Just from the mouth of babes

Part of the reason that I am undertaking this project is that I like solving problems. Design, deconstruction, construction ... this project is one big set of problems comprised of little problems.

Now I'm not referring to problems in a derogatory manner as in, "I have a problem with my car." I'm referring to problems as in, "How do I get from point A to point B."

So as I was saying, there are lots of problems that need to be solved in the course of this project. Some problems you sit down and do research: how many batteries do I need? Some you make drawings to solve: what configuration do I want for the wiring? And some are just plain stupid: how the !*#& do I get part A to fit/unfit from part B? (See posting on the gas tank named Diablo for such a problem.)

As I'm disconnecting the last remnants of wiring/tubing/cables/etc from the engine and transmission I run into one of these problems (this problem is a problem in both the thinking sense and the derogatory sense). In a nutshell I needed to extract cables held in a very tight bracket by some very tight clips.

After unsuccessfully trying to extract the cables with finesse I elected to go with the brute force method! No luck. So then after mulling over the problem, followed by some more brute force, then some more mulling I was preparing to go back to the brute force approach.

At that point my sixteen year old son came down to watch. I explained what I was trying to do, showed him the cables and bracket and asked him if he had any ideas. He basically said just stick a screwdriver between the bracket and the clip and pry out the clip. Out of the mouth of babes! No need to tell you the result :-)