Engine Compartment Cleaning

Did something today I've wanted to do since I bought the car on New Year's Eve, 2012, and that's do a "proper" Old Skool Engine Bath!

I started on this the other night by pulling off my strut tower brace. Then I figured out how to get the windshield washer reservoir out of it's bracket, which involved pulling the electrical connections for both pumps (one pump is for the headlight washers), which let me lift it out far enough to undo the hose connections.

This was quite fun because 1) it was full of washer fluid and 2) it holds a GALLON of the stuff.

It's a huge reservoir for an early 1980's car, and juggling the plastic reservoir full of fluid almost took another pair of hands. But it came out yesterday, so last night I put some cardboard under the car, and proceeded to liberally apply an entire can of "Gunk Heavy Duty Gel" engine cleaner.

This stuff is GREAT! I've been using Gunk for degreasing things since I was a kid. Lawnmowers, then go karts, then automobiles. The "Original Formula" stuff works well, but it runs off if you really spray it on. The gel hits, spreads out, and STICKS! It didn't run down the firewall or the frame rails and drip on the floor. This means it's just sitting there, slowly soaking into the grease and glop, in my case, about 12 hours worth of sitting.

Got out my "SunJoe" pressure washer, hooked it up, and experimented with the different spray heads it came with, finally deciding to use the "20 Degree" spray pattern head.

I've had this little guy for something like three years, and this is the first time I've used it.

It worked very well, except that it doesn't seem to meter anything from either of the two "soap" dispensers, so I'll have to look into that.

This is one of the areas that had grease and glop on it so thick it looked like undercoating!
You couldn't read the label on the EVAP canister, and I had thought the gold alodyne cylinder was painted black.

I made sure I cleaned out the front ahead of the radiator and A/C condenser, as that area collects a lot of bugs, leaves, and Other Road Trash.

So, she's much cleaner under the hood now. So much cleaner that now the areas I missed jump out at me. I'll do it again in the next day or two.

Hot Rod Humor

Swiped from a friend on FarceBook......

After some Googling about, these are apparently body kits that "fit" a Smart For Two car.

These kits are possibly the only reason to buy a "Smart" car.....

Kid Stuff and Summer Nightime Noises

When I was moving what mt wife calls the "Pack and Play" and I call "the playpen", I spent some time looking over the mechanism that allows this thing to collapse completely to a small bundle, and yet pop open and be rigid enough to contain a three year old. And the nylon "ballistic mesh" the side are made from has even withstood a run-in with Pebbles. Very clever arrangement of over-center latches and jointed legs. Cool stuff.

And the car seats today are so far advanced over the one we brought my son home in way back in 1986, that I almost hesitate to call them "just" car seats. With all the additional padding, webbing suspension, and multi-belts with a hit-to-release buckle, they're more like "Escape Pods" from a B-58 Hustler or XB-70 Valkyrie.

Took us nearly an hour to get it installed in the wife's little Hyundai, and that was only after I dragged it in the house to carefully examine. Once I found the Secret Handshake I was able to fully adjust it so The Little Guy fits in the seat snug, and the seat would several ounces of C4 to get out of the car. The Hyundai was designed for seats like this, and the seat has some features that enable it to be very securely fastened down.



And while out in the backyard with the dog tonight, I noticed something again that made me smile.

Crickets!

Chirping away quietly in the background with practically no other noises not made by nature.

And it's Saturday night.....in a "College Town", and our neighborhood is dead quiet.

Save for the crickets.

And the occasional All American V-8 going up through the gears.

Just lovely here!

Trump Crossing The Swamp

Found this over at Irish's place where he's using it for a header.

Too good to pass up, and as his headers rotate frequently, here it is in all it's glory........

Donald Trump Is "The Picasso of Tweets"

From a friend......

I don't agree with it 100%, but on the whole, the guy nails it.

Subject: Trump really is the Picasso of tweets

The following article by Wayne Allen Root ... Vito

I have breaking news for you … Donald Trump’s tweets are not a mistake. This isn’t insanity. He’s not nuts. He’s not stupid.  Actually, he’s a genius.

Trump is the Picasso of tweets. Monet meets Beethoven. The Saul Alinsky of conservatives and capitalists.  Trump is first politician from the right to figure out how to stop the radical left.  By driving them crazy.

Trump has destroyed the left with tweets. Just look at them in disarray. From Kathy Griffin, to Jeff Tucker of CNN, to Bernie Sanders, to Megyn Kelly — liberals lay in smoldering ruins.

Branch Rickey once said, “Luck is the residue of design.” Maybe it’s time for liberals to admit that Trump’s crazy tweets aren’t so crazy after all They are purposeful. He’s driving liberals nuts with rage, while distracting them so they don’t even see what’s happening.

Sure Trump’s tweets turn off lots of Democrats. Who cares?

Sure he turns off the media. Who cares?

Sure he turns off plenty of young people who never vote. Who cares?

Sure he turns off the people walking along Venice Beach or Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Who cares?

None of these people were ever voting for him in the first place. Many of them don’t vote at all.

Liberals claim Trump is mentally ill. But he’s just much smarter than they are. He’s playing at a different level.

Trump is doing “The Art of the Deal.” For Trump, it’s about winning. How he wins is immaterial.  He doesn’t mind shocking, outraging, offending or even embarrassing himself. He is using guerrilla warfare to beat the left. Trump is deflecting and distracting his critics and enemies while he passes his entire agenda.

While Trump is busy tweeting, offending, enraging and infuriating, he is quietly — behind scenes — fundamentally changing America. Or haven’t you noticed?

Trump is erasing Obama like he never existed. Trump is demolishing the socialist dreams of Obama and Sanders and Hillary and Valerie Jarrett … and their radical Marxist mentor Saul Alinsky.

Trump is destroying the Democrat Party — pushing it so far to the left it will have no chance in 2020. Trump is destroying the media. Trump will keep his job far longer than CNN President Jeff Zucker. Wanna bet?

Trump has destroyed Kathy Griffin’s career. The only head she cut off was her own. Trump has destroyed Megyn Kelly’s career. Advertisements for personal injury lawyers have higher ratings than Kelly’s new show.

Bernie Sanders’s wife is under investigation for fraud. The careers of former FBI director James Comey and acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe are in tatters. McCabe is under three separate criminal investigations.

A little birdie in government tells me Hillary Clinton and the entire Clinton Foundation will soon be under Federal indictment.

There’s no more funding of liberal causes by Department of Justice lawsuits The National Labor Relations Board is becoming pro business. There’s no more political persecutions of conservatives by the IRS, DOJ or FBI. Border crossings are down by 50 percent to 70 percent (depending on which stat you believe).

Trump’s going after welfare for illegals. Trump’s going after voter fraud by illegals. The travel ban is in effect. The number of Muslim refugees let into America is being cut dramatically.

Soon, one way or another, there will be no more Obamacare.

Soon, there will be no more high Obama taxes.

Soon, construction of a wall will begin.

Soon, Trump will get to name a second, and then a third, and maybe even a fourth  U.S. Supreme Court justice. Trump’s Supreme Court will turn America red for the next 40 years.

Liberals are toast. Obama is erased. Hillary will be tied up in court for years to come. Israel is our best friend again. The police and military are beloved and respected again.

All is well in my world. How about yours?

Trump has outwitted the left.

Trump is an artist !

Glop Inside Rear Window

I was finally able to get some usable pix of the residue on the inside surface of the rear window.

Since I'm going to pull the hatch to repair the rotten paint in the jamb area at the top, and the leading edge of the hatch, I'll have it properly supported to work on it. I've got a couple of more chemicals to try, gasket remover and paint stripper which both contain MEK, and both of which I've used to remove baked on decals on outside glass.

This is the jamb area where the rear of the roof drops down into the recess where the hatch fits.

 

You can see how the paint was applied heavily enough to run over the edge, but, uh...guys? I think you missed a spot.

And further into the opening we have the usual dirt along with some mild surface rust.

All of this can be done easily with the hatch off the car, and it simply has to be done. I'm sure the bottom of the top leading edge of the hatch will be a horror show.

And since I'm stalled until I can get some muscle over here to help pull the hatch, I pulled the carpet out of the back in preparation to install the new carpet this winter.

Since this picture was taken I've pulled the back seats out, as I'm doing the "rear seat delete". I'll make up something from plywood or particle board, and have the upholstery shop carpet it. I can get exact matching carpeting by-the-yard from ACC, the company I bought the carpet kit from. 

All through the car, the vinyl is split, cracked, and brittle from the sun. This split is in the passenger rear seat  area, and the one below is the top of the passengers door panel. If you run your fingers along the top of the door it crunches like potato chips. The foam under the vinyl is completely disintegrating.

The upholstery shop has some work to do on these after I pull them out and drag them down there.

Further Fettling Finally Finalized

Probably not, but I wanted a catchy title.

After shooting myself in the foot with the paint on the spoiler, and guests coming, and rainstorms requiring my wife's car be garaged, it's been several weeks since I worked on the spoiler.

I've been busy finalizing stuff for the Radio Room furniture and antennas system, and generating a BOM for those projects, along with doing boring home-owner stuff, so at least I haven't been a layabout.

A week or two ago I finally said to Hades with it, and decided any remaining paint work can be done to the spoiler while it's bolted on the car. Now that the weather is nice again, and the wife's little car can sit outside, I set the saw horses back up, plopped the spoiler back up on them, and proceeded to cut/fit/fettle the rubber channel I'm using for a gasket. I also had to make three large, and four small, gaskets from the 3/32" neoprene sheet I bought. Since there are holes punched in all the gaskets cut from the sheet, I needed a tool to make nice, neat 6mm holes in the sheet. Harbor Freight provided several sets of "Hollow Hole Punches", and the 1/4" size is plenty close (.2500 vs .2362) to the 6mm studs that hold the spoiler on.

So, yesterday I laid out and cut the three pieces of 1/16" "U" channel neoprene that I need for the two gaskets.

The two "L" shaped black objects are the OEM plastic gaskets for the lower corners of the spoiler.

Here's a better view of one. It doesn't fit very well any longer because....THIRTY-THREE years! The Kalifornia sun did some major damage the the "soft parts" on the car, like the rubber gaskets under the door locks, door handles, and the plastic cladding on the window trim. The door panels took a major hit along their tops, but that's another project that I'm researching.

It's not supposed to fit over the curved edge you see to it's right. One of the U-channel gaskets goes there, the inner one. The part that "sticks up" and looks like it should be an inch or two to the right actually sits on the glass. It also caused glass damage, but I'll relate what I did there later.

This is the replacement part from the repop kit I have, die-cut from some 1/16" sheet of "rubber", probably neoprene.

Uhhhh....yeah, it's just a TAD smaller than OEM!

BUT.....from carefully observing how all these bits are connected, the only actual contact surface between the corner of the spoiler and the hatch is a small patch just about the same size as the reproduction kit provides. So it looks funny, but that little patch, along with the center mount patch, are the only 'load bearing' areas at the lower end.

This is the first center mount gasket I cut. It's just a little two ratty to use, as the outer edges will show between the spoiler and hatch. My cutting-to-an-outline skills and hole punching skills have improved vastly since I made this part the other night, so I'll just cut another one.

And here's the replacement on the right, "Punched and Peeled", which I'll explain is a minute.

Once it's stuck on the center mount of the spoiler I can do some minor trimming.

One thing I found was that if you stick your template down to the sheet stock with some 3M #45 General Purpose spray adhesive, it stays stuck well enough that you can completely trim away the excess material.

Here's the two corner gaskets glued to the sheet stock and trimmed.

Then I take the 1/4" hole punch, line it up on the existing holes, and smack it will my ball peen hammer until the punch cuts through. Then I peel them apart, and I have a duplicate set of gaskets.

BTW....I can see no reason why the reproduction gaskets have that large hole in them. It doesn't line up with anything that would need clearance, so I didn't bother to punch it.

As you can see, it fits fine.

The four little rectangular gaskets I made were for the upper mounting studs where the spoiler secures to the hatch.


And I spent several hours today polishing the rear hatch glass. It had the worst water spots I've ever seen on glass. I first noticed them after I pulled the spoiler and was stunned at all the crud packed under there. I used a well-worn piece of 600 grit and lots of water to knock them down, but today I went at it with a vengeance. I cut a small foam sanding block in half, used some spray adhesive, and stuck a piece of 1500 grit wet-or-dry on it. I used a mixture of Zep window cleaner, a few ounces of denatured alcohol, and a couple of drops of dish soap for a lubricant.

After that I went over it with some super-ultra-mega fine Cerium Oxide glass polish to work out any scratches.

Then to finish up, I scrubbed in a coat of "Back to Black" on the rear window glass weather stripping.

I was able to get 90% of the water spots off the glass, and the few they were really stubborn are going to be under the spoiler where they can't be seen. The outer surface of the glass has never been cleaner, and it sparkles.

But now, looking out the back window, it's glaringly evident how absolutely filthy the inside of the glass is! The rear window was tinted at some earlier time, and the tinted film was removed some time after that. They did a horrible job cleaning the old adhesive from the film off the glass, and now there are dozens of splotches of old adhesive very firmly baked onto the inside surface of the glass. And you have to be very careful cleaning the glass because of the defroster grid, which I'd really like to keep functional.

And I finally decided I have to pull the hatch. The rust I can see up there is just way too much of an unknown. The spoiler can sit on the roof of the car on moving blankets while the hatch can go on the saw horses for a few days. I can do the jamb area inside the car first, and then tackle the hatch. I know exactly what to do to repair the jamb area, and even slow, old me can pop that out in a 24 hr period. The hatch will take a few days to clean, derust, treat, prime and paint just the upper leading edge, and then go back on the car.

More to come, and I'd really like to get the hatch finished before winter, even if it means driving the car very little.....

Liberal Loonies In Grand Junction, CO

Grand Junction, Colorado, is "The Big City" and the largest city on Colorado's Western Slope. It's a beautiful place to drive through, and my son and I stayed overnight there on our drive here, and had our first "Freddy Burger" form a local chain called, oddly enough, "Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers". Very good burgers, fries and shakes. No, they're not my beloved In-N-Out Burgers, but they'll do very nicely.

Well, like most Big Cities, Grand Junction has it's "Fair Share" of liberals, loonies, Demoncrats, and others that are at odds with the rest of us, and some of them have enough spare change in their pockets to do things like pay for a "spot" on the electronic billboards that have proliferated in recent years.

So what does a liberal 'advertise' for? Save the children? Save the whales? Save the trees?

Nope, they come up with this:

The full article is here at Colorado Peak Politics, and is an amusing read.

Batten Down The Hatches!

Looks like we're staring down the barrel of a severe storm.

75MPH winds and TWO INCH hail. So far this year, all the big storms have slid by either slightly North or South of us.

This one is bearing down on us.

ANNNND....it passed by with only some "moth ball" sized hail, and ~20 minutes of heavy rain.

There were severe storm warnings popping up all over the area, and at one time there were 4 tornado warnings.

When the NWS declares this to be "A Dangerous Storm" on the emergency warnings they break into radio stations with, I sit up and listen......

RATS! No Hot Water! => Easy Fix! <=

As I was making the first mug of Joe for the day, I noticed the water was taking a looong time to come to a boil in the microwave. I always use water from the hot spigot when I rinse out the glass carafe for my fancy, high falootin' French Press coffee pot. Then I put my measuring cup under the spigot and fill it, and put the water in the microwave.

Right about this time my wife comes downstairs and announces "We Have No Hot Water". This puts me in Fix-It-NOW mode, as an ample supply of running, HOT water is something SWMBO insists on, and after taking a cold shower before starting on this project, I agree rather strongly that hot water is quite nice.

The water heater is down in the basement (aka "The Dungeon"), and it's all the way in the back of a storage closet that was built when they finished off the basement, and made it usable living space. SO.....the first thing I had to do was lift out the storage shelves, which are made of some density of particle board that's heavy. The manual for the water heater was on the top shelf, so after I pulled the shelves, and the "earthquake barrel" full of emergency supplies, I sat down to read the manual.

Right there, in the troubleshooting guide, under "NO Hot Water", the number 1 cause was the "High Temperature Limit Switch Open. Push To Reset and Reconnect Power".

Naaaaa....it couldn't that simple, could it? I turned the breaker off, and then pulled the cover for the top thermostat and element off. I pushed the red "RESET" button, and it clicked. Turned the breaker back on, and after about 15 minutes we had hot water again.

I can replace both elements, and the thermostats, for under $75, which is a whole lot better than the cost of an entire new water heater. I'll watch this, and if it trips again, I'll just replace all of it.

Antenna Planning

After looking over all the various antennas that I feel will comfortably fit on our lot atop a 30' tower, I've pretty much narrowed it down to a Mosley TA-53-M. This antenna has a 14 foot boom (the big pipe that the elements mount to) with a longest element of 27 feet that won't over power the lot the house sits on. It weighs 55 lbs fully assembled, and has a wind load of 6.7sqft.

This is a conventional 3-element Yagi-Uda design, with three elements on 10, 15, and 20 Meters, and also three elements on the 17 and 12 Meter bands. These last two bands are called the "WARC Bands" after the World Administrative Radio Conference held in 1979 which made them a world-wide Amateur Radio frequency allocation.

The 17 Meter band, which runs from 18.068 to 18.168MHz, is particularly important for me, as it's one of my favorite bands to operate. It's a "Gentleman's Band" where people hang out to make contacts and actually stick around and chat for a while. Propagation is similar to both 20 Meters (14.000~14.435MHz)  with the band being "open" quite often and 15 Meters (21.000~21.450MHz) in that as you approach 30 MHz, atmospheric noise start to decrease, making for a "quiet" band where weak signals can be more readily heard. And by "Gentlemen's Agreement", NO contesting takes place on the 12 and 17 Meter bands, which makes them a nice refuge for non-contesters on contest weekends.

I was considering it's Big Brother, the TA-54-XL which has four elements per band, but the 21' foot boom and 29-1/2 foot longest element and 85 lb assembled weight with an 8.7sqft wind load kind of puts me off........

And the Big Bad Boy Pro-57-M with it's 24 foot boom is definitely too big for the yard. Interestingly, the longest element on this one is also 27-1/2 feet. It weighs in at 92 lbs all-up with an 11sqft wind load.

One other thing to consider in picking one of the three is what's called the "Wind Load" of the antenna. This is basically the square footage the antenna presents to the wind, and the bigger the antenna, the stronger the supporting structure (tower, roof, or building) has to be.

Out here the wind load can be more important than keeping the dead weight down. The 2 Meter antenna I'll be putting at the top, an M2 2M9ssb, has a minuscule wind load of 1.2sqft.

I can't find the windload figures for the Alfa-Spid rotor I'm planning on using, so I'll guess 2sqft.

These are worm-gear driven rotors, and not the "Bell Rotors" of days gone by. These don't need a mechanical/electrical brake to hold the antenna in place so it won't windmill.


The tower I'm planning on buying, a "Universal Towers" model #35-30, is a 30 foot, free-standing tower. One thing I want to do is keep it small enough (height and wind load) and robust enough (good design and fabrication) so that I don't need guy wires/ropes. If you use metallic wire, you have to make sure no individual wire comes close to being a resonant length, otherwise they guy wires will strongly interact with the antenna causing myriad problems. In Ye Dayes Of Olde, you used big honking ceramic insulators to break up the lengths so none of them would resonate and act like an antenna, but these days synthetic materials have replaced good old "Stainless Steel Aircraft Cable" or even older galvanized wire rope.

ANYWAY...this tower is rated for safely supporting 34.5sqft @ sustained 80MPH winds, 25sqft @ 100MPH, and 19sqft at 110MPH.

With the M2 2M9SSB at the top, the mast, and the rotor/cabling I'll have about 12sqft hanging in the breeze on the tower, well within it's capability.