[Shotimes] Smogged Black Diamond Today

[George Fourchy]

BD's registration is due on Nov 2, so it got smogged today.  This was the first (in
many months)(and last) time it has been (and will be) driven anywhere until it is
finished, probably in April or so, if the current time given to me to work on it
stays like it has been.  The headlights are in, it's converted to a '91 type turn
signal setup, and the heavy duty 'suvlights' headlight harness is in.  It works
good...nice and bright.  New from PnP MFS works perfectly.  Gonna swap the keys and
keyless module from Lowrider.  Kinda wierd looking through a shattered
windshield...it's been removed, and taped into place for now...a new one goes in
when it is all done.

It gave me the standard 'hasn't been driven enough' symptoms....overheated
immediately after warm up, then the temp gauge fell like a rock to far below the
normal spot (classic stuck 'stat), then came back up to a normal indication.  Turned
on the a/c to run the fan in town, and the air blew full throttle out the defroster
vents in 'max a/c' mode (stuck dash/def vacuum motor).  Nice and cold, with the
R-134 conversion, but took a few minutes to remember how it is supposed to work.  By
the time it was done on the smog dyno, with almost zeros on all the specs, and on
the way home again, it was all working just fine.  The smog guy, a friend, was
rather impressed as to how far apart it is.  He wants to see it next spring.  He
could feel how lively it is when he drove it onto the dyno.  I'll start it every
week or so and let it run for half an hour...to keep the oil up and the stat
working.  It'll get Slorider's new radiator next spring when Mark's dual row goes
into the wagon.

Even for just a few miles, at 35 mph, it sure felt good to drive a SHO again.  It
only has the driver's seat, so it feels sort of light....like the original SR-71!  I
can hardly wait to get it done.  I only get about 2 hours a week to work on it.  (It
takes me that long to get going...what did I do last week??!!)  It's funny how the
"honey-do's" keep on a comin!!!

If I can finagle a digital camcorder, I'll try to make that suspension video when I
get to the axles, struts and brakes....no clue exactly when that will happen, but it
will be this winter sometime ( I hope!).

George