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Don, In order for one to be lost one must first be found but being found is not the same as being discoverd and being discoverd is not necessarily the solution. -Randy

48D, If you get the opportunity, please read "Round The Bend" by Nevil Shute, (1951, William Morrow). Long out of print, it would be a difficult search but well worth the effort. It is a work of fiction in which one character (an aircraft mechanic) successfully ties together Zen and the concious thought of mechanics, and the story is told in such a fashion that it has been my mechanical inspiration since I first read it in High School. I was fortunate to have found a first edition of it about twenty-five years ago and still read it over once every several years, and one of the main things it taught me was to appreciate the joy of PM (seriously) and the feeling of "oneness" it brings to your project. BTW, "Round The Bend" is a somewhat archaic British expression for "being a bloody loon", which is how most mechanics would see the effort you put into your truck, but most wrenchers are wanting to "git-r-done" rather than bask in the residuals of a true Zen moment. I think you'd enjoy the read as I enjoyed Pirsig's work. -Randy

Larry, Some good suggestions here (and a few that really bite because I don't think a tartan pattern would receive due appreciation) and I don't want to roil the waters because that is simply not my way. Use any color that pleases you (mine is a 1961 Chevy Seafoam Green) but do not paint anything that has oil on the other side of it black! The reasoning behind this is simple; if it's black you'll play hell ever finding an oil leak. There are plenty of folks who will say I'm wrong about this, but most of them drive "trailer queens" and I doubt thats the direction you want to go. -Randy

Gents, Been a while since I've poked my nose into everyone else's business but this is one of my favorite topics. 1. Be certain to get the polarity correct or you'll end up electroplating the rust to the part you want clean, which can be funny if you don't like the person who's doing it but not too productive if it's a friend. 2. Washing soda can be both difficult to find and sometimes expensive. TSP is the same stuff wearing a different shirt. 3. I've used this method for removing paint, too. Did a great job on Pigiron's cowl vent all in one swell foop. 4. I found a WWII practice bomb in the middle of the Mojave Desert that got squished but didn't explode. I used a big trash bag for the liquid and it did a grand job even in the little squished places. -Randy

Gents, I finally got talked into getting a Twitter account last week, and within three days it was hacked. I no longer have a Twitter account. -Randy

Kacee, What Rich said, but I needed to remove the fan before the pump. No biggie; it's an easy job. -Randy

Paul, Seems as though Neil Riddle (the great parts guy (206) 285-6534) drives a '52 Suburban with an OD tranny. When I bought my OD from him he said I should expect better mileage than your estimate, and I'd bet he'd like to chat about it with you. Why not give him a call? -Randy

Gents, A bit over a year ago I bought a Zendex hand-held sandblaster to help clean rusted parts on Pigiron, my '48 P-15, and it worked well for the two minutes I used it before it became obvious I was going to need to build a blasting cabinet. Once I got a cabinet cobbled-together my compressor died and it's taken me this long before I could replace it, and then the blasting gun began leaking around the trigger. After disassembling the gun and not finding the problem I contacted the manufacturer (Zendex Tools) and explained what I had done and, long story short, today I received a new gun via UPS, no questions asked. An American company selling an American-made product and standing behind it although the warranty had long since expired spells a high level of integrity, and they are to be applauded. This is the way every company would work in a perfect world but let's all take a deep breath of realism and admit that Zendex's actions were above-and-beyond. Thanks for taking good care of your customers, no matter how small. -Randy

Gents, I had the same car as Ed with the smallest V-8 (230?) I ever saw before Buick came out with a 228 in an aluminum block. -Randy

Gents, This got shared on my Farce Book page and thought you might enjoy it. I have no information on the rig but it sure looks sweet. -Randy

Glenn, About 2:00 Monday afternoon. The picture might be a bit deceptive as that's not water, it's stationary drying mud, and I saw a set of footprints but me walking is like something from a Monty Python skit so I didn't try. The interior is visibly trashed but I couldn't see any damage to the body other than what should be expected after being caught in a flood and there wasn't very much of that so maybe it didn't travel very far. I don't want to disturb anybody working around there because the cleanup will be a 24/7 situation for months to come and they don't need me interrupting them right now but I'll do an eventual followup and keep everyone posted, just without pictures, lol. -R

Tod, Yup, that's just like the button I pushed. Came out different for me than it did for you, huh? Time to get rid of the bucket and try something I can learn to use in less than three hours, wouldn't you think? I've posted to it many times in the past but three hours to get it wrong isn't worth any more effort on my part. Neat old car, too, and didn't look to be on its way to the boneyard the pentultimate time it was parked. -Randy

Gents, Obviously that didn't work. I spent the last several hours stuying the Help files on the bucket and the Search files here and I haven't figured it out, so if anybody here knows a way of getting pics from the bucket to here I'd appreciate a clue. I tried everything I could with the URL; that was the first thing I tried. Anybody know what really works or should I just keep pictures to myself? -Randy

Gents, Part of the aftermath of our recent floods. It was near the road but I couldn't get closer because I walk with a cane and didn't think it would be prudent to trust the mud to hold. I have no info on the car other than it came from upstream, lol. -Randy <div style="width:480px;text-align:right;"><embed width="480" height="360" src="http://pic2.pbsrc.com/flash/rss_slideshow.swf" flashvars="rssFeed=http%3A%2F%2Ffeed51.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ff392%2FRandroid%2FMuddy%2520Graham%2Ffeed.rss" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" /><a href="javascript:void(0);" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/share/icons/embed/btn_geturs.gif" style="border:none;" /></a><a href="http://s51.photobucket.com/user/Randroid/library/Muddy%20Graham" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/share/icons/embed/btn_viewall.gif" style="border:none;" alt="Randroid's Muddy Graham album on Photobucket" /></a></div>

DJ, Every thing you've been told is good advice and I can't add to it so far as the hinges are concerned, but I read a tip on the car side that may help you reassemble it. Before you pull the doors drill a 1/8" hole through each hinge plate because 1/8" is just slightly smaller than the diameter of a 16p nail. When you're ready for reassembly drive a nail through the hole in the plate and into the hole you drilled along the hinge line and voila!, instant alignment once the bolts are started. Don't drive the nails until you seat them or you'll pay the devil to get them out. The hole can easily be filled with Bondo but the holes will be so small they'll hide themselves and don't need filling, especially if there's a dab of paint on them. Have fun. -Randy