A dear friend asked me to join her for a special event the weekend after the GRM Challenge. Since I had planned to spend the post-$2010 week with family, I’m having to move that up, meaning I lose a week of build time. Oi!
The new engine is all hooked up and ready to go. We were going to turn the key & drain the fule line when I reminded the guys that we still needed to replace the steering column (I’d bought a used one from Bob Martin off the GTX list) from when my ham-fisted ex, who - despite having the key to my car at the time - busted my ignition cylinder to move my car into storage while I was living in NC. Turns out he busted it so badly that the electrical wiring harness connected to the cylinder is shattered.
Sigh. I know he didn’t mean to do it, but dang! Breaking my heart, I could forgive. Screwing up my Challenge car? That one is going to take more time!
Anyway, I had planned to scour the nearby boneyard for another steering column, this time with the ignition harness intact. Then it occurred to me - it’s wiring. I know electrical engineers. Screw this whole ignition cylinder business - I need big shiny buttons and switches!!
My buddy Chris came over the other night to assess the situation. Not so grim, but he didn’t have beefy enough switches and buttons in his kit to get started. This weekend I’ll scour the local area (I’m in Silicon Valley, after all!) for 30 amp switches and a push button, and Chris will come back Monday or Tuesday night to finish the rewiring.
In the meantime, I need to swap the suspension from the running GTX - those struts have less than 15k on them and I’d feel safer riding on those to Florida.
The car won’t be drivable in time for my birthday, but hopefully the weekend after…
