The Poet Creek Express - Foamie Hybrid

[KCStudly]

Randy, someday around the campfire I'll have to tell you the story about my friend Doug's '69 Skylark and how we changed out the Buick 350/TH350 for a Chevy 250 inline 6 and powerslide. After a slew of auto tranny swaps and failures we put a 3 spd manual in it, fabricated the clutch pedal out of some gate hinges, a piece of flat bar slotted thru the floor with a 4 inch grinder with pulleys and cable zig-zagged under the floor to pull the clutch fork in. Tire iron for a shift lever. Did the swap over the weekend with trans fluid and sand in our hair. Later I bought the 455 Buick out of a wrecked Centurian for $35 and gave it to him for his b-day. After gutting the car out so that the little 6 could pull it, that 455 was a beast.

[Wolffarmer]

Sounds like you had fun. LOL
I have never done any wild swaps like that. mostly like for like. Mostly

Randy

[GPW]

KC, I’m always amazed at what a "living thing” a Shop is ... always changing to suit the job being done... An ongoing project in itself!!

[S. Heisley]

KC,
That lift and the removable floor are marvelous ideas.
Thanks for all the pictures. Looking at them was most entertaining!

[KCStudly]

I’m glad you’re enjoying the show, Sharon. It’s good to contribute and give back something.

Funny that, GPW. I got the loft sort of back the way it was, but it’s not the same. Hopefully it will be just as functional and I won’t have to chase my tail around to find the little things that used to be directly at hand. The left side of the work table used to have some knick knacks and whatnots that I used frequently, and I had the doors lying flat on the table saw table. Now I have the doors laying on the far end of the work table and a lot less clutter there, and there is a ton of space where the saw used to be. My ‘new’ little table saw is dwarfed by Ben’s saw, but that left room to put my band saw inside the draped area and I’ll have better access around the new bench.

Mel, I was working by myself today, and had to take my time on a few things.

We had taken one of the dollies out from under TPCE to move Ben’s saw. When we slid the saw off of Karl’s trailer back onto the dolly, it sort of got away from us a little and ended up cracking the dolly’s rail where the hand hole was. So I used a couple of scraps of 2x3 from the work bench build and screwed those on the underside of the dolly as reinforcements. I couldn’t lift the cabin back up by myself and put the dolly back under at the same time, so I, “worked like the Egyptians”. Using a few blocks stacked up and a piece of 2x4 as a lever I was able to lift the front up while lying on the floor to position the dolly.

The dollies have little wheels that don’t swivel too well, so it was a bunch of small moves nudging a little here, jogging a little there, constantly circling to make sure I wasn’t going to run into anything; but in the end it wasn’t bad and I got the cabin back into its build position.


I spent some time scraping, scuffing and re-oiling the cast iron band saw table that had been neglected a bit, and got that into position inside the drape.


Got the panel cart (with sheet dust cover) back in, the plastic drape down, and the heaters going again.


There were a lot of little things to reorganize, and I spent some time with the new table saw trying to figure out what I need to do to get the blade parallel to the miter slot. It’s out 1/8 inch over the edges of the blade in the fully raised position and the splitter does not line up. I probably should have held out for a better saw. Turns out that there are 3 bolts (in slots) that secure the motor carriage to the pivot rig (one of which will be very difficult to get a wrench on), but there are also 2 roll pins thru the two plates. So the factory drilled and pinned the adjustment grossly out of true. Taiwanese crap. Half price crap is still crap. I can make it better, with some effort, but I shouldn’t have to!

Too cold to glue or poly, so that’s where I called it a day. Just 3 hrs in today.

[GPW]

Spring will be here soon ... hang in there !!! (already Spring here , trees are budding now)

[KCStudly]

We narrowly averted another 8 inches of snow today. To the southwest and east of us is getting hit, but it stayed just south of the shore here.

I did bring my poly and glue with me today, but I see now that the temps aren't supposed to get above 20-something.

Soon, though. Soon.

[GPW]

Old Chinese saying ... “ It not stay cold forever “ ...

[kudzu]

KC, won't tell you what it was like here yesterday. Will just say we were working outside. You do have my sympathies though. This has been one intense Winter. I'm a snow & cold weather lovin' girl but for the first time ever, I prefer GA weather to the North. Though my definition of North is the DC area.

[KCStudly]

Truth is I don't mind the cold weather so much. I'm personally plenty comfortable around 50 deg F so long as I'm busy. It's the inability to glue anything that has me frustrated.

I can usually find something to work forward on, and it is an indoor space that I have no right to do any complaining about (I hope it has not sounded that way). It's just that I want to move on with the build and dancing around the cold weather for glue ups can get tedious.

Looks like single digit temps this evening. The high pressure system that pushed the snow off brought some real cold with it.

[Wolffarmer]

It is getting that time of year when a lingering winter can turn into spring in a snap. Or not.

Randy

[Wolffarmer]

I can not stand it any longer. Going to let the mean side of me out. At 8:45am this morning I turned the stove off in the house and opened the front door wide open. So nice and warm out there now, sun shinning in the door and living room windows. Let the air in. Not sure what the temp is out there. House had gotten up to 59. ( I keep it cool and wear a sweater or insulated shirt if I am not moving around. Ok so I wear a sweater or insulated shirt 99.5% of the time ). It feels a bit cooler than 55 out there but feels so so good. Lilacs and apples and the plums have buds on them. Tulips and other flowers pushing up. Be mowing the lawn in a few weeks.

Randy

[KCStudly]

[Wolffarmer]

Crap, clouds now.

[KCStudly]

Cosmic Karma?