"Keep a Journal: How else are you going to get a good look at who you were?"

Friday, March 28, 2008

It's Snowing outside...

Spring was supposed to start sometime around March 20-21...I guess this is Winter's Last Gasp...I hope.

It's 1PM as I write this, and the snow is still persisting. Actually, the snow is still falling. We've got a massive arctic air mass upon us and it's causing freezing rain; with snow at higher elevations. We live at a higher elevation.

I've almost got the Junker back together. It has been going rather slowly; not because I can't remember how to put all the various components of the dashboard back together, but rather I've forgotten which order to re-assemble them in. I'll get a panel back on or a widget replaced, and then realize there's something else underneath it that I haven't yet finished with. I have also been performing regular checks as each part gets re-assembled, and so far everything works like it's supposed to.

All this effort, and I've only managed to solve issue #1 of the three major mechanical issues this car has. I was not even able to find a proper OEM heater core to replace the leaking one. I had to purchase an aftermarket replacement that was designed for a Toyota! The replacement fits in the cradle inside the airbox all right, but it's narrower than the original. Some creative use of a drill, some 1/4" roundhead screws, and a couple of pieces of 1/4" x 1-1/4" cedar lath strips helped me get a proper fit. I also had to cut about 1-1/2" off the connection pipes in order to get the hook-up hoses to fit properly. The gentleman at RJ radiators said that if I had to do that, I would also have to use two pipe clamps to attach the hoses. No Prob.

I still don't know if it will work yet. But you out there in the Unseen Audience will be among the first to know. I'll keep you posted.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Only 10 more posts (after this one) and I will have 150 posts. Then I qualify for the "blogger bonus": a free sub at Quiznos.

No, not really...

Had a terriffic (and complicated?) visit with Gloria M on Tuesday...she's in town for her Aunt's funeral. She seems to be taking to single life very well (again). She spent a lot of our time together telling me how wonderful I am...you see why we've been friends for so long?

I've been sick the past week. I am also on vacation while the kids are home from Spring Break. L is still working, of course, and speaking of L and her job...

...She's decided to pursue a Career. She's been having a lot of fun at her BCLC job, and she enjoys how much the people she deals with every day appreciate her and the good work she does. But she knows that she could make more money/benefits if she pursued something else. So she took a look at Transcription, and Medical Transcription in particular. She's presently enrolled in a once-a-week night course at VCC downtown. She's going gangbusters on her course, and needs only her english equivalency and another specialty course to qualify for a position somewhere like the admin dept. at Surrey Memorial Hostpital (for example). She's also pretty sure we'll need another car eventually, so that she and I can commute to our respective jobs. Problem: we can't *afford* another car.

So I found one for free.

Actually...Kudos and Props to my main man Marv Walling at 507 for finding the car. His neighbor, a nice lady who teaches at BCIT, was going to give the car away for a charity tax-credit...but he persuaded her that it would be better to give it to someone who could actually *use* it.

I am now in possession of a 1992 Eagle Summit Wagon.

I'll post some pictures later, right now it's in pieces.

The Wagon (mini minivan van?) has three major issues: a busted heater core line, which is spouting coolant all over the front footwells; a clunking transmission, which I 'm going to let Dennis Blackwell at Blackwell Transmissions handle; and warped front brake rotors, which I will replace myself.

The engine is in pretty good shape...it's a strong runner. Apart from some minor body damage, it will make a perfectly acceptable transport.

More later.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

LEAP forward!!!

I wish.

Ever have one of those weekends where nothing works? I have. In fact, I'm having one now...

The Car:

Either a vacuum leak or a combination of vacuum leak and one of the smartparts on the intake is causing a rough idle, stalling and abrupt change in revs ("hesitation" my Haynes Manual calls it). I dismantled the entire intake above the manifold, found it absolutely coated in crud and used a liberal dose of Permatex gasket maker to make certain it sealed this time.

I think I may have done something wrong.

The car ran fine...for about ten minutes. Now, all the above symptoms are back, not as severe as before mind you; but they're back.

Our home network:

I finally bought a wireless router to replace that 4 port switch we've been using to share our broadband internet between 3 (soon to be 4) systems. I promised the kids weeks ago that we'd get something on the home network with wireless capability so they could play their Wii online.

Cannot...make...it...work.

It seems that D-link and my AVG 8+ don't get along. I'm sure it's as easy as pie for someone with a real A+ certification...but it's beyond me.

Sigh.

I need to fix a bike or read a book...that's about all I feel competent to handle right now.

Let's just say I'm having a lot of difficulty keeping things together and in working order.