"Good people do not need laws to tell them how to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around those laws." - Plato
Soooo, with yesterday being a day off, I spent a bit of time working on the old truck. When I got out there, I glanced at the fermenter. It looks like the yeast are about done converting the sugars into alcohol, and are finally beginning to settle. The top part is noticeably darker and clearer than the rest.
It's time to move the beer to a clarifier bottle, and get it off the top of the dead yeast cells at the bottom of the fermenter. The process of fermenting is pretty active, but once done, you don't want the dregs (dead yeast cells on the bottom) bittering your beer.
Below: Time-lapse video of a fermentation. It's fun to watch the clumps of yeast swirl around.
However, I was in the shop to have a go at the truck. The biggest box that I received recently held just one piece of glass, and it was my hope to get the new glass installed in the door window. Ha! Like anything on this truck will be that easy. There are a couple of cracks there. Also no weather stripping. Of course there isn't any. This truck looks cool, but nothing about it is really OK.
Oh yeah. I ordered the replacement fuel tank, which will go underneath the bed of the truck, between the frame rails. You, know - like a normal fuel tank. They also sell a pre-curved piece of sheet metal that will fit in this hole that you simply weld in place, which is also on order.
About to begin. The truck is pretty simple, so how hard could it be to remove the glass? Pretty damn tough. I was sweaty, tired, and beat down by the time it was over with. It took me 2-3 minutes just to roll down the window, with a lot of jiggling on the glass and the roll-up handle :( That's how rusty and creaky the mechanism inside the door is.
Like Forrest Gump, I'm not a smart man, but I figured here is where you get into the door to replace the glass.
Once you get the door panel off, you can get a better view of all the rust!
Below: I pulled this out of the window slot. Hopefully they make replacement weather stripping.
There is always that one screw, isn't there? This sumbitch stripped out - even though the impact gun took out every other screw without any issue. It was the last remaining screw holding the window support bracket in place. I had to drill it out, and it was quite a bit harder than my Harbor Freight drills - so it took about 30 minutes of swearing and leaning on those poor chattering drill bits. Absolutely awful.
In the midst of the shit-show with the stripped out screw - which seemed to be made of carbide steel - there was a massive thunderclap and crazy downpour. I used the opportunity to take a break and get some cool air into the shop.
Below: Sweat and the head of a drilled-out screw.
Below: What nightmares await, now that it's loose?
At this point, the entire window assembly rotated around, but would not come out. I was able to gently pry the glass out of the support channel and remove it from inside. The assembly needs to come out and be cleaned up - so that it will work smoothly - but I'm not certain how to do that. It's very stubborn.
Below: Treasure! The reason I pulled this was to see if the new glass is a match. Unfortunately, the new glass is not an identical fit :( Pictures of that later. This entire process took well over an hour, and due to that one screw, was pretty physical.
After that ordeal I cooled off for a bit, then grabbed the wooden cow skull for some modifications. The inside was really rough, having been hand-chiseled. It needed a smooth spot to mount a sticky magnet for the light.
Afterwards, I was able to mount the skull mid-way above the desk in the office. Perfect mood lighting for a not very normal guy, I guess. LOL. At least one thing was successful.
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