Project Countach

 So, nobody bothered to answer my inquiries about custom CV axles, so after a few weeks of waiting, I decided to make them myself. I mean, if I fuck up, at least I can just send the pieces to one of these shops to have them made. I think I did pretty good. I know the advice is to not make your own by cutting and welding, but I figured I don't owe anyone an explanation for why I did this, so I just made them. They came out pretty good. The main challenge was to figure out how to machine the half-shafts down to so that the two halves matched, and I could put a DOM steel pipe over it. I used the disc sander for this task. It probably took longer than using a lathe, but with steady hands it's possible. So, I machined the large diameter shaft down, and machined the ends down with a significant chamfer. I then slipped a DOM steel tube over it and welded it all. I tested it after install by moving the car uphill, letting it roll downhill, and engaging a gear suddenly. They didn't

 Eddie Brown. That was the name of the supposed "friend" I had back in the day who did me wrong with the CD. On a more recent note, I've just had to tell a "good" friend to go take a hike. This person I won't out, because he needs to get his life in order, but in general I was just done with the constant alcoholism, asking for money, and constant re-visiting of old work topics that nobody can do anything about now. It was just... constant and it wore me down. The funny part is that despite me telling him "You do not contact me" guess what the guy does? Repeatedly? I don't know where I meet such individuals. It's a trend and I've decided to hold off on any friend-making until my general life is ready for one. Work has been.... fun. I hate being reminded week after week about "unregretted attrition" targets, and how it needs to be met "somehow". I hate the constant reminders to tell my team to return to the office, alw

The heat has been terrible this year and I haven't done much to the car since the last update. I did work on the parking brake, and it's been holding up now in the driveway for the past 4 weeks. I tried contacting the axle shop I used previously but they have not been quick to respond. I have not done any other work to the car, as the last brake line needs me to lift the car up to get under it and my garage is now full of crap from my rental house. I have also been super busy with moving my renter out of my house, and cleaning all of the garbage she and her sister left behind. Bags and bags and bags of shit. Literal shit on the bathroom floors, stains and cigarette burns in the carpets. Spider nests in every nook and cranny. Mouse shit everywhere. I found it amusing that when I called out the mouse shit, they seemed surprised that there were mice at all. Then I discovered boxes and boxes of mice poison and traps in one of the rooms. All in all, it will cost me about 50k to get

I don't have much of a playbook for the next steps on this project. The car starts and runs now. In order to get it moving onto a road, I will need to do the following still: 1. Axles - I have axles that do not fit because the rear end is a corvette now instead of a fiero. Do I cut/weld to match or order new ones. I am scared to touch these at the moment. 2. Brake and clutch lines. About 70% done. I hesitate only because my prior experience with brake lines weren't the best. I am slowly working through this. 3. Shifting linkage. Completed but not 100% happy with it. If I can get it into gear then ok for a test. 4. Check steering components. Will be done the day of road test. Otherwise, she starts, holds a charge, and stays cool while at idle. I spent 30 min one day breaking in the engine so that is done. I modified the front crossbar to be removable so that I could put the battery in the space behind it. I lowered the front springs (I may have to lower again). I have e-brake pa

    It's with great sadness that I need to report that my dog Odie, died this past week. He had been suffering from seizures for only a couple of weeks. I first found him shaking on the couch one day and I had no idea what was happening to him. I then found him laying in the ditch next to the crawlspace door, panting and not able to move. After a few scans, we determined it was a brain tumor, but nothing out of the ordinary for a dog his age. The prognosis was 6-9 months originally. We got him stabilized with meds and things were fine for a week. My boys and I were on vacation when it happened, with the dog sitter frantically calling me after a long night of trying to keep him calm through another round of seizures. Since she is elderly, she wasn't able to lift him, and it was on Wednesday, so everyone she knew on her street were off to work. It was only after my son was able to call his Mom that she was able to finally get help. Kudos to my ex wife for traveling the 40

Called in sick today with a flu. My back hurts from laying down, so I am just sitting here cold sweating and shivering on a chair instead. This is the boy's half-brother, who we were watching part-time while Anna's situation was going on, and her hubby scrambled to makes sense of it as well. I had a whole rant about what was going on and my personal issues in dealing with current frustrating life situations, but... Fuck it. Ain't nobody got time for that noise, and posting work opinions on social media now has a way of going viral and getting people fired. What a world we have created. I just wish I could take a month off from life and reset everything - including resetting future plans since there is no chance in hell the FAA will let me fly solo again, thanks to their 1960's policies on mental health, despite a flawless gold seal record, previously meeting master CFI qualification, and 20+ students now captains in various airlines around the world. Impossible to stop

I ask, in what world is it okay for a person to completely fuck up in all conceivable ways of being a parent for their kids, over and over again, including abandoning them by trying to take their own life, and still think they have any right to see them whenever they want to? And have the gall to say any change to the parenting plan, including enforcing mental health treatment, is going to be fought tooth and nail, which carries with it a risk of it going the other way. If it was me, I would have been handed my walking papers after just a snide comment. What a fucking world.