My birthday was Sunday. It's not a big deal but its nice to hear from family a quick happy birthday. Maybe a card from my grandparents. Maybe some thought into  a present if you are going to get me one.

Yeah, none of that. Maybe its because I had a family get together on Friday night and they felt it was enough. I got checks. Nice gesture, but isnt the saying its the thought that counts? Seriously, Im not hard to buy for. An OU T-Shirt. I only have 2 and only one of them fits me. Maybe some golf balls. Something small for the camaro like a hose kit. These are all things everyone knows I want but they take the lazy unthinking way out. Sure I've given gift certs or cash I also didnt put much thought into what I was doing.

My inlaws like to act like they care about my birthday. They don't. My sister in laws birthday is the day before mine. I once went to a 'combined' birthday party at their house and not one mention that is was my party as well to the guests in attendance. I got cash from them as well.

Hell even my wife got me a key ring that clips to my belt loop. WTF? Am I a janitor?

Two calls on my birthday from family. Much appriciated. Not even cards from the grandparents

I just said to hell with them all bought a trendy watch and am looking for a practice amp for my guitar.

Just one thing to say to my family either think about what you are getting me or dont get me anything. A 12 of Guiness would have been better than a check.

10.Chicks showing their breasts to the band. Yes its always a crowd pleaser but come up with something original. It was cool when your mom did it.

9. The band saying "If it weren't for you guys we wouldn't be here". Thanks captain obvious and here I always thought bands that didn't sell records got the big tour busses....

8. Guitar solos. Wow you can thrash on the guitar, but you are no Steve Vai or Eddie so just put it away and play another song.

7. Meat heads in the mosh pit. Good for you Frat boy you just shoved a skinny long haired 15 year old down. No wonder you score all the dudes... er chicks.

6. The encore. Just say Ill be back in 5 minutes I need to cool down and grab some water. Stop acting like you MIGHT come back out.

5. Weed. If your gonna get high why not sit in your car or living room and crank up a CD and not pay $40 - $60 to go to a show to get stoned.

4. Crowd sing along. If I wanted to hear a bunch of no talents singing your stuff I'd record myself in the shower.

3. $4 beer. Not really a cliche I just hate paying $4 for a beer.

2. Giving the horns at a pop rock concert. Unless its Slayer is there a point?

1. Lighters. Yes it was cool in Bon Jovi videos, you can stop now.

Last night as I was surfing the web the boys were playingon their slide in the youngest's room. Then a loud scream came from the room. Nothing unusual aas they are always screaming. BUt my wife went to check it out and immediatly told me to come in there. My youngest couldn't stand up and was grabbing his shin and screaming. Usually he's tough as nails. He busted his lip about a month ago sniffled a little and kept running around like a mad man so we knew he had to be hurt. 

It's pretty heart breaking to see him try to stand up and just fall over. So my wife took him to the hospital while I put the oldest to bed (because today is his first day of school). So the doctor said it was perhaps a hairline fracture but it was hard to tell and we needed more x rays. So today my wife will take him back to the doctor to have it re x-rayed. I hope its okay a broken leg on a child that young can cause long term problems.

I have been slowly working on the Camaro a little more. I am talking the tires off the wheels and polishing the wheels to regain the luster they once had. Below are before and after pics of the rear wheels. I'm doing the rear first because I need to take the tires off to redo the back brakes.

After

 Much better. I also bought a new lower grill

This week I hope to get those rear shoes replaced. I have decided to just go ahead and put in all new springs, wheel cylinders and drums. Ill get the rear tires remounted and then get the front wheels off the tires and get those polished as well.

So Im kinda addicted to youtube.com to watch my music favorite videos but I'd love even more to have them on my Zune.

The answer has arrived http://vixy.net/

Check it out - you just plug a youtube URL into the text box and convert it to the file format you like.

Now if Viacom would let the Daily Show put their clips on youtube it would be even better

I began this morning at about 9AM at the parts store and picked up a battery. I came home with donuts for the family and tweaked a few queries and waited for it to warm up outside. I went out around 11.

I located the lug lock key earlier in the week and took the tire off and had air put in it. Then I installed the battery, blew air through the fuel line and filled up the radiator. I kissed the key put it in the ignition and cranked. I let the motor crank for a bit to get the fuel up to the carb. When I saw the line fill up I poured a drop of fuel in the carb and cranked it again. It ran for about 3 seconds and then fuel started pouring out of the carb. I tapped it with a screwdriver handle to knock anything loose and cranked it again. No luck gas was everywhere.

I knew this had to be one of two problems. To much fuel pressure and it was blowing past the needles or The floats were stuck in a low position. Well bing the fuel pump was new and cheap the most likely scenario was the carb floats or the something was stuck. I took the top off the carberator (not for the weak of heart) and inspected it.

As I suspected there was a lot of build up on the right float and it looked like it was weighing it down... hence it dint float ;) . I was cleaning the carb and ran out of cleaner. I ran to the parts store and picked up a rebuild kit for the carb. $50.84 later I'm at home putting the new parts in the carb and reinstalling the top of it. I cranked a few times it started to run and died. I still think the priming pump on the carb is out and I will need to look into that.

I got it ruining and it cranks off with a flick of the key now. I would have loved to take it around the block but the brakes are defiantly out.

This week Ill see about putting a new master cylinder on it and see if I cant get the brakes to come up. I'm also going to order the backseat sail panels to improve the interior.

Power and prejudice
Actions they use to pit against
Terror, insurgancy
Words used to scare conformity
It's propiganda, it's their hypocrisy
Free to choose ou own slavery

Machine Head's new album "The Blackening" is in my hands. Complete with autographs from the band. The lyrics are the reason I listen to this genre of music. Question authority and ask why.

How do they sleep?
While our mothers weep
They're selling our souls
And blood for oil.

This is one of the best metal albums ever. Top 5 in my book. It's up there with Master of Puppets and Among the Living. A true band defining album. Im not much on album reviews so all I can say is if you like true rock with substance get this album.

 

I did something to the Camaro I always wanted. I bought steel braided fuel line. It serves two purposes, it looks great and I need somethng to keep it off the lower radiator hose. I need a 90 degree fuel fitting to get it further away from the radiator hose. I ll work on that this week.

I also put a new fuel pump in it. Usually a fairly uneventful task. But the pump rod was on the cam lobe it felt just about halfway. Normally you just turn the key to crank the motor a bit to get it of the lobe. Unlucky for me I cant crank it so I had to force the pump spring down and install it. It wasn't easy... but I am good. ;)

I began to take the wheels off for closer inspection of the brake lines, calipers and tires but I can't seem to find the lug nut lock KEY. I looked every where thats what prompted the clean out of the trunk. Speaking of I think I must have liked beer when I was driving that car. I pulled out 8 beer cans from the trunk. and about 20 beer bottle caps. Red Dog was beer of choice it seems.

I didn't find the lug key but I did find a headlight trim piece that was going to cost me $45 to replace. I'll have to order a lug-lock removal kit from Amazon. The wife is loving the slow bleed of cash this thing is doing.  I managed to get it off the ground and crawl under it to inspect the transmission lines. The seem to be intact but a little leaky. I want to change the exahust when its driveable and when I do that I'll re run the tranny lines to avoid the new headers.

 I went ahead and cleaned a few things to just get it looking decent

I took off more A/C parts because evently I will upgrade to the new R134A systeem I can get the entire system with a chrome compressor for less than $1300. If you look closley on the evaporator canister you will see a coors light can. I used to call it the silver bullet. Clever I was.

I think the next thing is to buy a battery and crank it off. We'll see how motivated I am next weekend.

The conservatory is an intimate venue with decent sound, good beer and terrible pissers. In other words a great place to see a live Metal show. The opening act from what I understand is from Oklahoma. They were decent and I'd see them again in a local show if they played with some of my other favorite local bands. The second act "Year Long Disaster" was outstanding. this AC/DC meets The Cult and decided to do some Refused music. The lead singer/guitarist can play an axe. He really got into it and had the crowd, who I can assume had never seen this band play, really into the music. Good band and I would have bought their EP last night but the lead singer told me they were out.

Priestbird was the third act of the night and very heavy with good sound. definatly a differnt type of metal. I didn't get that much into them. But I think thats cause I ran into Rob from the band Traindodge and had a good conversation about their upcoming tour.

I stepped outside for a bit because it was a nice evening and hung out with some 'new friends' and we chatted about how old we are and the Lamb of God / Machine Head concert in Tulsa the week before that we had both attended.

I can in and took a spot on the floor close to the front just as the lights went dim and The Sword Rocked the place. There were a few kids moshing around and up front it was the usual chaos. The girl in front of me kept punching anyone that came close to her. I told her she was 'kinda mean' and she agreed. The Sword played Freya and a few of their other popular stuff and I was surprised at the number of people in OKC that knew who The Sword was. They ended the set with Winters Wolves and everyone howling with a grin on their face. They eneded and shook anyones hand that wanted. If you get a chance to see them its definalty worth your $10-$15 to see them. They are opening for Clutch in Europe in the next few weeks. That would be a show to see.

In early 1991 I bought a 1978 Camaro from the salvage yard for $300. I had a 1979 Camaro at the time but I wanted a '78 because '79 is the year in Oklahoma that you are required to keep all the emissions controls on your vehicle. At least that was the rule back then. So with my love of speed and chrome I saw this as an excellent chance to get what I wanted. My dad and I trailered it home and stuck it in his back garage and I began to clean it up and out. Unfortunately I never took any pictures of it in the state I got it in. It was a two tone Silver with black on top. The motor had been pulled and the interior was kinda rough. No matter I had a '78 Camaro I could do with as I pleased. So we parked my '79 pulled the motor out of it, put a Carter AFB and an Edlebrock intake on it and dropped it in the '78. Made it run. Sanded the body smooth. My dad did the body work as the doors had some nice dents in them. He painted it a beautiful metallic silver with flat black rockers.

I loved this car. I put a set of polished slotted mags on it that looked like original Halibrand Mag wheels with a set of polished knock offs. What a ride.

Then as a reckless 18 year old does I pulled out in front of another car and smashed the bumper cover, the left fender and the messed up the suspension. Luckly the wheels were not hurt. This was around November and I had only been driving it a couple of months. I put it back in the shop replaced the fender and refused to drive it until my dad painted it again. Once it was all complete for my high school graduation gift I got a set of WELD PRO STARS. The baddest wheels on the planet at the time. Every two weeks during my first few years of college after I picked up my paycheck I would stop by the local speed shop and by a piece of chrome or wires or something to go under the hood. Finally after a few years of trying to keep it running I decided it was time to get a car that I doidnt have to work on all the time. I parked the Camaro in the summer of 1996. I put it back in my dads garage until my mom sold the house and I moved it to my house. IT has now been setting 11 years. I am ready to begin a restoration process again.

First I will get it running. I will need to drop the fuel tank, repair the fuel lines, repair the transmission lines, drain all water, and clean out the carberator. I'm excited to be doing this. Working with my hands is something I'm good at and really enjoy. I snapped a few shots of the car in its lonely broken down state. And will continue to update the blog.

Next course of action. Clean the carb and drain the tank.....