check out my 9" third member
I just got back from a scrap yard run to san antonio. picked up a 9" rear axle for the van. I'm planning to install a motor with MUCH more HP and torque that the current 170 offers and I need a strong rear end that won't buckle under the load.
the ford 9 inch rear end (9" third member as it's often called) is usually the top choice for hot rodders for all makes of muscle cars. that is about the most exciting thing that happened this past week... and really since it happened today.... last week was a complete snoozer.
how/why? it seems I've given up on telling people what to do over here. we can talk about and agree to rules, but when it comes to actually following them... and if I assume the role of enforcer then mutiny starts to stir. so a ship w/o a captain does a lot of drifting. people stay in bed much of the day and there hasn't been any musical practicing in weeks (although the instructor still comes and is curious as to why there has been no improvement). spelling lists from school go unstudied. nobody plans any fun family activities or outings. it is cold outside so I don't get to work on my projects. I end up watching #1 son play video games, watching the clock... waiting, for?... spring? maybe that will see a change in the pace of life. maybe we are hibernating.
to complicate things even more, we quit meat for a while and also mid week wine/beer etc. the byproduct of this is, less fancy food meals. for me, food and wine are partners. if we have a really nice meal lined up, we select a nice wine pairing. so, I prepare less exciting meals and we easily skip the wine.
ok, now that I've bored myself to tears and if you can still bear to read along with all this moping, we did happen to find something interesting in bee cave. we'd ran to use a gift card at lowe's when my bathroom sink drain broke. it was cold, dreary and after noon so we stopped at the new maudie's tex-mex. now the food there is quite predictable and good, but I loved the interior and general design of the place. maudie's bee cave colors and shapes were so fun and whimsical that it was not easy to maintain the sulking and boredom. mexican martinis helped too (it was the weekend!)
two working wallets maintain my spine balance.
nice hill country view from their patio.
I escorted #1 son to a birthday party at one of those indoor gym places. he worked a weeks worth of calories off in 90 minutes.
we enjoyed some summit lake 2006 napa zinfandel. our friend matt volunteers there to be near his favorite things. he even got to sleep in a tent next to the fermentation tanks.
the ergonomics project:
#1 son needed a project for school. the ONLY thing he can use his brain for is video games so we did a study of how ergonomics can help improve game scores. four subjects played GT5 using the same car and track and four varying situations of discomfort or sensible arrangements. he recorded the best lap times for each situation.
driving laying down and sideways.
the fastest lap times were achieved using the eames LCW and the steering wheel strapped down so it doesn't move all over the place upon hard cornering.
#1 son made a video to explain his findings...
and one last look at my nine inch rear end.
