and the answer is.......
BOOM!
well, not that dramatic, more like a very quick death by the side of the road. traffic was fine with me taking it slow, about 40, with a chase-truck behind me. the engine, on the other hand, was great for half the trip back, then decided it was tired of containing oil. i'll do the post-mortem tomorrow, but i'll admit it's less than ideal.
now, on the GOOD side, other than tracking more 'sideways' than i'd like, and a flaky light switch and/or wiring, it's a bit better than i thought. springs are fine, steering is fine, shifts fine, and the 2-speed even works. or at least shifted into high as expected, didn't have a need for low with no load and all.
sometimes trial by fire involves a bit of a toasty smell, right?
