Brandon, you are absolutely right.....almost 11 days would be closer. I don't like making excuses, but I have a pretty good one that has really thrown a wrench into the deadline works. The day after my last post I had to go back to work which in and of itself puts a damper on project progress. While at work we have what you call a brine concentrator that basically controls a brine at ~220f to take the vapor and condense it for making purified water, while the impurities in the water plate out and attach themselves to the brine seed. We were taking the system down for repairs and had to drain and flush everything because when cooled the brine sets up like concrete and really messes things up. While opening a 4" drain on a 2000gal hot brine tank, the drain line was plugged. I kept opening more and more knowing that I needed more pressure, but also knowing that the floor drain couldn't handle more than about 1/4 open. When I decided that it wasn't going to break loose I went to close the valve back down and of course when I just touched the 24" handle which when open lays horizontal and close to the drain opening, it broke loose. The drain couldn't handle the full open discharge and the over boiling temp brine, which by the way is controlled at between 5-6ph so slightly acidic, hit atmosphere it begins to flash off into steam. Needless to say my right hand took a beating.
A couple of days after. Notice the swelling and although the picture doesn't really show, the hand and arm was very red.
Picture of my good hand taken at the same time and place
notice no knuckles to speak of.
A painful week after.
A few days ago. Everything that was 2nd degree would blister if I went outside or worked much and I was trying real hard not to break the skin until some healing had taken place underneath. Wrenching was out of the question.
And a picture as I post. I was even out in the garage tonight.
The drive home on my motorcycle in a 112deg weather with the sun beating down was more painful than actually burning it. I wrapped it in white cloth and would crack a bottle of water and wet the rag down every couple of miles on my 37mile commute. As long as there was moisture to evaporate off of the cloth it wasn't too bad. I've taken the TT to work since then.
A few small updates anyhow. As you know when I changed the cam gear out to an adjustable gear the timing belt cover would no longer fit without rubbing on the adjustment nuts. I took a page out of Mark's track coupe and cut a hole just where the gear is at. I figured I could always claim that if you have an adjustable gear you need access to do the adjusting. 8)
Cutting and trimming.
Installed
After the cover was on I could then install the aux radiator and then the hydraulic pump using Ben Howell's aluminum piece to use the Urq pump with an AAN or 3B manifold. It only has the front bolt and bracket holding it, but seems to be sturdy enough. The belt tensioned right up just fine.
I had wanted to fabricate brackets for installing a newer rotary A/C compressor, but because of time and also having what I believe is a brand new OEM thumper compressor, I opted to try to get the A/C going OEM first and then revisit that later.
I also had to do something for an oil dipstick as I am using an AAN block with a 7A oil pan. The AAN dipstick holder is an affair that the tube slips into a holder cup that is pressed into the block and has an o-ring to seal. This probably seals just fine but isn't very sturdy without being attached to the AAN intake manifold and the tube and stick are different lengths.
7A tube on the left and AAN on the right.
Cup holder on the AAN block to accept the o-ringed tube.
I straightened, cut, and flaired the AAN tube, taking into consideration the tube not penetrating as deep into the block as the 7A. I then welded an attachment bracket onto the tube to attach to the motor mount. I should be able to use an OEM 7A stick and be pretty accurate. Of course I will put 5 quarts in to begin with and see just where I'm at on the stick, but I like how it turned out and it is plenty stiff and solid. While I was close I also hacked up the heater tube that runs alongside the block since the WR block doesn't have the block breather and the tube would hit there. I cut out the mounting bracket, welded the ends back together along with a new bracket to attach it to the AAN block. I ended up having to lengthen the hose between the tube and t-stat housing, but nothing major.
Bead blasting and painting didn't pose much danger of scraping the skin off my hand, so I did do some cleaning up and prepping.
That about does it for now. I'm still waiting on wiring connectors, coils, silicone connectors, and heat tubing along with 3" stainless to weld up the exhaust and a flying lead from 034. All in all I have a ton to do, no time and I'm beginning to wonder if I'll even have parts and material. I gave up on the EFR turbo getting here on time, but switching gears has presented a whole other can of worms. I'm beginning to worry.
:curses:
:wink:
Chris, what you don't think you like the extra 50lbs sitting in front of the axle taking up precious room? That's not even getting into the single lung vibration that comes with it. Kind of like taking a long trip on the CR500 dirtbike and wondering where the vibration is coming from. 