August 29 2010 by Darrin.

I’m in Towson, MD right now, having come here to join up with my old high school friend Wendell and attend the Restoring Honor Rally in Washington.  I’d never done anything like this before, so I had no idea what to expect.  There were rumors of violence and some pretty kooky comments out there, but we weren’t worried at all.

Wendell and I left Towson around 07:30 and headed for the Greenbelt Park-n-Ride, to catch the green line subway train into DC.  We were early and the line grew quickly behind us.  Here’s a shot of the folks awaiting their turn at the Metro ticket machines when we queued up outside…

As we walked west toward the Lincoln Memorial and site of Beck’s rally, it started to look like a decent turn-out:  lots of familes with kids, some flags here and there, and only the occasional political sign.  (Can’t have us “brandishing placards” as some in our media called it on the day of the House vote on health care.)  Here’s a shot of our approach to the WWII Memorial at 09:48…

We stuck to the right (north) side of the reflecting pool and tried to find a spot where we could see and hear…

It proceeded to get more and more cramped.  There was no chance to go left to the pool, so we went right again and walked over to the Vietnam Memorial where we saw this, left for a fallen friend.  God bless you both, whoever you are and whoever you were…

.

 We then “parked it” under a tree where we could hear one out of five words spoken, and sat there for the rest of the event, occasionally talking to folks that passed by.   In hindsight, we could have gone back to the lawn west of the Washington Monument, but it would have been shadeless and downright hot.  Here are a couple pix of that area just after the rally ended…

I really wanted to be a part of this event, to be “one of those faces” in the crowd.  It was a fine day for me individually, and a super day collectively for the people who attended.  There was no violence that we saw, of any kind.  Everyone was extremely polite.  A few kids walked through us with a sign that read “Glenn Beck is lying to you for profit!”  No one paid any attention that we could see.

The mainstream media description of the rally is surprising.  I heard it on NPR this morning, and then read it again in the NY Times too (click this to read it before they realize what they’ve written and take it down).  It must have gone out in the morning operative instructions to the liberal side of the media.  Stick this in Google and see for yourself…

“Like a large church picnic.”  (Darn, all those violent Tea Party members musta stayed home.  Oh well.)

Bill O’Reilly of Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor said Beck would be lucky to have 10 to 15 thousand there.  He then asked how many Glenn expected, and Glenn told him he hoped to draw 100,000 or more.  O’Reilly challenged (paraphrased), “Beck, if you have more than 100,000 in attendance, you can have my 8PM Eastern prime time slot.”

The first news Wendell and I heard on the way home reported “thousands attended rallies”.  We estimated at least a hundred thousand, but neither of us had any idea how to accurately size the crowd.  Today while having brunch at an Irish pub, I checked out some headlines and saw that Michele Bachmann (R-MN) had called it a million.  The NYT had to disagree, quoting NBC’s estimate of 300,000.  Something in the middle is likely correct.

GOD BLESS AMERICA

(AP photo below)

I was a part of that, and there’s a smile from ear to ear that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

No mater how you look at it, Bill O’Reilly better get used to doing his show at a new time.

Posted in Misc. Travel, Politics and Economics | No Comments »

August 21 2010 by Darrin.

After a couple days wire-brushing all the dirt, loose paint, and loose rust off the HJ-75 Cruiser chassis, she looked like this…

 Three hours more with a 2″ brush and a can of POR-15 yielded the following…

It’s the first time I’ve used POR-15; I’ve heard great things.  If it sticks to the metal like it sticks to my hands, legs and face, it ought to be superb.  Wearing black shorts was a good idea.  Wearing black shorts was a bad idea.  I think I’m going to look filthy for a while!

Anyway, the chassis is now ready to go back together, and it should be a lot of fun to reassemble it.  The next step will be to remove and rebuild the axles.  I have everything I need except for the front brake rotors and calipers - and they’re on the way.  When I reinstall the axles, they’ll mount to an Aussie-manufactured Dobinson’s one-ton suspension.  Everything will be new - springs, shocks, shackles, bushes, etc…  It’ll be really nice to get all the piles of new or rebuildable parts back into a vehicle.  My shop is a cluttered mess…

And then we see if the JDM engine Michael and I brought back from California is worth a crap!

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August 15 2010 by Darrin.

The tank fabrication is finally complete.  This has to be one of the longest small projects I’ve ever done, as I managed only a couple days a month for about three months!  Here are a few photos of the tank in place in the old spare tire location.  (This was more recently filled by hi-rail gear for use on the railroad.)

 This tank adds about 30 gallons of fuel capacity, and will function as the main tank.  The original 18.5 gallon tank will effectively become the auxiliary tank, and it will pump its fuel into the new main tank when the main tank is depleted.  This was done because the original tank does not incorporate a fuel return port for fuel coming from the engine.  The original 2H diesel did not bypass any fuel, but the newer 12H-T does.  The simplest solution was to build the new tank for the newer engine, and transfer fuel from the original tank into it when needed.  The combined fuel capacity should easily provide a 1000-mile range

All that remains to totally complete the tank is an interior POR-15 fuel tank coating and some external paint.  I’ll hold off on that until the body is back on the frame.  I was careful to consider any potential interference, but there’s no test like actually putting it all together!  If I need to modify something, it’ll be much easier BEFORE paint.

What’s next?  Paint the chassis, rebuild the axles, and install the new suspension.  At the rate I’m going, look for that in, say, 2013.

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August 12 2010 by Darrin.

Summer’s been pretty hectic here. In May, our 20-year Mexican ranch hand finally left us and our “bunk house” modular home - after getting a job with the local billionaire.  On his way out, the vaquero walked off with some family heirloom furniture, most light bulbs, and an unpaid balance of heat and rent from the year he lived in the house and worked for someone else.

Mom decided to clean and redecorate the modular home in June and early July, before she was inundated with guests in late July.  Anna and I had friends coming from Germany about the same time as Mom’s family was to arrive, and Anna’s dad, Frits, visited last week from Holland too.  We did get to make a couple little trips here and there with Frits - most notably to Devil’s Tower and Mount Rushmore…

We made the trip just a few days before the huge Sturgis Bike Week in South Dakota, so as you can imagine, most traffic was on two wheels. Here’s a photo from Deadwood on Aug 5th…

 Back at home, I got a few hours per day of welding in on my new fuel tank for the old Land Cruiser.  It’s taken forever to get it done, and I’ve been procrastinating for a couple reasons…  1) I wasn’t sure how I was going to fill this tank at fuel pumps, and 2) I’m not an accomplished TIG welder.  I’ve had this machine for over a decade now, and only used it to build about 60 Unimog engine block heaters back in 1999 or so.  That’s a decade of dust…

 Good, clean TIG welding takes talent and skill - neither of which I possess.  I learned the basics of stick welding in junior high some 28 years ago, and have been welding with MIG for most of my years fabricating in Wyoming.  I set a goal to TIG this tank together, and that’s exactly what I did.  By the end, things were looking okay.  The real test will be if these joints hold #2 fuel oil without leaking…

Before I could locate the tank in its final position in between the rear frame rails, I had to solve the fuel fill problem.  My friend Paul in MD cut a fuel hatch and fill pipe from a car in his tow yard, but it turned out to be for the wrong side of the vehicle and a big pain in the butt to reverse.  I went to our local wrecking yard and found this donor - a 1983 Suburban…

A couple cordless tools and 30 minutes is all it took to get what I needed (plus a trip to NAPA for a new locking fuel cap)…

Back at the shop, I check the location for the new “Aux Tank Fill”, added a 2″ fuel filler pipe, and then located the tank at a good spot in the frame…

  All that’s left now is a tank vent, and the mounting brackets.

(Thanks to Mom for snapping a few pix at the junkyard, while watching for rattlesnakes - and sparks, that might light up the grass.  Thanks to OK-Wrecking owner Dave for charging me $0 for the old Chevy parts.)

Posted in Local Trips, HJ-75 Restoration | No Comments »