[Valkyrie5.7]

Pulled the carb and intake manifold on the 350 my 65. Coolant passages full of sludge, 991 heads with absolutely no idea whats been done to them if any. Bolted to this SM420 trans, you'd think whoever had this before me was building a rock crawler, not a 1/2 ton hot rod.

[boothboy]

Well so far today I've been able to type this. Carpel Tunnel surgery yesterday. What a fun experience! Fingers seem to work but the wrist sure doesn't!
I'd advise you young guys not to get old and certainly don't plan on being a mechanic for 40 + years!
Thank God for spell check!

[MARTINSR]

One of the things I did as a bodyman a number of years ago was to force myself to use both hands as equally as to take some stress off my right hand and arm.
Being I boxed when younger, and play guitar, I am pretty ambidextrous so it came pretty easy to me. But you still have to FORCE yourself to use that non dominant hand it just doesn't want to do things like the dominant one. But I worked and worked at it and soon found that I could use my left hand, while certainly not as good, it got better and better at being a quasi dominant.

I feel this has done a lot in keeping my hands in reasonably good shape. My right wrist will still get awfully weak and sore if I do something like a door skin which requires a lot of hammer and dolly work. But I am grateful for how they are holding up.

Good luck with your surgery. I have to tell you my late father complained about EVERYTHING. He regretted EVERYTHING he ever did and this of course includes EVERYTHING that ever happen to his body and EVERYTHING a doctor ever did to him. I say EVERYTHING, but there was one, ONE thing that he never complained about and you would never have known it ever happened if you didn't witness it back years ago, his carpel
tunnel surgery! He had both sides done and we never heard about it again, so if it worked so well for him, you will very happy with the outcome.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

By the way, I have done nothing on the Gran Sport in the last number of days. I have came to the point where all I can do is to sand blast the top irons and epoxy prime and paint them, that is all I can do. Pulling this off in the evening after work with it raining isn't possible. This weekend I have a couple of things to do and I hope to at least start it. I hate to do one or two pieces at a time but I may have to. Sandblasting parts and leaving them in the garage without epoxy on them isn't going to work out in this weather. And epoxying it without painting sucks because then they have to be sanded before paint and they are VERY difficult to sand being so irregularly shaped. So I am thinking a few parts at a time is all I can do unless I get a whole weekend to do it.

Brian

[deadbodyman]

I put a fuel pump in the IROC (what a pita that was) ,it ran but ran like crap.so, I got a cap ,wires and plugs and put them in..Holly sheet ,that TPI motor is a screamer...I did a few burnouts with it and put it up for sale...I really dont want to sell it but its in fates hands now,if it dont sell I can always use it for parts ,its just too nice of a car to use for parts on the 54 P/U ...Also another one I shouldn't have bought the previous owner had seperated the body from the frame and rebuilt everything back to original and its was ready to mount the body parts back on.Its also in too good a shape to be putting in a new updated drive train (all the camaro parts) and bagged fatman suspestion ,so thats next I'll sell that one too...
I figure I'll take this money and call a few bodymen to come over and slam the 48 plymouth in a weeks time it should be finished ,there a lot of little thihgs left to do. mostly welding and wiring...Still haven't got around to making a little vidio for you guys but I will,ya'll should get a good laugh ,I know I'll be getting a few tickets right off ,theres just something about this car that instantly turns me back into a teenager and I just cant help somokin up the tires ,mabee the price of a new set will settle me down some....
BUT,I DOUBT IT ...LOL
I'm on my way back to the shop today to play today..

[Valkyrie5.7]

I agree with the guitar sentiment, Brian. It can really wreak havoc on your hands and wrists. I don't think sitting on this computer typing helps the situation much either

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by deadbodyman

and put it up for sale...........I really dont want to sell it but its in fates hands now........ I'll sell that one too..........
I figure I'll take this money and call a few bodymen to come over and slam the 48 plymouth in a weeks time it should be finished ,.

Now your thinking! Time goes by WAY too fast and it is much better to have ONE of these projects done than for your family to sell off a bunch of un-finished rust bucket projects when you pass away!

I am not kidding, I recently had an old friend die unexpectedly, 53 years old. He had a back yard FULL of vintage car "projects". He had just said to me about two weeks before "I need to sell off some of these I won't ever get to them".

This has REALLY stuck in my head I'll tell you, it REALLY did.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by Valkyrie5.7

I agree with the guitar sentiment, Brian. It can really wreak havoc on your hands and wrists. I don't think sitting on this computer typing helps the situation much either

I didn't play enough to tear them up, I benefited from it in that I can use both hands pretty good instead of having my dominate hand all worn out I have both equally "aged".

Brian

[Valkyrie5.7]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

I didn't play enough to tear them up, I benefited from it in that I can use both hands pretty good instead of having my dominate hand all worn out I have both equally "aged".

Brian

It's good you managed to get the benefits out of it, I've been playing over 10 years now and I'm starting to feel the negative effects from "improper" technique.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by Valkyrie5.7

It's good you managed to get the benefits out of it, I've been playing over 10 years now and I'm starting to feel the negative effects from "improper" technique.

I like to refer to my guitar playing as "playing with" the guitar more than "playing" it. I just beat on it with very little lead or anything like that. I have played for 40+ years but never super dedicated or anything like that. Just always had one in the living room on a stand that I can grab at any time (usually while waiting for the wife to get finished with makeup and such while I am dressed and ready to leave the house) and beat out some old rock and roll or something. Then set it down and leave it there for two or three weeks.

Brian

[Irelands child]

Good ol' carpel tunnel and repetitive motion - hammer use, typing, slamming wrenches with your hand, tile workers, wood shop folks - gonna eventually do a job on your hand and wrist. I'm thinking that air impact tools are a mechanics biggest enemy. I don't use mine often, but my hands are just plain sore after a session with the 1/2 drive air impact wrench or even that light duty 3/8 drive air ratchet. My wife who is small boned had both hands done in an earlier life - now has weak hands to the point they ache if she does much manual work. Me - so far just have a couple fingers that lock occasionally, along with a thumb that has a bad joint.

IT'S H3!! GETTING TO BE AN O.F.

Dave W

[MARTINSR]

Dave, I have thought just the opposite that the air tools are saving hands. I figured the repetitive twisting of my hand spinning off and on bolts with a ratchet did a lot more harm. But you could be right.

Brian

[Valkyrie5.7]

I know there's at least this to get worried about when it comes to using power tools:

Vibration White Finger (Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome)

"In extreme cases, the sufferer may lose fingers."

[Irelands child]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

Dave, I have thought just the opposite that the air tools are saving hands. I figured the repetitive twisting of my hand spinning off and on bolts with a ratchet did a lot more harm. But you could be right.

Brian

Brian - something from the nanny country which might be an interesting read for those that have 'cold hands' (and not what your other half complains about either). I know my hands get cold, but nowhere near what this says.

And what I'm working on - working on the tiling in the master bathroom, then off to a neighbor's 50th anniversary get together.

That tile job has become a large boulder hanging over my head - it's only a 7' long by 2' wide counter top and wrap around back splash, but my wife chose 3/8" thick x13.5x13.5 porcelain tile which is a bear to cut (already wiped out one blade). Then when that's done, need to spray the vanity drawers and repaint the rest of the room plus install new moldings. A 2 week project that's well into 2 MONTHS. Glad we have 2 bath rooms

Dave W

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by Irelands child

Brian - something from the nanny country which might be an interesting read for those that have 'cold hands' (and not what your other half complains about either). I know my hands get cold, but nowhere near what this says.

And what I'm working on - working on the tiling in the master bathroom, then off to a neighbor's 50th anniversary get together.

That tile job has become a large boulder hanging over my head - it's only a 7' long by 2' wide counter top and wrap around back splash, but my wife chose 3/8" thick x13.5x13.5 porcelain tile which is a bear to cut (already wiped out one blade). Then when that's done, need to spray the vanity drawers and repaint the rest of the room plus install new moldings. A 2 week project that's well into 2 MONTHS. Glad we have 2 bath rooms

Dave W

I fully remodeled my ONLY bathroom complete down to the floor joists a few years ago. Oh yeah that was a challenge!

Brian