Welcome to another “Peek Into My Week”, a behind the scenes look into the (I hope) noteworthy events in my past week – December 13, 2021!
Here are some things that happened this past week:
The end of this week saw my colleagues and I returning to a 50-50 work schedule, which meant that I had Friday off, as well as some days next week! No, you will never hear me complain about free days at home – and I often joke that retirement will be a breeze since I never have a shortage of things that I want or need to do around the house to keep me occupied!
News About Writing & Publishing:
I heard on Saturday that the third Galaxii audiobook, “Dead Beckoning“, is done and ready for submitting to ACX for review, as soon as the amazing Brandon Mullins of Moon Books makes another fantastic cover and submits it! My dad’s first novel “A Way of Life” is also complete and awaiting the cover treatment and submission to ACX as well!
Aside from the good news I’ve had over the past week, there was also a little disappointing news, in that the Sierra On-Line autobiography of Ken Williams I’d edited a few months ago had been withdrawn from my publisher. Although my publisher has undertaken to reimburse me for my work so at least I won’t lose financially on the deal, this has the implication that although I did edit the work and make grammar and spelling corrections to it, I won’t be shown any credit for that work by whomever eventually publishes it – which I feel is the worst part! Still, it can’t be helped, it’s entirely out of my hands and there’s nothing I can do about it – so I plan on just forgetting about it completely and moving on. ‘Nuff said.
Still, editing isn’t the focus of my life – it’s just proved to be a nice sideline way to make a little extra money. Moving on…
News About Project Dolly:
The parts I’ve been waiting for that delayed the completion of this project have finally all arrived, so on Wednesday afternoon I fitted the new pushrod tubes, pushrods, rockers and covers. I also reset the rocker gaps – “while I was at it” – the most dangerous saying known to Humanity! On Friday morning, the next day I had some free time, I had decided to move the motor back to the car. A friend of mine popped by earlier in the morning to drop off the electric fuel pump I still needed to complete the project! After that, I set about moving the engine subassembly back to the garage so I could refit it into the car. Of course that wasn’t as easy as it sounds – and there was a little blood involved, as you can see in the photos below! Unfortunately, while I was carrying the engine up the back steps to the kitchen, I started to get a little tired, and had to put it down on the kitchen floor in a bit of a hurry! The edges and corners of the motor are a bit sharp, and I got a bit scraped all the way down! But fortunately, no permanent harm was done, to me, the motor, or the kitchen floor tiles!
After that, I dragged the motor down the length of the house, through the lounge, passage and to the stoop on two old folded bed sheets which I’d repurposed as drop cloths, which made that part of the task easy as pie! At the end of that stretch, at the front door, Kay helped me lift it over the bottom step and onto a low trolley, and still on the sheet on top of the trolley, I towed it across the front of the house from the front gate to the open garage door.
Fitting the motor back into the car was a bit of an effort, but between the two of us coordinating the balance of the motor on top of the trolley jack, we got it back in! Friday was swelteringly hot, so with the house curtains and blinds drawn and fans on (2 of them in that baking oven of a garage), I took lots of little breaks to hydrate and rest, and began the arduous process of reassembling all the other bits that went onto it: cooling ducts, exhaust, inlet manifold, alternator, carburetor etc.
Saturday kicked off with a quick supply run to a nearby corner shop on foot. When I returned, I got into my working clothes again, and kicked off the next session! By 3pm, the entire motor was reassembled, including the wiring, cables and hoses, and the decklid was even back in place. It started to look like a car again!
On Sunday I filled up the engine oil to the correct level and started planning how and where I’d fit the new electric fuel pump. I decided against mounting it up front, and to instead mount it in the engine bay after all, with power being taken directly off the coil (which only operates when the ignition switch is in the “on” position, which is ideal. Plus the coil also operates on a fuse in the fuse box. I decided to fit a cut-off switch as well, for the sake of extra safety and security, which I will also mount in the engine bay. The thing that prevented me from fitting it on Sunday as planned, was that the intake and outlet ports of the fuel pump were a bit larger than the fuel hoses, so they wouldn’t fit. I’ll have to visit a Midas on Monday afternoon to find a solution – some sort of plastic pipe adapter probably, and a short piece of bigger fuel hose to attach it to the pump. I can get to fitting that either on Monday afternoon or Tuesday while I’m off. I now expect to get Dolly started on the afternoon of either Monday or sometime on Tuesday coming. Thereafter, I just have to attend to a leaky rear wheel brake cylinder, and we’re in business again.
Anyway, with little else to do on Sunday, I decided to tidy up the garage and workshop – for the last couple of weeks they both got a bit untidy! With everything squared away, it was time to clean myself up and take the rest of the day off in my pajamas!
With that, I’m all out of news for this week! I wish you all a wonderful, restful day – and until next time, keep reading!
