Entry for August 20, 2006

Gotta call T

I forgot to remind him to go to Austin, MN. Sparta is just a short 2 hour and 2 minute drive to Austin Minnesota where one of the most important landmarks in North America can be visited, The Spam Museum.

M was in a hurry last night to get down the hill to meet his ride so he asked if he could drive Bubba down, foolish me I said yes. Well, M forgot that he took Bubba down the hill so when he came home he walked up the muddy driveway in the rain. Oh, did I forget to mention that since he as usual has lost his keys he borrowed mine. Well Guess What !!! M naturally lost my keys so Bubba is sitting down the hill in the parking lot of the Mennonite church in a keyless fashion. M doesn't understand why I'm pissed off.

C really acted up yesterday and pushed my button. Then he forgot to go to work at 5:00, he tought he was on call.

 

I was so terribly foolish when I thought parenthood was something I could afford and enjoy !!!

Entry for August 19, 2006

Today Bubba will be jumping to the top of my attention list again. Just when my fingernails were getting clean again... I'll sure be changing that today.

Still have to give Bubba his new bumper brackets but there are other things too. I started to compile a list of the things that need attention on Bubba and it is an impressive list. Bubba needs some brake work, both his rear shoes and his front pads need to be changed out. He really could use a new set of shocks but I might hold off on that expense for now... Oh, and sneakers. Bubba's sneakers are getting a bit long in the tooth. I'm certainly not anxious to buy Bubba new sneakers, the ones I would like to get him would run about $500. Bubba is currently wearing BF Goodrich Comp T/A KOs, truly an aggressive manly tire, Bubba can certainly park proudly in any lot. I’ve got this thing for the Comp TA KO tire. Rudy wore them too, as did his other two S10 ancestors. In fact his sibling Rex wears a mighty fine set. Don’t tell Rex but when I first saw him. I wasn’t really attracted to him as much as his brand new set of Comp T/A KO tires. Monetary considerations just might force my hand to choose generic donuts for Bubba this time, that would be about $300. I’m sure Bubba won’t really mind. Afterall, we all know he would look good wearing any old set of Maypops.

Entry for August 17, 2006

Pressure is off

a bit for now. T made it to Wisconsin Tuesday afternoon. He was able to make the trip in about 25 hours, which was good news, it means he didn't push it too much. It's about 16.5 hours drive time so he did stop and sleep and eat. I've done the straight thru and it's too tough. I asked him Rex was on the trip, he said thirsty. Whereas Bubba in a good mood can do over 25mpg on the highway, Rex is more hefty, brutish and has a more agressive axle ratio... Rex is lucky when he can do 20mpg.

 

Haven't done a thing with Bubba

since the weekend. The bumper brackets arrived Tuesday but M has been out by the time I've gotten home and doing the bumper thing is not a one person thing.

 

M is working.

He started his new job on Mnday, from what he says it sounds like he's doing pretty good.

Entry for August 13, 2006

The Bubba saga is almost closed.

Bubba is starting to look like a Blazer again. I ordered a new one piece grille and two bumper brackets that should be in early this week. In the mean time we'll probably put Bubba's old broken grille back on as the salvage one is missing headlight doors. The grille in the photo is from a '89 and is a three piece style, Bubba being a '92 uses a different one piece stlye. The headlight doors are where the side marker lamps mount so without them, it's not really completely street legal. Right now the bumper is being held in place with coat hanger, might be fine for WI but certainly not good enough for PA. Since my drive to work takes me into PA State Trooper Territory I have to make him as legal as possible, Troopers memorize the Motor Vehicle Code, they really need a new hobby.

Another beautiful day.

Well Bubba will only get a little attention today, have to get Rex ready for T to take him to Wisconsin. Rex needs an oil change and a bath, that's about it. Have to check out AAA and see if I can sign up, just in case.

Wally World

Went to Wally World after dropping C off at work, saw KK. K and I were born one day apart, he was born the day after me but since I was premature I always point out that he's really older. We compared notes on our offspring, seems he's dealing with issues too. We long for the simpler days of taking the boys to Hawk Mountain Scout Camp, sleeping in the woods and polar bear swims.

Entry for August 12, 2006

SEX

I just added "Sex" to my 360 interests. It is afterall one of those things I think about more than once in any given day. Then... I searched local for women who share my interst in "Sex". To my surprise there were ony 4 females (40-51) in a 25 mile radius that are interested in "Sex". It's very discouraging, yet I also find it hard to believe. I know for a fact that there are more than 4 women within 25 miles who care about "Sex". In fact, I've met some who that's all they think about, and that's a good thing. But I think it's high time that the women of SE Pennsylvania come out of the closet and admit to having had sex, and the continued desire to experience it again.

Incredible, such a beautiful day.

M has the camera somewhere or I would have taken a picture of the extrodinary sky and tree line. Perfectly clear, cool... right now probably about 70... What a great day to be flying. So at least I put up a photo of a Van's RV-4, someday I will build one. It's both a very strong and very fast aircraft with tandem seating, it will do 200mph on 180hp and climb at an astounding 2450fpm, It also has a well proven track record with over 4,700 RVs completed and flying. Someday I see it overtaking the Cessna Skyhawk as the most produced General Aviation  aircraft.

Bubba

continues to occupy my time. The motor mounts have proven to be next to impossible to change on the dirt driveway. Today T and I will be attacking the task once again. It looks like I will have to unbolt the body from the chassis so that I can lift the engine high enough to get the new mounts in. After many struggles in the dark over the past week nights in the dark we were able to finally get the old mounts out. We took a break last night, it's been daunting and we both needed to escape Bubba so we could go at it fresh this afternoon. The weather is grand, lots of other things I would be rather doing. The first paragraph in todays blog reminds me on one of those things. Yet we will shortly be putting our shoulders to Bubba's wheel once again. Yesterday I bit the bullet and ordered Bubba a brand new grille, should be here one day next week. I hope he appreciates the thought and cooperates, letting us install his brand new mounts.

 

 

 

 

Entry for August 11, 2006

A Toast to The Brits, Three Cheers to Our Allies in the UK

But couldn't you have gotten the scum on a different day?

Had international visitors yesterday and I missed out on very nice steak-laden lunch since they had to leave early so they could get through the hightened security and still make their flight.

Well back to the Bubba thing. Progress has been slow, but it is progress. The bucks have gotten to be a real problem as T and I struggle to get Bubba back in shape. Life marches on.

While lifting the engine last night we discovered what it was that stung me the other night on the hand. Seems there was a nest of "deads" living inside the beam of the engine hoist. They were wasps, but now they are deads.

Entry for August 10, 2006

Bubba is at a difficult time right now. His motor mounts are a reap PITA to change. Componding it, by the time T and I can work on him each night it's already getting too dark to be safe. I have isues with placing my hands between his fully dressed 500lb engine and the frame to change the mounts while his engine is hanging from a hoist that is older than he is... in the dark... on the ground and not on a lift.

Part of the problem with having been a mechanic during my mis-spent youth is that I know how much easier things can be when you have a properly lit shop, a lift and all the right tools organized and right at hand. It also scares me a bit whenever T puts himself in a spot that might be a little less than safe.

But, have to try and get Bubba done and rolling. I might end up letting T take Rex to Wisconsin if by the time he plans to leave Bubba isn't in my eyes safe for the trip. Problem is Rex gets about 5mpg less than Bubba gets on the highway. With the price of gas, that's an issue.

Entry for August 09, 2006

Not enough time to compose all I want to say right now, just a quick update for anyone who wants to know... Bubba progresses, slow but sure.

Entry for August 08, 2006

Yesterday I managed to get absolutely nothing done on Bubba. When I came home I took all of about 15 mins to relax and then got on the tractor to cut the grass, it had been too long it was a real mess.

I spoke with the neighbor who will be bringing by a cherry picker (engine hoist) tonight after work. It will make things a lot easier, the one big thing that needs to be done to Bubba now is replacing the engine mounts and it will make it a lot easier to lift the engine fro mthe top than trying to jack it up on the oil pan from underneath. Once that's done the only things left to be done are cosmetic.

Entry for August 07, 2006

Bubba has been the domionating feature of my blogs, and still today. Made good progress on Bubba yesterday. Radiator support, radiator, condensor, water pump all back in. He now has his eyes too (headlights) so things are movong along. Fixed the shift linkage so he now gets every gear, getting close. The engine is sitting crooked on it's broken motor mounts so they'll have to be replaced, not a very fun job since I sold my engine hoist but I'll find a way to do it somehow.

Entry for August 06, 2006

Well, finally Bubba is going back together. This morning I picked up an idler pulley for the serpentine belt and spent about an hour scraping the old gasket off of the block for the timing cover, what a pain.

Right now I have what is probably about an hour or so break. The sun is shinig right on Bubba and it's just too hot working in the sun.

I've been avoiding online contacts, you know who you are. Too much to do, don't want to get bogged down on the laptop. Might try to catch up on some stuff on my little break.

 

Entry for August 05, 2006

The weather broke today and I spent most of the day working on Bubba. Two bolts that had snapped off speed nuts and it took me the better part of an hour just to get those two out, but out they are. The radiator support is finally off. I'm beat, getting to old to be working out on a dirt driveay like this.

Bought a new water pump, the old one was hammered, when I took off the old one I kept staring at the timing chain cover. Doesn't make sense putting it back together with the original timing chain still in there. So I pulled the timing chain and I'm glad of it, the chain was pretty much stretched.

Entry for August 03, 2006

Still have to fix the car :(

Too hot today too. Well if we get the thunderstorms early enough maybe I'll be able to put some attention to Bubba later tonight.

T is talking about which car, the Audi or Bubba would most likely make it to Wisconsin with the least trouble. Well, if I have to trust either it would be Bubba. The Audi's inspection sticker turns into a pumpkin tomorrow, needs a windshield, exhaust and a window regulator at least to pass PSI :( Bubba needs about four or five hours of relatively easy work on a lift, in a well lit clean shop... or about three days here in the driveway.

Well... git-r-done.

 

 

 

Entry for August 02, 2006

Entry for July 30, 2006

Well yesterday afternoon I managed to remove most of Bubba's broken face. The physical damage to Bubba's sheetmetal looks worse than it is. There really isn't a lot to the metal, the stregth is in the frame and the bumper brackets are broken off of the frame but it doesn't look like the frame moved at all. I have the measurements so I'll be able to verify it but the big question is the health of the drivetrain. The water pump is toast as are the motor mounts, right now it's sitting about an inch too far back, no big deal as long as there isn't any hidden damage, have to get under Bubba and look see. With new mounts the drivetrain will fall right in place where it belongs so we'll see.

Once I verify the condition of the drivetrain there isn't much I can do till I get the new parts. Bubba's engine bay really looks rusty, it's not. Durring the crash Bubba reguritated his coolant, which was very old and rusty hence the color of everything that got sprayed. Might hose Bubba off, clean stuff is easier and more pleasant to work on. T& I were going to flush the cooling system, the new antifreeze is on the porch. Sure gald we didn't or I'd really be mad.

Might get back to Dave the Athlon 1400 today, he rejected the W2k sofware install. Might have something to do with the CMOS being set wrong, the bus was 100mhz and the multiplier was 14 after his CMOS battery crapped out, it should have been 133 x 10.5. Dave crashed severl times durring Windows Update and Win2k almost never crashes, usually it's a solid as a brick poophouse. So... Now that the CMOS is set right, I might sit down and give Dave a fresh Windows 2000 enema today. Gotta get Dave and Hal back up to speed.

Entry for July 29, 2006

Poor Bubba. C hit two small trees square on so the impact looks like he hit a square post or something. The ening is pushed back about an inch, looks like the motor mounts broke. Tomorrow I'll get underneath and see if the trans mount is broken (probably) and try to start the engine, testing Bubba's abillity to move under his own awesome power. I'll have to bypass the trans cooler lines since Bubba no longer has a radiator or hill shoot his load of ATF right through his broken face. The health of the engine and trans will determine if Bubba is a transplant patient, or an organ doner.

Entry for July 28, 2006

Gonig in late today, didn't feel good when I first woke up today, stomach acting up. My Aetna health plan won't pay for Nexium, so I now take a less expensive prescription that just doesn't cut it.

Maybe more later.

Entry for July 27, 2006

Did you ever write a nice long blog and then when you post it Yahoo asks for your password... When you give it your blog is gone?

Entry for July 26, 2006

Major disaster befell the household in several forms as of late. Over the weekend there was the crash and demise of Bubba the Blazer and that got most of my attention... But also Duddly the dishwasher decided to act up and misbehave.

Well, last night I stopped at the gun club on the way home for my complimentary beer. The club had been closed on my birthday for a hunter safety course, so my birthday beer was postponed. Came home and decided to get productive. Took the dishwasher apart and found some pieces of broken glass jammed in the spin thingy. So... No old Duddly is spraying away, much better and quieter than he has ever been as long as I've known him.

Of the two desktops that MT&C use Hal has been acting up for a few weeks. The guys managed to download some sort of IM Trojan that filled up the hard drive with all sorts of crap. Like 80 gig of junk files in every Temp directory. I had to delete their user accounts since it was the easiest way to delete several hundred thousand junk files from their temp directories. I was able to save some of their stuff, but a lot was lost. IE still doesn't work worth a damn but they've been using Mozilla and Firefox.

Well last night after having so much success with Duddly I decided to fix Dave. Dave has been dead for about three months, so last night I fed Dave a fresh install of Windows 2k. He's still eating Windows Updates as we speak, but maybe by the weekend I'll get the energy to stuff a fresh install of XP onto Hal. I hate calling Microsoft India to get pass codes to reinstall, that's why I've been putting it off... but Hal does need to be working too.

Entry for July 25, 2006

Got together with John & Sue last night to transfer the ol' Audi 4000 into my name. It's been sitting on the property for over a year and a half. Exhaust is shot, windshield broken, some oil leaks, speedometer doesn't and some lights work only when they want to... but it moves under it's own power. It had been intended as something T could fix up and drive instead of Bubba to get some better mileage but the money hasn't been available. Then for C to do the same with, but the money wasn't available... So now, it's an emergency runner for T to get to work for the next 10 days. Under PA law with a title/tag tranfer you can drive for 10 days without am inspection sticker. $81 to transfer the tag from the dead Sentra so that works out to a car for $8 a day, cheaper than a rental car.

Stopped at Gilbertsville Auto Body yesterday morn and wrothe them a check for $125 for the accident tow. Took another look at Bubba... He's certainly fixable, frame horns might be bent... Now I'm having them tow it here so I can pull the front clip off and put together some prices to fix him with used stuff... Hood, both fenders, complete bumper and brackets, radiator, ac condensor, raditaor support, fan shroud, fan, water pump, maybe alternator and compressor..battery, battery tray, the raditor support is back against the engine. The big determining factor is if the trans, rear or engine are pushed back... have to measure. I'm sure at the very least the engine bounced against the firewall... distributor cap is probably broken... he got hit that hard. Might be able to make Bubba whole for 1,200 or 1,300 or so if I can buy the parts right. I've got some friends checking on used stuff. Might have to go to Harry's U-Pull-It and get some stuff. Might cost a fortune in beer though, makes me sick every time I look at poor Bubba. At the very least we'll have to strip off some of the new stuff he's wearing.

The above picture of an Audi 4000 in front of a junk yard isn't actually Alfie the Audi... could be though, he's a heartbeat away from the rest home.