Rex Mauney Cam Weld

05/03/2007

As many of you know, I'm a professional musician. I spend about 7~8 months a year on the road, traveling between live or recording dates. Many times in my industry, plans change suddenly........for many reasons. People in "entertainment" are notorious procrastinators, poor management/artist communication, opportunity, obligations, etc.

Well, I was in Nashville for the last 10 days or so, having booked several "sessions" back-to-back to make the most of my time in town. I had driven my car as I carried part of my own rig to record with. I'm kinda partial to my own stuff and I program most of my own "sounds". Being in the business for a number of years (old fart), I've come to expect change....it's the one of the few things in my industry that remains constant. Anyways.......an artist that had booked me for a session over the weekend wound up having to cancel.....actually, he turned out to be a complete flake but, that's another story.

Being one to make the most of opportunity, it occurred to me that I suddenly had about 3 days free (Fri~Sun) and I immediately called my friend Eric Lehmann as I needed to have my cams welded and other services performed. I had planned the cam weld many times in the past with several vendors but, because of the aforementioned aspect of change or schedule conflicts, I've had to cancel each time. I figured if Eric could make a space for me, sometime during the weekend, I was 7 hours from Chicago instead of 14 from Ft. Worth. Sure enough, he had Sunday available.......more than enough time for me to finish up in Nashville, drive to Chicago, have some quality (read, beer) time with the Lehmanns and the Ecks and get the car worked on, Sunday.

I got to Chicago Friday night, checked into the hotel and got to bed early (for me) at 3AM. After arriving at Eric's early Saturday afternoon, I observed as he was welding/servicing a car and talked to him about the surgery he was about to perform on mine. I was struck by the amount of attention he paid to detail.......and the patient explanation.

On to dinner.........myself, Larry & Heather meet back at the Lehmann's for drinks before dinner.....then, reservations for 5 at 7PM at Sal Carvao.....a Brazilian restaurant. Famous for the waiters that roam the room with skewers of broiled meats and swords to slice/serve it. An experience I'll look forward to repeating. I left stuffed..........and amazed at how such a little person like Heather could consume that volume of martinis and still walk & talk....lol!

Sunday morning, Larry and Eric start work on my car before I manage to stumble out of bed. By the time I get there (noon), they're done welding and almost finished cleaning my really filthy intake. Larry & I make a quick trip to the AutoZone for a K&N and return to "Porterize" the intake and replace the cabin air filter. I find Eric installing the new phenolic spacers onto the LIM and reassembling everything. Shortly after returning, Larry has to leave for home (Wisconsin) as Monday morning will come early. All that remains is the final test drive.....we find smoke on our return and upon inspection, determine it is Berryman's/excess oil, spilled on the rear exhaust manifold during the cleaning process and decide to drive it again until it stops.....and it does.

The thing I notice, first off, is the immediate throttle response and the new "growl" that's a by-product of the fresh, clean "Porterized" intake. At 3400 & up, it's an unmistakable howl. After the final test drive, we return to find Kris grillin' burgers and sausages. Pronouncing the job "done" we down the necessary number of beers and critique her cooking technique. Not wanting her to throw ALL the food at us, we decide to finish the critique AFTER we eat.

Seriously, I can't think of a better way to kill a weekend. Friends, food, beer, more food, more beer, and somewhere in there a first-rate cam-weld service that gives me great peace of mind. As a by-product.......my fuel mileage on the way home (14 hours) averaged an incredible 27.4 mpg. Considering the fact that I had the cruise set at 80 (an occasional burst above) and A/C on the whole way (I did no worse than 11 gallons per 300 miles driven), I'm really pleased. My thanks to the Lehmann's & the Ecks who, on a moments notice, made time for me.........graciously.

Rex in Ft. Worth
'99 SF
73k
Mods
Welded

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