You jest can't never tell 'bout Spring In The Rockies. It's been stunningly beautiful the last few days, with blue skies, and temps right around 60 or so. Both the weekend, and the coming week, look to be Really Nice Weather in the mid to upper 70's.
And we'll get clobbered with snow at least once more (Never plant before Mother's Day!) before things stay nice. Our new yard service has been here the last two days. They mowed, aerated, de-thatched, fertilized, and seeded the front and rear yards, and I've reconfigured our watering system to make it easier for SLW to do the crack-of-dawn watering. After our preparing and seeding some big dead (as in "dirt") areas in the backyard went so well, we decided to get some Professional Help for everything else. These guys are on the ball, on time, do an excellent job, are friendly, and their charges are very reasonable.
Work is continuing on the Supra. The tool I bought to pull the harmonic balancer included bolts that were too short. Correct length bolts are on the way, as I really, really, really want to get the cam belt and ancillaries changed as they're an "Unknown Time In Use" part, and have definite life spans.
It's much easier to get at the wiring harnesses I'll be working on with the radiator, and all the air conditioning equipment off the car. The plastic "Split Loom" tubing was so far gone that it was crumbling away. The plastic retainers used to hold the split-loom tubing to the chassis were either broken, or broke when I released the harness from them. The wires inside the tubing are being cleaned, and then they'll get wrapped with a special tape, and new split-loom installed. The battery cables and cable from alternator to battery are being upgraded to suit the new high-output alternator. I'm really getting to know the engine bay wiring quite well, as I have to remove the old cables, measure and photograph them, and send that to the vendor for a quote. The positive cable needs to be slightly modified, as the original way the battery was connected was a mess. The extremely corroded "Fusible Link Box" is being replaced with a new assembly I fabricated.
This required a minor change in the cable from the battery, adding an 8 gauge wire from the battery to the new Fusible Link Box, rather than having them mount directly ON the positive post of the battery.
Friday I go see a specialist about my neck issues. Seems I have a bulging disc, and some congenital spinal issues.
I'd post something about the State of the Union, but I don't like elevating my blood pressure. Nevertheless, I sense something coming our way, and it won't be good. Whether it happens before or after the election is unclear, but I think something's going to pop.....
Enjoy your upcoming weekend, keep your head on a swivel, and have a Blessed Sunday.
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Your fusible link drew a reflexive "ewww" response.
ReplyDeleteWhile we're in a completely different climate and environments, I've also been working on replacing sprinklers and getting our situation ready for summer. This is our dry season, so I should have done it a month ago. My bad, but I can't fertilize the lawn until the sprinklers can water it in.
Yeah, it's pretty bad. It's located under the battery tray, and 30+ years of battery outgassing has taken it's toll. I've seen cars like this that required extensive metal repair, which requires a donor car, as parts are no longer available.
DeleteWe don't have a buried sprinkler system. We use hoses and separate sprinklers. The last time we had a quote to install sprinklers the cost was excessive (to us), so we do things the old fashioned way.
That is ugly, and not surprising... Try a 57 T-Bird that spent most of its life in Venezuela... Sigh... Ended up rewiring the entire vehicle!
ReplyDeleteYeah, some things just revert to dust if you don't take care of them!
DeleteGood that you can do your own work on the Supra. My Taurus needs and alignment after having new struts all the way around. Went to my local Les Schwab tire store because they had an opening. They wouldn't do the job. Said I had a loose 'plate' on the right side, the left side needs a new control arm, and the new strut is "seeping". All that was news to the mechanic (not a 'technician') who does all the work on my cars and checks them over whenever he works on them, like the oil change three weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteThey didn't charge me. They did lose a 30 minute job paying $114 against the $150,000 cost of their alignment setup. In addition, they received a negative review.
I still need to find an alignment shop.
It's one of a few things I hold near and dear! I don't enjoy working on just any old car, but this one is special to me, so I keep banging away on it.
DeleteThe last time I had the Supra smogged in SoCal the "Tech" wouldn't do it. he said the power steering hose was leaking, spraying fluid "everywhere", and it was a fire hazard. I got the car home and carefully inspected it, finding a half-dozen small drops of fluid. I think he just didn't want to bother with an old Jap car, and just blew me off.
The "Old Guy" who's boring out my alternator pulley might know of a decent shop. Lundstedt Automotive here in FoCo is pretty good....
Being slightly stubborn, I'm waiting to see if the manager responds to my negative review. My mechanic says I need to look outside Greeley. He can't recommend anyone.
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