BCF1963...

Yes, it could have been worse. I got an estimate to R & R the oil pan --- $600.00... but then the mechanic told me to clean the cracked area with sandpaper, use some acetone to remove any residue, and gave me some Epoxy stuff to smear over the crack... SO I went home, drained the oil, and followed his instructions... so far it's working!

However he ran the wagon literally all day long trying to see if it would stall, to no avail... Maybe I'll get it back one of these days! In the meantime he keeps adding new little circuit boards, relays, filters, fuse blocks --- when I get the bill I'll probably have to sell the car to pay for the repairs!!!

I took the day off today to help my son focus on finding a summer job... THAT was not fun! I wish I were busy enough right now to wherre I could use him as a helper.

Custom Installation wise- I DID stop by the house with the totally insane wiring, to chat with the owner a bit about what is and isn't possible, and to not let him get his expectations up to high due to the totally ridiculous "looped speaker wiring layouts" in his house.

He's an old friend who actually worked for me in the late 70's when I had a little hippy dippy psuedo high-end speaker & HI FI store... We used to sit around after closing, and have beers & pizzas & "other things" and crank up these four Folded Cornerhorns we had in this large demo room!!! Emerson Lake & Palmer had this song on their "Tank" album that almost blew out a picture window in the store!
On a few occasions the polce would come knocking... God we had fun!

He, unlike me, is from a very wealthy family... so I think he might just let me take out the sawzall and do a little rewiring of his house...
This is the guy who took me to his dad's business one day (back when he worked for me) - and showed me a large sterile white room with 40 to 50 Mint condition Ferarris! The room was so clean and white, you could probably do surgery in there...
His dad has since sold off most of them, but still has a couple 57 converts, and recently got an F-500 and some other new one that just came out... He is too old to drive them though, and they just sit in that room 8>(

...So in trying to help him out on this house I need to think in terms of cost not being an issue I guess, and just teare into it and do a great job for him.

He builds 30 to 40 pretty large 4.5 to 8 thousand sq. ft. homes a year... and I'm humping his leg to get the business, as up till now -- he has just had a hack electrician do the low voltage stuff, and there is HUGE potential for business because these homes are all within 5 to 10 miles of the main Microsoft Campus.

Although this fellow comes from money, he IS a builder and is very cheap, so I need to tread lightly with him... I was actually even considering pre-wiring them very cheaply, and making it all up on the back-end when the homeowners pick out what they want...? Trouble is, that is a big risk.