I want it i need it.....its time

[dsrace]

Looks good especially that very tight 4 bends. difficult to do let alone duplicating it for the other side. Well done.   Yep those LH bits solve a lot of issues.

Thanks, I did get both sides bent up. It was time consuming but I got it.  Hoping to finish fitting all of it this weekend.  Have a couple other things I need to work on this weekend as well.

[dsrace]

haven't gotten back to working on my rail since about a week after my last post. had a lot of family events along the way. my latest hold up is the day after my birthday , i woke up with basically a bleed in my right eye. where the retina attaches, the center layer of tissue had a bleed or more so was seeping blood into the back of my eye ball. woke up and almost couldn't see out of my right eye. some of that has cleared but the main focal point is blurred pretty bad. i have seen an eye surgeon and was told this is most likely permanent.  so my welding days are pretty much over or atleast on hold for a while. my eye has cleared up some. i can sort of balance them out if i wear a light gray pair of sun glasses and pull the lens out of the right side. cannot focus clearly on anything in that right side so its def a blind side now. don't want to over stress my one remaining good eye by welding. only time will tell if it clears up any better. waiting another two weeks to see how it progress's before they try injecting fluid into the center layer of tissue into the back of that right eye. don't like the possible risks of that be it low risk or not but i think ill roll the dice if thats the only option.  for now i am wearing a pirate patch over that eye off and on through the day to give it a break when it starts bugging me.  its like waking up in the morning with sleep in your eye and you cannot blink it away clear.  really weird to just wake up this way and the morning after my b day. really mess's with ones depth perception and balance! starting wearing my contacts as that is far less strain on the vs eye glass's. cannot read shit  up close with contacts in so i have to wear reading glass's with contacts in  i think the prescription is off as it clears up my vision a lot farther away then my glass's do.

[fabr]

Well that sucks. Hope ALL goes well. If I wasn't so far away I'd offer to do the welding. Sure as hell hope it doesn't interfere with your duning .

[fabr]

BTW  contacts suck in a lot of ways. I have a love/hate relationship with mine. My optometrist runs and hides when I visit.

[dsrace]

Contacts should be easier but I honestly think they guess more then we know.

If it doesn't heal up, I won't be able to lead for sure. Nasty blind spot on the rt side.

Enemy graciously volunteered to weld the back end up. Still will be a bit before I can get it ready for that.

Today I have noticed a slight improvement. With polarized lenses in my sunglasses, in direct sunlight, my rt eye does focus slightly better with less haze. Its like a haze or a shaded lens covering the eye. Will have to buy 2 pair of sunglasses to swap lenses.

[fabr]

I have almost daily painless migraines that last for 30-60 minutes that start out as a small spot that looks like a pixelated picture that slowly grows till it covers the entire view.Then it just disappears.  I wish you well with the retina getting pushed back into position.  I know a couple people with that issue that have done well. One had to lay on his stomach 24 hours a day though for IIRC a month. He did have a total recovery as a bonus.

[dsrace]

its not the retina per say. the retina attaches to the rear, attaches to 3 layers at the rear. the eye muscle has strained long and hard enough it has stretched the center layer of tissue like stretching spandex short until you can see through them like window screen. those large stretched sections filled full of blood. that blood isn't going away fast but seems to be subsiding very very slowly.  hopefully continues but there isnt really anything they can do other then monitor for now. the needle back into that center layer to inj fluid may lighten the haze but carries risks like everything else. the retina is attached, they said the pressure on my eyeball is as it should be. they don't know why it happened and said usually its more gradual, not an overnight thing....normally.  one of the risks of the needle back there is detaching the retina.  they say low risk but still a risk. i guess normally when this happens to people, it does so in the perifial vision area, not dead center like mine. they don't want me straining my for some time to be safe though. also , they discussed adding die to my blood via an iv so they could check to see if there is blood seeping out of a vein in the back of the eye ball. 

[fabr]

If in doubt don't hesitate to get another opinion. Don't take any chances with the . I know you won't but well just don't. Don't want to lose a duner.

[dsrace]

If in doubt don't hesitate to get another opinion. Don't take any chances with the . I know you won't but well just don't. Don't want to lose a duner.

already gotten a 2nd opionion. same diagnosis. this wont end my duning, i will have to learn a diff way and prob wont be leading the group any more. there has been some improvement in that eye. not sure how if it will come all the way back, only time will tell.

[dsrace]

I tell you what, learning to weld right handed only using your left eye is proving to be more difficult then I thought it would be. Slowly but surely I am getting it done. Def not my best looking welds but will be safe enough. Spent the long weekend cutting down and fitting the new suspension cradle together. Had high hopes of getting the trans mounted too but had a few set backs getting pieces fitted in. No jig fixtures to hold anything and triple measuring only goes so far when tubes pull when you start to weld them. I have no doubts that It will be just fine in the end.

The lower cradle is sleeved, plug welded and I added a tube to over lap the seam. I also cut down a few old fitting to keep the upper rear frame removable to make trans removal easier. Decided to cut the frame section and make that  enter piece removable to ease the removal and installation of the engine as well. Those were in the set backs category as they were additions. I hope I got 5he placement of the cross tubes in the lower cradle correct. Was measuring to be sure changing trans fluid would be as simple as possible. Plus the externL trans filter is attached by an fittings. The return is on the back side of the r&p belly of the trans. Was important to be sure no tube was in that location as well.

[fabr]

I'm lucky in that I'm semi ambidextrous.  You'll get the hang of it. One of my long ago employees lost his vision in one eye in early teens. He had near perfect depth perception and raced circle track. I asked him how the hell he could do it. He said he constantly looked left to right and that gave him the ability to judge distance just as good as any of us. My point is your brain will compensate and before you know it it will be normal to you.

 On a side note,any of you know of/know Tim Howard of the Buggy Shop in Hutchinson , Ks?

[BrianN]

Before I say anything, I need to know why you are asking about Tim Howard?

[dsrace]

I know of the buggy shop in hutch. I do not know a tim Howard. I have worked on a couple of rails, purchased new, from the buggy shop but do not remember the owners name. Obviously,  The customers weren't happy with the owner or I wouldn't have been sorting out those issues.

[dsrace]

I am not ambidextrous in the slightest bit. My biggest issue is seeing down the right side of something while I am welding. It will take time for sure and have learned to drive a car this way. 2 more shots in the next 2 months so we will see. 

On another note. If you look back at a couple pics, I made some compound bends in that lower cradle to clear the r&p section of the trans. I did so because I didn't want to cut the motor mounts out or relocate the engine. Well, I had cut the motor mounts and have to move the engine. Those compound beds were tricky on a manual bender so I wasn't throwing them away.

The megasand trans is not a centered trans. Didt remember nor notice until I temp hung the new cradle tubes and saw how far off centered the trans was from the cradle. With a tape measure, by my left eye  the megasand is offset almost 1.5". The new hv 24 is centered so that changes even more. The mendi 2d would've been. Lot easier to install and already have the shifter for it!     But oh no, I had to have the stronger trans with an internL water pump with a 3rd bearing on the mainshaft 

Its all good, just get to relocate the engine a tiny bit. Gives me the chance to move the trans back a bit for better bolt clearance too.

[fabr]

Change one thing and there is always 10 others crop up needing change. Isn't it fun?