Summer of Cars Part 2 - Go Kart! Part 2

GO KART!

We made it down to Jamul and assembling the go cart wasn't as much of a pain as I thought it would be.

The engine went in fine and aligning the chain was a piece of cake.  We didn't have a 1/4" key to keep the rear wheels from spinning free.  So, I had to use a bench grinder and make one.  And the rear breaks would stick but that was fixed with a beefier spring.  Overall it was much easier than I expected and within an hour we were doing some test runs.

Okay, maybe I'm a bit big for it.

But the kids loved it.

and plenty of other adults.

We even had expert supervision by grandma.

Eventually it was test so thoroughly that the rear tire came off.

but in the traditional "Jamul way" it was quickly repaired with a hose clamp and some duck tape.

Summer of Cars Part 2 - Go Kart! Part 1

The summer started with the cragslist impulse purchase of a $60 "go kart."  "Go kart" is in quotes because it was really just a frame and two tires.

You might notice a motor on the back but after a trip to the lawnmower shop I learned it was worthless.  Basically, for the price of repairing this underpowered 3.5 horsepower motor I could buy a new 6.5 hp engine at Harbor Freight.  And after a 20% discount coupon appeared in my inbox I got the motor for less than $100.  Awesome.

A quick paint job and upholstery.  

The two front tires were fine but the back weren't.

I did appreciate the use of old sockets as spacers on the busted wheels.

A trip to my local go kart shop, Catkart was a big help.  I picked up some pedals, linkage,  rims and tires for the rear.  The kart quickly became a money pit, consumed way too much time but it was so much fun.

Finally we strapped the frame on the roof and threw the rest of the bits into the back of the subaru and headed to my folks in Jamul.


stay continued for part 2

What I'm working on

finally getting around to learning how to make an animated gif....it's sort of fun

Summer of Cars Part 1 - Braving Baja

So it turned out this summer a lot of time was spent looking at cars.  It started in May with a quick trip to the Petersen Automotive Museum to check out Braving Baja: 1000 Miles to Glory.

It was a decent show but a bit small.  I think if I didn't know anything about off road racing it would've been a nice introduction.

It tended to be a bit motorcycle centric.  There were a couple great cars but most of the best cars were at the start of the 2013 Mexican 1000 which was the same weekend as the show opening.

The always fantastic Bel-Ray Bullet did the 1000 and then, still dirty, went to the museum.

The did have a copy of Cycle Psychos on hand

and I enjoyed seeing the early tool bag

and the weird cut window on this bug.  

Overall, I wish there had been more, like Big Oly (the real one, not the fake modern one in the lobby), a Grabber Olds,  maybe a volvo burro or even the  Four Wheeler Fj40 that Specter Off Road has in their shop all of 30 miles from the museum.

Luckily the museum is big and there was plenty more to see.  It makes me glad I'm a member.

next up  Go Kart!

A show I'm in - Summer Viewing Room

I had a couple pieces up at Susanne Vielmetter's for the "Summer Viewing Room" show.  It was a nice grouping of works from the gallery artists. 

Darts (red) - 2013

I've been trying to make my work a bit more interactive and for this show it seemed to work.

This Piece is for You - 2013

Summer's Over - I really need to get back to work on this blog

Well, it's been almost four months since my last post and I either need to consistently update this thing or shut it down.  So, let's shoot for updating it.  Keep you fingers crossed this could be a bumpy ride.

Inspiration - Toyota ShopTalk April 1971

Shop Talk was the magazine for Toyota parts and service managers.  This was the first (and possibly only) issue.

The first article was on my dad racing in Baja.  It's a pretty good read but I'm a little dissapointed that the full page psychedelic image wasn't his Toyota.

What i'm working on

....sort of....I've been trying to figure it out for a while.

Old Gold - White Light, White Heat....

White Light, White Heat, White Noise, White Cube, White Album, White Christmas
Sean Duffy
2006
3 Velvet Underground - White Light White Heat album covers, 3 Beatles - White Album covers, 24 music boxes, wood and hardware.

Latest Race Repair

Well it's almost been a year since the Mexican 1000 and I just got around doing what I believe is the last race-damage repair.  At some point south of Lorretto the fan shroud came loose and chipped off a couple fan blades.

new fan - old fan

I eventually repaired the shroud with some bailing wire before driving the car home.  The water temperature never changed and even though Man-a-fre gave me a good used one when I returned to the US it took me almost a year to put it on.

In other news, the spur trails on the way to  Rowher Flats have been shut down.  They were dug up with some kind of earth mover and are impassible (I tried).  Since they're spurs off the Sierra Pellona Mtwy, they're technically not in the Rowher Flats OHV park but does seem silly to go from two parallel fire breaks to one.  But what do I know.

all dug up

On a brighter note - There's an apricot tree near the top of hills and it was in full bloom.  It was amazing that in the middle of this windy high desert there was one tree that was so happy.

Old Gold - Blatant Localism

digging through my old video files.



Blantant Localism
2006
2 turntables, birch plywood, paint, Beach Boys - True to your School, 45, Jody Foster's Army - Blantant Localism EP and Beach Boys - I just wasn't made for these times, SubPop single.

Sean Duffy

Here's the 45 sleeve for it from my Group Show installation

and the original JFA sleeve

Trip to Costco! and Up and Over Rowher Flats 2

I needed to go to Costco and decided to take the best route rather than the quickest.  The quickest would take me twenty minutes but the best would wind up taking over two hours.  30 miles of which were off road.

Basically, I'd start by driving in the wrong direction and then take The Sierra Pelona Mountainway off of Bouquet Canyon, climb over the hills through Rowher Flats and wind up on Sierra Highway about 10 miles east of Costco.

A - The start of the trail is pretty easy to miss it while your zipping along Bouquet Canyon.

B- I stopped at the first pullout to  quickly to check over the car and wound up right next to an ancient dump.  It was pretty picked over but still neat.

The road going up is pretty smooth but a bit narrow with plenty of blind corners.  There are some bits where rocks have fallen into the road and  if you don't like heights you shouldn't look down.

C - Weird rock formations!  The goelogy in this area is amazing.  

D- Pretty quickly you reach the most western point and have a great view of Santa Clarita and beyond.

E- As you head back east there are several spurs off the fire road.  Mainly little hill climbs, some more challenging that others but only one the Land Cruiser couldn't handle.

F - Somewhere around the highest point on the trail.

G - As you start to descend you can see the Bouquet reservour off in the distance.  Turn right and head down Fall Canyon Truck Trail.

H - More weird rocks!

I - As you head up Texas Canyon Trail keep your speed down.  There are a few puddles that seem to never dry up and in the case of the Toyota FJ40 hitting them at a moderate speed can mean a mud bath.  Here's what happened on a previous trip.

This time I kept my speed down and made it to Costco relatively clean.

And realized that because of my "active lifestyle" I need some new sunglasses.  It was the retro early 90s packaging that convinced me.

thanks Costco!