Colorado Melons

The infamous Mars hoax that has widely circulated on the Internet since it first appeared in the Summer of 2004 has surfaced again. I know because I’ve recently received the email from well-intentioned individuals and it now even includes a full-blown PowerPoint presentation to provide a sense of authenticity.

The e-mail declares that tonight, the night of Aug. 27, the planet Mars will come closer to Earth than it has in thousands of years, thereby offering spectacular views of the Red Planet. The commentary even proclaims that Mars will appear “as large as the full moon”.

The problem is that the “Aug. 27″ reference was for Aug. 27, 2003, the night when Mars made a historically close pass by Earth @ 34.6 million miles. Although the Hubble Space Telescope used the opportunity to make some great images of Mars, to the naked eye Mars appeared as nothing more than a bright star, not at all like the full moon.

FWIW it is impossible from the Earth for Mars to ever appear as large at the moon, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing this email again in the future… maybe next time with a video.

Isn’t technology wonderful?

Knowing that at some point I would have to cut the glass for the ’51 I determined that some glass cutting practice would be a good thing. 

I have cut laminated safety glass in the past using the traditional method of scoring and snapping each side and then burning the laminate with alcohol or lighter fluid.  This method worked out so well for me that I have been looking for some time into an alternate method of cutting automotive glass. 

A number of years ago I attempted to cut some old flat safety glass that came out of a school bus.  I used a four inch angle grinder, the same one that I am still using to grind weld beads.  I did manage to cut the glass but the abrasive heated the glass up to the point that the abrasive wheel was throwing off fiberglass strands.  At least I learned how to make fiberglass!  The heat also made what I call “herring bone” cracks all along the cut.  None of the cracks went into the usable glass area because they arced along the cut line.  My plan was to try to sand them off.   Continue Reading »

“Ebbs and Flows”, “Feast or Famine”,  “Binge and Purge”, or whatever you’d like to call it is okay with me, but the last couple of projects including the S-10’s must’ve either taken their mental toll or enlightened me that there’s a world outside of the garage  because I called it quits on all things mechanical for the Summer. Thankfully Norm has been helping us get our ‘fix’ these last few months with his posts about the ‘51.

I really had no intentions of taking on more automotive work, but as you know someone usually comes along and makes it worth your while to start doing again whatever it is that that you used to do. In my case it was in the form of a 4L80E Automatic Transmission in a 4X4 Silverado. Someone else had realized how much of a job these things are soon after they started to attempt the removal process, so I had the vehicle flatbedded to the shop.

The good thing about these types of jobs is that they can be Continue Reading »

 I have made progress on various parts of the ’51 and have lost track of what parts have been documented and what parts haven’t.  The top chop and door opening job was done on a fill in basis between other things that were happening.  Life is like that sometimes.

When I decided to widen the cowl I also needed to widen the windshield opening.  The chopped windshield posts remained where they were and needed no changes.  I put the driver’s side windshield post in place with my normal inside reinforcing plates.  After it was all welded in I stood back and discovered that the post was not straight.   No matter how I turned my head the post still was not straight.  The only way that it looked right was if I turned the lights off.  Figuring that at some point the truck would be outside in the day time I cut the post loose and took a second stab at it.  Look twice and weld once. 

In the middle of all this confusion Continue Reading »

After widening the cowl and windshield area on the truck I realized that the ’85 Nissin Z car windshield that was slated to be installed in the truck was too narrow by about four inches.  This realization resulted in returning to the junkyard (my favorite shopping place) with a note pad, tape liar and camera. 

 I knew that I needed Continue Reading »

Today Jack, David and I worked a car wash at Farmer’s State Bank for the High Plains Little League. Yes, it was 33F, snowing, and raining but we were there with about 20 other families and a continuous line of cars just waiting to be attacked by all those cold, wet Little Leaguers with sponges.

During one break in the line, I took my car through to help keep everyone active and moving in the cold. The pictures are from my cell phone.

The reason for the madness? Proceeds from this event are going to Garrett Ross, an 8 year old boy on Jack’s LL Rangers team who received his first heart transplant at 7 months, and his second in 2008. He’s been fighting with some complications and the whole community is pulling for him. His family’s story is here.

Cowboy Up for Garrett!