Good Enough?

I'm not sure if it's everything it could be or not, but it seems to work!!! Here's the completion of the vacuum valve system I've rigged up for the Mercedes. A couple weekends ago I mounted the dump valve I'd mentioned, and had been planning on taking a couple of pictures to post here, but had left my camera out of the camera bag!!! As you can see, the dump valve switch came out SLICK!!! I realized that the throttle had a cam plate which has the perfect bump at the end of it to activate the switch if it's mounted correctly. It was a bit tricky to do, and took about three times as long as it should have. That same day I'd also made up a clamp to hold the bleed valve, and was planning to weld it to a plate to bolt onto the engine, but never made it that far.



Yesterday I went down there to finalize that portion. I couldn't find a good piece to weld it to, but at some point I realize that all I'd have to do would be to weld it to the throttle cable mount. I did that, and was fairly pleased with the results. That would be the valve connected to the double bent linkage. I am going to get some "exhaust mufflers" (little threaded air fittings with porous ends on them for pneumatic systems) for the open ports on the valves to keep them from sucking in debris, and possibly to smooth out the vacuum signal.



I liked the third shot here, the sun glinting off the valve in the afternoon sunlight made it appear golden. The function of everything seems to work well enough, but I still can't discern if it makes it into 4th gear at highway speeds. Some tweaking may still be in the future.



Here's one other thing I did, I made up a spring loaded bumper to help pop the hood open. I am planning on one for each side, but they keep sending me one with the wrong threads on it. On Friday at work, I went to take a look at the bin box containing them to see if there were several mixed material in there, but the forward location was absent. I looked it up, and it was "in transit", with a document pending. I'm suspecting that means that the ICG or checking is finally dealing with this situation. I guess better me than an actual paying customer. ANyway, even with only one rigged up, it cured all the hood opening difficulties I'd been having.

Now, for the fun stuff: Bought gas for Baby again, this time a little short of an empty tank. I've noticed that the gauge moves to only about 3/4 tank for the first 100 miles, is still a hair over half full at 200 miles, and drops quickly from there. This time I travelled 266.7 miles on 9.27 gallons, for an average of 28.77 MPG for this tank, the second lowest number I've had since I got it. I attribute this to my wife taking the boy to a doctor's appointment on mostly surface streets, and being caught in a couple of nasty traffic jams. Nice, however, is that this is the first tank I've ever bought for her that has been under $3 a gallon!!! Lifetime average of 29.47 MPG. Heck, I'd be perfectly happy if better than 28.5 every time was all I ever got!!! Once I've begun to drive Janice again, I'll have to repair the odometer to determine the mileage that she gets. I've found tutorials for doing this, and it looks rather easy, if not time consuming. I notice that diesel fuel is finally falling in line with reality, only ten cents a gallon more than regular gasoline. Good times!!!

Mileage III

I bought gas again today. The tank wasn't near as empty as it had been the previous two times, having only travelled 251.9 miles. In spite of this, it still took a considerable amount of gas, 9.26 gallons. I wasn't able to buy from my usual gas station, I drove there, and they had chain link fence set up all around most of the islands!!! They did have a large banner stating "OPEN FOR DIESEL". Nice if you need diesel. Ended up driving to a Circle K that I've never been to before, and I wonder if I'll ever go to a Circle K again. Seems like their pumps always suck, and judging by where the needle was and how much it took, I suspect their pumps are not properly calibrated. Weights and Measures will be hearing of this.



If you are keeping count, this tank would be 27.2 MPG, for a three tank average of 29.08 MPG. Still not bad, but the downward trend in my mileage is troubling. Next time will be better, I'm sure.



Anyway, I did manage to get her washed over the weekend, and got a couple of pictures yesterday. I had to take a half day yesterday to go to traffic court. A little matter of being pulled over with an unregistered vehicle. I had gotten an extension, then mailed the court the paper showing my release of liability, along with a letter describing what I'd done. Apparently they didn't get it (or it fell into a bureaucratic black hole, more likely) and sent me a delinquent notice wanting to get $800 out of me. I showed up to court, which was rather busy that morning. After a couple of hours, I was finally called to the stand. On my way up, the judge asks if I got the car registered. I replied that I had junked it, and almost before I'd made it to the stand, he asks if I can pay a $10 dismissal fee. Duh, sure thing, jug!!! Then I had to wait almost an hour for the clerk. Considering the alternative, not a big deal!!!

Round Two

Tuesday was the third trip to the gas station for the Saturn, so it's the second time I've been able to calculate the mileage. For this tank, I travelled 297.7 miles on 10.34 gallons, for a result of 28.79 miles per gallon. Not near as good as last time, but still well better than the Geo would get consistently. A two tank average of just a tad over 30 MPG. Oh yea, it was a rather warm day, so there could be a "hot gas" effect going on, too. Since I'm doing this here instead of a yet to be Twitter account, I'll make note that the current price for 87 octane was $3.639. I notice that diesel is under $4.00, at $3.959 a gallon. I've even seen some stations with the price for diesel actually less than hi-test. This is rather pleasing, being as I'm near to driving Janice again.

Being as I hadn't come up with a name for this car yet, last week my wife had asked if she could drive "the baby" on one day. I think "Baby" does have a nice ring to it, and she is the youngest car I've ever owned *making mental note to do the math on the Camaro, think it was younger when I got it, but it's way older now*

Lets see, any other news about her??? I still haven't taken any more pictures, but wouldn't now, she needs a bath badly. White gets dirty fast, it seems. Weekend before last, at my parents house, I switched the dealers' ad license plate frame for this cool model that my dad couldn't get to fit on his car. Now whenever I see anyone who doesn't have such a frame, I can ask them, "Why do you hate America???" LOL

The factory radio-CD player has to go. Fits the dashboard nicely and the radio is fine, but the CD doesn't play MP3's, and it can take a LONG time to get working and select a track. I yanked the awesome Clarion unit out of the Storm before I junked it out. Got $160 for it, about 15% of my purchase price. Not too terrible for more than two years and almost no money into it.

The front cup holders are illuminated!!! They don't look that big, but they'll fit a 32 ouncer from my work, or one of those ridiculous 64 ouncers my wife gets. Of course, you can't fit anything in the one next to it if that's there. Oh, and don't shift into park with it in there!!!

The Ides of March Random Post

Did I actually hear what I thought I heard on the radio after the 2007 Rose Parade??? A storm trooper from the 501st Legion calling Bob Eubanks out over comments he made during the broadcast???

I bought gas tonight. I didn't need to that bad, but I figured it would probably be the last time I would be able to get gas for under $3.00. I pumped until it stopped, and it took 2.92 gallons. After I got my change, I checked the trip odometer, and it was at 92.9. Wild.




Why are there always long lines at Wal Mart, and they never seem to open more than maybe a fourth of the registers???

Didn't the clock in the cafeteria at work used to have red numbers??? They're green now.

There are several staircases to go to the different levels of my area of work. All the ones in the center are split so you come up uneven if you try to skip every other step. The ones on the north and south end work out evenly, though.

If the gas I bought tonight had been selling for $2.92 a gallon instead of $2.999, I might have had to bought a lottery ticket or something.

These chipotle crackers my wife found at the dollar store are REALLY good!!!

A few weeks ago, they were fertilizing or mulching or something (whatever it was, it STANK!!!) out in the center courtyard at work. I think if work were a learning institution, they would call that area the Quad. I was walking through in the morning, and one of the gardeners was dumping the stuff from a wheelbarrow. There was steam rising off the stuff, and I thought to myself, "That's the stink coming off it, you can actually SEE it!!!"

I hope you are enjoying these pictures. I took them all on the same day, and there's more where that came from!!!

A family that we are friends with got a new dog. They named her Olive. The mother told my wife to sing the first part of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to her while they were walking her one time. When she got the the part that goes "All of the other reindeer", Olive turned around and nipped at her!!!





Now the clock in the cafeteria is back to red. Huh???

I guess Olive was in no mood for that old gag.

That's how the dollar store always gets you. They have something you fall in love with, then they stop carrying it.