Yes, it’s everybody’s least favorite game show - “The Waiting Game!” That’s what I feel like I’ve been playing lately. Lets see… I’m currently waiting for the space saver A/C compressor head and 90-degree fittings, stainless bolts and hardware for the alternator mount, a new coil wire to match the plug wires and many more bits and pieces needed to complete the puzzle.

Most of the work over the past several weeks has been the running around dropping things off, designing and planning sort of work. While it may look as if nothing’s happening on the surface, this is an extremely necessary part of the project. I can’t tell you how much time has been spent staring at the back of the firewall visualizing everything in place behind the dashboard in an attempt to “get it right the first time”.

It would suck to get everything packed in place only to realize I overlooked something like the hood release rods. I hate those “now what do I do?” moments. Little by little the puzzle is being cautiously fit together. Someone with more experience building cars could probably move at a much faster pace. I have confidence however that that car will one day come together.

I’ve probably talked about this too much but it’s a fact of life. We don’t always get to spend our “free time” doing what we really want to do. Since the last update I’ve moved our oldest daughter home from college and into an apartment, moved her two younger sisters into new bedrooms at home (now that the oldest gave up her room), setup and installed a new web server (what a pain), and formed a new business with an associate in Denver. I stay pretty busy with work and family - too busy at times but putting things into perspective, life wouldn’t be worth living without family and friends and it’s nice to have a few extra bucks left over for the car project after paying the bills. That’s a goal anyway and unfortunately it requires working more hours than I’d like sometimes. Even so, I still have an April 2004 completion date - as long as I don’t have too many more months like the last.

Thanks to some observant site visitors, I’ve narrowly avoided making a few mistakes in the build-up. Who would have thought you can’t install a coil on its side? Some Mopars  and Fords even came that way! It’s cool that street rod building tips and general automotive knowledge can be shared BOTH directions through the site. I learn something new every day. The only problem is that I’m at the age where I’m starting to forget something every day and the daily forgets are starting to out weigh the remembers!

In the past 24 hours I’ve received e-mail from fellow car enthusiasts in South Africa, Indonesia, Australia and Japan. It really is a small world! If you’ve sent e-mail and I haven’t replied, I apologize. With all the spam I get it’s been hard to filter the good from the bad. e-mails with Project33 in the subject are usually keepers. Messages with “Turn your rod into a beast” are automatically deleted ;)

Speaking of spam… remember my anti-spam rant a few months ago? (I got a lot of sympathy e-mail after that one ;) Since then I've found a really nice anti-spam program that really seems to work good. It’s a P2P (peer to peer) program that allows the masses to add to and share a master list of spammers. The guys who invented Napster developed it. I’m not endorsing it (I’ve only used it for a short time) but it’s worth a look. Check out cloudmark.com for more information.

I’ll leave you with a parting shot of Project33’s new server (you’re in there right now). This pizza box size server is now mounted in a rack with a bunch of other servers in a huge climate controlled room that’s filled with racks and racks of servers, as far as the eye can see. It reminds me of the movie “The Matrix”. I won’t bore you with the details except to say it’s a hot rod server and it’s dishing out Project33 pages faster than a blown `33 coupe!

Scooter

Past Updates: