We'll see. If I don't get paid Friday it will be borrowing from the parents again. At 55 I had really hoped that I would be past that.
But at least for now we aren't living with them
Russ

Hey Russ,
Lots of us have been there at one point or another along the way!  I'm sure they understand.  Be thankful you have parents and that they are williing and able to help.  I lost my Dad 10 1/2 years ago, and Mom just a little over 2 years ago.  Both were only in their seventies when they passed.  Then, one year ago, I lost my only sibling, and in June and July of this year, two of my very best friends.  I feel rather alone sometimes... thank God for my wife and children!
When you finally get that first paycheck, it will make up for the two-week delay!
Dwayne

Better than no paycheck, something will come up eventually..

It's funny. I am a green badge at Intel, which is second class. Not the best thing.
Yet I am now a green name here, and that is a great thing.
Russ

As the saying goes, tomorrow is another day.. Hope everything is ok with the family..

As much as I enjoy my cars, family matters always come first.  Don't feel guilty about it... that's the way it's supposed to be!  You'll get back to the car next time you're off.
 
Dwayne

Family always comes first no matter what..

Well, at least we Andersons are in agreement on that!  lol


Dwayne

Yes indeed, LOL..

Just wanted to let you know I am still around. Nothing at all going on
with the Pinto. The job pretty much has me drained 24-7 like I was afraid it would.
I don't even have the energy to shop for it.

I did have one thought though. I think that I will use a pickup truck bed floor replacement panel for the rear of the cargo floor where I cut out the spare tire well. That way I won't have to deal with a flat piece of metal, since I don't have the tools to form it.

Been dealing with my wife's ex's health problems. They have been friends since the divorce, my wife says they should just have been friends all along. they have a son who is about to turn 30 in Jan.

He was in the hospital and now is in a nursing home for 4 weeks for rehab. He won't be able to go back home alone again. Mainly due to mental issues. What brought all this to a head was that he was sick, fell and couldn't get up off the floor about 3 weeks ago.

The  plan is for him to move to Myrtle Beach SC to be with his son and his family. He has to have someone to check on him daily. There is a chance the state is going to commit him, which would really screw up the plans.  The guy was living in total filth the last couple of years apparently. Knee high garbage in his house. Toilet not working so he was wearing depends. Rat infested, big rats. He essentially just gave up caring I guess. He has the money to fix things up, but wouldn't allow anyone into his house. Not even before all this started.

We are also wondering if he has had a stroke, his mental capacity isn't what it used to be. He has no insurance and hadn't been to a doctor until he had to go to the hospital a few weeks ago. The house is so bad the firemen didn't want to go in to get him out, and they had to carry him out, couldn't get a stretcher in it. One of them, I think it was the captain, said it was the worst house he had ever seen. One of them wore a respirator into the house. Wish I had one for today.
I have to go over to his house today and get some valuables out. Not going to be fun. I literally have to shovel a path in the house wherever I go, and having the rats watch me is creeping me out. I go over there every night after work to check on the cat and feed it. We had to put her outside so the rats wouldn't eat her food or her. They are almost as big as she is. I want to bring her here, but my wife is right saying we don't know what her health is, and she probably has fleas and stuff and we don't want to get our cat sick. But I really hate seeing her there. She is better off outside, but still I am sure she feels abandoned. At least the weather has turned to fall finally for the most part. She does have a big covered area.
My wife is supposed to get a power of attorney so she can take care of his business, including selling the house.

She would like to have that house, they lived in it when married. It is paid off, he inherited it from his mother, but he is needing the money from a sale to help him move apparently, and we don't have any. Even in the shape it is in the lot itself is probably worth close to $100K here in Phoenix. He does have an inheritance worth quite a bit, he is considering giving it to her. We would have to spend probably at least $20K just to get it livable. NO heat/ac, the roof had been leaking for years and the ceiling caved in above the kitchen. The rats are what are called roof rats, which are a problem in that area (24th ST and Indian School for anyone familiar with Phoenix), the walls are all bad(plaster), bathroom and kitchen need complete renovations just to use. I don't like the area, but if my wife wants it and can get it I would do it for here. Not likely though. Since he won't tell the state he can afford treatment, they are likely to go after his stuff and take the house. He has always been secretive and extremely stubborn, so that hasn't changed much. Although now he has told my wife about the money and is letting her pay his bills. So some good has come out of this.

Wow, I didn't mean to let all that out, guess I needed to talk to someone about it.

Wow!  You hear about these sorts of things happening, but you never think they will happen to someone you know!  You are a good man Russ Osborne for doing what you can to help out with the house, the cat, etc. 
 
The friendship that can develop out of failed marriage is an interesting thing.  My ex-wife and I have been apart for 24 years this month, but we get along better now than we ever did when we were married!  We live less than half a mile apart, so tend to see one another frequently.  We are both in much healthier marriages now, and are both happier people because of it.
 
I think your idea of using a pickup bed floor for the rear compartment of your Pinto wagon is an excellent one.  It is bound to look better than anything that could be fabricated out of flat sheet metal.
 
Hang in there, buddy!
 
Dwayne

i should know better I suppose.
Tried to do the instrument panel, found out I got hole saws that don't have the pilot bit. Tried anyway, one hole is way off.
It is only cheap material, so no big loss other than time.
I might have to see if they sell a hole saw around 3.25 inches. I got the 3 inch one, but it is a lot smaller than the 3and3/8ths the tach is.I thought I would be able to just file the hole bigger, but it is probably too small for that.
The 2 inch is pretty close to the small gauges, that will be workable.

I had used a compass to draw the circles, I may not have had it set right or the tach is a bit bigger than advertised. Not sure if the layout I had is going to work, the holes seem a bit too close to enlarge the proper amount.

This is going to be one of those things that takes several attempts to get right I think. Not what I had wanted. Sometimes it seems that when I just eyeball things and go it works out better than when I plan and measure and do all the proper things.

Speaking of, I might go back and redo the battery/storage box since it looks like I am going to put the battery next to the fuel cell like some have done here. Without the battery, I can lower the box to be flush with the floor. Not sure yet, it is nice the way it is and usually when I go back and modify stuff it doesn't end up as nice as it had been before.

Main problem right now is I seem to have lost my confidence in my abilities. I thought that the instrument panel was small enough to fix that, but oops.

They're ok, friend of mine put one in his truck feeds a 496 I'm sure it'll take care of of a 2.3, lol...

another day, another spent more money on the Pinto confession.

I bought 20 feet of 2x2 14 gauge tubing for the subframe connectors. I would have liked to have gotten 1/8th thick, but just too much money. This should be plenty strong for this purpose. If not it will be a good practice session.

I also bought 20 feet of 1x1 1/8th inch thick angle steel for the fuel cell and battery mount. This might be too small. I thought it would be big enough, but after seeing it I was like "oh shoot, that might not work." Probably should have gone 1.5 inch, but hopefully this will be usable. I didn't want the mounting to be the thing that catches the eyes.
The angle was only 68 cents or so a foot, so not too bad if it doesn't work. I can always use it for welding practice.
$70 total for all the steel counting the cuts I had to pay for. Having an enclosed vehicle limits the sizes I can transport. Had the 2x2 cut into two 7 foot lengths, and then a 6 foot leftover piece. Figured that 7 is probably too long for the connectors, but it is a lot easier to cut off than to add on. Plus I plan on going as far forward in the front subframe as I can. I am planning on these being one piece from front to back.  The angle is cut into 5 foot sections. That is more than any one single length will be, so should be fine. I'll be able to cut them with the next paragraph. 

Then I bought a 14 inch 3.5hp cut off saw at HF for $100. It was on sale, normally $150(prices rounded off). I can't do the connectors free hand. My metal cuts have not been very straight.  I also bought a face shield there. Not the best quality I am sure, but better than nothing. The saw is rated for over double the sizes I am cutting so hopefully it won't be a strain for it. It comes with one cutting disc, I need to get some quality ones. I don't like buying grinding or cutting discs at HF. Heard a lot of horror stories. 

Now I am really done spending on the Pinto for a while. Unless I find a really good deal that is. OOPS, did I say that out loud?

The fuel cell should be here by Friday if not sooner. So I hope to get started on mounting it and the battery during my next weekend, which will be Sunday-Tuesday. I think I need a different fuel gauge, pretty sure the one I just bought last month is a Ford style. I need a GM one now for the sending unit that comes with the cell.
Only a 3 day weekend this next time, then work 4 and off 4. I am going to be on my own at work starting this Thursday, so that will be a big relief. 
The trainer I had is very nice and very good, but has a hard time letting me work on my own, so it has been stressful at times. The job is too simple, but I think he has had some real idiots come through there. I came up with an analogy. Take an F1 driver. Set him on a kids tricycle. Then don't let him pedal or move without supervision and instructions. Really, it is that bad. But I keep trying to tell myself it is a paycheck. Problem is I need more than that to feel satisfied. And my career certainly needs more than this.

Oh, almost forgot. I ran the new to me compressor until the tank was up to 120psi, and the breaker never tripped. Looks like I got lucky with that. 

Thanks,
Russ

Yeah, when I had another 69 project I quit having the dreams about the high school Mustang. Now they are back. Same for my 70 GTO. When I had the 70 Lemans project those dreams stopped, now they are back as well. I'll be driving the car, park it somewhere, and then can't find it again.
Didn't you have an old Packard, or was that someone you went to school with?

I've been excited to work on the Pinto all along, it is just not having the energy to do it. Not having the energy to do anything really. And then when I do try something it doesn't work out right, like the instrument panel. Speaking of, I did find and buy a pilot bit for the hole saws. I wish I had seen them when I bought the saws, but I didn't. Only a couple of bucks, I would have bought one then. But I did learn that my layout isn't quite right, so it wasn't a complete waste of effort.
The fuel gauge I had bought only cost $7 something from Pepboys on ebay. Can't find a 0-90 ohm one for anything close to that with a black face, which is what the other gauges are. I could but don't feel like messing with adding resistors to change the sending unit's ohm range. I'll just have to bite the bullet and spend more on a gauge later on when I need one. Oh, can't find a 2 inch one either, going to have to be 2 and 1/16th. I hope that difference won't really be noticeable since the others are 2 inch. Still need a speedometer also. That will really have to wait for now.

Got to go, it's the wife's turn to spend money. JoAnn's, here we come. At least we have a coupon, 20% off entire purchase including sale items.

Thanks,
Russ

Well, I think I did screw up with the 1 inch angle. I kind of forgot that the cell will be holding 15 gallons of gas.    OOPS.
What little of instructions there are with it also state that the bottom of the cell needs to be supported. I guess that means I will have to have a bottom piece on the mounting frame. Maybe I can get the larger angle this Monday. I shouldn't need anything like 20 feet, 10 feet should be plenty I hope. Although since this is a short weekend for me and we have lots of things to do I might not make it to the steel store. Buying the metal at HD or Lowes is way too expensive, and I don't think there is a steel place near Glendale.

Maybe I should just surround the whole cell with some sheet metal. But then no one would see the nice polished aluminum it is made of.
 
The cell has mounting tabs on the bottom of it. Something I will have to remove. Apparently the makers of it assume you are going to be mounting it on the trunk floor.
 
Not sure if I will get anything done with it this weekend. Besides having to buy some larger angle, I feel like doodoo. This shift at work is not good for me physically. I am at work right now btw. Got a dr.'s appt Monday afternoon. Cost $100 for the office visit. I am willing to bet he is going to want to run a bunch of tests which I can't afford. I am hoping he is willing to go to one of the med's I am supposed to be on website and apply for me to get the meds free. It has to be a dr. to do it, and the meds go to his office, not straight to me. Wish my antidepressant had such a program.
 
Well, back to work. If I don't fall asleep on the way back to the test room.
 
Thanks,
Russ

Glad to hear you're feeling better.  Sleep is a great healer!  I scrape by on 4-5 hours sleep per day most of the time, but then every couple of months I'll come to a day when I might sleep fifteen or more hours straight.  Heaven only knows what that does to our bodies, but sometimes it just can't be helped.  Hope you get to spend some time with your Pinto this evening.


Dwayne

Wish I had read this earlier, I just got back from being out and about, and one of the things I did was to go to HD and buy 16 feet of 2 inch x 2 inch 1/8th inch thick angle. Oh well, it is only money. I will go ahead and use the bigger stuff  for most of it, the smaller stuff will work for the battery and miscellaneous supports. Plus welding practice. I haven't touched the welder since a couple of days after I bought it. At least now I have thick enough metal that I shouldn't have to worry about burn thru. Learn on the thick stuff, then work my way up (down) to the thin. At least that is my plan.

didn't get anything done today on the Pinto, we were just out way later than I had planned. Hopefully tomorrow evening.

Sleep. My problem is that the 12-15 hour sleep day comes about once a week if I keep on like I have been this past week. Started out in the Navy doing that. We called it an "equalizer". There were no drills or training on Sundays on the sub, so that was the day to catch up on sleep. If an alarm went off on Sunday, it was for real.

Thanks,
Russ