I retired from the USAF last October, put Phil up on blocks for the winter, expecting it to be a rough winter like it has been for the past 5 or so years.
And...go figure...the winter so far has been extremely mild (gonna be 50-ish today), practically ZERO snow on the ground, had a couple days of below zero temps, but for the most part, it's been around 20F-40F since November.
I'm not ruling out a massive blizzard and cold streak yet though, which is why it's staying up on blocks for at least another couple of months.
Phil is still about 95% gutted, all the parts are sitting in the garage, everything is out, down to the bare aluminum walls. About the only real structural work left to go is a couple pieces of floor that are a bit weak from getting water. Mechanically, it's good to go except for a very very small tranny leak at the front of the pan (might be an input seal, but I haven't diagnosed it that far yet) which drips onto the crossover exhaust pipe, makes for a bit of smoke on startup after it's been sitting for a week or so, and the fuel tanks are going to get some rework. The "rear" tank is going to get dropped and get some extensions (saddles?) welded to it, turning it from ~26 gallons up to about 40 gallons.
On the upside, I've got a 20x50 outbuilding that I've been framing up, turning it into a heated/cooled workshop. When I get Phil off the blocks, work should go relatively quick with a decent place to build up the woodwork. Come to think of it, may as well whip up a quick youtube video today since it's so nice out. Then again, I got a 'part time' job, which is actually taking over for an older gent that runs his own contract computer/hardware repair business. In a couple years, the business will be all mine! (bonus points for me) And that's going to start taking up some time in a few weeks. I ain't gonna sit around collecting a retirement check for the rest of my life ya know! I could...but I won't.
And that transmission didn't pan out. The guy sold it before I got to it.
John and Elizabeth (Liz), with 3 nutty cats
My beloved St. Bernard, Marm, lost him 1/2/12
Current rig:
1992 International Genesis school bus conversion
Same old thing...(sigh)...
Thought the weather was going to be good and stay good, was going to uncover it and get re-started. Ground 'was' brown with practically ZERO snow.
Well, weather got cold, bunch of snow fell, and basically went to******again this past week.
So, still working on the shop...and getting trained up on the new job...
Not here! Still getting below freezing overnight. Not that 25F is cold or anything...but...ya know. I'd hate to pull Phil off the blocks, start gluing something up or whatever, and have a snowstorm roll in when we least expect it.
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