Bill's Cushman

At long last I was able to return Bill's Cushman.  It has been so long at this point I can't remember if I have or have not mentioned this already.  Bill has been a close family friend for many years that came to first know us by buying a car from dad in the 70s.  Bill is a self made man and began his career as a small child by selling ice cream until he could afford to purchase a Cushman.  He then got a paper route and worked his way to the top of the company before setting out and starting his own series of companies and building his empire.  He recently found a Cushman exactly like the one he had as a child.  He bought it in Florida when he and dad were both vacationing there and when dad hauled it home for him he asked if I would try to get it running for him.  Bill found out a while ago that he has cancer and has been battling it ever since.

I have grown to loathe this machine.  I know absolutely nothing about Cushmans and if it weren't Bill's I wouldn't have touched it with a 10 foot pole.  I ended up rebuilding the carb about 6 times and got it running a little bit before eventually giving up and sending it to another fellow that works on various types of engines.  He, himself, had a lot of trouble but eventually got it going.  This weekend I was finally able to return it to Bill. 

In other news I am able to use my welder again.  It turns out the problem was not with the welder but with the breaker in the wall.  I had previously flipped the breaker back and even tested the outlet, which showed a good 220v, yet it wouldn't work when I tried to power the welder on.  I ended up, just because I was out of options, flipping the breaker off very hard and it clicked, and then back on, and all was well.  I am confused by this, but I don't know very much about home electrical wiring so this will remain a mystery to me.  I was able to get a small amount of progress made on the '31's alternator  bracket and hopefully with warmer weather and a functional welder I will be able to finish this project up in the near future and move back to the Corvair.

WellDur-n

We have had two bouts of unusually cold weather and I haven't been able to get out to the garage in what seems like an eternity.  I was finally able to get some work done yesterday.

I continued progress on the alternator bracket for the '31.  After test fitting and measuring I cut the plate located to the side that the vertical tabs that hold the case will be welded to. 

I laid one bead, cut the welder off and prepared the other side and when I went to cut the welder on it had no power at all.  The 220 breaker in the garage fusebox was flipped.  I tested the outlet and it was good.  I spent the rest of the day trying to find an internal breaker or fuse inside the digital, overly confusing internals of the massive beast of a welder.  What a tiny amount of progress and a huge letdown.