What are you doing today?

[TJ's Dad]

Over the last 3 weeks we've had a couple of extremes , first was 6" of rain overnight causing floods , followed by a locust plague with billions of them visiting and taking my lawns with them , today we have 100kph winds and a temp of 41 c ( 103 F ) so I'm relaxing in front of the air con and sipping on a cool beverage !  









The above grass was green and lush from the earlier rain .... 24 hrs after the  locusts hit town it was patchy and brown , now all that's left are weeds and bare earth ..... all vehicles need a bug screen fitted to avoid clogging and windscreens need cleaning between 30 and 50 kms .
We've just seen the end of a 13 yr drought so were looking forward to a bit of green thru summer  ... it's not going to happen now.
Up north in Queensland severe rain has seen many towns evacuated , houses flooded to the eaves in some cases , highways cut  and if ever it stops raining a huge clean up .... naturally in towns cut off the fresh vegies are tripleing in cost due to crops being lost , odd when they cant be getting new stock as roads are closed !!   .... Rockhampton the media reported Brocoli @ $10.00 per kilo  :evil:

[rooster]

Got are * kicked good around here at about noon, twister touched down where my wife works the grocery store 3 blocks away, heavy damage threwout the area. Many homeless some injurys. Pictures dont show much.

Heading toward Indy!

[Crosley.In.AZ]

i am out back of my shop... under the Sprite unbolting the differential. It is about 41*F here, lite wind.

Trying to figure out what this 8 inch differential under the Sprite is built out of.

Also waiting on a few parts to arrive via Fed - x , which will happen next week.

[wayne petty]

Cleaned the fish tank today. All 260imp. gallons of it . We are bringing a new fish home tomorrow. The cleanup is about a 4hour job if my son helps,we do it every 6 months.

by the way... i know there are not any fresh growing roses where you are now....

but.. with a few gallons of fish tank water...  fresh water type fish..

pouring it around the base of a blooming rose bush with light colored roses will make the roses blush yellow and red in minutes.. and will last for a few days....

where i used to live .. the landlord has fish.. told her about it.. she spiked the white roses growing along the sidewalk...  you could see the change happening.. i wish i had a slow motion camera...

[enjenjo]

Monday I took all the sheetmetal for my 40 coupe to Volunteer Auto Body aka Earl Scheib in Hartsville, Tn,. Off all this week from my day job so it's full blast on the frame in my home shop.I've installed rear boxing plates & reinforced the center section w/ 1.5 angle welded inside the rails. Would like to get the frame painted by the weeks end.

Tell him I said hi.

[enjenjo]

Trying to figure out what this 8 inch differential under the Sprite is built out of.

First, I don't know of any 8" rears in any year Bronco. There may have been some in early ones, but I doubt it. Bronco wheel bolt pattern was 5 by 5 1/2" all years.

As far as 8" parts interchanging, any year center will fit into any year housing. As long as you have the size of the brake shoes, all the brake parts interchange too.

Are you sure it's an 8"? 49 to 56 Ford rears look much the same as an 8" rear. Biggest give away is the shape of the carrier mounting gasket. 49 to 56 is pretty much oval, and an 8" is flat on top and botttom with round ends.

[chimp koose]

Wayne,neat idea! We have a rose but its red,might try it anyway.I heard if you spread iron powder around plants it helps. I may have to clean out the surface grinder one day and find out.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

trimmed some trees today..  for x-mas I received a "pole chain saw"

it is one of those long tree trimmers with a small chain saw at the end of a 6 foot  pole extension.

it is a cutting muther.. need to be careful

[Boyd Who]

I hung some more pegboard in my shop and moved around some of my collectibles. My poor Hot Wheels and Tiny Tonka collection has been sitting in boxes ever since we moved 3 years ago. It was nice setting them up on display again.








I also spun the Essex around in the shop so we can pull the cab off easier. It's sooooooo nice having a shop big enough to turn the truck around in!  

[Crosley.In.AZ]

First, I don't know of any 8" rears in any year Bronco. There may have been some in early ones, but I doubt it. Bronco wheel bolt pattern was 5 by 5 1/2" all years.

As far as 8" parts interchanging, any year center will fit into any year housing. As long as you have the size of the brake shoes, all the brake parts interchange too.

Are you sure it's an 8"? 49 to 56 Ford rears look much the same as an 8" rear. Biggest give away is the shape of the carrier mounting gasket. 49 to 56 is pretty much oval, and an 8" is flat on top and bottom with round ends.

We know it is an 8 inch, not from a Bronco.  The 1 axle is hacked as i posted, other axle spliced together.  Tag on center section indicates 1963 Fairlane , axle built in late 1962

3.0 gear , non posi trac OEM gears in the center chunk.

not sure of the value if any on the housing.  Track width at wheel mount surfaces is 49 3/8 inches

 

[Boyd Who]

I hung up my wife's Christmas present to me today. I didn't really feel safe welding and grinding out there without one.


I also had a buddy drop by and we lifted the Essex cab off the frame. Sure looks nekkid now! :p
Hopefully I can get the engine and trans yanked out this weekend.

[enjenjo]

Well Al, looks like you are making some progress???

Today I finshed the wind lace on the left door of the AD truck, and put three more coats of shellac on the bed wood. It's just about there, I'll know after sanding if I need to do more.

[32coupe]

I got talking to a friend of mine the other day and he was telling me he was off on a road trip of Tasmania on his motorbike with a few mates.

Not all of his bike mates were able to get the time off to do the trip, but some were heading off with him to Victoria to see him off to the ferry and then head back home.

Now seeing as I don't own a bike I tossed up the idea of following them in the coupe, well I haven't had it out for a while so I sealed the deal over a few beers on New Year's night.



So five bikes and the coupe, 7 of us in all met at 8am on Sunday morning for a cruise down to Bairnsdale in Vic.

Now you might not think that is much of a cruise for a bunch of bikes, so these guys decided to take the long way, instead of 435ks, they said it would take us 700ks to get there.

First stop was Cooma, then instead of heading south as you would expect, these guys decided to head west, up through Adaminaby, Kiandra, then up to Mt Selwyn, yep we were heading up through the snowy mountains.



See the yellow lines on the road instead of white ones?

That's because you can't see white lines when it snows.............



And the roads up here aren't very wide, and there are heaps of dams, all very full.

After Mt Selwyn we headed towards Tumbarumba, but turned off for Tooma, then crossed into Vic and a stop for fuel at Corryong.



Now I have to say I've never been up this way before and these bike guys tend to like the windy roads, man there's some windy stuff up this way.  

We hit the road again, but not after deciding we needed to find a pub to get some lunch, oh and a few beers.



My nose can lead me to a pub with uncanny accuracy, so in we went for a few beers, I mean lunch.  

It was after Tallangatta that the guys were ready to start heading south; we headed for Kiewa, and turned south towards Mt Beauty.

But by now they needed to stop for fuel again.






YES, I finally got to park under the clock tower at Bright, and got the photo to prove it.    

Now if you haven't got your maps out yet, you probably haven't figured out where we have to go next to keep heading south and get to Bairnsdale.



Yep more winding mountain roads.



This is the lookout near the top of Mt Hotham



Not a bad view.



Check out the signs on the posts, sounds like good advice to me.



Now look back at how nice and sunny and warm it was in Bright, this is only 50ks down the road at the top of Mt Hotham, that's a cloud we're driving through, man it was cold.

From here it was an easy run through Omeo, and then on to Bairnsdale, again on one more of the windiest roads that I have ever driven on, boy am I glad we're heading home on main roads tomorrow.



And guess where we were staying.................

It's a Tavern with its own bottle shop and its own petrol station.

Now, Bairnsdale is usually only 435ks and 5 hours from home, but we did take the long way and it took us nearly 12 hours, but man it was fun keeping up with the bikes on the twisty mountain roads, and the coupe did me proud, and it surprised a few of the bike boys.

After a good night, good food, good friends and a few beers, it was time for bed.

Today we got up a bit late, had a late breakfast and headed back home a little after 10am. Now the guys that were heading off to catch the ferry to Tassie were in for a nice sunny day, buy the weather back towards Canberra was not looking to good, for the bike guys anyway, I can wind up my windows and turn the heater on.



We stopped just out of Bruthen for a quick Pit stop and for the remaining bike guys to put on their winter woollies and wet weather gear.

It was a pretty uneventful trip home, but all in all it was a pretty good road trip on some roads I would have never seen if I didn't follow the bike guys, and yes I would do it again at the drop of a hat. And I might just get an invite on one of their up coming rides  

[enjenjo]

Whats the story on the clock tower?

[Carnut]

Thanks a bunch for the pictorial tour, great narration as well.

Heh, heh, just a tad bit disappointed the tour didn't go on to Tasmania.

One of the posters on my goldmonkey.org forum lives in Launceston, Tasmania.