The story...
So, a "sob story..." Great life changes happened in mid- to late 2014. These prevented me from working on the truck for a while. I won't go in to details, but it was a divorce, and all the fun crap that goes with such a thing. No, it wasn't about the truck (although, I've heard this has been the case more than justonce!).
I a nutshell, I kept the house, no Alimony, I have my kids half time, and am in a lot better place... Somehow, even though her income is gone and I have to pay a gob in child support, I have more free spending money than I ever did.
That was the good news. The bad news is that the house had been neglected for quite some time, and I have spent pretty much all of 2015 thru 2017 making various repairs to the house. These were expensive in nature, and because I couldn't afford to pay someone to do them, I had to do it all myself. So, it's more important to have a working roof than it is to have a working truck. That said, if I don't get hit by any surprises, I should have time and funds to work on the truck this year (after taxes come back, anyway)
THere's only one real truck-related thing. And it's a story. So back in July 2014, you might rememebr I brought the engine in to a diesel/machine shop. I was going to have them remove a broken head stud, boil the block, magnaflux, and weld any cracks that showed up...
Well, it's like this...
The guy who owned the shop leased space to a machinist. This worked out well, as the diesel shop had access to the machine shop, and so the machine shop had a pretty steady supply of business from the diesel shop. Turns out, about a month after I brought in my block, the machinist skipped town!
No, really! I've gotten info from a few different sources - he ruined the house he lived in; he stripped out all the copper pipes and wiring. I assume he just sold it for scrap and ran. Nobody knows where he went, and he left all his tools, presses, etc behind in the shop!
So, I had tried to get hold of them multiple times with no luck; so one day in early spring of 2015, I took off work early and went to the shop. THe owner was glad to see me, as he had sold the building and was moving elsewhwere, and had lost my contact info. I got there as he was about halfway through moving out. He told me the story and actually told me I could have all the machinist's tools (including a big, beautiful Bridgeport mill!). Damn, I wish I had space, I woulda took him up on it!
Anyway, I grabbed a couple friends, and we got my block and stuff back, and it's been sitting in my garage ever since. I took some other pictures, but I can't seem to find them at the moment - if/when I do, I'll post them up on the site.
Last modified on 01/01/18