Cool McCool's Garage

…and somedays, the bear bites you.  Today I feel like I may have been nibbled upon a bit.

We got up and went to breakfast, and Kim then headed out for our nieces graduation from her grad school.  I stayed home, thinking I was going to get a lot accomplished on the trailer, despite the cold.

By the time we got breakfast, got back, and I got ready to go out, it was almost 1100.  Since it was pretty chilly out, I took a space heater out to the Spartan and plugged it in to warm up the interior a bit.  So far so good…

Then I went over to the Gilmore Museum to pick up some springs for the roadster project that were supposed to have come back with them from delivering a car to another museum

“We asked about them, and nobody knew anything about them”, they said.  Oh well, I had another one all located, and went to my friends house to get it, and some other little parts he had that I thought I might need.  The spring is a mono-leaf rear for a ’40 Ford, which is brand new, perfect, and he gave me a good deal because he doesn’t need it, so that part went fine, although, by then, it was 2 pm and snowing hard.

Out in the shop, I wasn’t so lucky.

I had a terrible struggle getting the long, curved portion of the ceiling up on the curb side. Working alone, and handicapped by my (still quite weak) right leg, I just couldn’t get the almost 8′ section up and snapped into place.  Finally, after much struggle, a little trimming, and adjusting, I got it to pop into place.  Perfect.  The rest of them should go easily.

Or so I thought.

The left side one I had to make cut out for the kitchen light (actually both sides), and of course, I cut it on the wrong end of the panel.  Arghhh.  So, I cut another one, which was oriented the right way (I can use the wrong cut on in the rear, they’re shorter but still…) and with even more difficulty than the curb side, got it snapped into position.  After it cracked, making a barely noticeable, but visible, variation it the curve.

I then noticed a “bulge” in the middle, halfway up the panel.  Thinking it just needed to be seated a bit better, I smacked the area just ahead of the bulge with my fist, and sure enough, it popped right into place, and a 2″ long stove bolt that was screwed into that frame member popped right through the paneling.

So, an hour and half of effort wasted, and half a sheet of 1/8″ birch plywood.  I cut the offending screw off, how I missed that one hanging from the ceiling I have no idea, all the time I’ve spent pulling wire, insulating and working, but it happened.  Happily I have an extra sheet, so I’m not SOL, it is aggravating.  I’ll hit it again tomorrow, by the time that happened, it was almost 5:00, getting dark and temps dropping, so I went in, took an Aleve and had supper.

Here’s how I left it.