Sunday morning, Aug. 2,, 2026

Well, the Tri-Five Nationals is less than two weeks away. I have this coming week and three days of the next week, which means I have work left to do.

For starters, I need to buy a deep cycle battery … I was planning on taking an ice maker with us, but the more I think about it, the less likely that seems. The battery I want is a lithium phosphate one that’s going to run about $160. Then you have to add a charger for the battery for another $30. That’s $200 up in smoke for having an ice maker on hand. Not sure its worth it.

With Elijah’s help, I tried to change the oil on the Chevy. He couldn’t get the drain plug loose. He was bitching about his fear of being under the fucking car more than concentrating on changing the damn oil. Anyway, I got tired of his whining, and I decided to have him quit fucking with it. I’ll take it to an oil change place this coming week.

I did get the garnish molding installed on both doors, which sure makes the interior look more complete. I still have the inside windshield molding to put back in place.

Later today I’ll get the needed 1/4-inch extension I need to remove the valve covers. The damn bolts are 11 mm ones, which I find ironic to find metric bolts on a 55 Chevy. I have ended up with three sets of valve cover gaskets, lol. I will get the valve covers installed tomorrow is my plan.

I painted the inside of the driver’s door black with Eastwood Rust inhibitor, and it sure improved the look of the door, so I plan to paint the door panel on the passenger side.

I would like to also have the 2-inch lowering blocks removed this week, though they are predicting rain most of the week.

AMAZON DELIVERIES AWAITED. I have purchased a couple of nice tool bags for the road trip, with one set aside to carry a scissors jack, tire inflator, lug wrench, etc. The second tool bag is going to be dedicated just to a simple set of tools — socket set, screwdrivers, etc.

The scissors jack should be here early this week. I have already received my 1000 watt inverter. I also need to locate a compact spare tire that will fit in the spare tire well. I have a pair of new jack stands coming too. The scissors jack won’t raise the car as high as a floor jack, just high enough to change a tire if necessary. I will also take a 21v impact wrench. I probably should loosen and retighten all the lug nuts to be sure I could break them loose, lol.

TRI-FIVE NATIONALS INTINERARY.

1. We leave home early on Thursday morning. We get to Beech Bend around noon or so, and we pick up our registration packet. Rather than find a place to park and set up, I figured we would go eat lunch and then check in to the hotel. My plan is to hang out at the hotel, take a dip in the pool, then go to supper and then back to the hotel. We need to buy snacks to take to the event.
   
2. Wednesday morning, we’re up by 6:30 a.m. local time. We eat breakfast at the hotel, then leave for Beech Bend. We get there …. I drop Elijah off to pick up the golf cart. Then we find a place to park. We set up our tent, chairs, etc. We can go to the drag strip later in the day, go to the swap meet and other stuff.
   
3. We need to shoot video on the grounds. I need to find a camera mount for the golf cart if I can.
   
4. Saturday, more of the same. I hope to use the golf cart to shoot video and visit cars and the drag strip.
   
5. I don’t have reservation for Sunday night, but depending on how long we visit the venue on Saturday, it might make sense to extend our stay one more night. Or we can leave late afternoon on Saturday for the trip home.

I may decide for us to stay at the event on Thursday for a while since check-in is 3 p.m. We could stay until mid-afternoon then head out for the hotel. Since we’ll have the golf cart, we should be able to park the car and then take off shooting photos and video. Then on Friday, we can return, set up the tent, and plan to stay the whole day. We’ll need a cooler for sure.

ADDITIONAL WORK ON THE 55. I would really love to get the Chevy emblem mounted on the tailgate before we leave. I have a new one ready to mount, the problem is that I haven’t been able to get the locking mechanism separated from the outside tailgate handle. There’s not a lot of room to get the bolts on the studs for the Chevy emblem if you’re trying to work around the inside latch mechanism.

Removing the 2-inch lowering blocks is a real necessity. Elijah weights 100 pounds more than my wife did last year, and that’s going to make the car ride lower, meaning we’re probably going to scrape high spots in the road more.

QUICK JACK WON’T JACK. With Elijah’s help we tried to raise the Chevy with the QuickJack. The QJ would go under the frame, but it ran into the headers, muffler and exhaust pipe. The headers themselves drop below the frame rail, so it follows that the rest of the exhaust is going to hang low. The headers on my 55 Bel Air hard top were not that low. Well, for now, unless I have to change headers, removing the lowering blocks is the only change I plan to make.

HEADER CHANGES? I’m thinking of changing the headers, and going with ram’s horn exhaust manifolds. These dump close to the side of the block well above the frame, so it wouldn’t be so hard to route the exhaust so everything was closer to the floorboard. I saw a video from Speedway about some really sweet rams horn still headers and the guy said they work great but can have clearance issues with Tri-Five Chevys. Not sure the issue, but its something I plan to check on other Tri-Fives at the Nats.

CLUTCH RETURN SPRING. Something that bugged me heading to the Tri-Five Nats last year was my chattering clutch pedal. The pedal does not have a return spring like it should. As such, it sits there and chatters slightly as you drive at highway speeds. I bought a OE style return spring, but damn its stiff. I’m thinking of getting a lighter weight spring at Tractor Supply. All the spring needs to do is to hold the clutch pedal at the top of its travel, and it doesn’t take a big huge spring to accomplish that.

RAIN, RAIN STAY AWAY! I’m crossing my fingers that we’ll have clear weather from the Nationals. If it looks like a stormy week, I’m probably going to cancel, though I hope like hell I won’t need to. But the simple truth is that I’m not going to drive the Chevy to Bowling Green for a week of rain showers.

One main reason is that I’m not confident that my wipers will hold up for an extended use in the rain. I haven’t really put them to the test since I repaired them last time. Not to mention the fact that the events largely won’t take place if the weather is stormy.

Elijah said if the weather is bad, we could still go down for the hotel stay and knock around BG looking for stuff to see and do. That generally means spending additional money, and I’m not really sure I want to spend more than i already have. I’ve already paid $350 for the golf cart rental. At least I would be able to cancel the hotel and not be out an additional $250 for the 3 nights stay.

I still very much want to go to the Tri-Five Nats,, and I think it would be a cool trip with Elijah. Fingers crossed for good weather!