I recently received an e-mail from Rick Norris asserting his belief that I would be unable to get my car put back together in time to go color touring with the Western Michigan Corvair Club on October 19th. I suspect that Rick's intent is to use child psychology to motivate me; a logical thing to do, because I am so childlike. However, the gauntlet has been cast down, and must be picked up. Therefore, I hereby announce the commencement of the Legends of the Engine Compartment Celebrity Charity Pool.

There are no celebrities, and there is no charity, but there will be a pool.

Here's the rules. You e-mail me your guess for the date and time when my Corvair first touches a public road again under its own power. I'll post the names and dates and time of day in Legends # 14, which will be the cut-off for entries. The winner gets their choice of one of these fabulous prizes (or both, I don't care): a used '65 taillight lens, or an early model Monza hubcap.

I'll even throw in another hubcap and taillight lens or two if I like the winner. The auditor for this pool will be the law firm of Norman C. Witte, and there's no charge to enter, but one entry only per person, please. In the unlikely event of a tie, Jeff's dogs Sugar and Spice will choose a winner. How, I don't know yet.

Last night started with a fun chore: swamping out the parts washer and putting new fluid in. Ungh. Nice and clean now, though!

Once that was done, we went back to work on the Hillbilly Blaster. Next step was putting together the frame for the grid inside. We used the drill press to drill holes in some old galvanized angle iron I had, and bolted that to the front and back of the cabinet. Then we cut two shorter pieces to support the sides of the grid. We had to trim one row of metal off the grid so that it would fit. Holes were drilled in each of the side supports for the grid, and the grid was bolted to the side supports. This allows the grid to slide back and forth along the back and front supports, but at the same time, it feels pretty sturdy.

Next we drilled a hole in the side of the case and put a short galvanized nipple in the hole. We had to twist and drive the nipple in because we deliberately drilled the hole small to make leaks less likely. Brass hose fittings were attached to the nipple, and the inside hose we purchased was attached. It appears to have a smaller diameter than the hose coming from the sandblaster. I hope this will not be a problem, but the blaster seemed to have more than enough pressure before, so I think we will be all right. If not, we will get new hardware.

I think it would be nice if the cabinet were a little higher, and it would be nice to add casters to it as well. But at this stage I'd rather wait on the casters until I am sure the cabinet is a working proposition.

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Back to Part 11.

On to Part 13.

All images and text copyright Norman C. Witte 2002.