Ace-Garageguy

I saw the Olds, may even have one, but I've never seen the Chevy.

Nail polish can enhance a woman's beauty.

The guy who owns the shop where I'm building the '66 Chevelle is the best bodyman I've ever known, and he learned from his father who opened the place many many years ago. He is the only one in the shop who does collision repair (my only involvement is as a subcontractor building the Chevelle). They had to let the last bodyman go because he'd shortcut things and didn't seem to be able to block a panel straight if his life depended on it. They've been trying for years to hire a competent replacement, or a trainable entry level guy. The "experienced" applicants have all been hackers with a wildly overblown opinion of their ability, and the kids have watched too many car-shop shows where nobody ever actually does any work, and some have even tried to tell us we're "doing it wrong", though they have no experience whatsoever other than what they've seen on YooToob. When the Chevelle and the '59 El Camino custom builds are done, they'll be closing down because you can't stay in business if there's nobody to do consistent, high quality work...and they will not compromise the quality that comes out to fit the skills of what's available now. And people shout me down when I go into the reality of the skilled trades today. Anyone who's ever done high quality bodywork knows it's different from many other skilled trades, as it requires just as much art as science, and to be really good at it, the motivation comes from inside. But the attitude many of the college-educated have towards the skilled trades, that if you don't have a degree you must be a knuckle-dragging chimp, and that any knuckle-dragging chimp can do any kind of physical work interchangeably, is largely responsible for nobody much wanting to pursue trades as careers anymore. Never mind that it's still possible for a good bodyman or mechanic to earn a 6-figure income, and a lot of the smug college-"educated" are unemployable as anything but baristas or dog-walkers.

BIG smile-maker right there. Very nice indeed.

Yup, very nice. I need to get one of these.

Mood of the 1940s saw the popularization of custom cars, but custom coachbuilders doing specials for the wealthy had been around as long as there had been cars to build bodies for.

Nice work. One of the coolest planes ever. Looks like a good kit too.

Yup. Back circa 2005, the last time I ran someone else's body shop, I'd write my initial estimate on older cars to replace what most shops would, to see what kind of money we were looking at overall. Then I'd talk to my guys (who were both pretty good old-school bodymen) about whether they were comfortable doing repairs where we could, instead of replace. Then I'd re-write the estimate at lower cost, but converting some of the saved parts cost to labor for repair. The insurance companies were always happy to save money, the bodyman made more on the job, and even though our total take on those jobs was lower, the profit margin was higher. Everybody won...and we saved more than one nice car from the crusher by getting the cost below the threshold to "total". But I always made sure everyone in the loop knew exactly what we were doing from the outset. Not only is writing and billing for "replace" but doing "repair" dishonest, dog help you if you get caught. Criminal charges and civil suits can be the result...and insurers will avoid your shop ever after. PS: The reason I was able to do this effectively, consistently, is because I'd done the in-shop work for years, and knew exactly what COULD be done correctly, and safely...and I oversaw my people to make sure everything was done right.

Can we have wun a dese?

No. Though two pistons will be at TDC simultaneously in these L6 engines, only one will be at the firing part of the 4-stroke cycle...by design. The other will be at "overlap", where both intake and exhaust valves are slightly open to prolong exhaust flow, which in turn enhances cylinder filling. Overlap, a function of cam-lobe design, is more pronounced on high performance engines that create peak power at higher RPM Firing a plug at overlap generally produces a backfire through the intake port and carb throat feeding it, and/or out the exhaust pipe. Some timed "batch" type fuel injection systems DO squirt fuel into two intake ports simultaneously, and that's probably what you've "heard referred to"...or the "wasted spark" ignition systems employed for the sake of simplicity on some emissions engines. Might be time to brush up on 4-stroke engine operation. EDIT: Before I get piled on, yes, there are some engines that may fire two cylinders simultaneously, and some "wasted spark" technology has been employed that "fires" on the exhaust stroke, but they have absolutely nothing to do with the L6 engines under discussion here. And as usual, there's no shortage of internet experts on the web getting everything scrambled and posting gibberish. EDIT 2: Unfortunately, this is the only photo I've found to date of an engine equipped with the 12-plug head (which I posted earlier), and the scarcity of photos is an indication of its relative rarity...as even the rest of the Wayne / Horning / Fisher heads are extremely rare. EDIT3: Due to the design of the combustion chambers in the 12-port heads, and the location of ports and head bolts and valvetrain components, a 12-plug head would almost HAVE to have the plugs located adjacent to each other. I have found no reference to whether the bosses for plugs in the 12-plug were cast in (which is somewhat unlikely...but then again, people made casting patterns in simple shops back then) or machined into 6-plug castings. EDIT 4: This topic is the main reason I bought Bill Fisher's "Chevrolet, GMC & Buick Speed Manual", and though I haven't read it cover to cover, so far I've found no reference to the 12-plug head.

Sad part about that is there's no good reason to replace that quarter panel. Yeah, it's the way most shops would do it these days, but a perfectly adequate, safe, permanent, and undetectable repair can be done by a competent sheetmetal man who can do real hammer-dolly work and weld and metal-finish a little hole. This is one big reason a lot of nice older cars are ending up totalled when they still have many years of life in them otherwise. I hate what has become of the automobile repair industry. EDIT: It is also entirely possible an unscrupulous shop would repair the existing panel at significantly less cost to them in labor and parts, but bill the payer the full pop for panel replacement. I've seen it innumerable times. Odds are the owner would never know, and post-repair inspections by insurance companies are rare unless there's structural damage or the vehicle is brand new.

Cool cool cool. Love B-61s, love Macks in general, love HO scale. Great to see a survivor getting rebuilt too. I have some vintage 1/87 Ulrich cast metal tractors, no Lee Towns yet.

Yessir, now THERE is some modeling on YooToob that's worth looking at.

Lights from the street used to cast shadows of monsters and demons on my bedroom walls when I was little.

Home is anywhere I hang my britches for the night.

"CEL", or "check engine light" means you need to open the hood and check that the engine is still there. NOTE: Googli's AI says: "To check if your engine is still in place, locate the hood release lever inside your car (usually under the dashboard on the driver's side), pull it to release the hood, then carefully lift the hood and visually inspect the engine bay to ensure the engine is present and positioned correctly."

One of the things I like best about being an adult, being able to cook, and living alone, is that I can eat whatever I please, whenever I please. I usually eat "healthy", but on weekends I sometimes I allow myself...anything. Makes it easier to eat "right" the rest of the time. Tonight's fare was my world-famous jalapeno-chorizo-cheese dip with flour tortillas. That's it. Nothing else but a kinda rough country red wine. Fresh blackberries for dessert in a while, maybe a cuppa strong black coffee. Mmmmmm mmmmmm good.

Eat your vegetables.

"Heads on swivels" is what some pilots call the constant wariness you need to maintain about whatever might be in your airspace or vicinity when operating on the ground.

"Merit" was a brand of cigarette that today would probably be called "Participation". EDIT: (Oops. Looks like they still make 'em.)

Pyramids are reputed to have magical healing powers by some, are said to be cursed by others, and there are those who say they were built by aliens.

Couple things...I generally agree with Skip. Cobbling up stuff from junk isn't for everyone...but a perfectly adequate unit in terms of air delivery, noise, "safety" and "liability(?)" can be put together if, like me, you're experienced in making scary, dangerous stuff, know what you need to make it all work, and have access to the right junk. Thing 2...a noisy air compressor doesn't need to be a deal breaker. These days, I do my airbrushing with air that comes from the big shop compressor in the back of the house. It's LOUD in the same room, but with doors closed, I can barely hear it. An upside of my current rig is that the air coming out of the compressor has to travel through a 25 foot hose before it gets to the model bench. This means the air has cooled enough for moisture in it to have mostly condensed, so that a water trap at the spray station is much more effective than it would be on a short hose from a small dedicated compressor. If you've ever seen water droplets appear on a freshly painted surface, or had excessive blushing with lacquers, you'll know why this is important. AND...here's one mans opinion about small compressors in general. He makes some valid points.

http://manuals.hobbico.com/rmx/85-4024.pdf

Chew each mouthful of food 32 times (according to Googli's AI), and while this may be excessive for mashed potatoes and macaroni, thorough chewing aids digestion and absorption of nutrients. Drink your 8 glasses of water daily too (average weight, activity, and temperature).