So I've upgraded the car in my driveway...

The elderly Lincoln Mark VIII has departed the drivewayafter 2 1/2 years of residency, bound for where ever the National Kidney Foundation of Utah & Idaho can dispose of it. It was worn out and neither the BSU or I cared enough about it to sink any more money into it, so it left today- on a wrecker. We'll get a tax break and some recycle yard someplace will get some still usable parts to sell.

And- I've found a replacement for the Lincoln, thanks to the KSL classifieds and some fortunate timing. I bought a 2003 Cadillac CTS just like the one at the link. (That's not my car at the link.) And lest you think I've gotten stupid and overspent, this car cost me no more than a similarly aged Hyundai, Nissan or Toyota. This car just happens to appeal to my "car guy" more than all the others I looked at.

It's nice. It came from a private owner so I didn't pay stupid dealer fees or commissions. I happened upon the advertisement last Friday evening, called the seller Saturday morning, and he called me back first over several other callers. I asked and the credit union said yes, so now I have a nice looking, and hopefully reliable car for the next several years.
It has a 5-speed manual transmission so I can't be lazy. It has more buttons than I can figure out right now. And it is my first Cadillac. Does that mean I'm old?

I wish it were red.

Somebody likes me!

Imagine my surprise tonight when I carried in the day's mail to discover a copy of Vintage Motorsport magazine in the pile, addressed to me and apparently with a subscription until September 2011. I don't think I've ever laid eyes on this glossy, thick and densely packed magazine full of stories and pictures of classic race cars from all over the world, because if my local Barnes & Noble ever did have it on display, I'd already have bought this treasure trove of classic racing cars.

When I showed the cover to the BSU, I showed her a picture of Joe Leonard in front of a giant STP decal and the text, "My Favorite Race; Joe Leonard and the 1968 Indianapolis 500." SHe asked me if that was significant and I replied that it most certainly was significant to me because I was in the grandstands for Joe's record and pole position setting run during the first weekend of qualifying in his STP turbine car! I was 12 years old and I stood silently there with thousands of other fans while Joe sped down the front straightaway with the sound of his tires being the loudest sound throughout the speedway. Yeah, it was dramatic and it made a lasting impression on me. I can't wait to read the story in this magazine.

Sadly though, I learned some very distressing news in the very first column that I happened to read. Any car guy has read and re-read columns by a certified car enthusiast, Brock Yates. Brock is a legend and has written for all the car mags over the years and was singlarly responsible for creating the (very) illegal Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash- a race from New York City to Redondo Beach, California using any car, road and trickery possible. I even owned a CBSTSSMTD decal that I proudly displayed on the side window of my 1964 Pontiac Gran Prix when I was a senior in high shcool. Brock goes way back- selling his first car magazine column in 1957, I learned this reading his column tonight. I also learned tonight that Brock has Alzheimer's disease! What a truly terrible tragedy for a man with more car stories to tell than probably anyone in America.

Anyway, I've got a terrific new magazine showing up in my mailbox and I can't wait to sit down and pour over it's pages in the next days. Whoever signed me up for this terrific magazine- thanks very much!

World's most elaborate slot car track-

Now when I was a kid my dad built me a pretty nice slot car track that fit into a box that was secured to the wall when we weren't playing with it. But it was nothing as elaborate as this one. Of course, nobody's track is as fancy as this one-


I found the story over at Jalopnik and you can read even more of the assembly details on the owner's blog White Lake Formula 1 Ring.

What a basement full of awesomeness!

Hey Dad- time to get back to building...

Auto repairs in the summertime- what fun...

Not really.

The Lincoln's been running warm again with the 90+ degree temps and I thought I might have to put a new radiator in it since that was the biggest component I didn't replace last summer when the overheating problems began. But yesterday on the way out of the racetrack and being stuck in just a little bit of traffic, it was heating up too quickly. When we got home the car was running warm and I discovered that the electric fan wasn't pulling any air through the radiator.

So today I parted with $106 and bought a new fan motor. I had to order it this afternoon and it arrived this evening after supper. I got it all installed and now the fan seems to be running so I am hoping that the problem is solved.

Loads of fun...

Ok, so I bought myself another birthday present...

Remember how I mentioned a few days ago about my fascination with tiny little die-cast cars? Well, it's true, I do love my miniature cars- hey, I can't afford the full sized ones, and last night I found the newest addition to my collection- the 1952 Indianapolis 500 winning race car. Isn't that pretty?

I'm thinking I might have to start a new shelf with Indy 500 miniatures as somehow my collection is lacking many of these classic racers. For example there's AJ Foyt's 1977 winning car and the pace car, Al Unser Jr's 1992 winning car and pace car, Al senior's 1970 winning car or Mario Andretti's winning race car. (Truth be told, I already own that package. It has been in pride of place on my shelf for a couple years now.

And I did find that Parnelli Jones 1963 winning roadster that got me started on this search a few days ago. I haven't bought it yet but give me time...

Neatest model cars I've seen in a while-

Surf on over to Jalopnik and spend a few minutes, (ok, maybe more than a few) checking out the photos of detailed model cars
made from cut up soda and beer cans. They are really terrific, for sale, and the creator will sell you one for your own shelf if you like them well enough. Neat stuff!

Bought 2 of these tonight...

Remember the story about Papa John finding his long-lost, beloved Camaro? If you haven't read the story, follow the link and see how Papa John recovered his high school Camaro that he sold to save his Dad's bar and begin his pizza business.

Well Papa John has had his car reproduced in miniature and tonight I bought 2 of them. One is going into my die cast car collection. The other might be held back for a grandson's collection when he gets old enough...

OnStar is watching you-

They are if you launch your 700 horsepower Hennessey tuned Cadillac CTS-V and it pulls a .99G launch. Watch the video and turn up the sound because the car sounds good!


No ma'm, there's no emergency.

More mechanical distress!

Over the weekend I had to have the truck towed when it wouldn't start. I had already removed the battery and had it load tested, cleaned and reinstalled the cables. And it started right up- once! After that it refused to start again and I had a relay under the dash buzzing even when the key was out. So I was convinced it was something more complicated and I had the truck towed to a garage- that installed a new battery!

I hated paying for it since it was a repair I could have easily accomplished on my own but it tricked me. Bummer.

Today I took the Lincoln to work and immediately heard a brake dragging on a rotor. It sounded like metal to metal grinding and sure enough, when I got to the 4th wheel, I found the damage on the right rear rotor. Somehow, Ford decided that these cars didn't need the squealer feature to let a person know before the damage was done. So tonight I replaced the brake pads and one rotor and got the special tool returned before Autozone closed. My knees are sore from all the kneeling but I got the job done.

What can go wrong now?

At least we didn't have to walk home...

But the BSU and I did have to call my friend Kenny to come and retrieve our butts from Salt Lake City tonight. The Lincoln broke down- overheated and dumped most of its coolant on the ground when we shut it off for an appointment. I'm guessing the water pump failed though it could be a couple other cooling system related parts- a thermostat or the radiator possibly. Whatever failed, it was pretty disabling.

I got a gallon of water from the closing up @ 6 Firestone store and refilled the coolant tank but that did nothing and it appears you need tools just to add coolant properly. I tried to drive 11 blocks to Pep Boys but the needle on the gauge got up to the red in just 5 blocks so we had to pull over. AT&T's recovery service sent a roll back truck and in a little bit he arrived, loaded up the Lincoln and ever so quickly deposited us at the Pep Boys.

While waiting on the tow truck, I called Kenny and he made his way to SLC to pick us up. He even visited with us while we had a mediocre supper at Dees before shuttling us back home.

The car is going to get evaluated in the morning. It has been a long day today...

And still no sign of our missing cat!

UPDATE: The car is home and my wallet has a $600 hole in it! Ouch! The car had a leaking waterpump and the temperature switch that turned on the radiator cooling fans had failed. So it's all fixed including the serpentine belt that needed replacing anyway and a shiny new radiator cap. I wonder if it will heat up faster in the winter with the new thermostat...

They have awesome farm trucks in Oklahoma!

Check out this Jalopnik post and be sure to scroll down to the video. The featured truck is just about the Webster's Dictionary description of "sleeper."

PJ O'Rourke writes the obituary for the automobile

It's called The End of the Affair.

Thus cars usurped the place of horses in our hearts. Once we'd caught a glimpse of a well-turned Goodyear, checked out the curves of the bodywork and gaped at that swell pair of headlights, well, the old gray mare was not what she used to be. We embarked upon life in the fast lane with our new paramour. It was a great love story of man and machine. The road to the future was paved with bliss.

As always, read the whole thing. Good Stuff and he really hits the mark.

Car engine changes made simple- don't do it!

I made a discovery today while preparing to remove the engine from my boy's Ford Tempo that just about made me jump for joy. I've had the car in the driveway since February and I bought a used motor a month ago in preparation to removing the bad engine and replacing it with the used one. I actually moved the car into the carport probably 3 or 4 weeks ago but the work has been slow based upon my back injuries, lousy weather and our vacation. And I really haven't had my heart in this project so it was turning into something I had to do rather than something I wanted to do, so I've been dragging my feet instead of jumping in hard to get it done.

But the engine was almost ready to be removed and today I finally got around to taking the new motor out of the back of the truck and parked it on the slab near where I'm working. Reading the Haynes manual, it says to remove the engine and transmission out through the bottom of the car which seemed like a lot of extra work to me. So I was investigating today to see if there was room to separate the engine and transmission in the car and just lifting out the engine.

That investigation got me to looking closely and then I discovered that my work was done! I'm going no further with this car except for a phone call or two to have it taken away to the scrap yard. Look what I found-

I thought I discovered a crack in the subframe that holds up the front of the car but no- not a crack. Look at this picture taken from underneath-

Somebody cut that frame! It looks like somebody else during this car's past decided more clearance was needed to remove the engine and so they cut the subframe and hammered out the needed clearance! There's a welded patch panel on the outside-

but made no effort to weld the cuts they made on the inside of the subframe.

That's just dangerous. I don't have the skills to weld it myself and the ca's not worth paying somebody else to repair that much damage. So my job is done. I'm going to try to sell the engine on KSL classifieds and have the car hauled away for scrap.

It also pretty much confirms that the only way to get the engine out of the car is with the transmission attached and out through the bottom, just like the book says! There are more pictures here and as always, click the thumbnail pictures above to see the full sized pictures.

UPDATE: After talking with my dad today, who spent several years selling Ford car parts at numerous dealers, I think I know why this subframe was cut. I don't think it was done to pull the engine out but rather to replace the harmonic damper on the front of the crankshaft. He says they used to sell these parts regularly as they were prone to failure. Since the engine didn't show any other signs of previous replacement, I believe that's the answer. Somebody cut a clearance hole so they could get the damper off the crankshaft. It doesn't matter, the car is still junk!

Awesome loop-the-loop

Real life Hot Wheels! See the video here!

Busted Tempo update-

We're going to fix it. Not right now, in February (almost) but probably in April, once the snow melts and the temperatures start reaching into the 60s. Paying to get it fixed is right out due to the price so we are going to do it ourselves, in my carport. Sunday I'll go down to SLC with a car tote and drag it back to the house and in a few more days I'll purchase the second-hand engine I located.

Then they can both just sit until the weather warms up and ski season ends and I have a few more free hours every week.

The boy is getting himself a bicycle in the mean time!

No blogging tonight-

I didn't sit down until almost 9:45 tonight. The kid's car broke down on him last night after all the oil escaped so I had to drive back down to Slat Lake, pick him up, tow the car and drop it off at a garage and then help him move a mattress, box spring and very heavy tv set.

So I'm tired. No idea if the engine in the car is going to live or if it is a smoking paperweight. It certainly needs a new oil pan before any decisions can be made about the engine's condition.

Dammitall!
At least we had dinner at Hooters!

When is a 10 not a 10?

[Editor's note: This post will only be of interest to persons with some experience with tools. If you aren't a tool head, you're excused from following through with this rant.]

I'll tell you when a 10 is not a 10 but only a 9.8; its when Chrysler, somehow, in their short sighted engineering world decides that a screw that should have a Torx headed screw with a size 10, 6-pointed hole in it, to fit a size 10 Torx driver, is really only a 9.8 sized hole!

First, if you don't know, there is a fairly common type of screw in use today that uses what is (supposed to be) an industry standard, 6 pointed drive socket in its head. There are corresponding tools with star shaped tips that fit exactly into the matching screw head. These tools and holes are supposedly standard across the industry and world and labeled as T10, T15, T20 and up through the largest one I own, a T50. These screws and tools are designed for lots of reasons, not the least of which is to make assembly line operation faster and to reduce the "stripping" of screw heads by common or phillips headed screwdrivers.

 http://www.torp-fasteners.no/style/documents/torx.pdf

Why do I tell you all of this? Because last night I was thwarted in the replacement of the ignition switch on the Dodge Neon I am trying to make work by 1 tiny screw with a head that should be T10 sized. I tried 3 different T10 sized tools, after 2 trips to the Craftsman store, and none of them would fit the screw that some Chrysler weenie specified and later some assembly line person installed! One tiny little screw dammit!

I carried one down from my toolbox at home yesterday in anticipation of changing the switch because the Chilton's manual that I bought spells out that a T10 tool is required. And, it was too big. I blamed it on the fact that my tool probably came from Harbor Freight and maybe the chinese company that stamped it out got it wrong. So, we made a trip to Sears and bought 2, T10 sized screwdrivers. One was too long and so would not line up with the screw but the shorter tool was likewise to big on the tip to fit into the screw hole… We went back to Sears, this time I had to buy a $25 multi-tool with individual bits to get a T10 sized item. And, again, when I got back to the car and down on my knees with my head under the dash in the quickly failing daylight, the tool was again bigger than the hole in the screw!

Hooverdamm!

I can't for the life of me figure out what dumbass trick Chrysler did to make this screw not fit the standard tools. Whatever the reason, there is absolutely no call for such goofieness. Its not just the retaining switch for the switch either, the screws that hold the ignition lock mechanism to the steering column are likewise undersized.

Today when I go back I'm taking my cordless drill, drill bits and my Dremel tool and I'm going to cut the head off the screw. Then (and this is all part of the plan…) I'll be able to remove the switch and use Vice-Grips on the screw shaft to get it removed. I really need to get this project finished so I can get back onto my own projects that are backing up!

UPDATE: That's it, I quit! The car has been towed to a shop and tomorrow some paid professional can figure out what is wrong with it. I did find smaller Torx drivers, 1 individual bit with the Theft Resistant screw hole in it and a folding set for the normal Torx screws. And guess what, of course I needed the single bit TR tool, which of course broke when I tightened in the screw after replacing the iginition switch.

And of course the new switch did not fix the problem, leaving a brand new but unneccesary switch installed and no tool to remove it... Rats! I also found a relay that I had overlooked the other day after digging deeper into the wiring schematic and a trip to the dealer to buy that part still didn't fix the no-start problem.

So, I gave up. Kye called a shop that had done work for him before and we got it towed down there before they closed up shop for the night. I don't know what's wrong with it but I'm mighty interested in hearing their results.

Tomorrow- I can get back to working on the Tempo so I can get it out of my driveway.

I am NOT shopping for a new truck...

But last week as I was leaving the Ford dealer- Westland Ford, after picking up the Tempo parts I ordered, I happened to see this truck- and it was a real beauty! I like green as a truck color and I really like the King Ranch option for the saddle leather on the seats, so this truck caught my eye and made me get out to go look at it.

But the price! HooverDamm! This truck has just about every bit of extra-cost add-on that Ford can put on a truck and make it stick! Two thousand bucks for the radio & navigation system and another 500 bucks for the "Audiophile" option? GMAFB! That's just crazy. That is just way too much money to spend on a truck.

As I said, I am NOT shopping for a new truck. Hey, my F250 is only 8 years old now and it still has less than 160,000 miles on it so its just getting broke in well. I planned to keep it for 10 years when I bought it so I've still got a couple years to go. And in spite of the fuel costs for the dang thing, I'm not putting a truck payment' worth of fuel into it each month. And based upon Ford's pricing for a new truck, I may have to keep driving my current truck for lots of years. Either that or track down this truck after its been sold or leased once and buy it after some depreciation has set in...

P.S. Ford- I love the baseball glove leather seats in the new Rawlings edition trucks. Except I don't love it enough to buy it with the bright-red, stitched-on Rawlings label on the front of each headrest. Sorry, I couldn't buy it.

Why am I always so tired on Sunday nights?

Aren't I supposed to be rested up when the weekend is over? It never seems to work out that way and particulary this weekend. I'm whupped!

Its all the car repairs I'm doing that are kicking my butt. Friday was my regular day off and I spent the first part of the day in the local junkyard looking for seatbelt parts for the Tempo in the driveway. I still can't make the motorized shoulder belt work, after changing out the drive belt, so I found out online that later model cars had the emergency release mounted on the sliding portion instead of between the seats. Friday I went hunting for some of those belts. And I found a pair that were in good shape and didn't require too much to get removed. I also scored the center console that is different from the one in the car and the sliders for each side. In addition, I scored a outside mirror housing to replace the one on the car that had been epoxied together with a couple nails for support. It was really terrible looking and for just a few bucks I found a good one at the yard.

In the afternoon I got most everything torn out of the car. I had to modify the original bracket with a hacksaw and cutoff tool and then I carried it down for some welding to add a new plate for the new bracket to mount to. That was as far as I got on Friday.

Saturday was a full day of ticketchecking at Powder Mountain and it was the first blue sky day on a Saturday this year. It was warm and beautiful all day with terrific snow and a great crowd. I even have some pictures but I'm too tired to post them tonight.

I intended to finish that job today... But a phone call from the boy last night reset my plans. Seems the girlfriend's car- their only wheels, was now broke down, stranded needing immediate attention. So- today I loaded a toolbag and headed to Salt Lake. The problem? The car won't start. All the other electrics seem to work and the battery shows a full charge and it doesn't drop off on the voltmeter when trying to start it. SO we towed the car back to their apartment and went to work. I poked and prodded a bit, decided perhaps the starter solenoid had failed, just like my truck a couple weeks back. To remove the starter and the solenoid, according to the Chilton's book, you have to drop the motor off the motor mount- or, remove the cooling fans and radiator! Turns out, all you have to do is remove the fans, the radiator can stay. But you have to remove the battery and the battery box to get the fans out!

And of course, the starter and solenoid checked out just perfect at the autoparts store... The battery tested good too... So we replaced the power cables that were junk with new ones with absolutely no improvement to the circumstance. Nothing, nada. You can hear all the relays and other stuff booting up when you turn on the ignition but there's no effort to crank up the starter. I found a 30 amp fuse in the box, labeled "Starter" but it checked good.

I think now it must be the ignition switch. Everything else seems to be in place and working. But according to the repair manual I didn't have all the right tools to do the job and it was already late this afternoon, so I didn't get the job done. Damm.

Tomorrow I'll get a switch and the dealer item hose for the PCV that's so hard it breaks off when you try to cut it and make another trip to Salt Lake to see if I can get this thing working for them. Then I can get back to finishing the seatbelt repairs on the other car!

I've still got scooters to put back together too! I need another weekend!

Still working hard- on multiple projects!

I didn't even put up an end-of-week post last night due to all the hubbub going on this weekend. The eldest boy and his GF showed up, laundry baskets in hand, about 5 yesterday afternoon and so we were wrapped up with them all evening.

He approves of the Tempo. He took it out for a short drive and played with all the controls for a bit and he thinks it will be just fine. Its still not ready for inspection as the shoulder harness isn't repaired. I had to buy a plastic track from Ford and it won't be here until tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to get that system working shortly and the car out of my driveway and into the boy's parking space.

I've sanded and painted and sanded and primered the gas cap door for the scooter and finally got a satisfactory coat of gloss black paint applied just tonight. The plastic had really been scratched up with the initial sanding and it took much more effort than I expected to get it painted. And because I'm trying to paint in the laundry room because its too cold in my shop, keeping dust specks out of the shiny black paint has really been a challenge, causing a couple extra chances to sand and repaint to get it right.

Sleek Black Beauty's front tire is half painted with a very shiny, almost chrome finish. I tried to paint the 2nd half tonight and just couldn't get all the dust wiped off, so it needs redone tomorrow night. Then I can begin putting the whole scooter back together but I still need to order the color matched paint to fix the body scratches before I put everything back together.

The cylinder head I needed for the little scooter arrived today from another Scoot Dawg forum member, so that scooter needs to be put back together too!

Para-Ordnance advised me a couple weeks back to replace the recoil spring assembly in my Wart Hog to try to resolve the feeding problems that it has exhibited previously. Brownells had the parts and those arrived today too, so I got those parts swapped out in between everything else tonight. Surprisingly, the old recoil spring was easily 1/4" shorter than the new one! I think I might have solved this gun's problems if the spring had collapsed so badly. Now to the shooting range to try it out!

And I've done laundry and a little house cleaning over the weekend as well as everything I've already mentioned. The BSU and I saw a movie, but it gets its own post. I had coffee with Carol on Sunday morning and worked all day at Powder Mountain on Saturday. Other than that, I haven't done a dang thing lately!