Looks like you are making some good progress despite some unfortunate setbacks!

Jeff B

Just catching up on your thread, quite a month... Sorry about your loss... Good to see you can still grip a torch!

Thanks! My only handicap (from the finger) I've noticed is that I can't really grip things with my forefinger, such as hand tightening nuts, so I have to use my middle finger...

But a serious question: walking through the garage today I noticed that the bottom, passenger side corner of the windshield trim has popped off. I have no idea when it happened, but could this be a bad sign of something? I checked all of my gaps and they meet the measurements I made both before and after the long surgery. What could have caused this? Temperature/pressure change? All of my recent bangings on the car?

The "build off challenge" has turned into a "life challenge," and this weekend will be remembered as the one spent sitting bolt upright but crooked, and doped up. If you recall my shoulder issue, the newest doctor's theory is that the minor neck issue I'd complained about for 2 years was actually pinching a nerve that caused certain muscles to not function properly which resulted in the shoulder instability/dislocations and subsequent labral tears and detachments. So in the Army's style, they began a treatment program on the neck (physical therapy, chiropractor, etc) without ever imaging the neck. Fast forward to Friday; the damn neck locked up and is stuck in a weird position with shooting pains down and across my chest, back, and shoulders, but mostly the left/good shoulder and arm with a weakness in the arm that won't let met even hold a coffee mug... On Friday they just sent me home with drugs and told me to wait until Monday, so hopefully this will finally result in an MRI and a referral to a specialist.

It's a terrible thought, but I'm starting to make contingency plans for how to quickly and easily get the car ready for travel home to KY in the event of a medical retirement/discharge... I think it's inevitable at this point, the only questions are when and what medical procedures will come first.

I'm not giving up on the 914 or the challenge, but I know there is no chance this thing will be done by 9/14/16... In the spirit of the challenge's fun, I'm hoping there's an extension contest for those of us who don't finish.. haha

Shit Joe, I'm real sorry to hear your news. I hope the specialist can get to the bottom of the issue and sort it out.
I wish you a speedy recovery. If its any consolation I am really enjoying your build and have marked you high in the last two votes. What's important now is your health, don't worry about deadlines on the car. I'm a Gulf War veteran myself who was invalided out of the Uk Armed Forces following injuries sustained during Operation Desert Storm many years ago. I know first hand how once your on that Military injury runaway train your career and life is turned upside down. I imagine its the same stateside as it is here in UK. Lets hope they can fix you up and not worry about discharge.
Best regards
Darren

Thank you, I'm confident I'll be fine. This whole thing has just been annoying.

Really sorry to hear about your health issues! I hope you get better soon!!

Apparently I didn't "add" the post I wrote last week, but you guys were my heroes when I was a kid. I was 11 during Desert Storm and used to run home from school to watch the coverage on CNN. I had "support our troops" t-shirts and hats, had my dad take me to a homecoming parade and all that jazz. Even my Cincinnati Reds who won the World Series only months before took a backseat to my obsession with Gulf War vets. Given this and that my parents were both Vietnam vets, it's really amazing I waited until I was 31 to join.

Still fighting Army doctors for an MRI and referral to a spine specialist, but I managed a bunch of time in the garage today. I had a couple miracles in that I got out of work early Thursday and Friday so I played around pulling the foam out of the right rear fender corner and some cleaning up. Today I dissected my right sail panel removing rusted metal, foam, and seam sealer (total pain in the ass-the factory was obsessed with seeing how dense they could get this stuff). After I took the pics I cut out some more metal before hitting the area with the wire wheel, sandblaster (which made my day of cleaning up pointless), and treated the whole area with rust converter stuff afterwards. And since I had some time left on the clock I decided to weld up the holes on the heat shield stands in preparation for the day when I drill holes and make it removable.I also realized that I am really dreading/avoiding that daunting task of welding the suspension console on...

man, that thing is collecting a lot of rust.... and yet it doesnt seem like much for a 914 haha keep it up

What you see is 6 hours of work. This was probably the most difficult fabrication I've done so far, not just because of the shapes/curves, but because of the personal pressure knowing that it is a seen and on a blatantly obvious part of the car. These 3 little patches were a pain in the ass, the first was tough to get the curve right, at the correct angle with the line of the car, etc. The 2nd one sucked because it is such a subtle curve, but mostly because welding next to that edge of the door jamb was absurd. The 3rd one had an odd little angled part, but once again was on that jamb edge. I had to weld these really slowly, welding spots on opposite corners and then letting it completely cool to prevent warpage. As you can see there is a definite low spot on top of the fender, but the worst (most annoying) thing is that I kept blowing out/overgrinding that damn edge. I should have taken more pics, but that edge is comprised completely of weld and then shaped with the grinder; there's still another spot that needs some metal, and unfortunately this entire area will need a little thicker skim of filler than I had hoped, and I'm half thinking about some fiberglass on the underside as reinforcement (overgrinding that edge has me a little paranoid that I've overgrinded elsewhere). I keep looking at it thinking I should have done better, but really, I should be satisfied with the work.

You can also see in the pics (not really this one) that this fender has had a respray. I've found some evidence of a wreck on the right front corner, but not the rear outside of a ding or two, I guess they just sprayed this whole side, because the driver side is still original paint...

But here's another look at that edge.

Nice work, attention to detail will pay off.

Post for Friday 27 May:

Shop soundtrack: my Iron Maiden Pandora station

The day's plan was to get a bunch done in the garage on my day off, but as I was taking the garbage to the street I happened to notice an odd, white spot on my DD Honda Fit's tire. Of course it was a nail. I had been planning on replacing the tires towards the end of summer anyways, hoping to milk a thousand more miles out of them; the previous owner didn't drive the car much so they had minor dry rot along with wear. The funny part is that twice over the last 2 weeks the tire went a little low but on inspection I saw nothing (could it really be possible that the nail was down both times I inspected?). Anyways, I spent quite a bit of the day dealing with this. NOTE: If you buy a Honda Fit for its incredible affordability and such, get the basic model and not the "sport," the sport's 16" wheels have a weird 185 55 tire that cost me $100+ more to replace and the ride is a little louder and worse.

But the time I did spend in the shop was spent welding up the sail panel. The piece was a little tricky in that it has a minor curvature that I think I managed to get right, but I was worried about warpage on such a broad, flattish sheet so I welded really slowly. I'm not sure if it was a heat warp or what, but the top welded edge did manage to sink and there's a bit of a low spot I think filler will fix without violating my 1/8ths inch rule (filler will be no thicker than 1/8th inch). I tried to show the low spot in the pics, but it's hard to see; though you can see the low spot on the fender top. I guess it's also worth mentioning that I filled in the little trim holes and reworked (welded a fat line and grinded) that jamb edge too. Overall it was a good day in the garage.

Post for Saturday 28 May:

Shop soundtrack: my Willie Nelson Pandora station:

Another shorter day in the shop... My plastic lawn chair kinda broke so I spent some time trying to fix it with fiberglass filler stuff, didn't really work. But it did give me the idea to use that to reinforce and back the little patches at the top of the door jamb now instead of later. It kinda sucked getting up in there, but the fact that it squeezed out a few pinholes was a good sign.
I then moved on to the door sill in an obvious attempt to avoid that suspension console. The door sill fit really well and went on easily, but as I went to install the little triangles and grind the welds I noticed that I screwed up and the thing wasn't straight. It was kinda weird drilling out my own welds... but I managed to get them broken with the help of a little hacksaw underneath. The sill then went on straight and easy without damage and the triangles fit perfectly. NOTE: IF you're asking my opinion, or if I were to weld another sill on, I would either figure a way to do it with the triangles pre-welded, or at least use them as a guide (as I did the 2nd time) to keep the gap straight and what not. After the error I was paranoid, so I checked and double checked this thing at least 50 times. Overall it was a good day in the garage, and great that I got away with an error without permanent damage/costing $$$.

Post for Sunday 29 May:

Shop soundtrack: my Little Richard Pandora station

JUDGEMENT DAY HATH COME!!! ie I finally had the nerve (read no choice on further procrastination) to weld in the suspension console, but only because I finished the other jobs tasks early.

A full day in the garage. I started out welding the triangles under the sill, went on easily. I then decided to play with the door jamb and determine whether it was worth the RD replacement piece for just the bottom 4 inches... So as a test (after wirewheel, sandblasting, ospho, etc) I played around with the hammers and dollies and got the thing well within personal tolerance so I rolled with it. Yeah, there is some metal missing at the bottom edge, but I think I can make this work and still stay on the good side of the 1/8ths inch rule (no filler thicker than an 1/8th inch-but will that still count if I have filler on the underside too?). After more fiddling and welding I decided to waste some time applying seam sealer on the underside, on the triangles' welds, and up in the fender, but when I looked at the clock it was waaay too early to quit, so I turned to the suspension console.
I figured it would take hours to figure out its exact position, adjustments, mounting, and what not and I wouldn't have to deal with the stress of welding on a piece with such exacting tolerances and financial implications. However, the next thing I know,
I have the thing in the perfect position, clamps on and only welding to be done. So I measured a few hundred more times, cracked open another beer, and realized that I had to weld...
As for measuring, I used a triple attack: measuring tape, string, and sticks. As for welding, I was paranoid, so I'd make 2 welds on the opposite ends of each other to prevent heat issues, then measure the thing about 60 times while waiting for it to cool completely. This technique resulted in far more Chuck Berry air guitar singalongs, beer, and cigarettes than planned, but in the end I ended up with a suspension console far within my personal tolerance. From ear to ear I have the perfect 33.5 inches, and from the firewall hole thing to the console ear I'm 1/16th of an inch off, sitting at 28 5/16" instead of the prescribed 28 1/4"! I even added a measurement in which I checked the console's angle and it seemed on the money.

I was completely paranoid of this thing, and whether it was luck or miracle, it really wasn't that bad with rock n roll and paranoid, OCD procedures. This was an extremely fulfilling day, and I feel even better knowing that I can throw suspension, wheels, whatnot on this little car rather quickly and move it if I have to. Maybe I was right in putting off the suspension console so long, or maybe I'm ridiculous for it, who knows? Overall it was a wonderful day in the garage.

Wow looking good

Looks very nice. Always a great since of accomplishment.
Now comes the hard part. Tying the inside to the outside.
This might help.
http://www.performanceforum.com/wesvann/91.../rd-9-1-08.html

We're going to actually cowboy up this time. Plan is to use a forge to soften the 14 gauge so it's easier to form. Like they do when the do a tire change on a horse.

Super In Law says there's one down in the chicken house. Chicken house : that will be another entire OT thread some day. 600 sq. ft building that Mike and Frank from American Pickers would enjoy going thru.

Looks good!

Yeah I'm dreading this too...hahaha I was really hoping that if I put it off this long somebody would have produced some...

nice job especially with fabricating patches from scratch. I'm where you are in terms of the progress of my project......still lots of rusty sheetmetal to cut out and replace.

Thank you everyone for the kind words.

You know it's weird, but I realized today while at the bar for my wife's birthday dinner, that I think I am over the hill when it comes to welding and rust repair. I feel I have finished far more than I still have left to do. It's a really weird feeling thinking that the welder will go to the sidelines and other tools will hit the field in a starting role.

Looking good Joe, rest that shoulder up, lift your beer glass with your other arm!

Shop soundtrack: Euro 2016 matches and then Harry Belafonte and other stuff.

Took last weekend off because it was over 100 degrees in my garage and I was avoiding the task of making the suspension ties. But this weekend I got right down to it. I was really dreading this and was super worried about trying to get the little one done in one piece with 12 gauge steel. I bought a scrap sheet from a local fabrication place for $5 and had about 5x what I needed. My method was to make cardboard models and then cut the metal from it. I also made some test and experimental pieces from 20 gauge to test the feasibility of the project. I elected to drill the holes while the piece was flat because it made it easier in the drill press. A bigass hammer and a vice were the primary tools, and I used a blowtorch to heat up areas that were tougher to bend. On bend at a time, and a lot of test fits and I got it. All of the minor bends, twists and whatnot made the process crazy, but it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My one regret is that I should have made it a little bit longer towards the inside, but that may have just made it impossible...who knows.

For the second tie, I used the method from the above link. It was far easier to make, but somehow harder to weld. I guess because I designed the little one to be primarily plug welded. I still need to grind them all pretty like.

On 2 other notes:

Those are some ugly ass welds... and
My measurements regarding the suspension console didn't change!

I'll start with a medical update: Physical therapy has given up and referred me back to the surgeon. In January the surgeon wouldn't touch it because muscles weren't working, now they kinda are... So the surgeon can do 3 things: convince my primary care doctor that my neck needs checked by a specialist, operate, or refuse to cut again which would mean that I would be medically discharged. The medical discharge is practically inevitable at this point, but I need to make it to next May because it will give me a magic number and allow me to walk into my next career as a teacher instead of doing a bunch of extra stuff.

Now the car.

It's been way to hot to really work on this thing, and I've sat out a weekend or 2; and the new job involved the craziest work week of my life so on Saturday I just lounged around drinking. Sunday I had the intention of installing the engine shelf and battery tray but I was getting frustrated by the terrible fitment of the AA engine shelf (came with the car) so I moved on the front corner and the idea of deleting the warts. I knew there was some body filler up there, but no idea how much. I first suspected a problem when I removed the bumper and saw some crinkle and got really scared when I first looked under the fender and saw the filler-seep through holes. I was tempted to keep the warts and this previous fix because it looked good, but I guess I love pain so I explored...

I am currently under investigation by UNESCO and pending trial at The Hague for destroying a previously unknown Michelangelo. But seriously, somebody was a very talented sculptor to do what they did. Now I've got to figure out what to do. I have several options: 1. Play Rodin myself with the filler. 2. Cut and patch the really lumpy areas. 3. Shop for a new fender. 4. Chalon (j/k. No way). I'm totally leaning towards 3.

Here are my concerns/questions: If I go with a new fender, how much do I use? The whole thing or just partial? If I'm going through this trouble, should I address that front clip too? Look at pics 1 and 8, see the crinkle and the improper lines below the light hole? Can I bang it right with the fender off for replacement, or does it need replaced too? This is a major issue--biggest since the long repair, if not bigger.

Let's hear some ideas on how to approach this. Meanwhile, I'm gonna be going back to that stupid engine shelf while I figure this out.

Great job on the fabrication.

I feel your pain, my front fender looked similar, without the holes. I straightened it a little with a hammer and dolly before putting on the bondo. Much less work than cutting off the fender.

JMHO



Click to view attachment

I posted a WTB ad in the classifieds in case somebody has one on the cheap, but in the meantime I'm going to experiment with the hammer.

It was a long weekend but that did not equate to a lot of work.

Friday was one of those days where nothing seemed to go right. I tried dealing with a greyhound rescue to adopt a dog. Arizona banned dog racing so something like 100+ orphans hit the system, but the local group won't adopt to Soldiers because their policies and Army policies conflict. Then in the garage I decided that I need to build a car dolly for repairing that front end since the rotisserie will be in the way. It'll also help with other things, like taking it off the rotisserie so I can put it back on the rotisserie outside for pressure washing or turning the car around (my garage is stupid and has a curb in it so one side is on that, the other on a box to bring it level). Anyways, I went to Lowe's and bought the supplies but came up a 2x4 short.

Saturday I went back to Lowe's for the wood but forgot the nuts to go to the bolts, so I had to go back. Eventually I finished the dolly, only to decide that I didn't feel like tackling the front when I still had other repairs to make, so I took it apart and stored it. I then tried to go back to that engine shelf, it still wouldn't fit... so I fixed the little spot of damage/hole on the floor.

Sunday things began to turn around, I went back to the engine shelf, this time completely determined, only to find the thing went perfectly into place the first try without even trying. Go figure, then I had to make the little patch at the rear there and the brake line holder. The brake line holder was fun to make: drilled a hole in steel and bored it out with the dremel to the right size, drilled another hole for a plug weld, bent the thing, then rounded and shaped the end as well as shaping the weld side so it would saddle into the recess between engine mount and suspension console. It was all too easy on Sunday, I even got an email back from the dog people saying we might be able to make something happen if I work my end.

Monday I figured it was time to hit the driver's side since I was done melting on the passenger side! (I've decided to hold off on the battery tray--it's fitment is confusing me...Anyone ever have problems getting the RD tray support to line up? And the other thing needed is the front damage, which I'm putting off) So it's the driver's side! Which is a lot worse than I thought. The jack point is jacked, which I knew, but the top layer of the long there is/was pretty rusted so I've worked to strip it off. I keep having to expand my area, even up to cutting out a portion of the sill near the back triangle. I used an old webcam to look inside the long and it doesn't look too bad. The Eastwood green stuff and some antirust paint should do the trick. This side's rust is way different than the other. The passenger side rusted from the inside out, but this is going outside in--which is good. But getting this first layer of rust off has been quite the trick. I've used an angle grinder with 3 attachments, a drill with 3 attachments, a sawzall, and a dremel with 3 attachments... and I still have metal to remove but ran out of dremel cutting discs. So I slathered the area in naval jelly and called it a weekend. I made a particular point of raising the top layer edges up and getting the jelly up in there. Hopefully I can finish up the area next weekend.

Medical update: I had the MRI on my neck (finally) and it found issues that are probably at the root of my shoulder issues and the arm pains, etc. The problem is that this may complicate or make repairing my shoulder impossible, which would end my Army career. So I have to start thinking of when, how and at what point is it best to stop the build and prep the car for moving. I haven't been to the doctor yet, so this is just speculating, but I figure I have 9 months left here. I figure I need to finish the metalwork, prime anything bare, then start putting the necessary parts back on. But we'll see what the future holds when it gets here, meanwhile I'll keep working on the car, working to adopt a greyhound, and just working.

Pics of the other side of hell.

Is it crazy that after I drilled out and cut around the cover, the post ripped off wih a few quick blows with the rubber mallet?

Sorry to hear about your health issues! Hopefully it doesnt impact your career...

Shelf looks good. Hope they can do something good with the shoulder.

Shop soundtrack: Euro 2016 Final (Sunday), some MLB, and my rockabilly Pandora station.

Doesn't seem like the most productive weekend if you just go by picture quantity, but I think it was a good one none the less. I had some more cancerous metal to remove on the driver side jack point, and since I knew I was removing a layer at a seam I decided to install my car dolly to use as support to prevent sagging: the dolly in the center + rotisserie holding ends + door braces seemed to hold it square, not that I think I really removed enough to truly endanger a sag. I started by using that Eastwood green stuff inside the longs (that shit is nasty, wear long sleeves, gloves, and a face shield), then went into cutting out a difficult area. Treated some rust with naval jelly, weld thru primed etc wasting time before I used the under-coating gun and hose to spray the eastwood heavy duty anti-rust in the long (see note above about nasty and getting everywhere). My pre-inspection with an old web cam showed very minimal rust, and my post inspection shows I got good coverage.

Sunday started with taking the dog to the dogpark since she was running like a nut in the house and backyard, but when we got there she chilled...then when we got home it was back to crazy...a harbinger of the day to come... In the garage I used Saturday's paper model and 18 gauge sheet to finish fabricating the patch. It took a while because some areas were almost impossible to reach and the cuts on the car were all kinds of crooked. Got it fit, plug weld holes drilled, cleaned, prepped and weld-thru primed (I turn into a really impatient kid while I wait the prescribed time for that stuff to dry) and welded on little bits at a time to prevent heat warping the area. Due to the cuts' nature and old metal removal style, not to mention trying an experimental welding technique that in some areas was a cross between plug and seam I didn't get the prettiest of seam at the rear or bottom (should have waited and done the bottom after bringing it back on the rotisserie--who likes overhead welding?) but I got good penetration and strong welds so whatever. In the crazy category I got great penetration and a good weld seam at the top where I had to play contortionist, line up a spot and close my eyes and turn my head since I couldn't get the helmet into that fender space area and still have the reach and depth perception to line up a weld. One really little spot at a time and good to go. I even had to half blindly grind that weld with the little Dremel grinding disk yet somehow it turned out looking pretty good. The whole area was awkward to grind and part turned out really nice and the other needing a little filler...whatever, better than overgrinding here. As you can see I have fully committed to deleting the jack posts: both sides now.

Now for the weird: with just minutes left before family dinner time I decided to start on that door sill patch. I reached into the scrap metal box and pulled out a little rectangle, perfect fit. It needed a centimeter trimmed off the end, one edge was the natural edge of the sheet (read: straight cut) but the other two were a little crooked/wobbly/whatever you call it, just so happens that these previous crooked cuts were the exact crookedness of the doorsill's crooked cuts!!! Go figure. Worked about 5 minutes drilling the plugweld holes and shaping the end for the jamb overlap (more serendipity in that the little crook was the exact size of a little crook on the anvil so super easy to shape); cleaned it up and sprayed the weld thru just as dinner was served. So welding will be job #1 next weekend.

Random product note: I got sick of paying $30 a can for weld-thru primer that always clogged up, sprayed poorly or whatnot so I thought I'd try the Eastwood stuff. Had it for at least the last month's worth of work and the can still sprays perfectly and it seems to weld-thru at least as good as the 3M or Copperweld. I'll recommend.

Saturday 16 July.

A good day in the shop. I started the day figuring I would quickly fix up the door sill, then fab the jamb, fix a little rust spot on the firewall, and then remove all that nasty foam and seam sealer up in the sail and rear quarter. Like I thought, the door sill was a quick and easy fix and the fabrication of the jamb took some thinking and work due to the nature of the curves. However, I hit a wall with that "little rust hole" in the firewall. As you can see from the photos, I had to do some cutting. Now I will admit that I cut a little more than necessary, but why not. Finished the day playing with wire wheels and rust treatments, leaving the fabrication and welding for the next day.

Sunday. Shop soundtrack: Ramones discography.

It was a really straightforward day, the biggest challenge was using scrap pieces of sheetmetal prudently. Step 1 was just cutting some metal and welding it into the holes in the floor. Step 2 was to make the 3 firewall patch pieces. 3 was the weld-thru primer. 4 welds. 5 be lazy grinding.

The floor stuff was simple, and the firewall pieces weren't that bad considering I learned the tricks when I did the other side, but this side was harder since I had to work around the e-brake cable holes, and I had the floor in. At some point in the afternoon my soundtrack ran out as did my patience so I gave up on the grinding. It's a really tough area and may require the Dremel to really get the welds ground down, but I also know that I didn't get the pieces perfectly lined up so it will never be perfect. I figure I'll reevaluate next week and decide what to do...because my attitude today is thinking: "it'll all be slathered in seamsealer and hidden behind the backpad anyways..." Attention to detail, just didn't have it today.

I also didn't get around to the foam removal, which considering my attitude is probably a good thing.

I forgot to mention that Saturday's rust discovery resulted in also having to remove the e-brake cable guide. It's not really rusted but the stuff behind it had a little surface rust killed by the wire wheel.

Looking good, keep it up, I am shocked your jack post as all wormed up, but the logs behind faired pretty well.

How was the Eastwood stuff to shoot into the inner logs, worth doing or just made a huge mess?

It was a huge mess but seemed to spread and cover pretty well. It wasn't too hard to feed the little hose into the long either. Honestly, that green stuff in the rattle can was 100x easier than the undercoating gun. I guess I'd recommend it.

Shop soundtrack: My Pandora psychobilly station

It was a good but painful day in the shop--this shoulder is killing me.

I started the day welding up the dimples and holes from when I drilled out the spotwelds on the parking brake cable guide. I then cleaned the area up some more and applied Rust Bullet where I won't be welding and not be able to get later; and after it dried I applied some weld-thru primer where I will weld. Tomorrow will be some seam sealer on the floor/long lip underneath the cable guide and maybe welding (I realized today that I am extremely low on welding gas so who knows).

While waiting for the paint I kept myself busy removing the foam and seam sealer from the rear corner (it looks good back in there!) And then started to remove the stuff up in the jamb/sail panel. This is where it killed my shoulder chipping it out. I couldn't quite get it all and my shoulder was throbbing so I thought about just quitting and leaving a bunch there, but I noticed some rust peaking out. I knew the only real option I had was to cut an exploratory hole in the sail--and I hit pay dirt (rust). I used the hole to get the seam sealer out of there and found that I also had to drill a hole on top of the fender to really get all of it out. The rust I found required the sail panel hole to be cut a little more but it allowed me to use the sand blaster to get the surface stuff that was left in there. I sanded the surface rust that dwelled where that long strip of foam was, and when I was satisfied with the results I osphoed the whole region.

The plan moving forward is to clean up the ospho residue, weld up the holes and trim holes, get some paint up in there and eventually seal up the seams. My lack of welding gas may delay the process, so tomorrow will be welding prep and maybe the removal of some other random car pieces or moving on to the frunk seal channel.

Whoa, I just noticed that the angle on the first pic shows that the one end of my firewall patch wasn't exactly lined up... I guess that really was a bad day.

I did not see that until you pointed it out. We love to judge our own work to a level higher than most others would hold us accountable for.

Keep up the great work, if that is the worse thing you did while saving this 914 then well, I can easily turn a blind eye to it.

Shop soundtrack: 3M: Motorhead, Metallica, Megadeth.

Nothing really picture worthy today. I applied that seam sealer to the area under the e-brake cable guide, fabricated the pieces I'll weld in next weekend, took the wire wheel to the frunk seal channel, removed the shifter/shift rod, heat control lever, remaining brake lines, all of the cables but speedo, and explored the driver-side hell-hole (I think I got this car just in time, it's starting to rust in there, but not bad enough that I'll need to do any cutting/welding).

After that stuff I stopped and started thinking (yeah I know that's where trouble starts). Tuesday is judgement day of sorts; I go back to the ortho surgeon for my shoulder and essentially learn whether it will get fixed or if it's a lost cause. This news is even bigger than just that because it decides my employment future in that inoperable = medical discharge (there's a whole lot more to that and how it affects moving and getting certified to teach high school---okay it's a long story of if thens). If I'm getting surgery, that shuts down the shop for a while. You can see how complicated and big Tuesday is. It means I have either 6-9 or 11 months before I move. I'll have a lot of decisions to make next week regarding the build: do I shut down the build and start prepping it to move on my trailer? Do I double down on the build and strip everything that's left: dash, front suspension, windshield, harness and blast the entire car (hell, I've already gone way farther in this build than I planned to) or do I wait to do that after I move? When I move should I plan on my open trailer or stick it in a uhaul? Should I push to get paint on it before moving, or prime and wait to paint? If I go for blasting, do I buy a big blaster and make a tent, or use the place in town?

As you can see I'm rife with questions going into this appointment. And may the lesson be heard, this is what happens on a shop day when you run out of welding gas... so keep an eye on that gauge.

Love the music thing, Mega Bands yesterday.

Keep up the good work, my favorite work album is Terapin Station / Grateful Dead!!!

Hope your shoulder starts to give you a break!

Vysoc

Well, the surgeon still won't touch the shoulder... so we'll see what happens at my primary care follow up.

I'm taking the weekend off to hang out with the new dog and get her and the cat to get along. This is Laika:

Whippet (real good!)
Cool pups, them.

Is that a whippet or a retired Greyhound?

Vysoc

She's a retired racer with many races and wins under her belt, but I think she may have to go back to the rescue. We absolutely cannot get her to get along with the cat. They told us she was cat friendly, but she just want to chase and eat.

I guess it's as good of a time as any to make the announcement: This build may be on a long-term hold...

Long story short: Our dog Muttley (not the greyhound) got sick and spent a week at the vet. She was first at one vet who then recommended us to another larger facility in Tucson. After several negative tests for Valley Fever a doggy neurologist got involved and x-rays, CT scans and a spinal tap finally found that she is suffering from meningitis. Treatment involves a long term regimen of steroids. She finally came home yesterday and her prognosis is good for recovery. BTW, a dog high on a fentanyl patch is funny. Anyways, the experience has cost us a little over 2 months pay, resulting in the near draining of our primary (emergency) savings account, selling some stocks from our long-term (future house downpayment) savings, and sadly the draining of my 914 account, all with more bills for the medicine on the horizon. So I have no money to really continue, though I guess I can weld until I run out of gas/wire, grind until the disks are dead, etc. But as far as buying anything, I'm done until we replenish the savings account. I'm also thinking it best to wait until the dog recovers some before I start getting loud in the garage again. I've got some stuff to do to the 914, but most likely I will finish the metal work, spray some of the cheap primer over the bare spots and prep the car for next year's move since I won't be able to paint it for a while and it will be easier to paint at my old Kentucky home anyways.

The stress and hardships have also exacerbated the above hinted at issues with the new greyhound. The other dog's illness put a serious dent in the critical time period for the proper cat-dog intros and getting them to live together. The sick dog has also affected the greyhound's socialization with the family and she is extremely jealous of the necessary attention the invalid is getting and won't let the already non-eating dog eat. This is why my wife wants to exchange her for a more cat friendly and laid-back greyhound. I want to keep working with her, but convincing the wife to do so is hard.