Parking lot repairs and drive-in time

Note:  I wrote this late at night thus the below events are for Friday.

Guess what Brian is doing?

Yesterday was a busy day for Brian.  Some time around 7am he was up and taking his carbs out of his car for inspection.  The jets were waaaay too big, a float was not set properly, and one of the gaskets was torn in three places.  No wonder it was running rich!

 Sue, Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and Rich.

 Brian's informal tech session(s?) always drew a crowd.

So some networking was done amoungst the locals.  We ended up driving down to Joplin to an import parts store/shop, looking for jets.  They didn’t have jets but did have a carb gasket.  After getting back to the hotel Brian got his carbs back together except for the jets.  We saw the front tires and they were now bare, in fact, there was some small holes where the rubber wore through to the steel belts within!  They looked like racing slicks, not good.  At one of the bumps he hit the right tie rod bent very slightly but enough to throw off the toe-in, thus greatly affecting the tire wear.  So he then took off his front tires, threw them in the back of my car, and we drove to the local tire shop for some rubber.  They had nothing in the small size he needed and a search brought up nothing local.

Shawn and Bob's Notches.

 Jim Adney, Fuel Injection Extraordinaire.

We went back to the hotel parking lot and Brian corrected his toe-in…twice.  The first time it was too much out and so he had to re-adjust it in a bit.  Luckily I brought a heavy piece of cardboard and he was able to lay on it instead of the hot, black asphault while under the hot, humid, 95+ degree heat.  It was miserable for him but he got it done.  While that was going on, Dave and Lynden were networking with other dubbers to find tires and jets for Brian.  Hanging out in the parking lot, under the couple trees that were there, was the main gathering point throughout the days we’ve been here.

Shade-hog.

Later that day, with no luck in finding jets, Keith Park soldered up the jets.  This would allow Brian to ream out the holes to the size he needed since he brought a full set of jet reamers.  We had also gotten a lead on tires; one of the Type IIIers had some he could bring, nice!

 Evening Event

 Matt "Mr. Bubbs" Square-and-a-Half-back.

That evening we all cruised to the drive-in and we got to park before the general public.  This was nice of the drive-in and it allowed us to line up and take pictures.  Brian got to work on reaming his jets and made short work of it.

Whatchew lookin' at, punk?

                            Jim, Cindy and Jill.

Marty, Jill, John, Bruce and Lance

Lined up at the drive-in.

 Video of the "Mr. Bubbs" Halfback Cooler 

The first movie was Marmaduke.  Brian said it was a good childrens movie.  I passed out within 10 minutes of the movie and slept all the way through it while Brian was the one who stayed awake.  During intermission a lot of us went back to the hotel.  Bri got his newly reamed jets in, dialed up the fuel pressure, and went for a spin around the parking lot.  His status report:  Much better!  There was some deceleration back-firing so the idles were too small but that was no big deal as opening them up would be super easy.

We then went to the patio with some of the other Type IIIers and had our evening cigars.  Bri was in a much better mood now that his engine was running better.  This meant better gas mileage and less gas stops, yeay!  Now he just needed new tires for the front and that wasn’t looking as promising now…