Friendship between women: A woman doesn't come home one night.
The next morning she tells her husband that she had slept over at a friends house. The man calls his wife's 10 best friends. None of them knew anything about it.
Friendship between men: A man doesn't come home one night.
The next morning he tells his wife that he had slept over at a friends house. The woman calls her husbands 10 best friends, 8 of which confirmed that he had slept over, and 2 said that he was still there!
Yup, that is the difference between men and women. This bit of funny was sent to me by my buddy Chris.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
21- the Movie and an Elephant too!
Friday night we went to the movies, just as we usually do, and this time we went to see 21. Its a pretty entertaining story, based upon a true story, of smart college kids and their instructor, as they travel to Las Vegas to win hundreds of thousands of dollars, counting cards while they play Blackjack.
They had a system and they worked as a team and they didn't gamble, they worked at Blackjack for the sole purpose of making money. They lived the high life of fancy hotel suites and clubs while in Vegas and the life of engineering students back in Massachusetts. Kevin Spacey plays the part of professor Ben Cambell recruits and trains and polishes the team for their individual skills and he does a pretty good job in this part. The young actors, Jim Sturgess, who plays the shy and geeky recruit to the team becomes the "big player", Kate Bosworth, Aaron Yoo, Jacob Pitts and Liza Lapira all do commendable jobs in this glossy and fast moving movie.
There's tons of money made and lost and remade again in this movie and an interesting subplot that doesn't show its importance until the last moments of the movie and there's a very good twist that I really liked and didn't see coming.
This movies a good one and I recommend it. Its a two greasy popcorn thumbs up!
Bonus feature! Last week we saw Dr Seuss' Horton Hears A Who. This is, of course the telling of a terrific kid's classic story and it was terrific fun on the big screen. Horton, if you have forgotten, is a sensitive, caring elephant who discovers a tiny little town living inside a speck and takes it upon himself to find this speck a safe home. His efforts put him at cross purposes with a bossy kangaroo who makes it her duty to make Horton an outcast from the jungle where he lives. There is one portion of this movie that looks like it was created by a totally unrelated part of the team, it gets all anime', Japanese cartoon style for just a couple minutes and it does nothing to add to the movie. It seems almost completely unrelated to the rest of the movie and I didn't care for the style change at all. But the rest of the movie is a hoot and it was great fun.
If you've got kids, or can borrow or rent some, I say take them out to the movies and go see Horton Hears A Who. You'll all enjoy it.
They had a system and they worked as a team and they didn't gamble, they worked at Blackjack for the sole purpose of making money. They lived the high life of fancy hotel suites and clubs while in Vegas and the life of engineering students back in Massachusetts. Kevin Spacey plays the part of professor Ben Cambell recruits and trains and polishes the team for their individual skills and he does a pretty good job in this part. The young actors, Jim Sturgess, who plays the shy and geeky recruit to the team becomes the "big player", Kate Bosworth, Aaron Yoo, Jacob Pitts and Liza Lapira all do commendable jobs in this glossy and fast moving movie.
There's tons of money made and lost and remade again in this movie and an interesting subplot that doesn't show its importance until the last moments of the movie and there's a very good twist that I really liked and didn't see coming.
This movies a good one and I recommend it. Its a two greasy popcorn thumbs up!
Bonus feature! Last week we saw Dr Seuss' Horton Hears A Who. This is, of course the telling of a terrific kid's classic story and it was terrific fun on the big screen. Horton, if you have forgotten, is a sensitive, caring elephant who discovers a tiny little town living inside a speck and takes it upon himself to find this speck a safe home. His efforts put him at cross purposes with a bossy kangaroo who makes it her duty to make Horton an outcast from the jungle where he lives. There is one portion of this movie that looks like it was created by a totally unrelated part of the team, it gets all anime', Japanese cartoon style for just a couple minutes and it does nothing to add to the movie. It seems almost completely unrelated to the rest of the movie and I didn't care for the style change at all. But the rest of the movie is a hoot and it was great fun.
If you've got kids, or can borrow or rent some, I say take them out to the movies and go see Horton Hears A Who. You'll all enjoy it.
Weekend update comes early today!
Why? Because I'm bushed and parked in my chair already. I had my normal bi-weekly coffee break with Carol this morning and afterward came home for my usual day of projects, of which I have several to get accomplished.
But did you know its snowing today? Its been snowing all day! If I felt better, I should have gone skiing today for some spring powder but I'm just not up to it today. I got a little injured yesterday skiing and I'm pretty dang sore so more skiing today was just out of the question.
How did I get hurt? Blame it on the flat light and a complete lack of visibility and not knowing that the terrain park guys had extended the half pipe by about 15 feet! I had skied down to the half pipe to see some of the Spring Session activities going on there and was leaving, skiing the length of the pipe, up above it, not in it- thanks and then I turned right to cross below it and to get on the run leading away from the area. But suddenly, I was slammed up into the air and just as rapidly, yanked back to the earth as if I had just crossed over a "fat guy magnet"! I hit the nearly 2 foot high lip of the half pipe at 90 degrees without ever seeing it! My legs weren't prepared for such a huge impact so I basically slammed into a wall, disconnected froom my skis and fell face first into the pipe! It all happened so fast that I was picking myself up before I ever figured out what happened to me.
I bruised both of my kneecaps, either hitting the pipe lip or the packed snow inside the pipe, or both. The back of my boots bashed up into my calves and bruised the back side of my legs so I'm hurting like Nancy Kerrigan. It took all my professional ticket-checker work ethic to stay on the job for the rest of the day and I couldn't get home fast enough to get loaded up on anti-inflammatory meds.
So in between the cold, wet weather and my injured pegs, I just didn't get much done today. I did finish up the work on the seatbelt bracket for Kye's car but put off installing it in the snow. I did clean up the cylinder head for the Phantom that arrived a couple weeks ago and verified that the head gasket I bought is the right size, so that job can proceed shortly. That's about all I got done before deciding I was too tired and that my chair seemed like a good place to be for a while. So, here I am.
Last Friday I took my Morphous front wheel to get the tire pulled off and the bearings pressed out. I had tried to paint it bright silver, "nearly chrome", and it actually looked pretty good- until I touched it. The dang stuff wiped right off with just a paper towel and there was no way it could be used for a scooter wheel. So- its getting stripped to just the rim and the rim is going to either the chrome plater's shop or the powdercoater's shop next week. Where it ends up really depends on how much either coating will cost and how much I can justify- which means it will probably get powdercoated...
So I'm resting the rest of the day with a cat on my lap and hope that springtime temperatures return this week. And that my bruises get better pretty darn quickly!
But did you know its snowing today? Its been snowing all day! If I felt better, I should have gone skiing today for some spring powder but I'm just not up to it today. I got a little injured yesterday skiing and I'm pretty dang sore so more skiing today was just out of the question.
How did I get hurt? Blame it on the flat light and a complete lack of visibility and not knowing that the terrain park guys had extended the half pipe by about 15 feet! I had skied down to the half pipe to see some of the Spring Session activities going on there and was leaving, skiing the length of the pipe, up above it, not in it- thanks and then I turned right to cross below it and to get on the run leading away from the area. But suddenly, I was slammed up into the air and just as rapidly, yanked back to the earth as if I had just crossed over a "fat guy magnet"! I hit the nearly 2 foot high lip of the half pipe at 90 degrees without ever seeing it! My legs weren't prepared for such a huge impact so I basically slammed into a wall, disconnected froom my skis and fell face first into the pipe! It all happened so fast that I was picking myself up before I ever figured out what happened to me.
I bruised both of my kneecaps, either hitting the pipe lip or the packed snow inside the pipe, or both. The back of my boots bashed up into my calves and bruised the back side of my legs so I'm hurting like Nancy Kerrigan. It took all my professional ticket-checker work ethic to stay on the job for the rest of the day and I couldn't get home fast enough to get loaded up on anti-inflammatory meds.
So in between the cold, wet weather and my injured pegs, I just didn't get much done today. I did finish up the work on the seatbelt bracket for Kye's car but put off installing it in the snow. I did clean up the cylinder head for the Phantom that arrived a couple weeks ago and verified that the head gasket I bought is the right size, so that job can proceed shortly. That's about all I got done before deciding I was too tired and that my chair seemed like a good place to be for a while. So, here I am.
Last Friday I took my Morphous front wheel to get the tire pulled off and the bearings pressed out. I had tried to paint it bright silver, "nearly chrome", and it actually looked pretty good- until I touched it. The dang stuff wiped right off with just a paper towel and there was no way it could be used for a scooter wheel. So- its getting stripped to just the rim and the rim is going to either the chrome plater's shop or the powdercoater's shop next week. Where it ends up really depends on how much either coating will cost and how much I can justify- which means it will probably get powdercoated...
So I'm resting the rest of the day with a cat on my lap and hope that springtime temperatures return this week. And that my bruises get better pretty darn quickly!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Convicted sex offender arrested again
A convicted sex offender in Salt Lake County has been arrested again on charges he sexually assaulted a 7-year-old girl.Somebody explain to me why this
Twenty-one-year-old Jonathan Glatti was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail yesterday on suspicion of multiple counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child.
The Deseret Morning News reports that the alleged victim was the daughter of a family that had taken Glatti in.
It was only last September that Glatti was convicted of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Prior to that he was convicted of three counts of sexual battery in 2006 and forced to register as a sex offender.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
About that car I've been working on-
I've struggled for a day now to figure out how to properly write this post and the fact is, I'm so disgusted and cranky about the entire episode that I don't have a quip or funny lead-in at all for this tale.
Long story, short- the car has been repaired, by a garage, at no small expense and all of it on me. The garage replaced the starter and called the car fixed…
The reason I'm so cranky about this circumstance is because I removed that starter the very first afternoon and took it to Checker Auto Parts to have it tested. I saw and heard that starter work and saw it pass the electrical tests that the store's automated system put it through. It sounded fine and appeared to work perfectly. I never would have reinstalled it if I wasn't convinced there was no problem with that starter. But the repair shop troubleshot the system and they determined it was bad and a new one got the car running again.
I'm pretty pi#&ed off that I couldn't or didn't figure this out and that I spent so many hours working and replacing parts that weren't the cause of the problem. I feel hoodwinked by this car and its ability to thwart my troubleshooting and repair efforts. That doesn't happen very often and I'm mad that it happened this time.
So now the car needs transmission mounts and its due for its safety and emissions tests and there might still be some faults with the automatic transmission. We fixed the choked off air pipe that was strangling the intake air and I hope that resolved some of the driveablity problems that the boy was attributing to the transmission. I'll get repaid for my costs over the next couple months and hopefully the GF can keep it running for another year.
Now I can get back to work on the Tempo that's waiting in the driveway!
Homeowner takes header in backyard-
Sorry, no film at 10.
But it would have been an exciting bit of film if you happened to catch it with your video camera!
So, yesterday afternoon, after dinner, and before heading out to do some shopping with the BSU, I went out to the shop and brought out my B1-RD fuel barrel so I could refill the fueling stations. One of the fueling stations is low enough to the ground that I can reach it, even with my stubby little legs, from the ground. And I filled that one uneventfully and then went to fill the big fueling station that sits atop a 4X4 pressure treated post. To reach this elevated fueler I have to lean a metal lawn chair against the post and stand on the chair's seat.
That's what I was doing when the post decided it had stood quiet sentry duty in my backyard long enough and decided it was time for a break- which it did; right at ground level, it broke off. It went down, and downhill too, the chair tipped over and this homeowner went tumbling out of the chair and downhill too! I managed not to break any bones or injure myself in the rather low-speed tumble but the plastic feeder (a new one) and the post didn't fair as well.
The post rotted off right at ground level. Its only been in the ground 8 years so I can't imagine why it was rotted through already… The feeder is repairable and I'll put it back into service just as soon as I can put in a new post, in my spare time…
And just to put the final bit of humiliation on the circumstance, the BSU was watching the entire episode over the fence, waiting for me to finish so we could go to Wally World!
For the uninitiated- B1-RDs are what I call the ever changing squadron of sparrows, finches, chickadees and similar birds that I try to keep fed and safe from harm at the claws of my cat Uinta.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
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.
Monday, March 24, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Think politicians won't lie to you?
Kevin at Smallest Minority takes Washington DC's mayor's blatant lies and exposes them to the light of day and honesty. Its amazing to me that elected officials can believe their own lies and state them in public without expecting them to be questioned and ocmpared to the published facts.
A mighty wild drag race
Watch this video of a Bugatti Veyron against a Eurofighter jet. Its pretty wild and the results aren't as predictable as you might guess.
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!
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!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Want!
Kenny and I need one of these RC helicopter with 2 full auto shotguns to go bunny hunting! We could just sit in our lawn chairs beside the truck and have a fine old shooting time!
Thanks to Bruce for pointing it out.
Thanks to Bruce for pointing it out.
Truck dumps debris on freeway, 15 cars damaged
Beasley says the driver of the truck that spilled the debris kept on driving. Troopers know what company the truck belongs to, but they're still working to find the driver.I'm guessing that somebody is about to experience a metric buttload of ass pain over this circumstance...
Monday, March 17, 2008
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!
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!
Friday, March 14, 2008
A busy week for me
The weather's been pretty tolerable this week and so I have been able to get outside and work on that Tempo, trying to get it ready to deliver to the oldest son. He is no mechanic and I figured I better have it working as well as possible before handing over the keys to him.
So this week I've been in the driveway every evening, in spite of my sore back- which is now only sore and no longer excruciating-thanks for asking. The exhaust system has been replaced. The car went to Wal-Mart for an oil change. I've adjusted the idle speed, replaced the air filter and the leaky rocker cover gasket. Last night I changed the thermostat and added fresh antifreeze to the system. It was the first time in my tool swinging career that I've ever removed a thermostat in pieces! That thing had come apart and fell out of the housing in 4 pieces. I guess it really was time to be changed and my troubleshooting skills were correct.
I still need to dig into the motorized shoulder belt that doesn't work as that is a requirement for the safety inspection. Sadly, the Haynes manual I purchased makes only passing reference to this part, saying to take the car to your dealer for repair, and the electrical schematics don't even reference any of the wiring for this system. In fact, the Haynes book doesn't have any chassis schematic for the 93 & 94 model year cars! What the heck is up with that? So I guess I'll be removing plastic panels and going in blind to see if I can get the shoulder belt moving when it is supposed to move.
Remarkably, everything under the hood seems to be in good order. The inside of the engine was cleaner than one might hope for on a high mileage engine, with no buildup of crud showing under the rocker cover. I did find one broken rocker cover hold-down screw stuck in the head so hopefully the Permatex #1 sealer will do its job and keep the oil inside the engine where it belongs. That broken screw and the original formed gasket were probably the reason for the leakage that caused me to consider changing the gasket in the first place. All the wire bundles seem to be connected and unhacked and there aren't any extra wires running around the engine bay that dead end with no rhyme or reason- something you could expect on a car of this vintage.
So I'm pretty pleased with the car. It seems to run pretty well with no obvious bad faults. The electric mirrors don't work but are manually adjustable so they might not get looked at until another day. My biggest fear now is getting it to pass the emissions test and the thought of whatever repairs might be required if it doesn't pass. There's nothing to do but run it through though and see if it passes.
So this week I've been in the driveway every evening, in spite of my sore back- which is now only sore and no longer excruciating-thanks for asking. The exhaust system has been replaced. The car went to Wal-Mart for an oil change. I've adjusted the idle speed, replaced the air filter and the leaky rocker cover gasket. Last night I changed the thermostat and added fresh antifreeze to the system. It was the first time in my tool swinging career that I've ever removed a thermostat in pieces! That thing had come apart and fell out of the housing in 4 pieces. I guess it really was time to be changed and my troubleshooting skills were correct.
I still need to dig into the motorized shoulder belt that doesn't work as that is a requirement for the safety inspection. Sadly, the Haynes manual I purchased makes only passing reference to this part, saying to take the car to your dealer for repair, and the electrical schematics don't even reference any of the wiring for this system. In fact, the Haynes book doesn't have any chassis schematic for the 93 & 94 model year cars! What the heck is up with that? So I guess I'll be removing plastic panels and going in blind to see if I can get the shoulder belt moving when it is supposed to move.
Remarkably, everything under the hood seems to be in good order. The inside of the engine was cleaner than one might hope for on a high mileage engine, with no buildup of crud showing under the rocker cover. I did find one broken rocker cover hold-down screw stuck in the head so hopefully the Permatex #1 sealer will do its job and keep the oil inside the engine where it belongs. That broken screw and the original formed gasket were probably the reason for the leakage that caused me to consider changing the gasket in the first place. All the wire bundles seem to be connected and unhacked and there aren't any extra wires running around the engine bay that dead end with no rhyme or reason- something you could expect on a car of this vintage.
So I'm pretty pleased with the car. It seems to run pretty well with no obvious bad faults. The electric mirrors don't work but are manually adjustable so they might not get looked at until another day. My biggest fear now is getting it to pass the emissions test and the thought of whatever repairs might be required if it doesn't pass. There's nothing to do but run it through though and see if it passes.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Ooh- Shiny!
The new muffler for Sleek Black Beauty arrived yesterday! It is beautiful and will be a great improvement to the scoot when I get it installed. I'll take some pictures to post once it is installed.
As regular readers might remember, I took the muffler and heat shield to HP Coatings way back in December to be coated with their polished aluminum color. While the muffler was in the ultrasonic polishing tank, a plug fell out of one of the muffler tubes and it was filled up with the tiny ceramic beads that do the polishing work.
HPC tried to shake out the beads, then took the muffler to a fabricator & welder that they trust to have him cut the muffler apart to get the beads out. The fabricator guy was apparently able to get the muffler cut apart, putting it back together turned out to be a much bigger problem. So, they had to buy me a new muffler, which although I know it was painful to their profit margin for the month, was the right thing to do and they did with no complaint. Then they plated it, polished it and shipped it to me, all free of charge.
It looks terrific and I'm very pleased. I'm also pleased with HPC for their efforts to remedy an unfortunate situation that was nobody's fault. I'll be getting the muffler, and hopefully the rest of the scooter put back together this weekend. Riding season is getting very close and I'm seeing lots of riders out already in the afternoons, so I am getting mighty anxious to be out riding too.
As regular readers might remember, I took the muffler and heat shield to HP Coatings way back in December to be coated with their polished aluminum color. While the muffler was in the ultrasonic polishing tank, a plug fell out of one of the muffler tubes and it was filled up with the tiny ceramic beads that do the polishing work.
HPC tried to shake out the beads, then took the muffler to a fabricator & welder that they trust to have him cut the muffler apart to get the beads out. The fabricator guy was apparently able to get the muffler cut apart, putting it back together turned out to be a much bigger problem. So, they had to buy me a new muffler, which although I know it was painful to their profit margin for the month, was the right thing to do and they did with no complaint. Then they plated it, polished it and shipped it to me, all free of charge.
It looks terrific and I'm very pleased. I'm also pleased with HPC for their efforts to remedy an unfortunate situation that was nobody's fault. I'll be getting the muffler, and hopefully the rest of the scooter put back together this weekend. Riding season is getting very close and I'm seeing lots of riders out already in the afternoons, so I am getting mighty anxious to be out riding too.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Its a joke, ok?
Don't shoot me!
This Is No Bull
My wife and I went to the rodeo and one of the first exhibits we stopped at was the breeding bulls. We went up to the first pen and there was a sign attached that said, "THIS BULL MATED 50 TIMES LAST YEAR." My wife playfully nudged me in the ribs, smiled and said, "He mated 50 times last year."
We walked to the second pen which had a sign attached that said, "THIS BULL MATED 150TIMES LAST YEAR."
This Is No Bull
My wife and I went to the rodeo and one of the first exhibits we stopped at was the breeding bulls. We went up to the first pen and there was a sign attached that said, "THIS BULL MATED 50 TIMES LAST YEAR." My wife playfully nudged me in the ribs, smiled and said, "He mated 50 times last year."
We walked to the second pen which had a sign attached that said, "THIS BULL MATED 150TIMES LAST YEAR."
My wife gave me a healthy jab and said, "Wow, that' more than twice a week! You could learn a lot from him."
We walked to the third pen and it had a sign attached that said, in capital letters, "THIS BULL MATED 365 TIMES LAST YEAR." My wife was so excited that her elbow nearly broke my ribs, and said, "That's once a day! You could REALLY learn something from this one."
I looked at her and said, "Go over and ask him if it was with the same old cow."
Honestly, my condition has been upgraded from critical to stable and I should eventually make a full recovery.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Not exactly how I see myself-
but hey,
And according to Munchin Wrangler, that makes me an overpriced, heavy staple gun!
I admit I don't know much about the P7 and its never been on my short list (or long list) of guns to buy. It just seems there are so many other german 9mm choices out there if I wanted one.
And according to Munchin Wrangler, that makes me an overpriced, heavy staple gun!
I admit I don't know much about the P7 and its never been on my short list (or long list) of guns to buy. It just seems there are so many other german 9mm choices out there if I wanted one.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Hurting tonight
I don't know what caused it- exactly, maybe rolling aound on the ground installing a motor mount yesterday, but I'm hurting today. My lower back is all froze up sore and I've loaded up on meds and spent the evening sitting against an ice pack.
At one point tonight, stepping off a curb, the pain shooting into my back was so sharp that I nearly buckled at the knees and went down. Its pretty bad tonight!
On a lighter note, I did get the Tempo hooked up wwith an entirely new exhaust system this afternoon so that part of the car is fixed and will pass inspection. Master Muffler couldn't save the old pipe as it was crushed from falling off earlier, so everything's new. I do have to go back tomorrow for one gasket that the shop didn't have in stock but they promised to get one and install it for me tomorrow.
And maybe I can get started on figuring out the seatbelt problem and replacing the leaking cam cover gasket tomorrow.
At one point tonight, stepping off a curb, the pain shooting into my back was so sharp that I nearly buckled at the knees and went down. Its pretty bad tonight!
On a lighter note, I did get the Tempo hooked up wwith an entirely new exhaust system this afternoon so that part of the car is fixed and will pass inspection. Master Muffler couldn't save the old pipe as it was crushed from falling off earlier, so everything's new. I do have to go back tomorrow for one gasket that the shop didn't have in stock but they promised to get one and install it for me tomorrow.
And maybe I can get started on figuring out the seatbelt problem and replacing the leaking cam cover gasket tomorrow.
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