Yesterday I went out and got allergy and cough medicine for Mrs. the Poet. I also bought other things for her that she put on the list, but were really for me because after I got back she refused to take them and said they were for me. If I had known I would have gotten a different flavor of beef jerky. They had teriaki at the same price, but I thought Mrs. the Poet would like original flavor better.
This is going to be a busy week for leaving the house. I’m getting a lottery ticket later today, and Thursday we are finally going to get our taxes done, then do our anniversary night out, because Mrs. the Poet thinks she will be able to taste her mushroom swiss burger. Since Red Robin is one of the few places I can spend the pay I have been accumulating for about 18 months and it’s a sit-down type burger place we agreed this was the place to have our dinner. I have something I need to do Wednesday that eludes me at the moment but hopefully I’ll remember what it was before Thursday gets here.
I have been looking up tubing benders to find out what radius I can expect the 1.5″ tubing in the Sprint-T frame member bends, so I can get accurate scale bends for the Mini Sprint-T frame. I also discovered how to make a manual mandrel tube bender for cheap-ish. Not actually cheap, but cheap compared to a powered mandrel tubing bender you buy. Turns out the really pricey parts are the bending dies and mandrel, because you have to get or make a separate mandrel for every different wall thickness tubing you want to bend in every diameter you want. As an example I would need 1.5″ bending dies and follow rollers, then different mandrels for the 0.120″ and 0.060″ wall tubes to make sure I had wrinkle-free bends that would not be stress risers in the frame or roll cage. And for the Mini Sprint-T it turns out I would need a bending post 0.36″ in diameter to replicate the bend I would be getting in full scale.
Also I have been looking up costs of buying a Pentastar crate engine, without much luck. I still want to use that engine because the dressed engine and matching automatic transmission combined are within 5 pounds (±) of the weight of a dressed SBC without a transmission. Also the block rear face to front pulley measurement is under 20″ meaning I would have lots of room for the steering linkage on the front axle compared to the baseline SBC 27.88″. Also the torque is 241 lb-ft or higher from just off idle to redline with a peak of 268 at 4800 (or 269 at 4175 if I find an engine out of a Dodge 1500 pickup truck), meaning I could basically lock it in gear once I got it rolling on course in an autocross and just drive it like a big go-kart, gas, brakes, and steer. But given the 8 ratios in the slushbox, I probably would indulge a slap or two on the paddle shifters.
And now I really need to go rub Mrs. the Poet’s back and sides because her allergies have had her hacking for several days and her intercostals are exhausted from the coughing.
Witch on a Bicycle 