I just got home myself. The old hall has had a bit of a remodel, I actually got a bit lost between that and the West hall. So much walking. I don't even want to know how far I walked.
Spent First day in the West hall going through the off-road. It was a half day for me. Didn't see a single early Bronco inside. One outside. Nothing really caught my eye. Lots of Suzuki Jimnys. Those things look pretty cool.
Yesterday was the central hall. Bilstein was in the central hall. I'm working with them on getting a set of 5165s I have custom valved. I am starting an engine build for a boat. Wanted to get some more modern tech since the last engine I built from scratch 20+ years ago. Had a good talk with Howards Cams, pretty sure we got one picked out. For heads, Trickflow and Speedmaster were the choices to see. No other big name head manufacturers were present. Rotating assembly, no Scat, no Eagle. Not a single big name piston maker. Plenty of never heard of them imports that I know nothing about. Actually very disappointed. The research trip was pretty much a bust. I did have a good talk with Aces EFI, need to check out a few more things but they are looking like a really good option. Another one that caught my eye was PRW Power for some really good looking rocker arms, harmonic dampers, etc. There stuff felt really good in hand. After finishing the central hall I was doing a quick blow through the tool section in the upper hall in the afternoon in the last hour. There was a Bronco golf cart in the tool hall. Plan was get up Friday morning and get out of town. But I came across Pro Spot just as the show ended.
So Friday morning. I went back to the show for a couple quick stops. Exhibitor badge is worth it. Access to walk around up to 2 hours early. Get to see a lot of stuff but not talk to people. That is when the good press are present taking pictures. Got me into Pro Spot early, got to demo there laser welder. Miller didn't bring one this year, Lincoln had one but no demos. Just like the videos you see online. But they let me pull the trigger. They love doing lap joints, but I got them to let me try a few gapped butt joints. I wanted to see what this could do under less than perfect conditions. At least as less than perfect as I could make it in the show. Lap joints come out super slick. The butt joints are more challenging, but for a first time I am not disappointed. I was picking it up quick. Had a talk about where they have better beam pattern and can actually weld at lower power than the low cost stuff that is cramming lots of power into poor beam patterns to get results. Now to try and get work to pull the trigger on a $30k welder because that isn't in my tax bracket. After that I left.
Friday is not a good day for doing real SEMA things. SEMA is now allowing the public to get a Friday only pass. Every vender I talked to about it hates it. They literally close up most of the displays for Friday. Security is going mad sending people away from the doors to get there badge to get in. It is not a free for all, you still have to buy a badge to get in on Friday. The doors were offically open about 45 minutes and I was leaving. It was a whole new layer of madness. I am sure SEMA is gobbling up the cash from the Friday public passes, but any real SEMA business is now dead on Friday.
I wasn't planning on going this year, but work got me the exhibitor pass. Had to do it. Don't plan on going back for 2-3 years again. So much of what I went there for this year wasn't there. My catalog pile this year is pretty small. Some swag. Nothing that special. It was a bit better than I was expecting for the state of the economy and being a mid-term election year. It also sounds like they did a better job of spreading the exhibits out to hide the empty space.
Other highlights... 6G Bronco with a 1,200 HP Ford megazillo supercharged 7.3 in it. Had a Dana 60 with portals on the back. Total inspection time under 60 seconds.
4-door Bronco conversion company had a couple there. Land rover custom shop was present that had an LS with a 8 into 1 collector above the transmission on one side and the other had diamond embedded wheels on another. The crosswalk on the strip makes a machine gun sound when it is time to walk. For more sidewalk space they closed down one lane of Elvis Presely to give more walking space. The weather was great, but did run into a few unexpected sprinkles on the way home. The RV park at Circus Circus was open this year for a change, and wasn't nearly as full as in the past. Thankfully only bought one meal while in town, had dinner with Hansen Bumpers. Vehicles that gave me a good chuckle, the Honda Goldwing (1982) that was decked out with a side car in the Family Truckster theme. That got a lot of attention in the hall of custom motorcycles. They also had a Bluesmobile with the speaker on the roof. But late model spuercharged hemi and crown vic front suspension. Should have taken a picture of the 15 wires stacked under one bolt for grounds. Honda had an off-road race truck with a driveshaft going to each rear wheel. Diff was at the trans. The also had a very rough N600 Sedan that raced in the Baja back in the day.
That's all I can think of right now. So sore, so tired.
. Todd your up!
