Re: Re: Another update (downer) (OT)

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the kind words , they help. I am just kind of numb at the

moment mentally, if that makes any sense.

Two perfect examples are in my immediate & very near future. The first one is

tonight when my wife's " rocket " (91 Regal Gran Sport) gets its' slew of needed

work. Oh, I will be there and my mind & mouth will be going, but I am not

allowed to touch anything. It needs a timing chain & gear set, cam sensor

interrupter, the front brake rotors need to be machined & it needs a lot of

other maintenance. I can't even cheat like I had intended to as I told my Father

& (He calls himself the manager, as my Father & I are owners, he is a

riot) that my big ass friend " Gungha " () would be doing all of the work

with me instructing him. It didn't take them long to figure out that there isn't

a snowballs' chance in hell I would have someone as inexperienced as touch

the Regal. Hell, on Wednesday the positive battery cable in my truck decided to

puke. I was able to get it running by using my jumper cables from the battery to

the starter motor. I showed up at the garage with dirty hands and damn near got

my head ripped off. Needless to say, will be down the garage doing the

work, will be cleaning all of the parts and learning and I get to sit on a

stool and answer questions. Makes me sick! All of my vehicles (except the family

minivan) have been " Kirk-ized " and run like raped apes. I am not a fan of

" boring " performance as drag racing is what got me into this profession in the

1st place! I will grant you that with the exception of our '78 Monte Carlo

(awesome car, want a pic, email me @ kbonanny@... they all appear and

sound stock. The Regal has a 3.8 liter V-6 that made 195 horsepower from the

factory but makes considerably more now (240).

What is really going to hurt me is when we get moving on " freshening up " the

Monte Carlo. My father bought this car when I was 15. It was blue with a white

vinyl roof and a white interior (puke)! He built a mild 350 C.I. engine and put

mags on it. I had money saved to buy a car when I was 16, but my father was real

smart and made me drive this '77 boat anchor Buick with a tired ass 6 cylinder

that got 50 miles to the quart of oil and wouldn't go over 55 mph downhill! When

I turned 18 he allowed me to by whatever I could afford. I found a 1975

Oldsmobile 442 and thought it was the fastest thing on wheels. We both started

to drag race at a track not too far from us when I found out what " fast " really

is. I joined the National Guard just so I could build a new engine, trans &

rear. I wound up with one of the fastest cars in the street class division.

Back to the Monte Carlo....I twisted the frame on the 442 as it needed a roll

cage but I didn't find that out until it was too late. The frame was hurt and

the body was showing its' age. The engine in the Monte Carlo was getting tired

after 5 full years of racing and it too was showing its' age. One of my favorite

hobbies is body & paint work. I could never do it for a living as I am wayyy too

fussy and will spend hour after hour on the smallest imperfection until it is

flawless. I ripped the engine out and had it rebuilt and spent 11 months (well

over 400 hours) on the body and paint, changed the interior to an awesome red

one and my father and I split the cost. We each own 1/2 of it. I did all of this

the year before I got married,1995.

Now that we are bored with the engine and the body has a few imperfections

after 10+ years. Well, the new, " tiny little engine " that will make around 600

Horsepower is about ready and I was intending on repainting the car. Now I

can't. This is a heartbreaker to me as you would have to see the car to believe

(I have sent pictures to Carey) how nice it is. I know that to get the same

quality of body & paint work I did to it would cost me about $4,000.00 that I

can't even think about spending now or at any time in the foreseeable future.

Granted, the car still looks great, but I know where the flaws are and they

drive me nuts. I guess once the new engine is in no one will ever see them

anyway as there are no flaws on the back bumper or trunk!!

I was really looking forward to getting this done before May when the drag

strip opens as my oldest son wants to go and see either me (probably not with my

back) or my father race it. " Gungha " bought my old engine out of my 442 and

poured another $4,500.00 into it and that is almost all ready to go together

also. Unluckily for him I got sick last year and only half of his body is done.

I told him people will laugh at the car as it looks like hell until they see the

wheelies and his back end. If he ever gets enough traction he should easily be

able to pull the front end off of the ground by at least 5 feet. I already had

his complete suspension & brake system upgraded to handle the nightmare of an

engine he has built.

Well, at least I feel better after talking about it, but you can kind of get

an insight to my passion for cars. Hell, even my beat to death 1985 Chevy 1/2

ton 4x4 with a shade over 250,000 miles on it spits out the new Hemi-Dodge

trucks, and I can never resist the urge to ask them how it feels to get their

doors blown in by a $2,000.00 POS after they had just spent 35-40k!!! Needless

to say I am not too well liked by the " Hemi boys " in my area.

As you can see I am awake at 5:00 AM again.....I am sick of this, but I

really appreciate your response , you popped my head out of my a** and

put a smile on my face even if the situation is not to my liking.

Kirk

Re: Another update (downer)

Kirk,

So VERY sorry for the disappointing news...it is understandable to be

discouraged about this. Just maybe one of the two remedies will help.

It sounds like others have received good benefits from them in the

past. Also, I know it must be very disappointing about your job. I

love my job and can understand your disappointment in not being able to

work. However, it sounds as if you have a talent in helping others

start their career and in training good mechanics. Hope this helps and

wishing you the best with the other two neurosurgeons and better days

ahead.

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