Thanksgiving

The student with the expansion chamber came back to school so I finished welding up his job. When I was ready to weld it, and prior to that as well, I suggested we just tack it together, he take it home, check the fit and then we'll finish it up. He assured me it would go right on there. Well, he brought it to open shop last night and it went right on alright. As the picture shows, it's not the tidiest of installations by any means. A couple of bends and it would have fit much nicer. It still would have been darn near as long as the bike but it wouldn't have looked quite so much like something you would see in a cartoon. It sounds nice, though. Loud but not obnoxious. Parking lot testing showed a little boost in power according to his seat of the pants dyno. He still needs to make a rear mounting bracket but he went home happy anyway.





















The photos of the little Ford show what you can do with a bunch of rattle cans of flat black paint and a roll of masking tape. One of the boys swapped his truck for this little gem and some cash. It gets much better fuel economy and since he also races go-karts, it's just the right size. He put the spoiler on last night and finished his painting. I'm figuring he's going to come up with something for his wheels next. He already put some kind of can on his exhaust. These boys do have fun, I'll say that for 'em.
















I got the keel poured for the little boat. I had to do the job twice, however. I didn't have the edge of the mold deep enough for the lead to run all the way out the first time. I cut things a little deeper and trimmed the edge of the sheet steel back a little and it worked pretty nice the second time.

I've got lots planned for the Thanksgiving weekend. A little more work on the house trim, paint some chairs for the gym, take a good look at and maybe hit a couple of licks on the gym van, grade some papers, work on the boat or train or gun project. Or maybe all three. Oh yeah, I'm running a 10K in the morning as well. Lots to be thankful for, though. We're all relatively healthy, still gainfully employed and want for nothing. Can't really ask for more than that, now can you?

Have a wonderful holiday.