I decided I needed to get busy on an engine stand because I'll be picking up the block on Monday. I don't have a floor crane any more. I loaned mine out years ago to a friend of mine and I haven't seen it since. There was one at the high school shop that I came up with that I suppose was technically mine but since I left it behind and I've been gone going on seven years, I should probably consider it a donation to the school and leave it at that. I'm sure I could borrow it, however. Harbor Freight has a one ton for $99.00 with the coupon. I'm considering buying it - maybe even later today. I do have a hook over the big doors in my shop that I can hang the come-a-long on and I can unload the truck that way - set the block on the piano dolly and roll it back out of the door way but a floor crane would be handy for this operation and later on when it's time to install the slant six or install the small block into my hot rod project.
The photo above is the head I'm planning to use. The slots were only 5/16" wide so I put it on the mill and opened them up to accept 3/8" bolts. Ordinarily I would use 1/2" bolts but 3/8" grade 8 bolts should be plenty strong. The weld holding the pipe to the plate is not all that lovely. There's a few slag inclusions. I'm sure it would hold but I'm going to grind out the weld and then put a nice three-pass fillet on there. That's the trouble with having students do your welding for you. Things don't always come out quite like you want them to. There wasn't an issue with it holding up a 100 pound bike motor but car motors are a bit different.
While I was working on the head for the engine stand on Friday, a woodpecker attacked the corner board on the house. Just as I was finishing up all the outside work and feeling real proud of myself for getting most everything on my to-do list taken care of - along comes this. Swapping out the board won't be that big of a deal but my big concern is why was the woodpecker drilling away on this one. Bugs back there? It'll be just my luck there'll be termites or carpenter ants back there. I really don't wish to deal with any of that. I'd much rather work on the car and bike projects. It'd be nice to get a head of steam built up and be able to spend a few weeks out there in the shop with out interruption. Now would be a good time because we all know what's coming.
That's right, snow. And damned if it didn't snow yesterday afternoon. The day started out pretty nice but turned raw right quick like after lunch. The wind picked up, the clouds rolled in, it started to sprinkle, and then the wind started gusting and the snow started flying. No accumulation but certainly an omen.
I'm going to continue on the clean-up/fix-up campaign and try to clean up the docket a bit. As always, steady by jerks.
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