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.