polecat702

I'm sorry to say that I won't be back in Las Vegas, till the end of Aug. I'm contracted to most of the major oil & gas service companies, Halliburton Energy Services being my biggest, and most demanding client.

The Permian Basin is booming, Halliburton has hired 2000 new hands, and has over 450 job classifications open at this time.

I was supposed to head home this Sunday, but Halliburton has requested (demanded) that I attend an engineering, and production enhancement conference in Houston, and then fly out to a production rig in the Gulf, Monday. Then back to Midland/Odessa.

I won't be home to finish the dies for the ducts until the beginning of Sept. Sorry guys, I apologize!

joe

jeff spahn

I can wait if you are making cheaper gas a possibility.

polecat702

What we want is for America to be completely:" ENERGY INDEPENDENT" by the end of this year!!

I've got to buy it too. I'd love to see prices go down, and stay down.

rnixon

What are you lot complaining about? Have you seen petrol prices in Europe?! It's virtually free here (I don't do many miles)!

EMan 928

Completely off topic but did you hear the announcement BP made about running out of oil in 53 years? is that an accurate forecast polecat?

The Forgotten On

If demand keeps exponentially rising the way it has been it is a possibility, unless the engineered algae that can produce oil are used. I know it's still an interesting topic though.
Gas prices are also heavily impacted by stock market speculation and the value of oil, so hopefully those people don't keep driving the price up.
Now back to the main topic. It should be interesting to see how well these last compared to the original ones,. Also, do you have a picture of a finished one or are you still waiting to make the mold for a prototype?

soontobered84

Joe, no worries. We'll deal with it. Rhonda and I hope to see you soon.

uraniummetallurgist

Hi Joe:
No problem and thanks for the update. I have run for 8 years without the belly pan and can certainly wait until your schedule permits.

Good luck out in the patch!


Joe

Ninespub

^^^^^What he said!

polecat702

My ducts will be made from aluminum, the replacement belly pan is aluminum.
They're an exact copy of the original. The molds are formed, but I haven't machined the dies to press out the halves yet.

They should last as long as the belly pan. They can be riveted or tek screwed. I'm just making the ducts, mounting them will be up to you.


Are we going to run out? I don't know, not in my lifetime I'm 71.

There is a school of thought, that states the stuff that produces the oil is in the general makeup of the earth. As long as the earth keeps spinning like a centrifuge it'll keep making oil. Over simplified, but ya get my point. We keep discovering new reserves, and we've improved the methods of getting to these reserves, to make them financially viable.

If I could predict the future of the oil business, I'd be wealthy, beyond my wildest dreams. I'm in the production side, and considered the fix it guy. When they screw it up, they call me to fix it. There are others that do what I do, and some are way better at it than me. I got a pretty good track record, so at my age, I'm still in demand.

Hopefully this will be my last year. Got other irons in the fire.

Chalkboss

Sounds like you have a very interesting and challenging job. I agree with what you say about new methods of discovery and extraction of oil, and of course there's the always present environmental impacts too.

Travel must be a bitch for you... I have to travel quite a bit for my job (just a few states) and it is exhausting. Nothing like what you must deal with!

GregBBRD

I think everyone is so thrilled that you are making these, we really don't care how long it takes!

Thanks for doing this and thanks for the thoughtful update!

If anyone has a brand new set of mounts and is worried about "cooking" them, I've got a couple of sets of these things stashed away.

bureau13

From a cooling perspective (i.e. forgetting for the moment about potential road debris, etc) is it better to have no belly pan rather than a belly pan with no ducts?

(My understanding is that the belly pan actually helps engine bay cooling vs. no pan, at least at speed, but not sure how important the ducts are in that equation)

antlee928

Yeah, I am also interested in the comment regarding no belly pan or belly pan without ducts. I currently have no belly pans (front or rear) but an now considering at least the front pan. I am guessing if the Germans designed it this way then there is a good reason for it being there and not only for some protection from road debris.

Gary Knox

Polecat,

Enjoy your 'new' assignment and help the client do well. Most of us have been without these for several years. A few more months is not a big problem!!