Last year I set the goal of 1 podcast per month. There were certainly times I wasnt sure I'd make it. Thankfully I was able to make it happen and this year I hope to do even better. I am keeping the 1 per month goal but adding a stretch goal of two per month.
Ricks Sonomair was a big goal for me last year.
I had hopes to clean up the interior and maybe get the stripes redone. Well I went significantly farther than I had anticipated. After the accident The Sonomair had to be completely repainted and re striped which I was able to do with the funds insurance covered. Ill go into depth on that soon. The Sonomair should be hitting the streets again soon,maybe in the next few weeks! Fresh paint and body by Jason Haskin and the stripes all re done by Dillon at DP line art. Jason and his team picked her up from Dillon lasst week you can see the result on my insta. The stripes are mostly done. I say mostly becuase I have a few more little things left to do. Including adding the memorial piece for Rick. For that I am gonna hold a conclave with the guys at Ultra Truck works to get a consesus on what it should be. What it should look like, say and where so everyone is happy. The Boyds are polished and ceramic coated and waiting. So as soon as Jason is done with it I'll be putting them on. There is still some interior, stereo and lighting things that will need addressing but those should all be easy fixes. A center console will need to be fabricated and that will be a challange but I am stoked to get that started.
The goal for Sonomair is to get her wrapped up and bring her out to a few shows while shes fresh.
get the Sonomair back from paint and stripes
Boyds wrapped in new tires and mounted
I need a panel for the passsanger side extra cab trim and a few other interior bits
find a set of window switches I like and get a center console built finishing the interior
get the under light and bed wireing situation re done and dialed
show her off!
While I dont necasarily feel like the Sonomair is my truck its certainly soaking time and resources from everything else namely the Galaxies. My Hardtop is in a pretty good place. I have the Hotchkis TVS installed and modified for the accuair system. I really need to upgrade the breaks on it but that may not get done this year.
The Convertible.
I dont expect to much for the convertible this year. I do however want to pull the old carpet out of the interior and possibly pick up a few peices I want to have ready for when I can start the body and paint. I doubt Ill get to that this year but picking up the peices should be do able.
1. A better straight set of front rear bumpers.
A few piecess of trim I am still misssing or would lkke better examples of
another convertible top mechanism
La Tourista, my 66 hard top.
Another Goal from last year was to get the Galaxie hard top suspension installed and dialed in and the guys at Ultra Truckworks made it happen. I have been enjoying the few times I have gotten to drive it and am looking forward to attending as many shows with her as possible. With LA still being on fire. I am not sure if I'll be going to GNRS this year but fingers crossed! As for Goals with the Hartd top I would like to get a full wilwood disc break conversion done
Wilwood break system master cylinder, front and rear breaks.
It'd be nice to get the seats and new carpet/ stereo installed but this is a stretch goal
Trucky Verde
Trucky Verde so far seems to have possibly crossed the treshold Trans wise, maybe. As I am writing this I happened to take a break for a coffee run and Trucky Verde is now throwing a fresh engine code so... Ahh the self salting wound continues its shake shake shake for a fresh coat of burning frustration. That said I do genuinly think we are closer. my goals for Trucky Verde are to get her the rest of the way to reliable.
That may prove to be daunting. The current list includes seeing if we can get these trans temps down. she seems to be at 200 whenI am in town but will drop down to 130/150 qhen ia m on the freeway or at least thats owhat nI have seen in the few times I have been able to drive it since getting it back. Time will tell on that one. Once that seems stable we will put the new supercharger pully on and start the final tune. Before that happens Ill need a new set of Rims for the rear at least so it can be safely dyno tuned. There is also a list of cosmetic things I hope to accomplish with Trucky Verde this year, getting the dead cear coat removed and re shot. I would also like to get the interior a bit more dialed in. We will see how that goes.
So to sum things up here is my hit list for 2025!
One Podcast per month with a stretch goal of two
Finish Ricks Sonomair restoration and hit a few shows.
Make incremental but meaningful improvements on the Galaxie Hard Top
Do something to move the convertible closer to being drivable again
finally completely nail down my online storefront and get that off the ground
The Buick I may be selling but ia m still on the fence there and the Red 65 Galaxie 500xl 390 4 speed hard top I am planning on parting out one way or the other and getting the rest hauled off. I hate to do it but its whats gotta be done. itd be cool to find the right 65-66 wagon and swap all the good stuff over to the convertible from it. Finding a clean 65-66 wagon that isnt way outside my bucget has proven to be a challange but that would be optimal.
Not a bad list I think and should be acheivable, fingers crossed!
James
The Lowered HMFIC
Comments