Favorite part of my house

I've lived in my house for over 20 years. I haven't really ever done anything to improve it, or really for that matter, to maintain it very well either. But there is one thing that I do really love about my house, and it was a surprise. When I bought the house, the utility room contained this old beaten-up sink right next to where the washing machine would go. For the first year or so, I actually used the sink with an old apartment sized washer designed to hook up to a faucet like it had rather than a regular water line like regular washers do. Here is a picture of it...


It has come in handy several times before for little things, and it has come in handy a few times during this car build. I use it constantly to clean up after working on the car. It is great for washing old dirty parts, I have used it when drilling things to easily wash away bits of metal, I've clamped things to it for various reasons, and it makes a great paper towel holder. But this week, it REALLY came in handy.

I decided to try to use an old cheap Harbor Freight butane torch that worked before, but did not work well last time I tried to use it. I was going to try to heat some metal to make bending it easier. So I filled the torch with butane and fired her up. The key word being FIRE! In filling it, butane had spilled/leaked out of the end of the torch and the whole damned thing caught fire in my hand when I lit it. Fortunately, I was working over the old trusty sink, so I just dropped it and let it burn itself out. I love that sink!

I got very close this week on fitting the shifter linkage into place with the cockpit tub, but close just won't cut it. I am about ready to give up and do some major changes to move the shifter forward and hopefully gain the needed clearance. Although I did learn this time that the there are actually three clearance problems and moving everything forward will only fix two of them. The third binding spot will still have to be addressed some other way.