[Shotimes] 55 minutes.......and then......

[George Fourchy]

I know you easterners/northerners are tired of hearing this.  Sorry......

I have promised someone at the convention I will swap a pair of rear Tokiko/CC strut
assemblies onto their car, since it has a leaking strut, and they want to try
Blackhawk for the first time.  So, I had to get my 'loaner' set out from under the
Plus from Hell.  I went to the PnP yesterday, to borrow another set to put under it
while the Toks are gone.   (Turns out the loaner set has NAD springs, and the struts
are pretty darn good, for being original....they definitely pass the jounce test.  I
haven't driven it.  I was going to take them back for a refund when I get home, but
I might wind up keeping them....they were only $25 each, assembled.)

I had to do a bit of relearning, since it has been about 9 months since I've done
any struts.  It took about 40 minutes to get the struts out of the car at the yard,
with no reassembly.  I had to relearn the tricks with the swaybar end links, and I
had to pry up the seat belt retractor enough to get to the nuts in the trunk....I
had to find something to pry with, as I forgot my bar.

So this morning I started the swap on the PfH at about 8:11.  That's when I jacked
it up to place the jackstands, after loosening the wheel lugs.  At 9:05 or so, I was
letting it down.  Those ratchet box wrenches are REALLY neat....it's amazing the
time they save...it takes 15 minutes or so per side using a regular end wrench, but
with the ratchet box, it takes about 2 minutes per side to loosen the entire strut
from the vehicle.

As I was walking in to take a shower, the phone rang.  The potential buyers of our
house have accepted our counter offer.  When we get back from Madison, we'll be
moving into our new house.

Finally..........................

George