Ready to resuscitate!

Clear!

Yes, the re-wiring of the car is now complete and I'm installing the last of the new bulbs into their sockets. Tonight Matt will be coming out to help me run electrical checks prior to trying to re-start the car. It's hasn't been started for a little over a month now. I've re-attached a lot of the trim items and will be re-installing the seatbelts and seats. I need to have it ready for the road soon, as the weather is warming back up! It's to be approaching the 60's again staring today! I'll just need to wait for the roads to be washed clean of the salt that has been spread on them.

My dad will also be arriving sometime today for a short visit. He will be staying for about a week, which will be a big help since Julz will be traveling for work Thurs and Fri.

Officer down!

On the news this morning they mentioned a stand-off in Ranson, WV. My cousin is on the force there. Apparently an officer was shot 3xs and the perp died. I called Keith this morning to first make sure he was ok. He arrived just seconds after the altercation started and was exiting his vehicle when he heard shots fired in a house. The first officer on the scene didn't have a vest on and was critically injured. He is currently stable and recovering and we wish him the best! It was over a 7hr stand-off with 1 officer shot, 2 children released, 2 dogs shot and the perp dead.news link

Progress report or weather report?

This last Sunday I made more progress with the wire harness installation. I was able to remove the rear lamp harness and feed in the new one. However a few items now need to be fixed.

While removing the nuts from the rear lamp housings to remove them from the car the threaded posts snapped off. No matter how gentle I was it happened. I fully expected it as when I inspected the items prior to starting I noticed how rusted they were. To replace these items it would cost me $200, at $50 each. That is not an option as I will need this cash for more important repairs for sure. I will be drilling-out the posts which appear to be welded-in or riveted in threaded posts. There are 2 per housing. The upper held the routing of the harness while the lower was used for a ground and both secure it to the body.

The 2nd, more major issue, was the door ajar switch for the passenger door. It was riveted into the body with 2 rivets, both of which broke-out as I tried to remove the switch to replace the wiring to it. I'm hoping I can get suggestions from other resto's fromthe Corvett Forums bulletin board. My thought here is to drill and tap the holes which held the rivets and use flat head sheet metal screws to re-secure the plate. The plate is inside the body in the lower B-pillar and I could not see any way to access it. It may be possible with the body off the frame, but that is still a ways away as I do not have a lift yet. Worse case would be to wait until then to repair it and leave it disconnected until then with the new wires protected until they are connected.

I also managed to get my passenger seat trimmed-up.

Upon waking this morning we discovered that the weathermen were right. We were told of a winter storm warning, and it has arrived. There was wet snow on the driveway this morning that was only about 1/3" and easily shovelled off. However, they are calling for continually increasing levels of ice and snow. Julz gets to stay home with Thane, as his daycare is closed, along with pretty much all gov't related operations.

2nd snowfall`

Last night we had our 2nd snowfall this winter. It was about 2-3" in volume. Again the schools shut-down or were delayed until 10AM. Being cold and dry, none of the snow stuck to anything making it very easy to clean up. After 15mins I had both cars wiped-off and the driveway shoveled clean. I think I'll focus on organizing the garage tonight so that I can park another vehicle in-doors. I was waiting to finish the garage before organizing it, but I just never got to it once I finished the garage.

I've also started working on Bernie's wedding video. Bernie and Nikki had asked me to be their videographer last fall at their wedding. It was fun, and I was able to get nearly 3hrs of video for them. Now I just need to get my laptop and desktop talking to each other so I can create the video. I have transferred all of the video to the desktop, but for some reason prior attempts at making videos the DVDs did not work properly once completed. I think the DVD burner on the desktop may be damaged. So, I'll be trying to use the laptop to burn the DVD once the video is created. I'll start with a very small clip to make sure it works before continuing.

The fish we got for Thane are living good. Too good it seems, as one of the females gave birth to 5 guppies the other week. So far they are all still alive and eating while not getting eaten by the others. He enjoys feeding them every morning and night. He's always reminding us to not let them get out, I guess like the movie Nemo, eh!? :)

Julie had an awards banquet for work last Sat that we attended. It also included a casino night. I tried my hand at Texas Hold'em. My start was rough and I nearly lost all my chips. Then I had almost double and decided to move over to Blackjack where I lost about $500 worth of chips. We started with $2500, where $2K worth at the end of the night bought a raffle ticket for prizes. I then went back to the poker table and continued my good luck. I ended up with a profit above the $5K base of $15K! I guess I'll need to head to a casino soon, eh!? According to my cousin, Kieth, Ranson/Charlstown is placing the tables for the track casino back on the voting block. I might have to make a visit if it passes and tables are brought in. Currently there is only track betting along with slots.

Tonya has been having an OK time in Iraq. They are keeping her very busy. She has also sent a few photos so far which I've been placing in her Photobucket account that I had created for her. Unfortunately she cannot access it, so I am doing it for her for now. Go here: Tonya's Photobucket

Finally, we're keeping in close touch with Julie's parent's, Bob and Judy. Judy had her 2nd knee replaced on Monday and they have been fighting her low blood pressure following the surgery. Also, Bob was to be tested to check the status of an artery in his leg that was of concern. We're really hoping that it is healing itself. If for some reason they need to fix it Julie will be going home to help them both out until they are safely recovered from their operations. We continue to hope for a speedy recovery for them both!

Garage is almost...

The garage is almost finished. I have about 70% of the ceiling left and 1 wall. The blue is about 1 shade darker than what we expected, but it'll be ok. Julz said you can see it very well from the road, but she didn't like how it looked with the house being beige.

I will get back to work on the car and basement tomorrow also.

Wrapping-up

Well, just wrapping-up for the night and heading to bed. I got the new shocks in. It didn't take long. I brought home a cut-off disc for my air compressor and it made getting the old front shocks out quick. I then mounted the front and rear and dropped the car back to the ground. I plan to do some more painting tomorrow, as well as touch up a few more areas with mud. Then also start working on the remaining 2 wire harnesses.

Quick note

TGIF! Well, I have stalled with the install of my wire harnesses in the car. I've spent the last couple of days touching-up the mud in the garage and priming the walls and ceiling.

I will be borrowing a couple of tools from work for the weekend to work on the car, as I need a cutting disk to remove the front shocks. I received a set of new shocks for X-mas from Bob and Judy! I have the rears out, but the fronts are not. I could not get the nut off the top of the front shocks to drop them out. I tried holding the threaded post with ViceGrips, but it did not work. I'll use a cutting disc to cut them off instead.

I also need to spend some more time in the basement to finish-up the bike shop area. Before I know it the racing season will be here! I'm contemplating doing the 12hr race in Florida again. I won it a couple years back in the SS category, and I finished in the top 10 overall just 1 lap down from Tinker Juarez, and 2-1/2 laps up on 2nd place in SS! It's a nice course for the SS and I was able to do it as a TRUE SOLO by being my own support as well. I just set-up a pit on the side of the course with all my food and drinks pre-made along with lights and a change of shorts. It was by far one of my best races and accomplishments. The race is in Reddick, FL and runs from 10AM-10PM. 2005 12Hrs of Razorback

Sister in Iraq... again!

As most of you know, Tonya had to make yet another return trip to Iraq this month. She has been initially scheduled for a 6 month tour, but we'll hope for an early return!

Below is a pic she sent during deployment flying over on a C130 on 15Jan2007. Hopefully she'll continue sending pics.

This trip is probably one of the most dangerous so far. She's been deployed in Kirkuk at a small medical base that has just 10 beds. I guess it's about 120 miles north of Bagdag. Once they stabilize the person they airlift them out to a larger base. I guess it's basically like the old TV show M*A*S*H. She's been busy non-stop since she's been there. Enough that she was tired enough to sleep through 1 of 3 car bombs the other day! Not good! If anyone would like to send her a "care package" please let me know and I'll send you her address. She said they found barrels of peanut butter, but she wants some Welche's grape/strawberry jelly. Other items are good too, like gum, candy, pictures, letters, etc.

I LOVE YOU SIS! GET HOME SOON!

It looks like a ball of speghetti

Well, I'm half way done with the re-wiring of the Vette. I have 1 easy harness left, the rear lamp assy. The other is the dash harness which will most-likely be the hardest of all 4! It looks like a ball of speghetti in there!

Tonight I plan to do a little bit of painting in the garage and install the rear lamp harness.

I have the engine and forward lamp harnesses in. See pics below for comparison! (Old forward lamp harness, and new forward lamp harness.)

1st snow

Today brought the 1st snowfall at our new home in VA. Julz and Thane played a bit while I snapped some photos. It started snowing around noon. I didn't realize it until I came in for lunch since I was working in the garage.

The garage now has insulated doors and a heater! It'll be a comfortable place to work on the car. For the car, I'm still waiting for the rest of my order to arrive. I only received 1 of the 4 wire harnesses. However, I have plenty of time now since there is salt on the road. I will not be driving it again until the salt is gone.