New Bike.

Roy got the loan to buy Richard's bike yesterday. Now there are papers to sign before getting the money. He may pick the bike up today or tomorrow. He also may have to wear foot protection of some kind, shower clogs, as this bike has pegs and not floor boards.
I finally figured that the glow plugs I'm using don't work well with the high oil fuel I'm using. I'm dropping down to 22% oil until I get some good plugs. Just one inverted landing lately. The sun and winds are playing havoc with me at the dog track. The thermals coming off the asphalt knock the plane all over the place. The wind feels like it's coming from one direction but the plane doesn't get more pull down wind or less up wind. I'm getting a lot of level flight practice. That might explain why I haven't crashed in a few weeks.
The engine that was on the P-51 got sent to Fox as a trade-in for a new one. I found a crack in the block just above the right side bolt lug. It went through to the inside so I traded it in at 50% list price. This is the third trade in I've done. It's going to be cloudy today so the air should be steadier.

Back in one piece.

I brought the carpet for the El Camino to the body shop today. I figured it would be better to install it now before the seat comes back from being upholstered than after. The car is painted and back together. The windshield is in with black rubber trin instead of the bent up shiny metal trim. It really looks good. SS stripes on the hood and an SS stripe on the tail gate that wasn't used on production vehicles. It should cause some problems for the know it all. But I have the assembly manual page with this stripe shown. The body man found a piece of windlace and I looked and found the mate to it in the well behind the seat. I believe I'm only missing one piece now. And you might know I forgot to bring a camera again.

A low and a high.

I got a call from my brother yesterday and he is interested in buying my son in laws '99 superglide. I am taking him to see it this morning.
I was going to go to the body shop after seeing the bike but my wife is trading the Magellan GPS unit for a much newer one and I have to send the old one out Fed Ex quickly. I'll bring the carpet to the shop next week before the seat comes back.
When I looked at the temp. at 6 am it was 49 degrees. Thanks Al, you asshole.

No change.

I went to the dog track and flew the now straight wing. It still banked right wing up. I re set the tab back to where it was to level the wing. I got in two flights each with the planes without hitting the pavement. I changed tanks on the Christmas idea plane, the one with the now straight wing. The plastic tank just didn't work right. I ran the engine with the new tank and it sounded better. Only flying will tell if it's going to work.
Going on two solid months of cool crappy weather. Thanks Al, you asshole.

Flying in the rain.

I went to the dog track a tad later than I wanted to because I was changing engines on one of my scratch builts. I flew the Primary Force once and brought out the other plane. Fox .35 with a hemi kit. It ws too fast and on the second flight I got it slower but the thunderstorm started long before the fuel ran out. I was thinking on a high speed landing and driving the prop into the pavement or if lightning was too close letting go of the handle and running for the car. The engine finally quit and we stuffed everything into the car and left. It's still raining and thundering 2 hours later. I had to re heat the wing to remove a warp and I put another shim under the head to tame the engine more. The hemi kit makes a brute out of the .35. Fast 4 cycle at 9600 rpm. Without the kit it would be 8500. I wanted to test the wing but the rain is not going away.

Down to ten.

The weather was quite nice today and the wind was light. I packed up the P-51 and headed for the dog track. I also brought some weed killer to spray on the grass growing through the cracks in the asphalt. First flight I got to the square 8 and in the inverted portion I tweaked the up line and roofed the plane again. The tail broke off this time along with 8 inches of fuse. The left wing broke at the fuse. joint too. The plastic spinner saved the engine from damage but did bend the needle valve when it broke. After taking the usable parts off and scrapping the rest I brought back the Primary Force/ OS .25. I got in two flights with it with no complications. I have a second kit built Primary Force to go after this one then the Ringmaster 576 then 4 planes with flaps and the Magician. I think I'll go with ARF's instead of kits or scratch building from now on. They are cheaper and well built.
The owner of the body shop that's painting the El Camino called and said the upholsterers want $900.00 to do the seat. That's a lot more than I expected but I have no choice. It should be done in a couple of weeks. The seat that is. I have to get the carpet to the shop before the seat comes back so I don't have to remove the seat to install the carpet.
I took the hot rod to coffee and to an ice cream shop in Preston. It's running like always again.
The Saturn passed the emissions test this morning. We got the check engine light turned off and the computer reset last Fri. I was hoping it wouldn't come back on before it got re tested. Disconnect the battery for two minutes is all that needs to be done to reset the computer.

Or a vacuum leak.

I attacked the hot rod after breakfast at Lizzy B's. I found the carb. hold down bolts loose. I removed the carb. and opened it up and found everything in order. I looked up the torque spec. and tightened the nuts a bit more at 100 inch pounds. A big difference in how it runs. I can't figure out how they come loose in a few weeks. I added thread locker this time.
It's too windy to fly again. I'll watch and see when it calms down a bit and plan on that if it's windy tomorrow. I have to remember to fly the corner in the reverse wingover and not ease it into inverted like I did the other day. Had I started 5 feet higher it would have nearly perfect.