer run of the wire. Luckily I had lots of the 2/0 gauge wire...but Houston we have a problem....it's the wrong color. All I have left in 2/0 is black. So we compromised, I used red shrink wrap on both ends.

Randy in the meantime was busy working on securing the floor in the engine room.

Once he accomplished that, he moved on to reinstalling the ram air chute cover with seam sealer.

All the while I was down under placing loom on the air lines and bundling them together to make it clean and pretty.

Ahh put a lid on it!

So there I was, sitting at home with the Family. We had just had a great Family day, with friends, cousins, and toboggans at suicide hill. Although there were a few bruised body parts we were all happy and tired. Finished a late dinner and then a family movie. At this point the rest of the masses went to bed, but I was still awake and thought..."Hmm I could do some quiet work so as to not disturb the neighbors at 10pm.

So I decided to fit the curved portion of the ram air chute in place. First I had to do a little clean up and trimming of the sides.

Then I wrestled the piece into place. Harder than I thought but very do-able. I'm glad I invested in the clecos  (thanks Bill)

Things looked great, a nice tight fit. Now I'll tear it all apart again and place the seam sealer!

A Typical Sunday

Awesome, a long weekend, which means Sunday is really Saturday! Saturday is not Saturday but rather a Friday part Deux! A bonus day, like getting a free hall pass, or the coveted 'get out of jail free' card.
 We spent our second Friday skiing.....well snowboarding. Anna decided that she wants to figure out the snow boarding thing. So for the first time ever the Sinclair Clan was on the chair lift all with boards strapped to our feet. It was a pretty cool moment...until just about the top when we realized we'd all have to get off the chair lift without making it look life UFC13.
Not to worry we all made it home safe and sound, Anna being the rookie was a little sore on Sunday, so we decided not to ski again and had a simple home day on Sunday.....which yes means bus time...

I started the morning thinking that I would quickly mount the air filter in position and then move on...(famous last words)

I just got started when I heard ..."Daaaaaad?!".......Can you help me with something?
As it turns out Jeff and Anna had a small GT Racer mishap. It had something to do with the quad a tow rope and going backwards....fast. I had heard enough and said "wait!...Don't tell me any more I don't want to be an accessory."  So the bus was put on the back burner,and we were into full on GT Racer repair.

Jeff and I fashioned a new bracket....

Found a ski replacement...RIP good ol' 1990's skis of mine!

Next thing we were back on the road to trouble....

In the end I got my first, and last job of the day completed......it was a good day.