Misc Musings
A little side note/ mental field trip.. I always wonder what kind of person the guy is behind a given build log.. is he a noob? retired? an engineer? 1st car? 15th car? what does he do for a living? I find the builder mindset very interesting- when we tell/show the average person what we're doing, they usually just can't grasp the idea- a car out of tubes??.. In my case, I explain that I pro-actively sought out a clown car pile of poo, and proceeded to take apart a beautiful street bike and combine the two.. The reaction is always "Why?!" -usually followed by compliments about how I'm a mechanical genius doing what no one else has ever done (even if for no apparent good reason)..
The Why? I don't know. My best day is being left alone and working on my project for hours.. Am I antisocial? -probably. Years ago tried to turn off my interest in old cars/bikes: too much time and $$.. I lasted about 6 months and went a little nutty before my wife suggested I "Find something to do in the garage- stop denying what you are; you're a car guy and it makes you happy." (cool wife, huh?). Anyway, in my case, some little corner of my brain needs to do this- this fabbing/polishing/puzzling/fitting/fiddling.. Admittedly there's got to be a bit of ego in this too.. I like the attention an unusual/rare/cool car brings- and I'm very, very proud that I have the ability to build it myself (as opposed to those that buy someone else's work.. nothing wrong with it, but it's clear when you talk to an owner about how such and so was fabbed, the builder-owner can give you a 20 minute soliloquy on it; and the buyer-owner just shrugs..). Probably later in life I'll want to get off the garage floor and let someone else do the work, but I'm not there yet..
A Genius? Why, yes, yes I am! HA! You guys know all too well that this process is a ton of trial and error.. most things I have to build 2 or three times before I get it right, and even then I often still think about how to change/improve/fix it.. There's no genius about it, but I occassionally approach clever.. Also, I've known for years that I have a bit of an obsessive personality, which is actually a benefit for these long-term projects.. As you know, it takes just that person(ality) to spend 3 hours on a bracket that no one will ever see, decide it's 'ugly,' pitch it, and make it again.
Sane? Only because of the hobby. No matter how screwy the job gets (my last career abruptly ended Sept 5, 2008 due to the recession
), or what else in life goes awry, my silly little obsessive project is there to provide 'garage therapy'.. Truth be told my old car habit keeps me home and honest (my last mistress, the voluptuous "Effie" ('53 F100) was admittedly a bit more attractive than my current affair with petite little "Ennie"). I'm lucky my wife is so tolerant of my daliances 
That's enough musing- back to the build..
- Called Dynojet for tech help and was able to download software and maps (there are 3 maps for my model/make/year from dynojet; from stock up to an open intake/exhuast)- (MARCH 9)- Loaded map 2 of 3 (mild) into bike.. Nice! Noticable change.. power delivery is very smooth and strong-- took out the OEM flat spots!.. I've been concerned with trying to bring this engine's torque 'down' in the RPM band, but with this improvement (nice, even, strong pull) I'll likely leave motor alone until it's in the car and running then see where the power is or is not.. even at that, seems like a lot could be done by putting a custom tune on this engine once the intake/exhaust are final (it's likely to breathe much more freely in the car with the headers I'll build).. // learned that my rear upper shock spread is to be 28.5"
) // I've posted many of the other N600 OEM parts up on the boards-- not much interest yet--- maybe the other 3 people that have these cars aren't interested 
// Moved onto passenger lower arm to move the pocket.. got about 1/2 way through this one.. // plan to ship the motor on the 12th