LocostUSA.com

My deepest sympathies on the poison oak. I am highly allergic, although it has gotten better with time and I don't swell up like I gained 150 pounds as I once did. My first encounter was at age 13 when I watched local firemen put out a fire in a brushy area along a creek - about 80% poison oak. At least you didn't get it in your nose, throat and lungs.

Go to a doctor next time. They can look up standard treatments (Stanford Medical Center developed a series of topical and oral treatments for Cal Fire, our state firefighting service) online. Basically you take prednisone orally for 4-5 days and apply prescription strength corticosteroid creams, which are much stronger than over-the-counter stuff. It helps with the nose and throat too. The same treatments work for poison ivy and poison sumac. In two days you'll be human again and it dries up very quickly. Bleach can help, but can also cause scarring. Prednisone is 10X times better.

Poison oak is everywhere here from coastal creeks to the mountains. I can now spot it 100 yards away, but it does not grow above 5,500 feet. You do build resistance to it. The Indians up by Yosemite have a great business clearing it off local properties. They are completely immune to it, but they've been dealing with it for 35,000 years or so.

I hope you feel better soon. It does come to an end eventually.

Regards,

Lonnie

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

I know about Writers Block, but I think I am suffering from a good ole case of Builders Block? I'm not talking simple analysis paralysis, but a honest to goodness case of "Just what one of the millions tasks should I tackle next"??

So, having spent all Saturday taking care of the SWSBCs (new one for the list.. She Whom Should Be Consulted = Girlfriend) brakes. She mentioned on Fri that she was hearing some grinding, especially in Rev, in the AM for the last few weeks!! ARG!!! Luckily it was only grazing the rotors and a simple surfacing and pad replacement later, she's on the road again!

So on Sunday, after spending the last 4 weeks combating Poison Oak (sweating is now only a minor discomfort), I finally make it out to the garage and after a bit of cleaning I sit down in front of the car and find myself trying to figure out exactly where to start. I sat there for nearly 3 hours.. moving this part, checking that clearance, sitting in, laying under, etc, etc... but making no appreciable progress at all! I don't know if it was the heat (about 94F in the garage!) or the fact that I have come to a stage where there are about a million little things, but no major obstacles to tackle (save the ones I'm creating apparently!). I think that I start to realize that the things that I am doing now are very close to finalized and I'll have to live with them. Maybe it's a mild case of AP mixed with the process of choosing what to focus on. This is unusual as I am normally so "cut, hack, whack, crap, redo".

So I'm going to have to break down and follow my own advise from the past and white board my "to-do" list and see if I can't jump start my own a$$ by focusing on a single task until it's a task no more! Most of it simply has to do with a lack of funds to perform the needed work, but there are a lot of things that would take an hour or so to do and you string a few of those together each time your out there (the 10 minute rule presented recently!) and the car is done before you know it! This is where the ADD starts to take over and becomes an issue!

It is interesting to consider that I've now reached a point that it's the little jobs keeping me "entertained" rather than the big ones!!

Cheers!

K "soon to be making progress again.. no, really!" S

_________________
Check out Firearm Finishes & Coating for options to ceramic coat your Locost parts. Hundreds of stock or custom colors including Chrome and Clear Coating options now available! High Temp options for hot bits!! Plastics too!!

Never become a pessimist. A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.-Robert A. Heinlein

Ok.... So I came home all piss & vinegar to work on the car. Grabbed my welding gear and almost made a huge mistake!

About a week ago I put on a shirt that I wore out to dinner the evening I "infected" myself with poison oak. Some how it made it back on a hanger without being properly "disinfected". Man....I tell you.... About 3 pm I figured out what was happening, but not before raising hives all over my torso. It went away in about 24 hours and I believe I have washed any thing I might have even breathed on during that dark time!

But the welding gear is a different story..... Does any one know how to easily clean a leather welding apron? I'm sure I wore it after I was contaminated, so I don't think I can even risk it. It states Dry Clean Only, but I'm wondering if there is anything that can be used to clean it.

I have MEK, denatured alcohol and other general cleaners. Its in good shape, so unless its proven, I'll just send it of to the cleaners.

I'm just wondering if there are any quick ways to clean it.

K "Glad I wasn't that dumb twice!" S

_________________
Check out Firearm Finishes & Coating for options to ceramic coat your Locost parts. Hundreds of stock or custom colors including Chrome and Clear Coating options now available! High Temp options for hot bits!! Plastics too!!

Never become a pessimist. A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.-Robert A. Heinlein

I would use a "poison oak soap" - google it. There are also recipe's for the soap. There is also a "poison oak" antidote plant!! It is found nearby the poison oak.
Saddle soap the leather after washing.
Good Luck!

JMR

_________________
When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting -- Steve McQueen from LeMans

My build log viewtopic.php?f=36&t=10658&start=0 NOW NAMED =The Wycked 7

My other build log viewtopic.php?f=18&t=15162 The Skayt'R6

Hey Guys! Long time no talkie!

The last few years have been a really, really, REALLY interesting bunch of years. I last posted in June 2012. I have been battling Ex's, neighbors, co-workers... I have moved 3 times in a year which included being screwed over by said co-worker, costing me thousands of $$. I have taken up a new hobby that involves hitting targets really far away (think 1k yards+). I have started a small home business to help fund that hobby and provide a service to my local group of shooters, but through it all... there has been the Locost.



After my encounter with poison oak in June 2012, I took the summer off and waited for the heat to subside. We had an amazing batch of thunder/wind storms come through and somehow my TIG welder got zapped. Price new... $1100 Quote to repair... $950!! So now I am without a welder and still have a frame to finish welding. Sigh!

The ex took that time to drain the "fun" account dry... she'd been watching my musings on-line and used that against me again (this woman needs to get a life!!). My atty suggested that I pause everything on-line, so here, FB, Myspace, Yahoo.. everything stopped. I literally turned off the computer/phone and went away for a while. I'm sorry to have disappeared so quickly as I now see there were a couple of messages I didn't get, but I really didn't have a choice if I wanted to keep my sanity and myself from doing something that usually results in jail time!

That next spring life was getting back to normal, I was offered a chance to buy a house. Nice old (1895) 3 acre 3400 sqft farm house. I instantly had dreams of a beautiful house, with a HUGE barn/shop. Oh... it was going to be grand!!! It needed work... Mom (his mother had died in the house) was a pac rat and he couldn't ever bring himself to clean it. So several months were invested and in Nov 2013, after months of cleaning, repairing and updating the basics and making the house livable.. I moved in. 3 weeks later he (encouraged by his psycho wife (documented)) decided that they really couldn't have someone living in Moms house (her ghost was unsettled (her words)) and asked us... me and my 14yo son.. to leave. Yes.. we had a contract and everything, but in the backwards state of NC, no court is going to make him follow through on it and I would have either had the neighbor from hell (they lived next door to Mom) or lost the house and $$ fighting it to only recoup the $$ spend fixing it up, so I moved back out (Still in pending litigation)....

I spent 8mo feeling sorry for myself while my son and I lived in my friends basement. I have found that I really hate being beholden to someone for my lodgings. I'll never, ever be the roommate again!! I eventually found a suitable house (read 1300sq ft open basement w garage door in addition to the 2 car garage upstairs!!) and moved once again! Now, don't get me wrong, I could have moved the next week or so, but I never realized just how hard it is to find a house with a garage that holds more than one car. They really don't exist around these parts in the price range I as a single parent, child support paying adult can afford!

While all the moving dust has long settled, the Locost has been sitting in the middle of this wonderful space while I have been deluged with projects from the new hobby (tactical long range shooting) and starting a new biz, Cerakoteing firearms (ceramic paint - tough as nails and hundreds of colors). It works for automotive uses too, so this might just work out!!

So that brings you to today. I have a new outlook at life. The ex can go stuff herself in a suitcase and get mailed. I'll never let her control my life again. I have a new job that I love... Chief Lab Rat of an R&D lab. Tinkering and playing all day making things from nothing. Perfect for me! I have met a wonderful lady that reminds me that a 2 seater needs to have someone better looking than me (not hard) in the other seat!! So with that said....

I don't know what happened, but the other day something sparked and all I want to do now is work on the Locost! Like that is a bad thing, huh? I started dusting off all the old boxes of parts. Wiped down the frame and seats. Dug out the engine/trans. Started putting bits where they should be... and damn... I realized that I'm about 65% done with this damn thing!

So now I have to step back for a moment and collect my thoughts (which have not involved a Locost for some time) and get my head back into the building game. I now have access to a complete manufacturing fabrication shop, so in addition to a new welder that is Alum capable, getting metal for free (Scrap stainless sheet) or cost on sheets of what ever, and access to a real shop with 3ft spot welders, tubing & rod benders, 200ton press breaks, CNC turret punches and 9ft 150t shears. I think I'm going to take a little step backwards and rethink a couple of things that I always wanted to do differently, but never had the skills or tools to do. These cars are always compromises and mine has been on the wrong end of a lot of them. I'm taking it back!!!

I'm sorry for the length of the drivel here today. It felt good to get it all out and helped to get me back in to a building mind. Reading all the old threads, seeing all the old names was great. I've missed you guys!!!

So, it'll be slow while I get it all back into gear, but....

_________________
Check out Firearm Finishes & Coating for options to ceramic coat your Locost parts. Hundreds of stock or custom colors including Chrome and Clear Coating options now available! High Temp options for hot bits!! Plastics too!!

Never become a pessimist. A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.-Robert A. Heinlein

Glad to see you back at it! Though a three-year gap isn't particularly notable in Locost Time... <grin>

When you buy a new welder, google failures and repairs before you lay out any money. Some of the new solid state welders have... issues. DOA, dead in weeks or months, circuit board replacement expensive.
My old stick welder probably dates back to the Eisenhower Administration, but there's nothing in there but a honking big transformer. Some of the new TIG welders can probably play Pac-Man and do spreadsheets...

If you have car show or street machine clubs, don't forget them as potential customers for your coating business.

I'll add bicycle parts. There is at least one outfit out there that does ceramic coating on various bits 'n bobs. I had our paint shop do an entire frame with Ceracote. It came out pretty cool and tough as nails. (which reminds me...I think we have some left over! )

_________________
-Keith

TRX... Thanks! Yeah.. I remember reading some posts and seeing multi-year gaps in them and thinking... That'll never be me. I'll just build this thing!.. but, after cutting it up into little bits in 2011 to move it to NC... and the "The Great Pause of 2012", I've realized that it's just going to be what it is and move onwards and upwards!

The really odd things is seeing builds that I thought would be long done and driving in a state barely above mine, conversely, there are builds that I thought might never go anywhere and they look fantastic! It is really a strange world these Locost Builders inhabit.

Buy a welder?? We don't buy no stinking welder!! That is one of the best parts of my new job. I get to work with all these wonderful tools, order them as needed and then borrow them for my uses as work allows!! Crazy fun times!! In the last 6 months, the lab got a Miller Dynasty 200 TIG and a Victor Plasma Cutter. Both portable (work off house supplies... Hmmmm Wonder how that happened?? ) and since I have tanks and torches at home already from the old rigs and I am the only person in the lab, I can just borrow the main units to play at home and bring them back on Mon! That is if I don't just bring the parts to work and do it here. I think that the down time between projects and the proximity to metal is what has sparked the recent desire to return to the build. Take it where you get it, right??

Oh.. Yeah, there are a couple (hundred) of car clubs in the area! I'm not a car show guy, but just about every other guy at work is and they all have cars in various stages. Just need to swing a couple of them under the wings and it should be very doable. The only thing I don't want it to do is to take off so much that it eats up time for anything else. Great problem to have, but I've been there before and not looking to have it happen again.

K "First World Problems" S

_________________
Check out Firearm Finishes & Coating for options to ceramic coat your Locost parts. Hundreds of stock or custom colors including Chrome and Clear Coating options now available! High Temp options for hot bits!! Plastics too!!

Never become a pessimist. A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.-Robert A. Heinlein

YO! BOT!
Hey Buddy! Great to hear from you again! I can relate to that "laying low" period, been through one of those my-own-self. It can be really tough, but as we can see, you pulled through... Put it behind you, move on, be happy. The best revenge is living well...

Back in West-By-God-Virginia, we called that "Ground Hog Huntin"...

Now, git back ta buildin' that beastie!


JDK

_________________
JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

That's the neat thing about Cerakote... You can do just about anything!!

Here's a knife I did for my son to show off... Zombie Themed!



Looking forward to a lot of stainless and Cerakoted parts being added to the build this go round!

K "You want it what color?!?" S

_________________
Check out Firearm Finishes & Coating for options to ceramic coat your Locost parts. Hundreds of stock or custom colors including Chrome and Clear Coating options now available! High Temp options for hot bits!! Plastics too!!

Never become a pessimist. A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.-Robert A. Heinlein

Hey Gonzo!!! Yep.. it's been an interesting trip that I'd like to just pretend was a bad dream!

I'm a gitt'in!!! I don't know what tripped the other day, but I've really been foolish to wait as long as I have, with the access to all the tools and toys I currently have. I've done a couple of "sure I can do that for you" time sucks that lasted a lot longer than they should have, but mainly it was just a mental game that I hope I won!!!

So nuff bout me... Your ride is looking a bit faster than the last time I saw it!!! You and Bubba kept all your fingers in place and got it rollin!!! Looking good!

K "Living better... well is a ways off" S

_________________
Check out Firearm Finishes & Coating for options to ceramic coat your Locost parts. Hundreds of stock or custom colors including Chrome and Clear Coating options now available! High Temp options for hot bits!! Plastics too!!

Never become a pessimist. A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.-Robert A. Heinlein

Congrats on the return to your build! Where in NC are you?? There are a few of us in/around the Charlotte area. if you are near, perhaps we should have a meet up to tell lies and drink a few.

_________________
Gavin

My build: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=16005

Thanks Mnot! I'm just north of Winston.

Telling lies and drinking! Sounds like an awesome time! I got plenty of space...I'll host. We'll toss a pig in the combi and make some awesome BBQ!

K "now I'm hungry again" S

_________________
Check out Firearm Finishes & Coating for options to ceramic coat your Locost parts. Hundreds of stock or custom colors including Chrome and Clear Coating options now available! High Temp options for hot bits!! Plastics too!!

Never become a pessimist. A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.-Robert A. Heinlein

Did somebody mention food? Lemme know when dinner is ready... I'll bring Bubba, he jus' LOVES bar-be-cue!!!

_________________
JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

Gonzo.... You know you guys are always welcome for grub! Combi cooks up food in no time! Last year
Did a a 22# turkey in under 2 hours! Mmmmmm mmmmm goodness!

You pick the date! I'll do the cooking!

K "where's the extinguisher?" S

_________________
Check out Firearm Finishes & Coating for options to ceramic coat your Locost parts. Hundreds of stock or custom colors including Chrome and Clear Coating options now available! High Temp options for hot bits!! Plastics too!!

Never become a pessimist. A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.-Robert A. Heinlein