Oklahoma 2014

[Stripe]

HAHA!! 5.11 Makes Utilikilts?? 

This is what I wear..

Except my buckle has the Scottish Flag..

[jkilbert]

It started a year or two ago as an April fools joke, but the demand was so high they started doing limited runs of them

[Stripe]

hehehe, Go figure..  I met a guy once downtown wearing a utilikilt while I was wearing my Kilt and I said to him I like wearing the real thing..  He didn't talk to me after that..  Lol..

BTW, Jkilbert, I clicked your You-tube link and got a 404 error..  How do I look up your vid channel?

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I wear the same Blackwatch myself.  Had a few Utilikilts, but when I lost 70lbs they didn't fit anymore, so I sold them on eBay.

Never felt the need to replace them.  They were a cool fad, but I'd rather wear pants when I'm not working!  Don't have to worry about how I'm sitting that way!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Worked on catapults from 7am to 6:30pm.  Gotta hit the post office tomorrow morning early and expedite ship a butt ton of catapult parts to my guys in So Cal, then get right back to work building!

Gonna be busy as heck for the next few weeks!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Got everything done I could get done for the So Cal show, and shipped everything off.  Today I put a new battery in my Dell laptop, a new keyboard in Patti's Acer laptop, and then spent the rest of the day being "lazy", updating my computer, and totally reloading Patti's.  Hers was loaded with so many viruses it was just easier to reinstall a system image than try to fix it.

All done now, and just enjoying the fast 4G internet!

Tomorrow I'll be multitasking.  Building more catapults, and getting the wipers and washers working on the Blazer.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I have wipers and washers now! SWEET!

Also replaced the plastic bucket on the steering column that was all broken up, replaced the dash bezel with the nice woodgrain one, and installed the new signal switch and wiper switch, the washer bottle I got from my friend's parts beast with a new washer pump, and ran the new washer hose to the ports on the cowl that I got from the same 91 parts beast.

I had a couple of issues though. First, with the plastic bucket thingy. It came with all new bearings for the steering column, so I used the pivot pin tool I got from LCM to get to the bearings. Left side came right out, then the tool broke off in the right side! Guess I'm not doing the bearings! Anyhow, I was able to reach 3 of the 4 bolts that was causing my steering column to wobble up and down from the tilt pivot to the wheel, so at least that is nice and tight now. No more wobble!

Then at first the wiper switch would only work on one setting, with the washer running at the same time! I spent 2 hours troubleshooting the wiring and trying to figure out why, and it just started to work normally by itself. Go figure! I only have one speed on the wipers, but they work now. Good enough for me! Washer works perfectly as well.

Then when putting it all back together, the brittle plastic horn ring/signal deselector thingy crumbled into dust where the spring and wire go...dangit! Wanted to get the horn working today!

Ah well. Got the radio trim in place, then the dash bezel, and its coming along!

Buttoned it all up, put my tools away, and it was already almost 5pm. Got started around 8am...geesh!

Took a trip after to see how it felt...nice not having the steering wheel wobble all over the place...and drove down to O'Reilly's for the horn ring deselector thingy. 6 bucks.

Gotta build catapults all day tomorrow, but I might have time to stick the horn thingy in place and see if the horn works. If it doesn't, I won't have time to troubleshoot it for the next couple of days.

Anyhow, went ahead and ordered the cheap carpet type dash cover from LMC, along with the lower kick panel carpets, both in tan. Need a whole new dash since its in such bad shape, but just the coverup is all that's in the budget right now...especially with my lift replacement coming up.

Kev

[Stripe]

Nice..  Gonna get that thing looking good...

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Dash is looking better!



Slowly but surely!

Kev

[Stripe]

Nice, that looks really cool..

By the way, you only have a quarter tank of gas, so....

[ClydesdaleKevin]

LOL!  I get 18mpg in this thing around town, topping what the Jeep got.  As long as I'm easy on the pedal that is.  Hard not to stomp it sometimes when this thing has so much power with its 350 LS1 engine! 

Just like the RV, keep it easy and the MPG is good.  Open the secondaries, and the fuel gauge drops down visibly as you are driving...lol!

Having the 700R overdrive transmission in this thing helps though.  Plenty strong enough for a reasonably altered and driven Blazer.

Kev

[M & J]

I showed Stripe this picture Kevin, and we agreed perhaps Sheba might of paid us a visit.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Thanks for that guys!  She was the best girl ever.  She sure did love her butterflies!

All my trebuchets are done, and there is LOTS more to do this week!  Opening day next weekend here in Muskogee, OK, and the boys at our So Cal show are rocking it out.  Thank the gods my worker Crystal is going to be here tomorrow evening!  Hope she's not expecting more than one day off to set up her camp...lol!

And all the storms, as usual, went right around Muskogee.

Kev

[RedneckExpress]

Hey Kevin, how hard is it to get to the light bulbs for the gauges?   Remove a couple screws, pull the face plate and pop them out, or is it a surgery?

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Depends on your dash.  In our motorhome, there are 2 access panels in the top of the dash, so you can reach in and replace the bulbs.  In the K5, you have to remove the dash bezel, then the gauge cluster itself to get to the bulbs.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

So Cal stock is all shipped out, then I worked on the K5 for about an hour...repaired the dash enough so you wouldn't see the cracks and valleys through the velour dash cover, contact cemented pet screen material over the holes over the speakers for the same reason, then installed the cover with extra industrial strength Velcro...and installed the new lower carpeted kick panels I got from LMC.  Looks WAY better, and Patti was pretty impressed!

Also picked up some new tan floor mats from O'Reilly's while I was out today.  The camo is almost history!  Just gotta replace the center console with a tan Tuffy Series 2 security console.

Then it was back to work on the catapults.  Got all the rest of the parts for the mousetrap catapults done for Patti to assemble, then finished building and wood puttying the ballistae, all 8 of them, then finished cutting out and sanding the last few parts I needed for the 5 trebuchets we need on the table for this coming weekend.

My worker Crystal is a day behind or more, so its a good thing I anticipated that and can finish everything myself if need be by the weekend!

Lots more to do this week.  Busy busy!

Kev

[RedneckExpress]

Depends on your dash.  In our motorhome, there are 2 access panels in the top of the dash, so you can reach in and replace the bulbs.  In the K5, you have to remove the dash bezel, then the gauge cluster itself to get to the bulbs.

Kev

How much work is it to pull the gauge cluster?   I've got an 85 Chevy C10 Suburban that's down to two light bulbs still working in the gauge cluster. 

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Easy as heck, Redneck.  Just unscrew all the bezel screws and pull the bezel, then unscrew the remaining dash cluster screws and it will tilt forward enough to get to the back of the cluster without taking off any wires.

You might have to reach up high in there first and unscrew the speedo cable to get some play to tilt it forward.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Oh yeah...by the way, some pics of the dash and whatnot in the K5!













Getting there!

Lots more to do.  Working on the K5 is like therapy to me.  Has nothing to do with catapults.  Has nothing to do with RVing and fulltiming it.  Its a toy I love working on.

Kev

[M & J]

Nice work Kevin.

[Stripe]

Yeah, looking good!

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Booth is all set up, stock is all made and stained and up at the booth, marshmallows and whatnot are up there as well, and we are ready to open tomorrow morning!

Patti did an amazing job with the floral vine decorations.  The red and white roses with the smaller white "baby's breath" looking vines really nailed it!  The booth looks amazing!

My So Cal guys are also fully stocked, so this should be an awesome weekend overall.

Crystal will be opening the booth with me at 9am, and Patti will get there whenever her highness gets there...lol!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Great opening day in Muskogee!  Got another one tomorrow, although typically Sundays here are a little slower, since its the Bible belt.

After faire I went out and got more marshmallows, and enough bourbon for tonight and tomorrow night...since again, its the Bible belt, and liquor stores are closed on Sunday...lol!

Won't have to go out at all tomorrow night after faire.   SWEET!

And we decided we are definitely dropping Tuxedo, NY this year.  Patti and I will be going to the Great Lakes Medieval Faire in northern Ohio, and sending our worker Crystal as a manager to Sterling, NY, which run at the same time.  I'll have my other worker Will with me in Ohio to build stock, and ship what they need to NY just like we are doing now.

Crazy busy!  We'll also be doing the Cloisters in NYC in September, a one day super busy show. 

Then on to North Carolina.

We'll have a few weeks off after Great Lakes and Sterling ends before NC begins, so we'll have a little vacation, thank the gods!

But all this extra work means we'll have some extra money during our down times to work on the rig and the K5...and have one heck of a nice winter vacation this year...which we'll be changing up!

Kev

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

Careful, you keep this up and you will have to setup a permanent shop, say in Muskogee (central US), and stop traveling.

Dave

[moonlitcoyote]

Hey Kevin, what happened to the jeep?