dimlight65

A few pages back, I showed y'all the 1911 Carbine kit I assembled... I was worried about being charged with "Constructive Intent" by having the ability to put a pistol barrel and butt stock on the same weapon so I welded a plug into the factory chamber. I thought I had pictures of that, but I don't. Well, with the developments going on with the NFA, I have decided to risk it and bought another pistol barrel... Oops, it appears to be an inch longer. Oh well, let's see how it turns out. I swapped the link over... then lapped the bushing with some valve grinding compound... until everything was Buttery Smoove. It pokes out a bit... but I kinda like it... Oh, do you know what happens to this little bastard... when you don't hold onto it while turning the bushing? Yeah, it goes flying and disappears into the Nth dimension. Fortunately, a local gun range had one to sell me... Fits nicely too... What doesn't fit nicely though, is the gun in the holster. Yeah, the barrel is now too long. "Harry Ham Fist" to the rescue! (the blade was a lot sharper than I expected and cut too fast) It pokes out a bit... but I'm prepared to be ok with it. So, here are all the bits of this silliness... Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

I just added five Kuromi knives... and open... and together with the rest...

I am willing to sell it, but not trying to sell it. If a reasonable offer is made, I would sell.

While I was doing a test tickle... notice there's no horn button, because John was inside making... a blanking plate out of some carbon fiber... Yeah, that is the thing about which I am talking... and the match with the shift knob isn't too bad... It could stand to be a little darker purple... but I'm ok with it. We also figured out why the driver's door lock didn't work, but didn't take pictures. Needles to say, we won't be doing the power locks after all.

Someone (who shall remain... John) sent me an e-bay link to a JDM as FUUUUUUUUCK steering wheel the other day... It arrived today... I couldn't wait until Saturday to show it off.

So this lever thingy... is problematic. If Juan doesn't set it tight enough (and subsequently does a "Dukes of Hazzard" though an intersection) it can come loose. But if Juan gorilla grips it, the ears of the terminal will break off. Well, fork that... I replaced it with a nut and bolt... which I subsequently over tightened and broke the ears off of the terminal. Just kidding! I was conscious to tighten it just enough that I couldn't twist the terminal off the battery. Then I realized that ever since I removed the BOFA, I was lying to the world... so I reinstalled my candy jar... Then, after taking a nap in front of the fan, I decided to have a look at making a switch panel for the key-switch and DPDT for the power locks (which we may or may not actually install)... I used the old fuel fill neck mount and wired it up... The sun was shining right on the fuel door side of the van, so I didn't try for an installation. But hey, at least I have this much of it made, right? We'll decide in the next few weeks whether or not we're going for power locks or just fix the manual bits. Oh, and here's the van in the Braum's parking lot while I ate breakfast...

In case it wasn't obvious... he wouldn't let me. ☹️

Looking at this picture some more... the area that is cutout opposite that port is the idle air bypass. I'm kinda amazed this thing ran at all with the square bore gasket "blocking off" those two things.

Aces Killshot throttle bodies apparently use a special gasket with cutouts... to equalize the vacuum signal to the MAP sensor... We, however, were using regular square-bore gaskets, and exacerbating it with the four-hole spacer... We marked the 1/2" open spacer and "gasket matched" it to the TB... then used the old hot rodder's trick of greasing the gaskets... before reinstalling everything... which, of course, that photo doesn't show because it's the "during" picture. I didn't take an "after" pic, but also didn't want to waste that one. Deal with it. It fired right up and maybe seemed to possibly idle a little bit better? Driving it to lunch definitely seemed like it might kinda run a bit better? Well, until I hit a giant bump in the road and popped the positive battery cable loose. Voltage spiked to over 18v at anything over idle. John diagnosed it from my description of events and we "fixed" it (as in, put the terminal back on the battery) right there in the restaurant parking lot. I will do a more permanent fix tomorrow. Then, to top off the stressful first drive home, It started losing power on the freeway (tollway, actually). It read 3/16 of a tank, but the fuel pressure kept dipping. I coasted to a stop and called FlyinPat to come rescue me. The 5 gallons he dumped in the tank got the fuel pressure back up to 47 psi and it fired right up again. I went straight to a gas station (which was the original plan for the first drive, but we forgot)... and pumped in 18.9 more gallons. Let's see... 18.9+5=23.9 gallons. I now, officially, believe that is a 25 gallon fuel tank.

I read "ashtray" and was like, "One of us is having a stroke!"

Yeah, I was just talking about the door locks

My other thought (which would be infinitely more convenient if it were possible) was to mount the switch in that air intake under the passenger headlight. Just walk by, reach in surreptitiously, and unlock the van. But there's no room for the switch and wiring, and no way to cut the square hole for the switch anyway... I looked at it yesterday. I think the gas door is the way to go, but I will listen to any suggestions John has... before rejecting them and going with my plan. 😜

So a few years ago, the lock knob on the driver's door fell off. Subsequently, the whole locking mechanism began acting up. Rather than fix it, I ignored it and just stopped locking the van. Now I am thinking about power locks. I bought a couple lock solenoids... and some momentary DPDT switches... then spent a few hours thinking about how to wire them before "figuring it out" (ok, I googled it)... The switches came with pigtails too, which made it even easier. I wired up a "proof of concept" setup... and gave it a test tickle. Doohickie goes in... Doohickie goes out... and an YouTube video of it working... The next big question is, "Where am I going to mount that switch?" Well, (if I follow through with this plan) one will go on the dash somewhere and the other will go in the gas door hole. Yeah, yeah, I can hear you now, "What is the point of locks if the switch is right there where anyone can just unlock the van?" Well, Mr. or Mrs. Smarty-pants, I also just ordered a set of these... With this I can lock out the power to the semi-hidden switch or leave it hot for when I only need "Faux Security." What? Oh, now you want to know why I didn't buy a DPDT keyed switch? Because SHUT UP! That's why. (Also, they don't appear to make a momentary DPDT keyed switch, so it would be possible to leave the key on and burn up almost $12 worth of solenoids!)

I forgot to show y'all the video of the dash... I think it turned out nicely.

So I started by fishing the wiring for the EFI handheld programmer through its hole and attaching some Velcro... which matches the Velcro on the back of the handheld... and so mounts it thusly... Next, I installed the turn signal indicator... and wired it to its plug... I then installed the dash in the van... and the handheld... So, with that finally done, I sat in the shop and talked to... Miss Cagney. (She meows like Jimmy Cagney in a 1940s gangster film... "Me-yeah, me-yeah." I keep waiting for her to say "Ya see?") But enough of these shenanigans, back to the Dajiban. I took some more of that Velcro and attached the battery charger/tender... next to the battery under the flip cover. And since it was only 99° out, and I wasn't ready to quit yet, I "installed" and wired the light switches... to fire up the mood lights... and room lights... I might put the roof fan on the third switch, but I haven't decided for sure. And with that done, I was ready to quit. So I went home. Next week, back on the road for some 0 to 60 tests with 1/2" four-hole versus 1/2" and 1" open spacers... unless John won't let me. We'll see.