The dog days of summer ........ Hot August nights and I'm off to work bright and early. Today the A/C guy is coming by, the pump guy to get the well pump operating and the clean up continues. Called in for our first bulk pick up of yard waste. We get 2 pick ups of 25 cubic yards each. I called for one pick up. We'll se how much they'll take from the huge pile. I need to buy locks, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures etc. I must be getting in a good workout. Everything hurts.

The work continues Tommy. When do you estimate you will be able to move in? Hope everything works out today....

I can't believe its Monday all ready. Looks like a long hot week coming up but the work needs to be done. Still trying to decide about the home security. ADT seems to be what the majority of the Guru who reported in went with. I will do some more research.

Not much else going on.....Up and at um Guru's, let's all be safe out there today.

Greetings! Looks like another good day to stay indoors - hot and muggy. I can't recall a stretch like this in quite some time. Golf in this crap yesterday was miserable. At least the beverage cart made frequent stops :-P

Have a good day, everyone!

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Oh yea.
I don't envy you at all. But it will be worth it.

Starting to see great cars on the street, Hot August Nights starts next week.

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Yea, definately go with ADT.

WHY? ADT is owned by Tyco, I worked for Tyco, my 401 has Tyco stock in it.

The more customers ADT gets, the more my 401 goes up (I think ). Simple,huh?

Good Morning Guys!
Looks like its going to be a sunny one here too. Not much planned today. I was going to take the day off to do something for myself on my birthday but I decided to save the day off for Corvettes at Carlisle at the end of the month instead. If I can get a ride to Sport Chevrolet today I'm gonna go pick up the car later as well.

Have a good day gentlemen!

BTW, Golf Dudes: this is going on 5 blocks from my house this week.

http://www.renotahoeopen.com/

Happy Birthday, Don!

Good morning guys....It's hot already here, whooo-hoo, big surprise. I have almost nothing planned again today. Men's golf late this afternoon/evening, it's steak night. I have that table and chair that I fixed/repaired done, so I need to deliver those. And I have another little repair project that I need to get done. I'll be prepping for our trip to the mountains this week as well.

Tommy, I know the feeling, but the work will be worth the aches. In response to Ron's question in yesterdays thread, yes, I am counting the days.

Oh, Happy Birthday Don.

Happy birthday Don.

My weekend:

shiney

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Don't the others get jealous?

I hope you get her up and running again soon!

Are your pistons considered flat top? How about mine in this photo? I was talking with a friend the other day and he said that he was running 11.5:1 compression and flat top pistons. I know mine look a little different than yours but aren't these still considered flat tops?

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Don't envy you the yard work in this heat, Tommy!!

Happy Birthday Don and what happened with your car...all fixed or is that in a previous posting?

Hot, hot here today. Yesterday in Columbia, SC at the local picknpull and people were just miserable. Thankfully the yard put out coolers with water and cups. Well appreciated by all I think! And free to get in with my military ID. Took lots of pictures to put my Passat TDI back together from a junk one they had there.

That deck finished yet, Brad??

Ralf - Nothing wrong with the motor. That's a photo from last winter when the engine was being put back together after rebuilding. I had it stroked to 383cui, new guts and heads totally reworked with 2.05 intake valves and a nice new cam to match. I had rebuilt the top end several years ago myself but last summer the bottom end just had enough and I lost almost every bearing surface on the crank and rods.

Don, did the dealer find and fix the problems?

And, HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

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Getting there

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Yup they're both flat tops. Just a different way to create valve clearance. One of the experts will have to chime in, but in a nutshell domed pistons will increase your compression ratio and dished will lower it. There are a lot of factors regarding airflow, etc. that are affected by piston top shape, but I am not knowledgable enough to post info on the specifics.


BTW I am still at stock 10.5:1 compression. Longevity is far more important than power in my application.

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We were shooting for 10.5:1 but ended up much higher due to the amount of material that was removed from the block to get it as flat as he wanted. Jerry wasn't too happy because he had to take the pistons back out and mill enough off the tops to bring the compression ratio back down. It finally ended up at 10.8:1 which is still conservative enough.

Pretty, shiny toys
Happy birthday, Don!
Gonna be way hot here too. Heat index of 104 with around 50% humidity. Figures. I have some things to go out and get done, then in for a nap. Still rearranging the inside of the house and doing the 'heavy cleaning'. Was up with that and some freelance work till around 1 and back up around 6:30. Meeting a client today to pick up a little more side work.
Have a good day, all and don't melt...

Happy Birthday Don. Keep us updated on the car.

Happy Bday, Don.

Trying to get the baby to take a nap so I can work out but he's being difficult

I was whipped after the race yesterday. Running, hot sun, lots of beer afterward. Lost my voice from yelling. We did well but not as well as we should have. My partner takes the blame for being slow, he held us up at all the transitions. We were 188/1200 or so, we should have been 100/1200. Next year will be better.

Matthew

Happy B-day Don.

Not much going on here, it's hot.

Tommy, where's the progress pics?

Dad's coming for a couple days next week so I am looking forward to that.

Damn I hate plumbing, especially under the kitchen sink.
Just installed an icemaker filter.
At least it's good for 5 years or 20k gallons.

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Piston envy????

Uhm... my day changed.... drama, on top of drama, no sleep, no nap, bout to fall over... hot as hell.... more drama... no housework done like I'd planned...bought a car.....broke and stressed and freaked and all that...

Congrats on the new car, VB!

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Pictures are mandatory ;-)

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And a couple of shots of the new car would be nice too.

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This has me freaked out, stressed, worried about my future, my retirement and all that mess. Does this mean I'm having a midlife crisis since I"m single? I thought that's what happened when I bought the pickup truck....
and, this makes my third vette, all three were some variation of silver and black - not intentional...

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Nice Vert, Letty.

Jeff, I'm gonna do before and after pics. I forgot the camera today to take some inside shots. I tore into the future garage. Tore a bunch of insultion off the door and ceiling. A garage door and gate service company is coming by tomorrow to give me an estimate of adding a power door opener, adding some track, and seeing if the front gate can be powered again. Took out the huge black olive tree on the side of the house. My A/C guy came by and checked out the system. It had a few issues but the system is now up. We're cooling everything down so we'll see how it works. My pump guy came by and found the check valve in the water system was kaput. We now have running hot and cold water. Changed some locks. My electrician came by and hung 4 ceiling fans and several light fixtures. Work has been slow for him and I can use his help. So today we had a crew of 8. Yesterday we had 5 and the day before we had 6. My wife has assumed the role of General Contractor and oversees who's doing what when. She's also been operationg the skid steer (bobcat)I've been doing lots of labor. Doesn't matter what I say, she has her own visions of what she wants. Not that she's wrong. I'm just a tight fisted bastard. So far all the money spent has been on needs. It's moving right along. My electrician is gonna do some painting too. All the tradesmen working on our house we've known for years. Does't mean I don't have to pay them. It just means they're fair and honest with me and show what needs to be done. Way too much for just me and my wife to accomplish on our own. But we're putting some serious dents in the project. The estimates on the roof are coming in between 10 and 15 grand. It's a fairly large flat area with some rotten wood to boot. The main house roof is fine. It's the flat roof that has some issues. So, there we go. To tired to make any dinner. Tonight was Chinese, yesterday Peruvian and the day before our old stand by, rotiserie chicken with cole slaw , potato salad sides and dinner rolls. I've got blisters on my fingers. Target move in is Labor Day weekend.

Letty, I'm still jumping into the fire. What fun is life if you don't take chances. You must have goals, objectives and motivation. You can't enjoy any of this stuff after your gone so might as well enjoy a good life now. Well, I'm more in a work mode right now but I hope to enjoy more free time soon. (That's what I always say). One day I'll actually do it.

Thanks Tommy. If I was there I'd give you a hand with your projects. I enjoy things like that. Redid two houses that I lived in prior to moving where I am now. I hope to still be able to feel like jumping into the fire (and able to afford to) later on as well, but I guess it's just scary since I'm single and the economy is so crappy. Congrats on your house, now let's see some photos

Tommy - somehow I couldn't think of having a Birthday and you not posting the Birthday Song!! Thanks.... I always watch it all the way through!!! Kathie couldn't take it much more than a 1/4 of the way through!!! She said to send it to my Mom!!! LOL

Letty, Sweet car! I was wondering if that was the one you were going to buy. Very cool hood too! Did you sell the '96?

I still have the 96, this all happened yesterday. I'm still not sure if I'm happy about it all or not. Been thinking about it, but kept getting cold feet. I think they call that a tiger shark body kit or something. The 96 goes to the first fair offer and it ain't gotta be much!