My Parts Arrived!!!

Just went to get the mail and there's a package by the door.  Smaller than I was expected.

I opened it up like a child on Christmas!

Two new stainless steel cyliders
New weatherstripping for the doors and rear quarter windows
New air latch system for the doors
New air headlight system and adapter

And (hopefully) enough pneumatic wire to hook it all up.

In addition, the hatch is no reattached and we are playing with its fit, as well as hooking up some air cyliders to open and close it automatically.  Again, I think I have to be the voice of reason; the current air cylinders aren't strong enough to lift the hatch if they are mounted near the rear.  They will lift the hatch perfectly fine mounted perpendicular, though.  I really don't want to shell out a few more hundred dollars for stronger air cyliders.

Sean is all for new cylinders.  It must be easy working with other people's money.

Sick Again.

The 'Off Topic' label should be self explainatory.  This post will just have a few quick thoughts, and will be (mostly) non-car related.

I am sick again.  It is amazing how much nasty stuff can be produced inside the human body; I think I've coughed up half my body weight in the last few days.  Bear in mind I'm no anorexic. 

This cold was particularly nasty.  I was severely stuffed up and my back and head were aching the first few days.  I'm now much better, though still blowing out some nasty stuff.  But at least it can be blown out now.  Even worse, I took a lot of medicine attempting to alleviate the symptoms, but none had any effect whatsoever!  The only choice was to wait it out.

It's easy to tell when I'm sick.  I'm less quick and witty, and my work ethics falls through the floor.  I will not work on the Bricklin (or anything unnecessary) in this condition.  If that delays the completion, so be it.  I'm not stressing about it.

I'm mostly fixed up, and figured I'd fire off a blog post while I'm up.  Still waiting on the parts from Terry Tanner as well as some stuff I ordered off Amazon.  Oh, and Half Price Books had a 20% Off Sale so I picked up Cadillac: The American Standard.  My first impression is that it has a lot of information, but it's a lot easier to read than Packard: A History of the Motor Car and Company due to not being packed with information from front to end and also a larger font.

All the best.

Small Stuff

Called up Bricklin Parts and Services today and ordered some of the smaller parts for the Bricklin, including new air cylinders, weatherstripping, and updated air headlight system.

It should be shipped either later today or tomorrow.  We'll see when they show up.

The actual body panels are expensive to ship individually, and shipping on a pallet aparently isn't desireable.  In addition, though there is a backstock available, ordering the panels requires additional stock to be produced.  So, I held off ordering them for now.  Basically, my options are as follows:

1)  Have each panel shipped individually.
2)  Fly to Virginia, rent a U-Haul truck, drive them back to Washington ourselves.

Both options are expensive; the latter will probably be just a bit less.  What do you think?

Lack of Updates...

...does not equal a lack of work or play on my part.

Work continues on the Bricklin.  This week I will call Terry Tanner and order the parts; my list is as follows:

Body Panels
- Headlight covers
- Roof Panel
- Door Skins
- Hatch
- A Pillars
- Hood
- Front Fenders (still deciding on those)

Assorted Parts
- Outside Door Weatherstripping
- Inside Birdcage Weatherstripping
- New Pneumatic Cylinders
- Door (Boomerang) Braces
- Weatherstripping for the Rear Quarter Windows
- Air Headlight System

It's going to be a sizeable order, obviously, and will probably need to be shipped on a pallet.  Hopefully it won't be too expensive.

I know I've said it before, but the desconstruction is nearly complete.  The only body panel still attached up front is the bumper; the hood, hood extension, fenders, A-pillars, roof, hatch, and doors have all been removed.  All but the hood extension (and possibly fenders, they're not too bad) will be replaced with fiberglass replacements.

We've discovered all sorts of hacked together crap going through this thing.  Going through the engine bay, we found a little device with a vacuum line going to the carb and an air line headed to the compressor.  With no idea what it was, we took it off for further examination.  It was a non-operational vacuum operated air pump!  The air doors must have been a very early conversion; they haven't used these things in years.  They would serve as the main air pump and the electric compressor (that I used the entire trip home) is just there as a backup.  Both will be replaced with a single heavy duty air compressor.

In other news, earlier today was the Spring Opener at XXX.  I was working and didn't attend, but it is the unofficial start of the car show season (though I went to quite a few cruise nights in March and April).

Why Do They Do This To Me?

This entry may be my most philosophical work to date.  Cars are a lot like pets.

Not that I'm saying cars are ensouled.  But neither animal nor automobile can tell you what is wrong themselves, even if you know something is wrong.

You can only hope, when you either take the animal to the vet or take the car to the shop (or perform the surgery yourself, in this case), the patient knows it is for the best.

Such is the case with the Bricklin.  Though many body panels have been removed and the engine is inoperable, it will be for the best when the work is finished!  Technically, we could just do a quick once over of the interior and be done with it, but there are so many underlying issues needing to be addressed.

I can either do it right or end up having to do it again.

So I'll take the extra steps to make it so.  We'll strip all the body panels off and apply POR-15 to the safety cage and frame to prevent it from rusting again.  We'll take the doors apart and weld reinforcement bars where recommended.  We'll run through the entire pneumatic system, replacing the compressor, air lines, and even the cylinders which raise and lower the doors.

We can rebuilt it.  We have the technology.

Bear in mind this photo was taken a few days ago (there is always some lag time between any photo op and my blogging).  The roof has been sanded down to bare metal (mostly on the driver's side, however) and should be complete within the week.

We're still working on the custom interior.  It's coming along, slowly but surely.  The rear console now moves under its own power (with a little help from an air compressor).  Interior fabric will be ordered shortly, along with more carpet, since we misjudged the amount needed.  The carpet I have now is just enough to cover the floors in the foot wells.

With mistakes like those, you really have to hope the Bricklin has faith in my ability.

May the Fourth be With You...

Yeah, lame pun of the day.  You can thank "itschrome" at the Cadillac Forums for that one.

Because I need extra space in the garage to accomodate work area needed for the Bricklin, the Allante has unfortunately been sitting outside under a car cover.  The car cover is a very nice waterproof yet breathable model, and fits the Allante nicely (if not perfectly).  It fits so good I decided not to tie it down to the underside, letting it just sit atop the car.

You probably can see where this is going...

That move bit me in the ass.  Yesterday, I left to find the cover had blown off my poor convertible in the pouring rain.  Thankfully, the top was up (I actually flirted with the idea of leaving the top down, THAT would have been a catastrophe) but the very back wasn't latched.  Plus, the top leaks in heavy rain, so I was very worried I would find a pool when I opened the door.  Thankfully, other than the car being wet and a little rain that snuck through the unlatched top into the boot, all is OK.  I've learned my lesson.

In another "Holy Hell" moment, I've been shopping around for the Nexus gauges I talked about last time.  They are EXPENSIVE.  And expensive for me, with my steady job and hefty paychecks, is more than your average Joe.  They're going to be at least a grand.

Originally, I wanted to get in and done with this car for under $10,000.  It's becoming more and more clear I will not hit this number.  Replacement body panels alone will be pushing $2,500.  So, in classic form, I'm just lowering my standards and raising my budget by a couple thousand dollars.

Actual Artistic Talent?

NOT DONE BY ME.  You can tell because it's actually a good sketch, unlike others posted a few days back.

Here's a nice, though not perfect, artistic rendering of what the rear console will look like.  Note the unit will slide forward (towards the hatch) for easy access to the storage compartments to the left and right (shaded grey here).

This isn't just a pipe dream anymore.  The base board was installed yesterday and it can actually slide, albiet it has to be pushed and pulled.  Eventually, it will be attached to a pneumatic cylinder that will do the work for us (a pneumatic slide could also work, but would be signifigantly more expensive).

The storage compartments will house the amplifiers for the sound system, and those will be backlit by LED lighting.  Also, the subwoofers in the back will have an LED light system as well.  The LEDs will either be red or orange.  I really want red as the accent color, but orange would save me some money as we already have access to orange lighting.  What do you think?

Whether red or orange, I've decided on Nexus gauges.  They really are awesome gauges, but are a bit small (speedometer and tach are 3 3/8" and other gauges are only 2 1/16").  But, they have seven color LED illumination, so they could work if I decided the accent color will be either red or orange.  Check them out http://www.autometer.com/demos/nexus/!