Steamboat's new ride and his Iraq bike.

Well, here's some updates...........

Seth got the car on the ground and discovered the front bags were rubbing on the inside of the spring cups. After freaking out thinking I was going to have to dump more money on narrower air cylinders, (and not knowing if even those would work or not) Seth figured out how to make it work. First of all, the problem was rooted in the bags floating aorund freely inside the spring cups. They needed to be anchored down top and bottom in order for them to clear. That is my buddy Jonesy's bug. He is the guy who did all the mechanical work, and the reason my engine purrs like a kitten.

He cut out a piece of sheetmetal.......

cleaned up the edges..............

.............and drilled a hold for the lower bag bolt to go through.
The plate was then welded onto the lower control arms. I don't have a picture of it installed.
The tricky part was the top bag bolt. What he did was put about a 3" long cup on top, then welded in a nut, and ran a piece of threaded rod from the nut through the frame, then capped it off with a second nut. Again, I don't have pics, but I will take some if anyone is super curious.

 

Success!!! The bags dont rub, and I am excited to finally be able to drive my car. I take off down the road to Jonesy's house so he can tune my engine, I take off from Seth's house and 300 feet later the car dies in the middle of Whittaker road, which is a very busy, fast, two lane with no shoulder. I'm used to it by now, so it didn't faze me in the slightest. Seth and Ray came with the F150 and towed me down the street with the hazard lights on, which is highly illegal but the best we could do. Right as we get up to Jonesy's house, a Washtenaw country cop rolls by in the opposite direction, and immediatley flips a u turn and pulls into the driveway behind us.

We were all equally relieved when we see the officer is Sethro's fried Jack, and he is laughing his ass off at us. It was cold and rainy, and the last we needed was a $200 ticket for unsafe towing. Whew!!!!

Here she is laid out at Jonesy's, after he masterfully tuned the engine. I only had one tow left on my AAA card, so I decided it would be best to drive to the next town over to the alignment shop, and back. I am happy to say the trip was uneventful!!!
After picking the car up and driving her back home, I decided it was time to cruise her, which I did for about two hours. We were breaking necks left and right just rolling down the street, and she held her own in the Ann Arbor trafic. I figured I would hit the Autozone down the street form my house to get a gas cap, as raw fuel has been spilling all over my bumper due to the old one being lost during the build. The driveway into Autozone is a hard steep right, so I locked her up and pulled in. BOOM!!! What sounded like a shotgun blast went off under my car and the driver side drops to the ground. Again, I didn't even blink as I am so used to it by now.
I crawl undernieth the car and my rear driver side bag has split in two. Actaully, the the bolt came out of the bottom, the bag shifted, and the metal band holding the plastic end cap onto the rubber decided it didn't want to hang around.
Before I could even call for help, Ray shows up out of the blue with his F150 and selflessly dives under the car on the wet pavement to bail me out.


McGyver style. Good thing it broke down right at Autozone and we were able to screw two hose clamps together to get the piece back on enough to limp home. It worked. I had to keep putting air in the bag as I was driving because it was no longer sealed. It got me home though, where I contemplated my next move.
I will tell you about that next.

 

Brother......you need to invest in a couple of jackstands!

 

She only fell off the jack once, and Ray was able to jump out of the way. After that he put his bottle jack undernieth for a little extra protection.


In case you were wondering what we did with the old bag............


This picture demonstrates driving an old car in a modern urban enviornment. I pulled up to the pump, then realized the nozzle wouldn't reach my rear mounted fuel filler. So I reparked it, but it has no parking brake and the tranny wont hold it if the engine is off. So I had to let the car roll forward until the left front tire butted up against a skid full of woodchips that were for sale. Then I realized I rolled so close to the woodchips that I couldn't exit through the driver door. So I scooted my happy butt across the seat to go out the passenger door and bumped into the switches, dropping the corner. Did I mention I was late for school? It's all love.

 

reminds me of Fletch

 

I went to Autozone to get a box of 5 30amp fuses for my switches, as well as some stainless steel license plate bolts for Alice and the Ranger. My total came to $6.66. My buddy and I got a good laugh out of it. As I left the store, I said to the cashier, "I'd better not put these on my car." I went out to the parking lot, put the plate bolts on, and went off a mile down the road to my house. My nieghbor two doors down from me was having a yard sale and had just sold a big blue couch when I rolled up. There were two college students trying to load it into the back of some type of car and it slipped off and fell into the street right in front of me. I was able to swerve around it and make it into my driveway without incident, so I slipped the noose that time. Creepy.

 

Glad to see all of the crappy fab work get cut out and put right by capable hands. Looking sweet.

 

These are some pictures and a video from last Summer. Felt good having her on the road.

 

Stupid girl broke down agian. She choose to do it right before winter, and I've been too broke and too busy to get her going again. Just started running really nasty all of the sudden like it jumped the timing chain. The timing light shows its correct, but it wavers back and forth. Between myself, Jonesy, and his Dad (who is doing a body-off resto of a 58 Vette), none of us can figure it out. In the next week or so I'm gonna order new plugs, wires, and a coil. If that doesn't fix the problem, we're gonna pull off the water pump and see what the timing chain looks like. Until then the dumb thing can rot in the snow for all I care. Hopefully we will have her going again soon, and not long after will have the 5 spokes back on it after I trade mt two reverse for the two standards from Eryk for the back. Plans for Spring include mounting the EDC pump, installing the 1/2" fill valves to get the front up quicker, and the 300psi pressure switches to take advantage of the greater air delivery. Really hoping to have her in the basement at Cobo this March as well. Updates as I get them.