[smbrouss70]

Wow, I haven't updated this thread in a really long time. After Dad and Ratchet passed away, everything got real stressful for me. I gained Dad's dog "Lucy" who needed to have some cancerous mammary glands removed. Dad made me the executor of his estate, so I had to learn about a lot of stuff that I didn't know. Family decided to show their true colors. I had to clean up, repair, and sell a house QUICKLY, because Dad had a reverse mortgage on the house, and they don't give you very much time to pay it off. BTW, if anyone you know is considering a reverse mortgage, try and talk them out of it. They are essentially a legal scam preying on older people. If I ever get to meet Tom Selleck, I will be on the news for sure.

Anyway, the hot rods haven't gotten much attention lately, until I decided that Ratchet's Blazer was going on Hot Rod Power Tour this year. I have some upgrades slated for it, but to get it ready in time, I'm just going through maintenance items for now. i went through the brakes and changed pads to try and alleviate some of the excessive dusting that I was getting, hopefully it works. I knew my clutch was slipping so I upgraded that. I'm going to finally get my Detroit Speed wiper setup installed, and I will tweak my alignment to make it a little easier to drive.

I was never happy with the first clutch and flywheel that I put in. It didn't seem to have enough clamping force for the weight of the Blazer. When the throwout bearing started making noise, I figured I would just change it all out to something much better. Check out all of the hotspots on that flywheel after only 5,428 miles!!! Yeah, it wasn't doing its job... I upgraded to a much better quality McLeod setup for everything.