As my 2nd week of R&R comes to a close...it also goes out with a bang...A BIG BANG!
Her's the recap of the last 8 days leading to the York PA JEEP JAM show:
when I got home...SWINDLE was about 98% complete minus a sound system...this is where I SHINE and it was my job as the TRAIL and STREET CUSTOMS LLC owner to deliver and contribute to the project.....(at this point in the project my team was 9+ months of time as well as $30 + k into the build) yes folks...as you know this shit is expensive!
i spent an average of 20 hrs a day for 6 days straight on fiberglass panels and woofer enclosures and amp racks.."oh my" the beautiful garage my wife meredith remodeled for me looked like Home depot exploded next to a fiberglass boat factory....(i promised her i would clean it ...as i'm standing there with a heat gun while knee deep in black carpet, red marine vinyl and spray glue...
i started working on the last part of the project on friday morning...jeep show started early saturday morning and we had to drive an hour to get there...good thing we registered early...there was a point at around 4 am saturday where i didn't think we would make it..with zero sleep for over 24 hours....I was exhausted and zombified ready to fall over...i ran through 6 pots of coffee sprinkled with saw and fiberglass dust...by 9 am (we were supposed to be there at 7 am) i had applied the last vinyl covered facia for the amp rack...(wiring was ran but not connected)...the glue was still wet when I stopped working...jumped into the pool as is clothes and all...2 minutes later i threw gel in my hair... a spritz of AXE ...changed into dry shorts...loaded SWINDLE onto the red hooker and away we went....Meredith drove as I tried to fall asleep in the trusty Durango to follow Stu to the show...i couldn't sleep as the site of SWINDLE completed and on the rollback was just amazing to me and OMG can I just tell you about the many many people who slowed down next to it on the highway to snap a pic...i was all giddy lol!....
we pull into the fairgrounds main gate....Stu pulls the hooker to the side of a narrow 2 lane road that circles the fairground...we go to download SWINDLE and low and behold...no keys...we knew we had the key to drive it up onto the rollback..but now we couldn't find them...we spent 30 minutes...ALL of us....searching high and low...no luck...so Stu..crawls underneath the rollback...and as the luck of the GODS shined upon us...there were the keys...with Mojo Jojo's head (powerpuff girls cartoon) peaking his head out from over the frame rail under the flatbead...we all were relieved and hi-5's all around ...mind you while this was going on...SWINDLE was SWAMPED with spectators oohing and ahhing....we download SWINDLE and off to the staging area...by this time it was 1130 am...4.5 hours late..judging had already started...
Lets just say...when we started it up...every head turned...I swear it was like "whack-o-mole" felt like I needed a big mallet to bop all the popping heads! The cam chosen was a bit more over stock then I wanted but it did the job of demanding attention..
we stage...we set up camp....i passed out in the durango with AC full blast for about 4 hours...rest of the day was spent taking pics which I will post and checking out all the vendors...it was extremely muggy and dusty....dust was getting everywhere
Sunday am Meredith made a MC D's breakfast and coffee run while I wired up the system...I learned that big cams do not go well with a quality sound system in an open air vehicle...you have to crank the volume waaaaay up to overcome the sound of the engine...so we eat and I head out to the car wash to de-dust SWINDLE...so as I'm coming to a stop at a local red light I heard this gut wrenching sound of metal on metal contact emmiting from the engine bay...IMMEDIATELY i shut it down....WTF!?!?!?!? at the same time literally I get a phone call from Meredith saying I took 1st place!....Stu rescues me with the rollback...we were the only jeep driving a victory lap on a tow truck....never did get to wash the dust off...so we get home...pulled the plugs....number 3 spark plug was smacked shut...HARD....springs too weak for cam choice...this was NOT my or Stu's call to use this bigger cam...I won't get into the blame game...I know who's fault this was but I am too diplomatic to spill the beans on a public forum as we all live and learn...I will be having a lengthy conversation with a certain someone today after we are done pulling the engine...
so...we won 1st place....but we lost performance....still? well worth the hard work!!!