The RED Ball Express, 2012. "From Cactus to the Cape"

[Caveman Tony]

Good deal, man. Now I feel like much less of a heel.

Stay on that diet, Bruab, and you'll actually be able to SEE your heels! HA!

[Caveman Tony]

Seriously, though... my Dad is a helluva wrench, and he can troubleshoot like nobody's business. It'll be good to have him along, if only to BS with him about how bad the Red Sox are and how long before they fire Bobby Valentine.

Now, if I can only figure out how to teach him the digital camera, we'll be sendin' ya lots of cool stuff.

[Caveman Tony]

She's so pretty.

[Caveman Tony]

fresh 454... .030 over, pretty stock.

[TC]

Looks pretty clean, what all do you need to do it get it road worthy??.....

[Caveman Tony]

Looks pretty clean, what all do you need to do it get it road worthy??.....

Lol... It good as-is!



Seriously, though... We're swapping in the 3.73 rear today, bleed brakes, get a new radio, check valve lash, oil change, new wipers, an air freshener, an I think we might repaint it a nice pearl red two-stage on Monday.

Lotsa little stuff, mostly under control, except for maybe the repaint thing, lol.



Hey, FYI, Squirrel, don't bother with the wood blocks, we should be good.

Off to work.

[squirrel]

ok, give me a call later...probably be in Tucson in the afternoon some time.

[squirrel]

I made it to tucson, my brother left for the Nevada desert....

[BOOOGHAR]

i spy a old stock car cage

[Caveman Tony]

BOOGs, you are CORRECT.

That IS a cage, actually bound for a metric G-body in my host's grand plan. He and his son (and daughter!) are regulars at the local dirt track.

I'll post up some more on that stuff as I get the photo thing figured out in this area... can't do it my usual way, as my reception is spotty (download times are kiiiiilllllllllllliiiin' me).

Truck update 1st...

[Caveman Tony]

So today started great, then kinda slowed as the temp rose up into normal southern-AZ high 90's.

Had the 14-bolt bolted in by 9:30... but a few little things started kickin' my ass. Murphy's Law struck, but we have a plan to kick his ass.

Popped off the drums (one fought us) and found SURPRISE, surprise, needs a brake job, bad. Shoe material was down to the metal, and one cylinder was leaking. Add that to the shopping list. And a weird issue with the U-joint, the required straps were a weird size. The u-joint itself fit fine, but the yoke straps that bolt it down were different widths and depth, so spent part of day tracking down correct crap...

Hit up Harbor Freight for some trip-prep stuff: $39 bucks for a 100-piece toolkit of sockets, pliers, etc, grabbed a jack, an air-hose, some padlocks, some wiring crap, duct tape, yada, yada, yada.

Then hit up O'Reilly's for oil, filter, 90-weight (gonna top off the 4-speed), wipers, Brakleen spray, brake shoes, cylinders, and a fuel filter. Also threw a bottle of Heet into the tank, just 'cuz its been sittin around. (lol... not that there's much moisture in the desert...).

Tomorrow, we're gonna pop the valve covers and check the lifter preload since the motor is still technically fresh and barely broken in. It was built and dropped in back in '07, but its only been run a total of a couple hours. Then its a brake job.

In the meantime, I've been enjoying some of the best Mexican food in the country.

Tucson rules.

[Caveman Tony]

Drum shoes are Toastada... off to the parts store...

Oh, and btw, even if it is only 90 degrees by 9am in Tucson, DO NOT touch sheetmetal that has been sitting in the sun. OUCH.

[Caveman Tony]

This....



is gonna go into a G-body... which will replace this...



While this doesn't look tooo bad from a first glance... this car was flipped AND rear-ended while upside down on lap 6 of a main event at the local dirt track. REBUILD time. Big time. The whole car is BENT.

[Scott Liggett]

fresh 454... .030 over, pretty stock.
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That isn't a crusty old water pump on your fresh engine, is it? Bad news for a road trip.

[JOES66FURY]

tony, make sure you give me a call at some point.