Building a Morgan 3-Wheeler Replica

[two_68_510s]

My wife runs the front desk at the Aptos CHP, might be a bit much for a first jaunt though!

[okayfine]

Maybe. Doesn't help the situation that the TO DMV has the front door walk straight into/through the line for the front desk. So everyone coming out has to go through the line, the door is always help open yet full of someone standing in the line & doorway, and you have to make at least two trips through the line.

Still and all, I walked out with what I needed and didn't spend all day there. Frankly it went better than I thought it would.

Now just waiting for the new Honda thermostat to see if that actually resolves my running-hot problem. If so, then next stop is the B&L garage. I wonder what they'll make of what I made?

[two_68_510s]

Do you remember a few years ago some bureaucrat at DMV allowed a religious group to set up right outside the front door of all the DMVs?

You had to run the gauntlet through the them then the line set up just as you said. Sometimes the line put you right in front of their table!

A captive (literally) audience, what more could a huckster ask for?

[okayfine]

Can't imagine said huckster was really feelin' the love, though. Not in that sort of line. The only people happy to be at DMV are the 16-year-olds getting their licenses. And given that this was Wednesday afternoon, 5-6 of them ran through the test checker counter while I was there. Shouldn't they be in school?

[okayfine]

$211 remaining.

Had to go back to September posts to find my last budget update.

$211
-$40 for carpet
-$120 for driveshaft machine work and balancing
-$25 for Harley mufflers
I think I accounted for the belts (hood straps) previously, but -$25
-$9 for steering wheel spacer

...-$8

That includes ~$1000 of Datsun parts I sold to help fund this project. Still, that's my budget I set from back when I didn't know what it would actually take to get it done. Took 1.5x longer, but pretty stoked on the budget goal. I'm sure I missed something, but everything of any value has been accounted for in the preceding pages.

[James]

Still and all, I walked out with what I needed and didn't spend all day there. Frankly it went better than I thought it would.

Amazing what happens when we lower our expectations to zero……The experience there doesn't have to be much above above abysmal and we think "that went pretty darn well!"

It does seem as if you are on your way though.

[okayfine]

Very true. And it applies (at least for me) to most aspects of doing business. Take Airgas, for example. I'm "happy" if they simply have a full gas bottle of the type and size I'm there to exchange.

[okayfine]

Now just waiting for the new Honda thermostat to see if that actually resolves my running-hot problem.

So, it hasn't. Put the new t-stat in and get the same problem. I can run around the neighborhood with no problem, but once I get out on a main street and open it up a bit, the temp starts to climb. Trouble is, the radiator is cold. I tested the new t-stat before I put it in and it opens as scheduled, so my next theory is that the stock water pump can't push water through the motor AND the longer/higher cooling circuit. Thoughts? Am I looking at adding an aux water pump?

[James]

Very true. And it applies (at least for me) to most aspects of doing business. Take Airgas, for example. I'm "happy" if they simply have a full gas bottle of the type and size I'm there to exchange.

Its a bummer that this is the case. Too bad our megamart mentality allows us to think that as long as its cheap, quality and service are not of much importance.

[James]

If you ran it without the thermostat, you could verify just that water is indeed flowing or not……

[okayfine]

Too bad our megamart mentality allows us to think that as long as its cheap, quality and service are not of much importance.

Sometimes I wonder which came first - demand for foreign (cheap) goods, or a failing of service from USA providers. I could tell you a story about Weber grills...

[two_68_510s]

Too bad our megamart mentality allows us to think that as long as its cheap, quality and service are not of much importance.

Sometimes I wonder which came first - demand for foreign (cheap) goods, or a failing of service from USA providers. I could tell you a story about Weber grills...

Greed came first. My company, (which we sold to the folks at the factory!)was offered free tooling to move production to China from Indiana. If we had, 14 Hoosiers would have lost a job, and most of their

spending power. We made the conscious decision to take a smaller margin and keep it here. The Chinese also had a huge rejection rate, 5-7% in our case.

If the big boys had remembered (duh!) that it takes a strong middle class to move the economy along, all those manufacturing jobs would still be here.

When I tell my kid (24) I could go to Anytown USA in the late sixties and get work at a factory or machine shop fairly quickly and buy a house with my wages, he gets pissed.

[hang_510]

i swear i'm gonna make it over there and get a ride in this beast

If you ran it without the thermostat, you could verify just that water is indeed flowing or not……

i'm sure you already verified the radiator was clean...

[okayfine]

System was running well in the OE bike. Given that I rotated the radiator to fit and have a non-OE cooling circuit, it's quite possible I have air I can't bleed or even an air-locked cooling circuit.

[two_68_510s]

Electric water pump?