The Yellowy Eyes

Finally got to doing this!!!

I had made mention a couple of posts ago about the driving lights on Kutcher. I had bought some round yellow aftermarket replacements around 5 years ago, shortly after we'd bought it, but hadn't figured out how I was going to mount them. This is the driver's side original, you can see it's quite fogged and cracked. It's actually pictured upside down, and you'll notice the adjustment screw coming off the back of the mount. That adjustment screw made things interesting in the installation of the replacements!!!

This was the side that had the hole in the lens, and it's gone through two bulbs, both when it had rained. Since it kinda blends, I outlined the hole here.

Here's one of the replacements, after I'd come up with how I was going to install it. Firstly, they came with brackets, and the lights were threaded for them... but it didn't come with any screws to attach them!!! I tried some SAE screws, and it turns out they were threaded for Metric screws, I believe they are M6x 1mm thread. I have a limited amount of Metric screws, but it turns out that the engine from Scruffy had several that fit the bill. They were hex headed flanged, and all oily, but they cleaned up fine. Next, the brackets were made so that there is about a 3/8” space to the light, and that would make it way too tall to fit in the area. A few new holes added, and I was able to more or less get them where they'd fit.

After that... the bracket didn't really sit where it could be mounted, because of that clearance for the adjustment screw!!! I used some of the plastic sheet that was left over from the Scion badge project to make a couple of pieces that fit inside the bracket, and then was wider to where it can screw down to either side of the clearance. You can see the screw holding it onto the bracket right behind the wire.

And speaking of the wire, to keep from having to hack up the wiring, I located two sockets that plug right in!!! One was on the LED bulb I had made mention of in the other post that had been in the side with the hole, and the other was on the converter box for the HID bulb that was on one side of Zonker. The other side, it plugged right into the converter box!!!

And there's the side view of one installed!!! It shows a little of the aluminum housing, and they both look like they're pointed downward. I'm fine with that, they didn't really aim 100% straight, either, but to me, I don't really need anything beyond what the headlights put out, so they're more for looks.

And I really like the looks!!!

In the dark when they're illuminated, they don't even look that much different than the yellow of the halogen headlights!!! And since it's been a long time since I've posted a picture of Scruffy, there you go!!!

Winter Wrap Up Random

So as usual, there's been a lot that goes on!!! Figured I'd go random and encapsulate a bit of it!!!

I'd mentioned that I bought a new set of tires for Kutcher, and took 'em to get aligned. I had the whole motor mounts fiasco with that, and still had the rest of the front end to rebuild. I bought all the stuff, and managed to get it done in two days, one for each side, with nearly no damage to myself!!! It was before our anniversary getaway, I saw and took this picture of a bruise I'd given myself while we were on that trip.

I was making good progress, and would have continued onto the other side, but this time of year the sunlight fades far too early. Plus side, the weather was good for it!!! Don't think I've ever mentioned, but I bought myself a cool little LED work light years ago. It has a built in battery, and came with a wall and 12-volt chargers. I broke it out when it started getting dark, but I think it was the first time I've tried to use the 12-volt charger, and it isn't working. Not long after we got Sidney, he hopped up on the counter and ate through the wall charger cord. I had bought some sleeving to re wire it with an armor coat. I laid it on the floor to take a picture of the light and the repair, and Sid had to come along and posed with his victim!!!

Here's one of my favorite new shirts that I've recently bought from a thrift store, the Polaroid of Shrek and Donkey after they've just listened to the “Welcome to Duloc” animatronics!!!

The final segment of Scruffy's dashboard lights finally decided to get with the program!!! Looks good!!!

Sidney is as people cat as ever, even though he never become the shoulder cat I'd hoped. Younger will pick him up and baby carry him, he's been doing it since we got him, and he... tolerates it. He's not really much of a lap cat, either, except when I'm in the bathroom!!! He's also a big fan of sink drinks. He does leave his mended leg sticking out straight when he's lounging, though, I hope it doesn't bother him. Got this shot of him sitting with it sticking funny, and a cat yawn!!!

I've picked up a few more books to read. I was in the midst of one when I bought The Left Hand of Darkness, and my wife thought it looked interesting, so she had started in on it. I don't remember exactly when it was, but I always watch Jeopardy, and one of the contestants was a science fiction book fan, and said that it was her favorite, so that was the impetus to get it. I have yet to start in on it, because when I finished the one I was reading, my wife had it. She's since declared it “too weird”, so it's next, but in the meantime I'd picked up Wuthering Heights, since it's one of those classics that's spoken of often. I read it, and was able to track it without any difficulty, but it seemed like a bit of a slog reading through it. I see there's a movie of it coming out soon. I don't think I'll be going to see it. Atlas Shrugged, I'm reading right now, and within the first few pages, I knew I'd like it!!! It is just so well written!!! I'll probably be reading more Rand in the future!!!

I'd mentioned looking into getting a Kangol hat, just because it was mentioned in a Counting Crows song, so of course they keep coming up in my suggestions. I went back and looked again, and once again didn't see any I'd be willing to pay the asking price for, but there was one that had “Make an offer” as an option, so I did, and now I've got a Kangol hat!!! It was a reasonable price to me, but still may be one of the most expensive hats I own!!! So far, I've worn it once.

We made a follow up trip to the junkyard!!! Primarily, it was to get the $10 core for the hood, but they also had the correct year Saturn SL2 there, and I was able to get the bumper bracket. Not mentioned on that post, surrogate had it parked at his work, and something fell over and cracked the passenger side fender, so we were finally able to get a replacement fender as well. I put the bracket on, but the fender still needs sanded down and painted, then installed. I think the window for the core on it will expire soon, if it hasn't already. Anyway, a couple of cars over was a Cadillac, with a full set of center caps. I didn't know if they would fit, but I grabbed them anyway. Unfortunately, when I was trying to get them off, one of the faces came loose. I used double stick tape on the back of it and got it back in place, but it's since parted ways. They extend a bit wide, but at least I had a full matching set for a while!!!

I bought this shirt at the same time I got the Shrek and Donkey one. They were both tagged with the color that was on sale for $1.99 that day, and I liked the design on this one. I tried to use the Google Lens to translate it (since I didn't want to have something I didn't know what it was, or if it was somehow offensive) and it came up with something like “Let summer bloom”, which sounded good to me, but I found out later it's a Bad Bunny album title, more something along the lines of “A summer without you”. Cool artwork.

For Halloween the younger wanted to go as a character from Team Fortress, the Scout. I think there had been talk among his friends to go as various characters, but that didn't happen. We went to the thrift store to try and find some headphones, and located some black and white shoes and the red shirt. I hacked off the one side, and fabricated a boom mic with some wire and a cork.

Surrogate went as a bank robber from another video game franchise, and another friend of theirs re purposed the goat skull mask from a couple of years ago.

On the same shopping trip that I got the aforementioned sale shirts, I also saw an aloha shirt with gray tone background. I took a closer look, and the print is of different colored monorails!!! Sold!!!

7-11 has been featuring Mountain Dew Pitch Black on tap. I quite like it!!! It's been a regular go to for me for a while now. Don't believe I've ever mentioned, we've been to Applebee's a few times, and they have a Dark Berry Bash flavor there that I also really like. Interestingly, the Pitch Black flavor is actually a fairly light blue color!!!

We went to Subways for the first time in quite a while recently. When it was topping time, I told the sandwich artist to give me as many olives as he was allowed to, and he came through with flying colors!!! I had to take a picture, then I whispered to surrogate, “This is going in the spank bank!!!” I usually don't tip at fast food places, but for all those olives (he did my wife's up proper, as well) I stuck some in the tip jar!!!

I was out in the yard recently, and Candy Pain drove by in what I assume was the same Toyota she had before. The fuzz has been removed, and it's been painted red, with a Coca Cola swoop on the the side and her name. It was there and gone before I could even think of taking a picture, and the only ones I've been able to find have the old look.

We had Thanksgiving at my mom's retirement home. She reserved a private room, and we had our own server. It wasn't that late, maybe noon or so, but you know, old people apparently eat early. They had traditional Thanksgiving fare, but when the server gave us the menus, he apologized and said they'd already run out of turkey. He was taking our order, and my mom asks for turkey. Once again, he apologizes and says they're out of turkey. My mom replies, "Oh. Well, I'll have the turkey!!!" I don't think her hearing is very good. Afterwards, we headed out to the patio and played a couple of card games, then played a Jeopardy card game my wife had given me for Christmas a couple of years ago that we hadn't played yet. I took the first game in a runaway, then played Alex for the next round, and the younger took that game, also in a runaway!!! Makes a dad proud. I'd also brought a game the older had down in the basement, Cards Against Humanity. We'd played it before with surrogate, and maybe Wolf of Cheese Ball (or maybe both, it was a while ago) but my wife and mom had never played it. We had a blast!!!

We have a friend who is a single mother (of 5!!! and recently adopted an infant from someone who couldn't properly care for him!!!) who was having some car issues. She said her brakes needed work, and when she had a tire replaced recently, the guy told her the bushings on one of the front control arms were shot. I offered to do the brakes and replace the control arms (figured both sides would probably be in similar condition), and did it a couple weeks ago. I had some difficulty, but nothing like the motor mounts fiasco. Got another nice bruise, this time on my arm, so I get a chance to show off my tattoo!!!

I had gone out to get some burgers back in October, and stopped in at the Arco AM/PM for some beverages, and it had burned!!! It didn't take the whole place out (amazingly) but it charred the underside of one awning and melted the sign!!! They had the point of origin pump boxed up with plywood, and have yet to do anything with it. I told the girl at the counter I was glad I wasn't around when it happened!!! I have a history with fires at Arcos...

When I was doing Kutcher's front end, I had the windows down and the radio playing, which is what I usually do while I'm working on a car. When I finished up, the battery was low enough that it wouldn't crank. I boosted it, and didn't have an issue from that point on. A few weeks later, surrogate and the younger had borrowed it, and had left the lights on while they got some lunch, and once again, the battery was too low to crank. They jumped it, and had no more issues, but I was wondering about the battery's condition. I stopped in at an Auto Zone and had them check it, and they said it indeed was beginning to fail. It was a 3 year warranty battery, and I asked when I'd bought it. They said it was three years back in July or August, so it was out of warranty. It was still working, so I let it go while I shopped around to see if I could locate a Die Hard battery. It doesn't appear that you can get them anymore, but I found that Wal Mart has a AGM battery with a 4 year warranty for $20 less than the 3 year Auto Zone battery!!! Sold!!! I had it shipped, and it has a $12 core that I still need to cash in on.

And finally, the second shirt I picked up on our anniversary. It's a Detroit Muscle shirt, and it has a lot written on it, and the profile of what looks like a 30's sedan delivery rod. It's roomy on me, and has a faint smell of oil to it which doesn't go away no matter how many times I wash it. Which I kind of like.

The Return to the Junkyard

It's been a long while since I've made a junkyard run. The last time was when we'd just bought Kutcher. This time, I brought along surrogate son, it was his first time. He enjoyed it, there are a lot of cars to see, and in various states of disassembley.

The trip was prompted by our Catalina vacation. Last year, I'd borrowed my mom's car to be able to transport four, our luggage, and my wife's wheelchair. That plan was torpedoed by Gretchen's Automotive (where elder financial abuse is the name of the game, the epitome of shady mechanics) and we ended up having another friend give us a ride to the landing. This year, I'd checked with another friend who has a Honda Pilot to see if we could swap cars for the week, and that was the plan. Incidentally, it was the same friend who was going to take care of the cat while we were out. Around a week before, surrogate's mom offered to drive us, instead. She's got a mini van, so it shouldn't be a problem. The morning that we were leaving, her van was acting up, and unbeknownst to us, she contacted the friend with the Pilot to borrow it to take us, instead. Pulled up in the Pilot, and we were like, “huh, she's here to feed the cat kind of early”, then we got it figured out. Went out to load our stuff, and tried to open the hatch, and it wasn't opening. Pulled harder, and the handle came off!!! The junkyard had two on the lot that could have the correct handle, so that was the main objective.

First off, there were a couple of classics there, first up was a Olds Toronado!!! Always thought they were a cool car. A few days later I was driving with surrogate in the car, and he spotted one parked on the side of the road, and was able to identify it right off!!! It was a proud moment.

And a Ford Galaxie. Not much left, but that front bumper looks like it's in great shape, probably worth a good amount to the person who needs one!!! There was also a VW Squareback, and an old Ford truck that I didn't get a look at.

I've long had the idea to put a couple of white stripes on Scruffy, and call it the skunk mobile. My beard grows with black in the middle and white stripes on the outside, so I'm already Skunk Man!!! Anyway, someone beat me to it, and got the plates to go with it!!!

Found the first Pilot, and it was already missing the handle. I'd seen one on Ebay for something like $160, so I was thinking it was a hot item, and might be resellable for a decent amount. Found the second one, and it was still on it. Success!!!

The back glass and inside panel were already removed, so the hatch was up and wouldn't stay down without the extra weight. I was wondering how I was going to do it, but I was able to unscrew the two nuts, and stand up on the back through the window opening and pop the press in fasteners off. It was the wrong color, but the recipient is black, so I was able to color match it fairly well with a spray can.

Anyway, I was in the trucks, vans, and SUV area, and spotted a Pontiac front end. Core memory unlocked!!! I recalled that, when I was swapping gauges in 3, I'd read that the Pontiac Torrent, a rebadge of the Chevy Equinox, had another compatible instrument panel, with another different look!!!

Looking back, I realize that I didn't have any shots of the original Saturn gauges, so I took a day and night shot of it before it was removed this time.

The Torrent instrument panel has the chrome bezels like the white face Vue gauges had, but with black gauges with a gray perimeter. Goes nicely with the aesthetic of Scruffy, I think.

The night illumination is where it really shines, pun intended!!! Red glow. Bonus, no check engine light with this set up, only the ABS light is illuminated, since it doesn't have it. Unfortunately, didn't check the illumination before I had it all the way in, and the center sections weren't lighting up. After a bit of driving, though, one of the sides came on, so it's only got one un lit area now. I feel like there were never that many out there, so it's something of a rare instrument panel.

Another fairly high priority item, Scruffy had lost the driver's side plate that holds the bumper onto the pins. There wasn't the correct year there, but I got one off the second generation, hoping that it was a part that wasn't changed. It was.

Back when I had the instrument panel apart on Kutcher for the stupid check engine light, I had unknowingly somehow borked the second digit on the odometer. It had the segments for a backwards “7” that don't display. Also, a couple of the illumination LEDs weren't lighting up anymore. Got a replacement for it, too, and it's really nice having it back!!! Got rid of the bright white check engine light, too.

Something that's always bugged me on Kutcher, though, is the damned dent on the front of the hood. Compounded, the clear coat on the hood has started coming off, so it's looking pretty bad. I picked up a reasonably straight hood while we were there, too.

My original plan was to just primer it black and let it ride thus. I sanded it down, sprayed some gray high build primer, took some glazing putty to a couple of spots with bad rock dings and scrapes, primed some more, sanded it smooth (all the while doing similar with the Pilot handle). Finally got it to a pretty decent finish. At some point in there, I recalled that back when I had bought the second set of Ion rims for 3, I had bought a can of metallic charcoal paint to try and match the dark that the polished front rims have in the recessed area. It was gone before I ever got a chance to use it, so it was still around. Dug it out, and sprayed a test sample. The color isn't really close to the body panels, but it is very close to the faded bumpers!!! I surveyed the family, and they said I should go for it. Fortunately, there was enough in the can to cover it completely!!!

Another minor annoyance, one of the wheel center caps had gone missing not very long after we bought it. I was looking for the same style, but none of the Matrices (Matrii???) had the aluminum rims with them. I did find a cap that ended up fitting. Doesn't match the others, but it's decent!!!

Clearing Up

Another in the continuing saga of getting stuff done on my cars!!! I had the fiasco of the engine mount replacement, and not long after, Scruffy got a flat in spectacular fashion!!!

I was letting surrogate son drive her, and he took some kind of steel bar to the back tire!!! As you can see, they were really needing to be replaced soon anyway. I'd just bought a set for Kutcher, and would have preferred to have a bit more of an interval between buying the next set.

He called AAA and they changed to the space saver spare. I had one of the old old ones that was mostly slick that's a little better than the space saver, so we put it on until we were able to get to the tire shop.

And that's how it looked from the inside!!! The guy at the tire shop tried to pull out the bar. It didn't come out.

Very shortly after the tires were replaced, the battery went out, so I bought a new one. Back when I had three S Series Saturns, I'd replaced all the batteries with Die Hards. Most car batteries, it seems like you're lucky to get three years out of them, I remember them going for 5 to 7 years or more back when I started driving. Not long after I had met my now wife, her grandmother bought two new batteries for her Oldsmobile diesel, and had the presence of mind to save the old ones for her granddaughter's new guy, and those were some of the best batteries I ever had!!! Of course, they have a very high amperage, well above what my Maverick required, so that probably helped. Anyway, all that to say, back around 7 or 8 years back I had it in my head that the Die Hard batteries that you used to be able to get from Sears had always been more reliable than the ones from the parts stores these days. When I yanked the engine out of 3, I saved the battery, and when we sent Jade away, I saved the battery. I picked up a trickle charger, and kept them maintained, and when the first one gave up, swapped to one of the others, and it went for another several months, then with the next one as well. It seems like my impression of the Die Hard brand was correct. Unfortunately, it seems nearly impossible to locate any of them anymore, so I've got a parts store 3 year battery in there now. Anyway, none of that was particularly difficult, just expensive, around $600. Oh yea, there was one issue getting the battery, the system wasn't working, so I had to go back the next day, and they returned it and re sold it to me with the warranty activated, and for the inconvenience, they discounted it by 10%, so that was nice.

Sometime in there, a friend of mine pointed out his headlights, which had been hazy, and he'd cleared up. He tells me that he just used Mother's mag polish on them, two passes, and they came out real nice!!!

The headlights on Kutcher were very hazy. I'd actually purchased a 3M kit a while back, and have been intending to pull the headlights out to polish them, but they're not easy to get out!!! I was thinking I'd do as some direct, and mask off the surrounding body and use it, but this sounded considerably easier, so I went ahead and bought a jar. It didn't take much doing at all, and they look way better!!!

Since I've done before and after GIFs of cleared up headlights before a couple of times, I went ahead and did it again!!! Not perfect, but gets the idea across!!! Both of the previous ones, I actually replaced the lights. I've polished plastic headlights before, notably on Baby, and possibly also on Jade, but apparently didn't get pictures. I was going to do an instant post with just the headlights, but decided to add the tires and battery as well.

While I'm at it, I'll make mention of the Studebaker stuff. I've picked up the stuff to update the fuel system on the Hawk, but haven't gotten it installed yet. Since I'm putting an electric fuel pump, I decided that adding a fuel pressure regulator would probably be wise, as well. Since I'm not sure what kind of pressure I'm running, I decided to add a pressure gauge as well, and I picked up a couple of pipe nipples and a tee to plumb them together, probably with the clear fuel filter right before them both. To establish a baseline, I put the tee and gauge in the line to the carb, and went to start it to see where the pressure would be. It cranked a couple of times, then just clicked.

I was a little irked that the deep cycle AGM battery I'd put in had already died, and put the charger on it the next day. It still just clicked after I'd charged it a while. Huh. Pulled out the starter, and it seems to have given up. I figured my dad had bought it from either Auto Zone or Reilly's with a lifetime warranty (I wouldn't buy one without a lifetime warranty) but it appears to not be the case. Of course, back when he was putting it together, Pep Boys was another store that sold lifetime parts. Seems they've become just a tire store now, but I got in touch with them about it. I'm also thinking of buying a mini high torque starter instead, but I don't know if I can get one with a lifetime warranty.

Oh, and just last week, we fired up the Maverick for the first time in a while!!! Did like I'd done with the Studebaker, primed the carb, and a little quick start, and it started and ran until the carb ran dry!!! I'd added an electric fuel pump years ago, and I disconnected both ends to see if it was pumping, and it wasn't. Next, we'll prime the mechanical fuel pump and put a short hose into a gas can, and see if it'll suction off that, and if so, we can probably just add several gallons to the tank, and it'll be running!!! Of course, it'll need tires, too!!!

Battle Scars

As I mentioned in the comments on the latest car stuff post, I took Kutcher to get an alignment done, and then bought a whole new set of tires. The guy at the alignment shop told me that most of the front end could use updating (truly not surprising, I think most of it is the factory original stuff) and the motor mounts also look pretty bad. Back when I'd had the new engine put in, I'd bought a full set of mounts, since they're almost always shot when you pull an old engine out, but the guy who put it in told me the old ones looked like they were in good shape, so I had a full set already. They were the cause of the injuries shown here!!!

Most all the damage came from working on the rear engine mount, which was the last one I did, and the worst of the lot!!! First up, I was under the car, and was trying to slide into a better position, and I slid my head right into one of the jack stands, hard!!! My wife, up in the house, heard me on that one!!! I wondered if I was bleeding, but wasn't going to check with my greasy hands. Of course, it was still hot out, and I was sweating, but couldn't tell if it was sweat or blood rolling down!!! When I was wrapping up and came up to get cleaned off, I asked if there was any blood there, and my wife said there wasn't, but it did leave a mark!!!

Not long after I'd banged my head, I was trying to get something moved using a crow bar. Don't remember exactly what I was doing, but I remember what happened!!! I was under the car again, and the crow bar came back and hit me right on the bridge of my glasses, and knocked them off. It rang my bell, and the first thing I wondered was if it broke my glasses. Fortunately, it didn't. When I got cleaned up, I checked that area as well, and right between my eyes I've got a bump that persists to this day. I'd wondered if it would blacken one or both of my eyes, and today it showed up!!!

Surrogate son saw how my right arm was all scratched up, and asked if Sidney had got me!!! Younger son noted that one area looked a little like angry eyes and a mouth!!!

And there's a triangle or anarchy sign just a little up from there!!!

And, as always, I have to post pictures of the old mounts!!! First up is the first one I did, the front mount. As you can see, it had a pretty big crack or tear on the engine side, and smaller on the other side. It was the simplest one to do, but of course, a complication had to arise!!! It has two bolts that come up through the cross member, and one cross bolt. When I went to install the new one, the back bolt hole stripped out. I was able to find a nut with the correct thread at the Home Depot, which I picked up that night, and installed the next day. Of course, it was between the two sides of the mount and below the radius of the round part, so it was near impossible to get an actual wrench on it, but I managed to get it.

Next is the one from the front of the engine, on the passenger side. This one looked to be the most intact, but it has the circular area in the middle (this is from underneath) and some people say this mount has a hydraulic dampener in it. If it did have fluid, I never saw any sign of it, but the circular area is damaged. Three bolts on the body, two into a frame rail, one into the fender arch, and a bolt down into the engine, and two nuts on studs from the bottom of the same part, most easily to get at from below.

Third is the other end, the transmission end on the driver's side. It has cracks in the rubber on either side of the cross pin. It mounts to the frame rail with two bolts going down, and two going into the side, and has a cross bolt holding it onto the bracket on the transmission. The mount itself is pretty straightforward, but it's right below the air filter box, and the battery tray, so those had to come out. Of course, there was a bit of corrosion under the battery, so I took a bit of time to clean out and neutralize the acid, and wire brush off a good amount of the rust. Since I had the battery tray mount and the hold down out, I gave them a coat of paint.

The fourth and final mount, on the rear of the engine came last. This is where things got really fun!!! Remember the part where I said I'd bought a set of mounts before I had the engine put in??? Well, when I dug them out, there were only three of the four. This was the missing one, and as soon as I discovered it wasn't there, I ordered one. I had the thought that maybe the guy who put the engine in had used this one after all, but when I got it out, that doesn't appear to have been the case!!! The rubber around the cross bolt was completely gone on the one side, and not even connected on the other!!!

It was on Thursday that I'd been putting on the transmission side mount, and hadn't gotten this one yet. Right about the time I was finishing off the transmission mount, it arrived, so I went ahead and got started on it.

It has three studs that go through the cross member, and one bolt from the bottom. Not too hard to get loose, but then it has to slide up, and the side towards the engine is wider than the bracket on the engine, so it has to twist and go to the side to get out. Got it out without too much difficulty. Also, the longest stud came loose and made things go even easier. When I went to put the new one in, it didn't want to go. Got it sideways, past the engine bracket, and was trying to get it straightened and dropped into the mounting holes, and it didn't want to go. It goes over the steering rack, and the stud wasn't making it to the other side.

I worked on it until around an hour after the sun had gone down, and finally called it for the day. That night I watched every video I could find on it, and also came up with the idea that, since the transmission side and front mount both had a cross bolt holding them in place, I could pull both of those and get a better range of motion out of the engine. I did that the next day, and also loosened the bolts holding the sub frame on to try and get more range of motion out of it. I messed with it all afternoon, and into the evening, and didn't get any further.

My wife had the thought that Cheese Ball (the guy with the huge afro most famous from his starring appearance in the “Bold and Brash” clip) may be able to help, and she got in touch with surrogate son to see if he could get in touch with him. He works at a rod shop, and has done a lot of general mechanic work. Surrogate son said he called and messaged him like 20 times, and he finally contacted me late, maybe around midnight, and said he had good news and... neutral news. He can come and help out, but it will be around 2 AM!!! Said he'd keep me posted. Called around 2, and said he was with him, and they'd be along in a bit. I think he called again later, saying it was going to be later, but they were on their way. Ended up being around 4 AM when they got here. Cheese says he's done several of these mounts on various Toyotas and Scions, the trick is to have small hands!!! He takes a look under the hood, and says it has way more room than on the Scion XB, it should be easy!!! I think that jinxed it.

I was out there helping him for a couple hours, when surrogate son came out (I think he got a nap in) and I handed off the helper duties to him, and came in and tried to get a bit of a nap in myself. Close to 8, I'm awoken by the sounds of victory!!! I head out, and he said that finally after fighting it for hours (made me feel a bit better that I'd had so much trouble with it!!!) he pulled it out, and then dropped it back in, and it went right into place!!! I thanked him profusely and told him not to be a stranger (also never got a chance to show him the Studebaker in detail, I'd texted him some pictures and told him about some of the mechanical issues, and he said it looks even better in person) and he took off.

Later in the day, I headed out and put everything back together. Mostly, the hardest part was getting the cross bolt back in. One of the things Cheese had done to try and gain a little more room was to loosen the hard line to the power steering rack, but he'd put it back and tightened it, but when I got everything back together, it was squirting from the fitting. I took it loose again, and then put it back together, and there were no more leaks, but of course, the fluid was low, and it sounded terrible. I was going to check to see if I had any power steering fluid, but when I checked the cap, I saw it uses Dextron automatic transmission fluid. I'd grabbed a couple of partial jugs of just that when I was getting the Saturn engine from my parent's house, so I was set!!! On previous power steering systems, I've just turned the wheels lock to lock a couple of times, and that will bleed the air out. It didn't do it on this one, so I jacked it up again, and did probably about 20 times back and forth, and that did the job!!! It was after dark by the time we finished up.

So one mount turned into a three day job...

More Car Stuff

Mostly because of my newly acquired inheritance, I've been getting in a good amount of car work in these days. As always, there's more to do!!!

Not chronological, but to start with, I bought a new deep cycle battery to use in the Hawk, and put the one I'd borrowed from the Falcon back in. I'll also mention since I don't have a picture to go with it, one of Kutcher's tires had a nail in it that I removed and plugged the hole. I'd bought a tire plug kit from my previous job, and this is the first time I used it. I've seen them installed before, but have never done it myself. Either I should have gone at the tire more and oversized the hole more, or it's harder to get in than I thought, I had to fight it to get it in!!! It's holding fine, though. The tires are all getting worn, and I'm thinking I'll do something I've been meaning to do, take it for an alignment, and buy a new set of tires. The oil change light just came on, and it will be the first one I've done without being able to buy employee price oil. One of the driving lights burned out, but I bought a pair of yellow ones to replace the factory white ones with not long after we bought it, and this may be the perfect time to install them!!! Oh, and I bought myself a pair of ramps to make some of these maintenance tasks a bit easier.

I'm also planning on doing a repair on the bottom of Zonker's front bumper like I did on Scruffy, it has a little portion in the middle that's hanging down now. That was a big part of the reason I bought the ramps!!!

On to the things I've done to the Hawk, I got all the window tint removed from the front windows. It wasn't as difficult as I'd thought it was going to be.

Also got a reflection of Zonker and of an unmentioned cat with coffee T-shirt my wife got me in the window picture!!!

One of the first things I did to try to get it to run cooler was to flush to cooling system and install a high flow thermostat. After I drained it, I removed the thermostat and added the flush, ran it for a while, and drained it again. As I did this, I got a better look at the sketchy looking routing of the upper radiator hose. The water pump and air conditioning compressor run off one belt, and the alternator drives from the A/C, and the hose was running between the two.

While I had the hose off, I got a look at the groove it had cut in the hose, and did not like the look of it at all!!! On my first run to the local auto parts store, they were good enough to let me go behind the counter and see if I could find a molded hose that might work better. A portion of part number D72224 turned out to work quite nicely!!!

My other thought was that the upper radiator hose appeared to be higher than the radiator filler, which could possibly cause a bubble in the system. I found a filler neck tee that I planned to put in place of the splice junction. I made the first purchase from my former work for a U-bolt to use as a solid mount for it, and added a bracket to hold it between the belt. I also tensioned the belt a little more.

After I'd done all the cooling system work, I was thinking I should have got some T-bolt hose clamps from my previous work while I was there (I'm not paying their shipping costs!!!) While I was looking around for something else, I located a couple I'd previously bought!!! Makes for a cleaner looking installation!!! I'd run it a couple of times in the driveway for around half an hour at a time, and the temperature didn't get all the way up, but the first time I noticed the electric fan wasn't coming on all the time. I cleaned the terminals and it seems to be working fine ever since.

I had ordered pizza a couple of nights later, and the younger and I took the Hawk to pick it up, as well as try it out and see how it did. It made it without and cooling issues, but it would surge while driving. Steady throttle, and it sounded like I was on and off the pedal. On the way back, I thought I'd take the less steep but longer back way up the hill. Around half way, it starts acting like it wants to cut out. I throw it in neutral and rev a few times (still acting like it's running rough and not really wanting to run) then try going again. It stalls out. I re start it, and it wants to die again, then does. I re start it again, and there's a road going off the side that I'm pretty sure goes down to the next street over. I head down it, and it's doing a little better not climbing, but the road is super sketchy, it goes down to one lane, and rutted dirt!!! I had the idea of taking it down to our street and parking it there, but it made it halfway down the street between, and stalls. I roll it to the side, and try re starting it again. It starts, but it's running really rough. It had gotten warm, but not like when I'd brought it home. I was thinking the heat was causing an issue, so I'd let it sit and cool for a while and try again. Oh yea, where it was, they now have no overnight 2 AM to 6 AM parking now.

We walked up, ate our pizza, and I walked back down a couple hours later. It re started, but was still running rough. I drove it over to the bottom of my street, and it stalled as I was rounding the corner. I was able to re start it, and drove it to the same back way street I'd last attempted, and it stalled out going around that corner, too!!! I called it for the night, rolled it back to the side of the street (no overnight restrictions there!!!) and once again walked up the hill.

The next day I headed down to see if I could figure it out. I was suspecting a fuel delivery issue. I recalled from when my dad had it, it came with a cork float for the fuel level sender, and after 40+ years it just kind of came apart!!! Probably, ideally, I should probably drop the tank and get it cleaned. He had installed an inline canister style fuel filter before the fuel pump, a clear filter with replaceable elements just before the carburetor, and the carb has a built in filter. I took out the clear one to get a look at it, and it was caked solid, and the gas in it looked like dirty brown water!!! Thinking I might be onto something, I headed over to the auto parts store again, and got a replacement for the carburetor filter and the inline filter. I just removed the clear one, planning to get a replacement element at a later time, and put the new carburetor filter in. It seemed to run much better with just that!!! That night, I drove it straight up the front way, and it pulled all the way!!!

You may have heard the old cliché, the old cars, if they break down you can fix it on the side of the road with a screwdriver, crescent wrench, and a pair of pliers. That was exactly what I did!!! Oh, and one of my neighbors driving by told me it's a beautiful car!!!

I cut open the old carburetor filter, and it looked pretty gunked up.

I had ordered replacement elements for the clear filter, but then noticed that the glass was cracked, too, so I ordered a new one of those.

The next day, I pulled it up on the ramps and replaced the canister filter. I noticed it is concerningly close to the exhaust, and decided that I would fashion a heat shield before I wrapped up the work in that area. I used a Monster Energy Drink can, it has to be better than the nothing that was there before!!!

I've also vacuumed it out, and used some carpet powder on the interior carpet, and re vacuumed it. My surrogate son gave me a black ice air freshener. Neither of these has completely gotten rid of the rodent smell, and I laid down another layer of carpet powder and will vacuum it again tomorrow. Should see about getting the five years of dust washed off the car cover, and clean out the trunk. Should also see if the spare holds air, and pick up a replacement tire if it doesn't.

I've figured out some of the operation for the radio, it was a nice HD radio Pioneer unit back in the day, but the antenna doesn't seem to be working. I'm thinking of swapping in the one that was in the Homecoming Saturn, it's got nearly the same function as the ones in Scruffy and Kutcher, and having Bluetooth is always better than off a thumb drive.

One other concerning thing, the voltage gauge... always seems to show on the low side!!! If you rev it up, it'll come up, but cruising or at idle it's well under 12 volts. I'd mentioned the underdrive crank pulley, and had had the thought that the slow spinning was possibly the issue with the cooling. Having read up on the water pump, it seems like they are more than is necessary to keep things cool, even at lower speed, but the alternator could possibly not be spinning fast enough at lower speeds. I had thought of buying a couple of V-belt pulleys and different size cogged drive pulleys and a belt, and making a belt overdrive. Since the aren't that expensive or hard to install, though, I'm thinking of getting a one wire conversion to try out before I go that route. Years ago I installed a GM alternator on the Falcon with a one wire conversion, and it is awesome!!! If you just start it and it's only idling, the headlights and dash lights would be dim, as though it's not getting a charge, but rev it just a bit, and you can see it turn on, and it stays charging strong. No gauge on the Falcon, but from the lights, you can see it working!!!

Oh, and speaking of Scruffy, it developed a freakin' rod knock!!! Right around the time I was having to retrieve the Hawk, and I got the old transmission and engine that had been down at my mom's house. Drove it straight to a shop, and had them do a full rebuild, and swap it in since I no longer have access to a nice big flat driveway to do these things. Set me back probably more than it's worth, but you know. I form an emotional bond with my machines.