2020 .. What are you doing today?

[purplepickup]

My wife was admitted to the hospital Tuesday evening.  She has a problem with degeneration of the muscles ...... God * golden years.

Don, I don't have words that seem appropriate but you and 'the princess' are in my thoughts and hopefully the doctors will come up with a treatment that will help Kathy's condition.

Frank and Joe, your wives are also in my thoughts.

2020 is proving to be quite a year.

[moose]

My wife was admitted to the hospital Tuesday evening.   God * golden years.

You both are in our thoughts...holler if you need an ear or shoulder etc...

[idrivejunk]

Primo vibes to all.

Put new rear pads on the GT today since I need to use it and it was in line first. No 455 carb doins this week other than did find a bud with dip today. Sweet. Will that stuff hurt the carb finish? The common kinda medium shiny plain Eddy kind. If the dip is a bit dirty / old? I expect chasing with carb cleaner while wet with dip is the SOP?

Why would I report working on the GT, the backup and NA twin of the DD? Right front hub went bad Friday. Same corner as that tie rod end which was last thing I went in for. I figure one thing's wear-out contributed to the other but also suspect that the few blocks of brick streets I have been detoured onto for a couple months now was a contributor dadgum it. But the 3 year warranty bearing lived past 3 years. Only trouble is, I usually do those at work and borrow the big socket. This hub went from yes to no but didn't catch fire or lock up and I ain't real curious how it will do for another trip. So I'll see if I can't do this one at home. Sure am glad I figured out years ago that a man like me can't have a car worth four grand. Two two grands is tolerated by the all though, and that gets me by. Glad to be able to just shuffle rides and its good motivation to maintain.

[phat46]

Been up in the U.p. hunting the last ten days, lots of interesting things to see and do up there. There was s the remains of a car way back in the woods that the locals dragged out there somehow, probably 50 years ago, and dynamited...several times. I knew of it and had seen it a few times, but this year I went to look at it and realized it was newer than I had thought. I was thinking it was about a 53-54 Ford, hard to tell because there is not much left. I noticed the rear end this time, it was a 9". Hmmmm, looked closer and the car is a '58. I told my hunting buddy I was going to get that rear end next year, thinks I could use a battery powered Sawzall. We went back and looked at it and found there are no springs on it, shocks were busted off and the only thing holding it to the frame was one parking brake cable. We found a way to get that loose, ( only had to sacrifice one screwdriver) and put it in the trailer we haul behind our woods tractor, a '39/41 Allis Chalmers. Now it's home, just need to find some muscle to get it out of my track. Here's a pic of the '58 before I scavenged the rear end.

[58 Yeoman]

How did you identify it as a '58? Not much left there.

[phat46]

How did you identify it as a '58? Not much left there.

LOL, For years Inthought it was 53-54, going by the glovebox emblem and a little piece of what I thought was grille. When I saw the 9" I looked closer, found a front turn signal lense, and part of the front bumper, looked at the dash closer and started Googling Fords built after '56. The give away was the dash and the lense plus the round emblem holder that was once part of the grille.

[chimp koose]

Narrowest of the 9" you have there . I put one in a '63 Acadian I once owned . Had to shorten the wheelbase 1" to get the driveshaft to fit.

[phat46]

Narrowest of the 9" you have there . I put one in a '63 Acadian I once owned . Had to shorten the wheelbase 1" to get the driveshaft to fit.

Yup, one of the reasons I wanted to get it, I believe the narrow ones are '57-'59? I want to use it under my '46 Chevy to replace the G.M. Ten bolt under there now when I put the stroker motor in.

[chimp koose]

Usually some pretty nice gear ratios in those ones too!

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Another argument with an eBay seller about incorrect product.. Seller is  Based in China.   I ordered some .035 mig welding wire..  I received .030 wire from a warehouse in Callifornia ..

These China based  folks selll so much stuff in the USA on eBay.. You would think they would have a person able to communicate in English with some type of sentence structure so you dont need to re-read the messages 5 times to cypher it out.

Once the person figured out I was not accepting the smaller wire when I paid for the .035 wire...  I already have a spool of .030 wire, I dont need 2 spools.

After near 5 days,  I received a refund.  oh well, moving on.

[kb426]

Tony, in the last few years, I have noticed the same. They warehouse in Cali, Hebron Ky. , New Jersey and Texas to name a few. Seldom is the communication clear and complete. When I was looking for the DRO for the mill, I was told about the Shenzhen marketplace. Buyers go and buy just like a swap meet. Ebay, Alibaba or something similar is their method of a store front. You can get low prices but it's not without some grief.

[WZ JUNK]

A very unusual Thanksgiving Day.  We went for a walk in the park this afternoon.  Just the two of us for the most part today.  We did not cancel Thanksgiving, we just delayed it until after we are all vaccinated.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Tony, in the last few years, I have noticed the same. They warehouse in Cali, Hebron Ky. , New Jersey and Texas to name a few. Seldom is the communication clear and complete. When I was looking for the DRO for the mill, I was told about the Shenzhen marketplace. Buyers go and buy just like a swap meet. Ebay, Alibaba or something similar is their method of a store front. You can get low prices but it's not without some grief.

I sort of view this crap as risk management anymore... Earlier this year 2020 I ordered some solar charged lights that fit mason jars. They were cheap.  Shipped From China. I knew it was at least 30 days for delivery.

After near 3 months I started demanding the solar lights or a full refund. After  8 messages of excuses  thru eBay system , I filed a complaint with eBay. Within 5 hours I received a full refund.

I have really been watching seller feedback and locations of the seller and shipment locations.  Perhaps now I will no longer purchase any product unless I can verify a USA seller and shipment location.

I actually paid a bit more for the Mig wire with a higher rated seller and USA ship location..

[idrivejunk]

It still eludes me how lowest prices are consistently had only by shipping individual items from extremely far away, even overseas. Something is wrong with that picture. It shouldn't be that way. I guess it got that way because the world's population allowed it to begin and continues to support it with many complaints. Except this guy.

Speaking of guy, got an email from Wayne P other day. Sounded like maybe he is still at the fixing hard things but with more limited mobility.

Put a space heater in the garage just now to warm up the slab where my GTP hub job awaits. I will probably have to go buy the big socket, left work on 4 minutes notice so didn't grab the impact, and can't say that I have provisions for knocking the ball joint loose here, been doing tie rods with claw hammer backed with hatchet. Plus one thing I recall is, at least to do the job without taking knuckle off strut... last time I only had one socket / extension / ratchet, 1/4"... that can unbolt the hub. Chances are good I'll get halfway in, fight, retreat, and have to figure out how to get it to the shop to do it there. Both major deals. So I shall give it a shot.

Keep walking past the 455 carb but we are already into prime-carb-first-or-kill-battery temps now. So pfft, it runs. Primary objective is to hit next week rested. Been getting lots of pain from left thumb and dying to find out if rest can help it. So far, not much.

[phat46]

Haven't painted much lately, busy and no inspiration. An Internet friend posted this car pic on his page. The car was at a car show surrounded by others, but I pictured it sitting on a beach at sunset. He gave me permission to use his photo for reference and I got this done in about  five hours, a relative quicky. It's acrylic on hardboard, 16" X 24"