TJ ramblings

The wife and I were sitting in our TJ taxi,
on the way to her monthly Dentista visit.
Far up on the street corner,
I spied a kid cruising a stingray,
complete with a slick rear tire.

heart tree

We caught up to him and the wife got the shot.
Guess it wasn't a kid!
I've got this guy all figured out.
Probably a student who lives cheap on the TJ side.
Instead of getting stuck for hours in the border lines driving,
he parks on the US side and does the quick walk across.
Double Double cheap cheap.
The little stingray fits perfectly into his little car.
Or maybe he's one of those cheese smugglers,
that crosses the border carrying liquid meth in the tubes of his frame,
along with homemade cheese and cartel notes.
Hmm you never know.

happy street

On the way back the line was hot and not too long.
The sugar shack had the treats to make your hands all sticky,
while your stuck in line for half an hour.

Is it worth crossing over every month?
Sure it is.
I'll post up some progress pics of the wife's braces.
It's hard to remember how crooked they were only a year ago.
For $50 a month plus the $12 in taxi it's a great deal,
and a round trip from our house is 2.5 to 3.5 hrs depending on traffic.

$28

Of course we topped it off with a bottle run.
All this stuff for less than $28!

Well that's it over here have a good day!

TP

deja vu at the BIG 3 - 2013

This years BIG 3 swap meet was the typical curve ball.
Every year is the same but different.
Last year I was thrashing on the chocolate & cheese roadster,
the year before this area was flooded and closed down,
the year before that there was a good steady rain all weekend.

cousin brandon slinging at the BIG 3 swap meet san diego

Like I wrote a couple days ago,
this was the year of the conscious procrastinator.
I waited til the very end to get everything together,
and in a (not bad) way paid the price.
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#21 for possibly the last oldies month installment.
- four seasons - big girls don't cry
Yeah what a way to end the month but here it is!

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First off...
Remember when I told you that our RPU Chief had battery issues?
Well after starting it up a couple nights ago,
the poor thing also ran out of gas.
Basically Jakob and I would have been stuck about a block away,
which would have been way worse than the 15 minute jump-start frenzy.
We got off lucky!

krown rockers - big 3 - 2013

This year the layout was really sparse.
The swap spaces were sold out,
but many sellers didn't feel like braving the 70 degree so-cal winter.
The buyers weren't as thick either.
Tough with craigslist and ebay taking over the market.

big 3 swap meet 2013 - san diego

Not to say there weren't some good deals.
This is the place to go for the guys that aren't internet friendly.
Part of the fun is in the search and actually talking to someone.

1939 ford deluxe sedan

Another cool aspect is seeing where these parts should end up,
as a car or truck.
To many of the sellers,
the Big 3 is more of a car show than a parts swap.

1954 studebaker pickup truck

The rusty 40 has some patina competition with these two.

30's buick i think

This was a cool 80's Sportsmobile Ford van.
Not sure the differences between the quadravan.
I'd love a diesel version.
The perfect armageddon vehicle.

ford sportsmobile 4x4 van

Here's something my cousin-in-law Brandon was drooling over all weekend.
A sweet custom paint 1978 honda 110cc pull-start ATC.
If it had started he'd have brought it home.

1978 honda 110 ATC

These are so off my radar.
After a couple walk-by's,
I started seeing parts of these things all over the place.
Didn't realize they had such a cult status.

1978 honda ATC 110

I'm really glad we brought the old dock cart.
This year we really scoured the swap meet,
doing a thorough walk a couple times each day.
Basically I'd sell something and go for a stroll,
picking up something else that had caught my eye.
I haven't done that much walking in a long time.

aluminum dock cart

Our friend Mario had brought this beater Schwinn Stingray to sell.

We had made a handshake deal early on,

and man it was a lifesaver for the kid(s).

Instead of trudging behind me in sheer agony,

the bike made it much more fun.

They'd either pull one another on the skateboard,

or try to outsmart the security guards.

Now it's home.

Gotta work that thing off now on one of Mario's rides!

70's schwinn stingray

So let's see what else we scrounged up other than that bellhousing and multimeter.

skateboard parts score

A friend Victor was basically giving this skate stuff away.
I hadn't seen him in years so it was great to catch up.
That blank is really cool fiberglassed with the stringers.

saginaw 3-speed overdrive transmissions

This is where my scores took a bit of a wrong turn.
The guy I got the chromed bellhousing from had these saginaw transmissions.
He basically gave them away and I couldn't resist.
This was exactly what I didn't need - heavy and dirty.
The gear oil leaked all over the cart and the van.
Whatever I couldn't pass them up I love these OD transmissions.

ford wheels

The only thing I was really on the hunt for was that ford rim on the bottom.
A 15 inch 5x4.5 inch lug pattern.
Impossibly more difficult to find than they should be.
Years ago I scrapped these things.
One guy wanted $180 for a pair!
I found this one for cheap and never found the second.
The other wheels are 14 inch,
and really I should have passed on them even for the $10!

victor j-28 +  j-27 + 550-j torch set

My best score was this Victor torch set.
I've got too many of the big 315 versions,
and have always wanted the smaller style,
mainly for brazing or gas welding.
Someday I'll get a jeweler's  torch too.

VICTOR 315 vs j28 vs j27 vs 100 torch

Here is a good comparison of how little the j28 is next to the 315,
the two cutting torches on top.
The yellow capped one is the j27,
and the bottom is the medium duty 100 series.
For guys that weld/braze for hours these light torches must be a relief to use.
The bummer is the little torches also use a smaller hose fitting.
Another bummer is I don't do as much gas welding right now,
but these could change that!

big 3 swap meet

Wow got a little distracted there!
For next year I'm gonna try to get my own space,
instead of taking over Brandon's!
I've got some ideas to go a little bigger,
so we'll see how that works out as the year goes by.
Always a good time..

TP

green machine

Early this month,
Jaxon was dead set on getting his second stingray back together.
After building his "show" bike,
he had unknowingly also fallen into that common trap,
where the bike becomes a wall hanger rather than transportation.
Anyone that's had beautiful paint knows that first scratch is the hardest.

jaxon & his stingray

The plan for this stingray was the simple rattle can.
Back in November I had shown the tough disassembly process,
as many of the parts had rust-seized together.

perich brothers (and sister): patience young grasshoppers

I'm not sure why this bike had sat so long,
but the time had come,
he was determined to get it done.

rattle can spray booth - primer

This bike would have no sandblasting,
just a couple coats of cheap paint.
After he did the sanding and prep work,
I took over and did the button pushing.
Maybe I should have let him get the practice,
at least on the primer coat,
but the last thing I need is a kid that likes the smell of spray-bombs.

color coat

The trick to the rattlecan is the clear coat.
It gives metallics a better shine,
and also thickens the already thin layer.

green

We had to use his old stingray as a drying rack,
as one of the last coats was put on too late in the day.

stingray workshop

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Oldies Month #8
Al Green - Let's Stay Together - live 1972
Wow this song fits almost too perfect for this post!

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After spending every school night with his newly painted frame,
the following weekend he took every assembly skill he had learned,
and with very little help,
the bike was together again.
I've got to say it is cool to see the progression and dedication.

work table

The goal was to ride the bike to school,
so there was just enough time for some test rides and tuning.

Jakob & Jaxon

Jake helped make sure everything was secure.

boys toys

So now Jaxon has a cool bike he doesn't have to worry about.
While it's cool to have something super perfect,
it's way more fun to have something that is fun to use or ride.
It will be interesting how it effects his future projects.

I'll do a real "bike time" post once it's got the stickers and badge,
and maybe some scratches.

TP

bike time vii revisited - America's Most Beautiful Stingray

This post has been a long time coming,
and before I get caught in a pulp fiction like timeline,
I've got to get it on here.
Besides,
Jaxon has been patiently waiting his turn on the PB&S queue.

hot dog schwinn stingray - ketchup & mustard - 2013

Here it is in all it's cellphone glory.
Almost 2 years ago this was the subject of bike time 7...
perich brothers (and sister): bike time vii - beater schwinn stingray
Back then this was a survivor stingray.
While it lacked in beauty,
this was one solid machine.

hot dog schwinn stingray - ketchup & mustard - 2011

WOW!
Yep that is the same bike.
Come with me and see what's been going on in Jaxon Land.


Our 4th song for Oldies Month -
The Floaters - Float On - 1977
This has got to be the baddest song on the planet.
We're all hooked on it as a repeater,
it's one of those mellow soul tunes that has the power to calm a house with 3 kids.

The Floaters - Float On (Extended Version) 1977 - YouTube

If you really want to kick it down a notch,
the 12 minute extended version is it.
So smooth.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Okay where to begin.
Last April Jaxon had the wild hair to clean up the old Hot Dog.
He carefully stripped it down and tediously razor-bladed all the old rust.
As a bonus for his good grades,
my Dad had the paint done at El Dorado Sandblasting.

stashed

Many months went by,
with the shop move we didn't get much done.
This was a good time to gather some good parts.

kitchen work bench

After summer everything was ready to go.
Talk about patience!
Actually this was late october.

Jaxon Perich - project stingray

During this time something happened and Jaxon grew a foot taller.
No more little poopee pants!

Jaxon and his stingray

He really took to the assembly well.
It was tough for me to hold back,
I just gave him some pointers and it was his time to learn.

candy apple red powder coat

The frame was powder coated a super bitchin candy apple red.
Together with the yellow forks and chainguard,
it's an updated version of the original color scheme.
That red is truly amazing and has given me evil thoughts for future projects.

badge stash

This build deserved a good badge.
Even though this isn't the correct color or year,
it was the best one and fit the custom resto-look.

Shiny Schwinn Stingray

I'm glad we have the before and after pictures.

Beater Schwinn Stingray

Hard to believe it's the same bike,

with almost all the same parts.

Many hours cleaning and scraping to make them shine.

almost done

We tried to find some decals (pronounced dickles)
and they seemed way overpriced.
I had some repops stashed away from ages ago,
and we found the sticker lady at the swap meet could
copy them in any color.
They came out great and were a way better deal,
$8 for 2 sets (different reds just in case)
versus the $24 the ebay guy wanted!

dickles

All that time building those models definitely paid off.
As you can see it somehow became a house bike!

jaxon and his decals

The stickers really finished the bike off.
We still need to place the NOS down-tube water transfer decal,
but without a clear coat it will just flake off.

Jaxon's Stingray 

Here's a good shot to see how much this thing had changed.
This was all back in November.

old hot dog stingray

Since then,

the front rim was replaced with the original S-7,

and some repop ape hangers were swapped out.

ketchup & mustard schwinn stingray

Now that the bike is so nice,

the trap has been set.

It's not as fun to thrash around!

They have gone on some good couple mile rides,

but it's not the leave it outside beater of old.

Ultimate kids room decoration

We found the perfect spot in the house,
hanging at the end of his bed from the ceiling.
Now he can drift off to sleep with his bike in view.


...Taurus...
...Jaxon...


TP

patience young grasshoppers

Last week Halo 4 came out for xbox.
The boys have been patiently waiting for it,
as they've logged many hours on the earlier version.
That is,
before they went through there "modelmania" phase over the summer.
In the past couple months,
video games have been really low on there interest list.

stool time - Macey, Jaxon & stingray project #2

That obsessiveness needed to complete a project (like a model),
has now been focused on a couple schwinn projects.
Right now each of them has 2 stingrays - one rider and one project.

Jakob & stingray project #3

Needless to say it wasn't too difficult for me to veto getting Halo 4.
The daylight hours of the weekend passed by way to fast.
My project was blue-balled way too early,
and in all honesty I was ready to play some of the old Halo Reach against the kids.
Jakob even turned the machine on.

trust

I knew that Jaxon had been slowly stripping his 2nd stingray,
and there was no way he was going to stop now.
This particular stingray has been the definition of "royal PITA"
Over a month ago,
he bent up the front wheel.
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a little backstory...

Even with the tweaked rim,
he continued to ride it around.

I'm glad it didn't taco.

After putting the stingray to the ramp test,
the headset and cranks were in serious need of adjustment.
We were shocked to see the bearings were about as dry as could be.
What started as a simple grease and tune,
ended up being a month-long disassembly nightmare.

Basically the stem had rust-welded itself to the fork.
The long clamp bolt had broke off inside,
and the goosneck was stuck inside like a chinese finger trap.

We tried everything.
Hammering, oil, torch, hammering, oil, more torch.
Interest slowly diminished,
but Jaxon would bang on it every couple days.
Nothing.
Weeks passed....
Still wouldn't budge.

check out hammer print on his hand!

Finding a replacement fork on ebay was the needed incentive.
Using all the tricks they had learned from his first stingray project,
the bike was quickly torn apart.

removing seatpost clamp

Part of me really wanted to jump in there at times,
but it was more fun to watch both the boys.
Plus who would take the pictures.

removing schwinn kickstand

We were surprised how fast it came apart.
Now it was time for surgery.

prepped

A sawzall would have taken all the fun out of watching the kids use a hacksaw.

Jaxon removing front fork

Each had their turn,
and finally the fork was removed.

jakob and the hacksaw

The old fork had a serious bend in it from the previous owner!
Goes to show how strong those ashtabula forks are.

bent ashtabula stingray fork

Now it was time to see if the stem was saveable.
I thought we could do it in 15 minutes.
Nope.
6 songs and 45 minutes later...

jakob center punching

The fork remnant was rust-jammed like nobodies business.
I thought a couple side smacks would loosen it up.
Nope.
A couple holes and more oil didn't do the trick either.
Since the headset pieces were stuck on there,
it was tough to cut lengthwise.

drastic measures - drillium

A couple strategic cuts and the stem was finally freed up.

crazy macey

Way better hanging out in garage then playing video games!

TP