The Beat Goes On

Not to be outdone by a computer crash, my three-year-old John Deere D140 threw the drive belt off the transmission pulley before I finished the weekly mowing. I towed it back to the garage and cleaned out the grass cuttings so I could at least find the drive belt! I now have the deck removed and the tractor up on jack stands, so when it's cool tomorrow morning I'll check the belt for damage. The part that's clearly visible looks good, so I'm hoping it can just be reinstalled.

In the few minutes I took to work on the car, I did manage to install the substitute backup light lenses and they look okay if you're not a stickler for a perfect restoration. The gaskets fit perfectly and only lens modification needed was to slot the mounting holes. Now to find the safe place where I stored the new bulb sockets I bought several months ago!

The machine shop hasn't called to say the steering column is complete. He said it would be about two weeks, but it's been nearly four. Not that it's needed yet, but I'm beginning to get a little nervous with no word from them..

The Midas Touch in Reverse

Seems like everything I've touched recently is going to hell. The hard drive  in my five-year-old computer crashed only days after installing the newest version of TurboCAD. Naturally I hadn't backed up anything since before I left on my trip and I lost quite a bit of info. However, except for twenty years of CAD files, most of the important stuff is okay...especially my Quicken files.

Biggest problem is recovering old software. MS Office was seven years old and I couldn't find a way to reload the 2010 version as I bought it new as a download without a disk, so this time I had to rent the Cloud version or spend a fortune for a disk. Now I'm really at the mercy of Microsoft, but at least everything in Office was backed up and I think I saved it all. Several other programs were salvaged by being on DVDs or having access to the original download sites.

Several small programs that I really liked and used a lot were also lost and there is no way to replace them. Recovering the backed-up files also scrambled a lot of folders, especially pictures, so lots of time consuming reorganizing to do.

Obviously, nothing is happening on the car, but the good news is I'm feeling better and might be able to make better progress once I get my computer issue resolved.

Trunk Lid Install and B/U Light Lenses

Got the trunk lid installed today. No, I couldn’t find a willing helper nearby again so I had to rig the come-along to lift, adjust and hold it in place while I installed the bolts. It worked fine, but the whole operation took about two hours to rig and install. With a helper, it would have taken 15 minutes. I still have to adjust the hinges, but at least I can do that without help.

I’ve been looking for backup light lenses for quite a while but gave up trying to find good used, or reasonably priced NOS parts. I finally ended up doing something similar to what Old Ray wrote up in a Forward Look post back in 2014.

I bought a pair of Grote 62011 lenses for a grand total of $6.50 from Unity School Bus Parts…the cheapest source I could find when I ordered. For everyone’s info, the OEM lens is .97” tall and 3.68” in diameter, while the Grote part is 1.00” tall and 3.5” in diameter.

The choice I have to make is either to use the new Gary Goers gaskets  and slot the lens mounting holes, or turn the lens 90*and tap new screw holes in the housing. Slotting would require sealing small gaps in the slot that could let water in.  That method would also position the lens with the inside casting  lines in a vertical position.

If I drill new holes in the housing, the stock gasket wouldn’t match, but it would probably have better lighting characteristics with the focusing pattern cast into the lens.

As few times as I would use the backup lights, I think I will go with the first option. Maybe the lenses will be reproduced for a reasonable someday and then I could replace them without repairing the housing. Until then, the lights installed my way should suit my limited purposes...and the price was right.   

Updating No Progress

The beautiful weather we've been experiencing recently would be perfect for outdoor painting, but I don't have anything ready to paint. Calm mornings and evenings with temps in the eighties during the day and fifties at night, tend to prevail in the fall, but at the rate I'm going, painting won't be happening until at least next spring.

I mentioned some health problems, and they have taken their toll since I got back from my trip. Too many household chores piled up while I was gone and I've been pushing too hard to catch up. Another trip to the doctor this week was encouraging, but he thinks it will be weeks and possibly months before I'm back to whatever passes for "normal" at this age. Frustrating!

The biggest local car show of the year takes place in nearby Denton tomorrow. I pre-registered my '64 Valiant convertible, but I'm not sure I'll attend. I cleaned the exterior the this morning, but ran out of strength before I finished the interior, so I won't make a decision to go until tomorrow morning.

Between chores, I do get a few minutes to accomplish minor things on the old Plymouth, but I foolishly agreed to another project my wife is pushing for.

We're planning to build a 10' X 16' pool house/greenhouse/studio/guest cottage adjacent to the workshop, and I have to draw up the plans as I haven't found a standard design that would work for multi-use. I thought drafting it would be a one evening job with my TurboCad program, but I discovered that Windows 10 doesn't like TurboCad version 18 and many functions don't work. I really don't want to upgrade the software as it's expensive and I seldom use it anymore, so it's back to pencil and engineering pad!

With so many contractors heading for Houston to repair flood damage, I'm guessing I don't stand a chance of finding someone to build it anyway, so there probably isn't any rush.

Yawn....!

Another experiment that begs for something exciting to happen, but nothing about an experimental collection of cardboard, foam, plaster of paris and a clueless old man can be made to be anything but boring!

I mixed and applied the contents of the first bag of plaster and it went fast and quite well. It covered and sealed nearly the entire, porous form, so I'm guessing I'll need only one or two more 8 lb. bags to finish the job. When I see how far the remaining bag goes in leveling and more precise shaping, I'll get a better idea how much more to buy when I go into town on Tuesday.

I'm reluctant to drive any more than necessary as some gas stations are already running low. The local Racetrack with about thirty pumps had all but four blocked off this morning, so they are probably about out. The price was also posted at forty cents a gallon higher than it was last week, and more than double the price I paid in the Texas panhandle the day I came back from my trip. I'm sure the price will remain high for quite a while, but I hope the supply will return to normal in a couple of weeks.