The "Nada" Farm Chronicles

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Gonna be sorta winterish soon, so.... of course, I start a major outside operation.

So the major outside project, I refer to, is the conversion of the old motor home, into a usable truck. It was a great motor home, for $1500.00... Of course that was the original cost, which seemed reasonable considering it was reported to have had recently installed tires. Well that wasn't really the whole story, but it was a" used car" after all.

Chris followed me to pick it up, it was in Norton. And I drove it home to Lake Street, when it really looked like it was going to catch fire, right in the driveway, having cleared any hint of mosquitoes from the area of the alley, because of the smoke literally billowing from underneath it. Turned out the rubber hoses used to repair the leaking transmision lines had come loose or melted out of the way and the entire unit looked dead on arrival. Of course this wasn't the vision I had hoped the little woman would have etched in her memory reguarding my triumphant arrival with my new purchase. I don't know why I ever think that is going to happen, I surely never expect it to be that way. Come on, I buy junk, becasue it is all I can afford. But then I can afford to fix it up usually, so most of my stuff starts and ends as total calamities, but I usually get years of good service in the meantime.. really... I really do! WE used the motor home for 5 years, as the basis for our go kart racing team operations without incident ... well almost, it did have a tendency to cook the starter motor. I tried wraps, shields, and well... I just bought a lifetime unit, and replace it every couple years when the bakelite cap melts off it..... I guess it's because the headers are too close to the starter, or some such nonsense. Yes it has headers, and a holley double pumper, and a couple other racey kinda parts, mostly because they were the available parts from the local vendor that didn't detract from the operations, and actually did a better job of getting us where we needed to go. And made pullling a trailer full of tools and machines even easier than just driving there in a pickup truck.... And gave the kids a place to hang out between races, that they wouldn't get yelled at, for enjoying in a ten year old kid way... yep, occasionally there were crayon marks on the walls, or a matchbox car would get launched across the room, big deal, it was a junk truck to start with, and now I'm finishing the conversion. Literally.

The first thing I had to do was gut it, pull the cabinettes, and beds, the stove, the fridge, the sink, and bathroom. And many of these parts are in good usuable condition. And we know I can't dispose of anything usable , even if I don't currently have a particular need for them. I'm not disposing of them. And why, you might ask, do I need a truck right now? Well, the Lake Street Estates are getting hammered hard, and looking unlikely to be part of the reemergence of the housing sales recovery. And, as I found out, the police have no interest in protecting property so the criminals are systematically destroying everything about the place, so the only redeeming value, being the garage, I need to remove it, and bring it down and add it to the farms outbuildings. Then I can donate the proerty to the city to contend with. The major issue of moving the building, as it was built with screws and bolts rather than nails and glue, is moving the trusses which are 26 feet long, the rest of the building will transport on a 16 foot trailer just fine. If I had a way to pull it, enter the Leisure Lodge/ flatbed conversion. Russ dropped a trailer here, a couple years ago, that had been a large camper that had burned. Then it was modified a little, shortened to make it a duck tail, or maybe a tilt up, I don't know for sure. But it was cut "clear off" behind the axels, and then became an issue for a nosey local government, so it had to be moved. We don't have that problem here on the farm, yet, so.... here it sets. A problem to no one, as it was originally not... well, that's why I wanted to move.

So I have a trailer that can be reassembled into a 26 foot truss hauler, and a truck that can pull it while carrying the rest of the building as well. So here are a couple pictures, showing the project, to date.Wait a minute, why is the engine in this picture? Sure looks snazzy don't it? For a 41 year old engine, why does it look like that? Oh yeah, I had a little issue with the engine, after basically sitting for the last 6 years ( Oh, I did move it a couple times, for my pal Tom to hunt out of. But it was never driven at hiway speeds... actually just field speeds, and in a motor home that is pretty slow even with me driving! Stuff gets airborne so easily when romping over the furrows in the hay fields...) So the engine wasn't required to produce much more than motion, to shift it around from parking area, to out of the way spot, for the last few years. So I was unaware of the power problems it had developed, due to various small things. Like the studs that hold the rocker arms working their way out of the heads, and essentially killing three cylinders. You know, because if the valves don't open and close the cylinders don't produce power. Two were just not playing because the intakes were stuck shut, and one was , due to the exhaust being continually closed, actually fighting the engines operation. No biggy right? WRONG! And the fact that It is a motor home and had no access to the top right of the harmonic balancer I couldn't even get a look at the timing marks so that was a bust, trying to ge tthe timing set with the A/C compressors mounting bracket in the way. And the Carb a holley 650 double pumper being about 20 years since it was rebuilt and and and.. so I cleaned it up and rebuilt and reset and readjusted and fixed and got it running pretty damn good even started on a couple really cold days, So I'm thinking I might be able to get up north and salvage the garage. Before it is stripped and even get the windows from the house if it won't sell. Next is the trailer, wait... Did I mention creating a bed for the truck and rerouting the fuel fillers and adding back lights , and well, it is a full project after all. It has to look the part, before it heads into the insanity which is Akron. And I'll need to spend my nights in it, to keep the local "undetered thieves" from stripping it, in the yard, while I'm working a few feet away. I mean after they have scared the local cops so bad they won't even try to stop the criminal activities in the area, who knows what level of stupid they are up to? But I digress. The engine now looks like this.The Chrome valve covers aren't just a snazzy factor issue. The originals where a little flimsy, and I was "having a time" trying to get them tight enough to stop the oil from leaking around them and not bending them in the process. So I bought a set of cast aluminum covers which also come with a nice set of "thicker" butyl rubber gaskets. Oil leak contained! Another reason was I "chickened out" and even though I did such a great job of resetting the rocker studs, I became concerned that they might soon work their way lose again and I didn't want to have to hammer them back in on the expressway in Canton, while eluding the police with a" removed structure" in tow. Which would of course happen to me, "LUCK O THE IRISH" ya know. I also changed the exterior apearence slightly, a factor Chris says will prohibit her from riding in it with me... EVER! I think I did a good job of keeping the lines simple and straightforward. The red faces rearward, in keeping with I.C.C. lighting and color practices, the wrap around Aluminum will be trimmed of course, and a sliding door added. For now I have been clamping a sheet of plywood across the opening to keep animals out, it also comes in handy to kneal on, rather than the "commercial grade corrugated roofing" the flat bed is made from.. Actually, I think it's so ugly, it's kinda cute. None of the neighbors have asked to borrow it, yet, or seem willing to hop in for a ride yet either. And comments about "lot lizards, steering clear" have even been made, though I doubt I will spend much time in truck stops with it.

I am pretty proud of how the back of the bed turned out, deciding how to mount the lights, and figuring out the wiring was a challenge. I also didn't want to get too crazy mounting the bed permanently without a plan for the" tie points" for load security. Still" ruminating on that." I placed a load of fence posts, of course because they needed moved to begin with, but also because it is ridiculously light in the rear. And with everything affected by the current season, MUD, it doesn't take much to get the rear duals spinning with that massive V8 pumping out the R's... But it didn't help much. The first destination is the local scrap yard to get it weighed, so I can get plates. I need the stupid thing for a farm truck, but the Insurance company only understands Commercial, which farms are not, oddly enough. I have no idea what the "plates" issue is going to be, besides a challenge. Of course if they insist on commercial rates I may have to "contract a couple commercial endevors" to pay the difference. Meanwhile back at the NadaFarm... Wouldn't you hire this fine specimen to haul your valuable wares? The actual milage is ridiculously low, just over 48,000 and since the front end and the transmission were completely rebuilt less than 3000, and now with threaded rocker bolts and a rebuilt carb... Well, it's a pretty promising ride. Though in reality it might lack a little in the asthetics area. But if it proves dependable, I might change the cab area to a more conventional design, and add a passenger seat.

Of course as all this is predicated on the retrieval of the garage from Lake Street, we have to consider the need to be able to transport the trusses, which presents it's own issues. As they are 26 feet long and rather delicate in relation to "sideways stress", therefore they require an amount of support, not easily provided for a simple transport issue. a frame work or support system is one method. I seem to remember they were originally banded together when delivered, thought that was a trip of less than a full dozen city blocks. I am pretty sure I didn't pay anything for delivery on any of the materials for the garage as we were within blocks of every part I needed, with the exception of the" door sliders" they were an item I had to travel to Ace Hardware in Hartville to get, as they were a farm item... Which brings to mind another funny situation, did you know that even big box stores like Home Depot and Lowes don't universally carry the same things, depending on the local "conventions"? For instance, walk in and buy a submerssible water pump, or a can of spray paint. If you can't, you live in a city, if you can, you live in the country. We travel to the city most often for shopping, Canton, or Akron while visiting the kids, I attempt to get things i need and they look at me like I'm from...... well, the hills, which I am, but they don't need to be snooty about it, and these items they carry in very small quantities as well which is inconvenient when your regional items are needed due to recent weather damage which alll your neighbors also experienced, but that's a consideration that died with the lack of inventory that is prevalent in todays consumer sales outlets. Until they actually develop replicators "ala StarTrek" they are woefully inadequate in their create on demand processes, but I guess I wandered off again... Chris says I need an outline, so I make one after every three pages, seems dumb to me. I already wrote what was important...

Just wait until I tell you about the Garage we contracted for, Now there is a story you want to hear, but back to the garage trusses, the truck is nearly ready, and the trailer is next.

And I get a phone call, the fellow who lives on Miller and bought the small lot off me, that I tried to convince to buy Lake Street before it was all torn up, has decided he might want to buy it, at a greatly reduced price.... Roughly half what it was worth, before the vandals. HMMmmm? No building retrieval, one load of what I am supposed to keep for Chris. One truckload of trash to dipose of instead, call Roy? No more mowing at the behest of the Health Department Nazi's..... No more taxes, or insurance I can't benefit from..... Tough decision. NOT! Of course, I can't publish this now until it's finalized. Jinx and all that, but I have more stories to tell....

Woo Hoo, Lake Street is gone, sold, cleaned out, and history! The check has arrived and the taxes are done. The final tribute is paid to the the city that wouldn't serve, but demanded service.

The truck made it to the scrap yard for the weighing, but get this, they close at 4:30, it was about 4:35 when the lady behind the door realized I was there and hung up the phone. "Sorry, we're closed" she said rather forcefully, to which I replied, " Oh man, I didn't know it got so late. I just need this thing weighed to get the license plates, could you please just get me a weight slip???" I can look very forlorn when required... AND SHE DID IT! That wouldn't have happened in the real world, and I also drove it there without plates or anything... Well, I had insured it already, let's not get stupid OKAY? But then the fun began, on the way back, it died every 100 feet, After about thirty restarts, I finally had the starter so hot it wouldn't turn over anymore. Gotta love those Quantum Blue Top Batteries though, expensive as diamonds, but man they last. Unless you leave it connected on the big tractor, but that's another issue. So I met another neighbor, who came with his tractor and pulled me off a blind corner and kept me safe until Richard could send a rescue truck to drag my sorry azz home. Turns out the years of sitting, with the cheap ass fuel they sell now, in it, created a lot of rust . Which filled the new fuel filter to the point of not passing gas.... Chris suggested I try it, but I won't eat rust... anyway, a new fuel filter, or three or four, and it should be good... as ever. So I had to get commercial insurance, but I got non-commercial plates, makes no sense to me. But it's done now, and I can start moving scrap to the scrap yard and finally get the garage area cleared out, and get a couple loads of stuff we need like dirt and mulch and trees and carry the little tractor around and do cool stuff with it... Yeah I got plans, now all I need is a body to accomplish it all. one day a week I'm a ball of fire, if you catch me that day you might be impressed, the other six days, not nearly as impressive. In fact pretty pitiful some times. But hey, 50 days a year is better than many have. So I'll take it, but I am looking for a good chinese accupuncturist, if you find one give me a call.

Man, are we happy out here!