Teddy's Tachometer

I stuck the tacho in Teddy last week. I love the quick little jobs that yeild a satisfying result after a breif effort. I think it took about 30, maybe 45 minutes, something like that. It looks pretty cool, works well, and oddly enough, revealed that I've been shifting really early in Teddy- he starts to sound a bit asthmatic above 3800 rpm or so (hey, it's only an old 2-barrel 253) but he'll actually willingly turn to 5500. This'll be interesting next time I take him to the track- whether it's actually any quicker to take him past what seems to be his comfort zone...

Anyway, on reflection of this little accomplishment, I thought about how I would have done this in the past. Like I said, it didn't really take very long to wire this thing up, 45 minutes tops, though having previously wired up a takeoff for keyed power and lights (for the CD player I breifly had in the glovebox) saved a bit of time. In the past, I would have taken longer to do it and cut more corners. The results would have been messy, visible wires hanging around, hastily twiddled together ends, that sort of thing. This time I routed the wiring intelligently, cable-tied away neatly, cut it to length and crimped on a proper terminal. It's almost professional, though I must admit I haven't completely finished- I intended to connect a terminal block between the gauge and the light and power connections, so that I can quickly wire in the oil pressure and temperature gauges I will add later, before the 383 goes in. I bought the terminal blocks at jaycar a few days ago so I can do that now, though it's only a couple of minutes work.

The result of this pleasing accomplishment, and of others like it, is that my confidence in my own ability to yeild a job well done is bouyed. I've started to think, audaciously, in the past 18 months that I can do not only as good a job as a professional, but better. The difference is my always escalating experience, of course, but also my newfound attention to detail. And as always, there's the perfectionism that comes from truly caring about the outcome. Teddy is more than just a lump of steel, glass, rubber and vinyl. He's almost alive, has a personality, a history, a story to tell. Maybe I'm the only one that sees it, but the consequence of it is that I am enabled to do a good job.