Whaler Resto XX - final bye bye

This has been our little secret for the past year.

No we didn't paint it,

we ended up letting it go bye bye...

And dang the new owner basically changed it 

from a family cruiser,

to a bloody decks fish machine.

Bummer to see all that work torn off,

but what can you do.

The duckets came at a crucial time,

we were able to pull off the PDX move much easier.

If we had stayed in SD,

there's no way we would have ditched it.

The old whaler had become a backdrop

to many great memories,

never letting us down.

Gave the kids a bunch of lessons,

maybe the seed to not always be landlubbers.

And the dogs too...

One of the last jaunts was a good ole bay cruise.

We were trying to push pig out!

Dang this phone has lotsa pics!

Obviously the boat became a fixture.

It was normal to have to walk around it.

Sadly it was a turning point in hot rod building.

My focus had veered greatly,

this thing siphoned my energy away 

from our Ford collection.

In typical perich brothers and sisters fashion,

starting with the most beat up,

barely worth the time donor.

Well the new owners got it all gussied up.

He definitely didn't hold back on the white paint.

I don't think I'da painted the engine,

that yamaha was so cool original.

But it's neat to see some clues of its past.

The rails and motor mount are hard to miss.

Someday we'll get another...

TP

Memorial Day 2017 - 40 goes to PDX

So this happened back in May...

After the 6 month work probation ended,

it was time to figure out the big move.

I thought it best to start by driving

our 2nd iron baby up.

Now that I'm a union guy,

Memorial Day weekend was perfect,

as I could finagle an free paid vacation day in.

Who da thought I'd have vacation days

a year ago!

My plan was to fly down,

weld up a trailer hitch,

and haul up a small load of chit.

The 40 has a 5.0/t-5 and disc brakes,

just like many ford trucks.

The prep didn't go as planned.

We ended up changing the leaking corroded timing cover,

and some other mechanical wrap ups.

Best to get there then to get stranded.

It's always tough to leave the wife and kids.

Jaxon took the morning off school,

my mom was the photographer.

What a send off!

There also is an underlying tension

driving a 77 year old car 1000 miles.

Will the countless modifications maintain?

If it makes it the first 60 miles,

most likely it'll be good to go.

I left at 2pm just in time to get stuck in LA traffic.

At a stopped spot on the freeway,

a guy ran out and gave me a real Cuban cigar!

He said anyone driving that car...

LA ain't so bad!

The straight shot up the 5 went without a hitch.

I pushed it past Sacramento around midnight.

On the last few miles looking for a rest stop,

everything turned black.

No headlights and no street lights!

I babied it a couple miles to the next gas station.

Fortunately just a fuse.

A few hours of cramped sleep,

and the mountain pass was calling.

The perfect day,

jus enough clouds to keep it cool.

A 4000' summit pee stop,

allowing a few obligatory shots texted to the family.

The 40 ran great up and down the hills,

any worries were forgotten.

That's usually when something happens!

The main concern was running out of gas.

The gauge isn't calibrated,

so a few backup jugs were always full.

At a rest stop near Eugene,

a jug was needed.

I'd passed too many tourist gouging gas stops,

waiting for the neighborhood deal.

This was the spot to eat the day old carne asada burrito,

nothin like San Diego Mexican food.

Hopefully we'll find a PDX replacement.

We better for the amount that we eat!

The trip lasted about 27 hours,

not bad with a nap, 

sightseeing and choosing to drive

in LA and Porland traffic jams.

Power parked at the different track events,

lotsa people dig the car,

well both hot rods.

There's something about a driven ride.

Months later,

they finally found a home.

A 2 car garage is a rarity in these parts.

More later!

TP

Amelia Perich turns 101!!

Our Nana reached 101 years old 

over the weekend!!

There's been great times and hard times,

she keeps on charging through.

It's amazing!

I was bummed to be so far away during the festivities.

Checkout all her great-grandkids!

That's the best present ever...

xoxo Nana!!!

What the hay!?

So the car parts swap meet here at the racetrack was amazing.

100's of junk vendors,

an event I can relate too.

More on that later.

I'd never worked a swap meet before,

especially of this magnitude.

Also I've never been to a swap meet that was based on grass,

in rainy weather.

Come to find out,

wet conditions turn grass into mud.

Yea.

People bring all sorts of stuff to combat it,

like plywood, 

wood chips,

carpet.

I showed the guys how to properly load a flatbed Papa style!

My grandfather knew how to pack a truck!

We did this a couple times.

The track supplies hay bales for $5,

but vendors don't take it away.

They leave it for a sparse group of volunteers,

and us track workers to rake up.

Lotsa hay.

Lotsa wet hay.

These guys had been doing this hay thing for years,

and had never figured out the tarp trick,

another Papa thing learned when I was 5 or 6.

They'd walk each pitchfork of hay,

20-80 ft to the asphalt.

It was borderline ridiculous to watch,

and surreal to think of the lost hours and wasted footsteps.

I tried to bring it up during our morning meetings,

but these guys are a lead by example type crew.

There was that "ohhh..." moment for sure,

when they watched me and another noob worker Andrew

finish a section in 1/3 the time.

As the hay piles mounted around the track,

our boss Andy would scoop it up with the loader,

which meant Andrew and I packing the bucket

with pitchforks and rakes,

cause hay doesn't scoop easily.

Thankfully nobody was stabbed or crushed.

Since I may be the only one capable of backing in a trailer,

I got to load and unload a few...days...

Later on some other guy shreds the brush pile,

and the mulch sits and roasts while it composts.

Last year this pile caught fire.

I'd wondered why the tractors had ash in the filters!!

Just when ya thought the hay was handled,

there'd be more hay spots,

scattered in the 100's of acres of grass.

Three or four days,

lotsa overtime,

how could I complain?

Not much different than brickin or yardwork.

It actually was a great workout,

and the weather stayed relatively dry.

The swap meet cleanup started Sunday.

The track was hot on Thursday!

These racers are an antsy bunch!

These guys zippin around the racecourse,

like nothin' ever happened.

One guy slammed into the guardrail.

A big reason why it's so important 

to have the grass clean.

Slide not roll.

I got called in to do some metalwork.

Just like old times,

working til midnight using a (less than) 34 watt drop light,

cutting and fitting with a torch.

Easy...

Needless to say I've got a bit more appreciation 

for what the heck goes on here!

TP

Tag Teaming Mowers & Golf Carts - toro 580d's & ez-go

The boss is on vacation,

so figured I'd do a good ole time Perich thrash.

For some reason it makes me more comfortable 

to juggle a couple projects,

vs focusing on just one.

It seems more efficient working with some clutter,

instead of spending time cleaning!

An electric golf cart shouldn't need too much work,

or so I thought.

The front wheels were crazy wobbly,

only needing a repack and adjustment,

and a rough alignment.

No wonder this thing drove with a mind of its own.

The batteries seemed like one of those trick questions,

like a test to see if I'd catch it.

Funny cause most everything here is like that!

The mowers are a bit more involved.

I'd actually started on these first,

and double-teamed them like a production line,

allowing me to order or find parts at the same time.

Also since I have no idea what I'm doing,

when there was an issue fixing one part,

I could check the other one to see if it matched.

Of course they're made years apart with some upgrades,

kinda similar on the outside,

with different diesel engines,

and electronics and controls,

and ones a 2wd the others a 4wd.

Yea sure sounds like they're the same Toro 580D's!

The cool thing is this giant parts stash.

Remember that most of the equipment here

is donated or scrounged castaways,

requiring trickery and fiddling to stay alive.

Just my style,

like hot rodding farm equipment.

Or is it like working on an old farm?

Hmmmm.

Some of this stuff is so worn out,

again it seemed like a test to see if I'd fix simple problems,

or ignore them like the previous guy.

Half of these bearings basically disintegrated years ago,

and they just kept running 'em.

I had to cut out the races with a dremel tool!

And these were like large skateboard bearings,

the type that don't come apart!

Good times...

I had kinda got in trouble months earlier,

for making things too nice.

It's a tough habit to break,

something I learned from a kid working with my Papa,

and refined throughout the years.

It runs deep in our family!

Now I just make the parts I'm working on nice,

and spot paint sections not the whole thing.

Believe me it's tough to hold back.

My rattlecan finger gets real twitchy.

There is a reason to go half-a$$,

blending between the real and imaginary,

and that's not to lose time fixing necessary mechanical problems.

As a result instead of rushing to do 2 things in the same amount of time,

I'll methodically do one thing.

If I finish the never ending list of shit to do,

I can go back and have fun with paint.

Deal!

I didn't show all the stuff completed,

it's not that exciting.

Here's what it looks like on paper...

Hydraulic leaks, cylinder swap, new blades,

rebuild cutter hubs, lotsa chit.

Most likely forgot to write a couple things...

During the finish test,

I heard a weird rhythmic clanking.

WTF?

With virtually no experience working on mowers,

I was like Holey Chit what did I miss?

A wrongly rebuilt cutter hub?

Wrong or upside down blades?

Nope.

A 3/4" hinge pin had worn out,

allowing the blades to hit each other.

Another tricky thing to diagnose,

but easy to make a new one.

I've got to admit,

it felt good to get out the grinder and cut some metal!

Yep...Fun at work!

TP