Score of the day

Just a quick little story to keep things interesting. I got a visit from an old neighbor this evening. He stopped in asking if I had any push-mowers. "As a matter of fact I do" I said. So we made a trade. I gave him two parts mowers that will go together to make one good one, and he gave me an old Sears chainsaw from the 60s
It was seized up, so it's soaking overnight in a mix of weasel-pee. We'll see tomorrow how it worked.
Old wrenches trick of the day, weasel-pee is a 50/50 mix of automatic transmission fluid and acetone

Old Engine Day!

It's that time of year, Old Engine Day at the Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport N.Y. This is the first year I've made it to this event, and it was well worth the drive. The museum pulls out some of it's collection to stretch the legs of some nice early iron, and all the friends of the museum show up with their private collections to join in the fun.

The Model A Aero Engine in action

The museum had two nice aero engines they were firing up to the delight of the crowd every so often throughout the day. The first was a Ford Model A engine set up with a propeller, and short pipe exhaust so it made wonderful music as it tried to blow the leaves off the trees. the other nice one they had was a Heath Kit engine. Any of you remember Heath Kits? the radios and electronic kits you could have fun building at home? Well, they used to make airplane kits too! And the engines they used were an inline 4 cylinder air cooled  made by the Henderson Motorcycle company. They are a great engine to hear running,Just watch the video, and I'd love to have the chance to play with a Henderson someday.

A peek at the "secret show"

On hand were several hit-and-miss engines of all sizes. from  a Tom Thumb up to some monster chuggers on dual axle trailers. also a great variety of model engines, vintage motorcycles, and a "secret show" of sportscars in the parking lot when the MG and sportscar clubs arrived.


Yamaha donor parts. Yes, That's a SHAFT DRIVE!!!

The most productive part of the day for me was meeting up with a new friend from the Rochester area, Brad, and getting a crucial part of my motor-bicycle build. a final drive  from a derelict Yamaha moped. With that part, now I can start the planning of what I need to do with the frame to make everything work.


Brad and his creation

Now, about Brad. He's a pretty creative guy. He and his son brought a nice collection of engines and bikes, including a total custom built chopper- bike with a hit-and-miss engine. IT was totally rat-rod, and totally COOL. I even got the chance to ride it around the parking lot!  I see a technical write-up in the future. I challenge any of you out there to build something cool  too.
That's Brad and his son, at the beginning of the video.
Back at the home front, the new workshop at Stray Cat is making great strides.  All the outer walls are up, the roof is done, the floor had it's sub layer done, ad pending the delivery of a few more pieces of plywood, it is closing in on being ready. I've already moved some stuff out there to get a feel for how stuff is going to fit. It's exciting to see things coming together after all this time and effort.
a couple more weeks on the shop, and I should be shifting over to working on projects.
Here's a shot of the shop with some stuff moved in. Not all of that is permanent, and actually the workbench will go right where all that stuff is now.
Keep on trucking out there. I'll update again soon.



gettin in gear

Holy cow! Has it really been two weeks since my last update?  Last week absolutely nothing happened on the shop. On Saturday I decided to clean out the ol' BBQ, and found it quite a bit more rust than I expected. After looking up all the parts I wanted to get it back like new, I realised I could get a new grill for not a lot more. So after a bit of research it was a trip to Target to pick up a new "Stok Quattro"  then spent the next hour putting it together.  After a week of grilling I can say it is a lot better than the old Kenmore. So far I recommend it.  That was about all I did last week. I needed a day off to recoup.
This week on the other hand has been hopping. It all started around Thursday night.  My buddy  Brian got all the parts working on his CNC mill, and sent me a video. Very cool. I'll be writing more about that soon. Then I was over at Jimmy's house because a friend from work was looking at an E36 BMW he had for sale. While I was over there, he tells me his friend has a truckload of plywood for me! Alright! An hour later I had a stack of 3'8" square plywood in my garage.  Great looking stuff, and it was just what I was waiting for.
Saturday I had to wait just a little before I could get to work on the garage. It was Free Comic Book Day!!! We went down to Elmira Heights to Heroes Your Mom Threw Out comic book shop to join in the fun. We had a ball, and came home with a handful of comics.



After we got home I got to work. I got the plywood on the end wall, covered it with tar paper, and stood it up. Then framed up the first section of the back wall, covered it with plywood, and tar paper, then got it up. By then I was beat, so it was grill up some dinner, and then go to bed.


End of  the day Saturday

 Sunday was a very productive day. I got the other half of the back wall up, put up the frame of the other end wall, and was able to put up all the rafters, cover them with plywood, and tar paper.
So now I'm tired, sore, and fried to a crisp. But man did I make some good progress today!
More soon. Stay tuned



The roof is on!! end of the day Sunday