Gang Aft A-Gley.....

 As the old saying goes....

Spent most of a glorious Sunday afternoon with my son, working on his truck. He was supposed to come by yesterday, but considering the weather, he decided to take a "Can You Help Us..." assignment at work. So he spent the day out in the less-than-optimum weather getting paid, and I tinkered around the garage and basement.

He came over today, and we swapped out his OEM alternator with 96k on it, replaced the serpentine belt and tensioner, checked/greased his battery connections, replaced his wiper blades, and in general did a "Get It Ready For Winter..." service. He'd just changed the oil and differential fluid, but was hesitant to take on this particular work without some competent guidance, so over he came.

And we had a great time. Took our time, and he did 90% of the work. I showed him some tips on getting the belt tensioner backed off so you can slip the belt off the alternator pulley, how to correctly disengage the wiring harness connectors, and advised him on what size sockets, drives, and extensions to use to get at the bolts easier. Also what NOT to take off, which is sometimes just as important. He also asked a lot of questions along the way, and we repeatedly chanted the "One Broken Bolt" mantra to ward off Murphy.

 

It must have worked, as all the parts fit (Thank You Rock Auto!), no bolts or hardware were harmed during the operation, and the only dropped hardware was easily reachable, in plain view, and promptly plucked up off the valve cover.

There will be plenty of nice Fall days ahead to do some Supra driving, but spending an enjoyable Colorado day with your son, working on his truck, is a "Hallmark Moment", and not to be missed.

Fire Just About Out

 We had some rain last night, and the winds calmed down, so the fire crews were able to contain it to about 40%, and it shows no growth.

Well done to all!

Y'all be safe out there, and enjoy the weekend. It's drizzling here, and going to be raining tonight and tomorrow when my son and I are swapping out the alternator, serpentine belt, and tensioner on his truck. Probably be a good night to get the fireplace going after we finish!

And if Sunday's going to be as nice as forecast, I have a very willing dance partner in the garage who wants to get out and kick up her heels. Gives me a good excuse to test my new steering wheel.....

Wildfire North of Here....Updated 2150 MDST

 And "Tanker 10" has already made two drops.

And there's a helo managing things.

For the locals, this is up North of "Ted's Place", which really isn't a "place" anymore...

Nothing is showing on any of the local firewatch sites, so it must be "Breaking News".

The fire is East of Highway 287, and roughly in the center of this mapped area"

 

On second thought, it looks like the helo might be dropping water, too.

Yup, he's a water dropping chopper. They're using it to wet down structures in danger. Hope this doesn't get much bigger, but considering the requests for further assistance I'm hearing, it sounds like it's growing. It's pretty rugged terrain along that ridgeline, and not much access. They've already issued a "Voluntary Evacuation" notice, and are informing residents via Reverse 911.

OK, this was the observation chopper, and it looks like he's headed home.

The radio chatter's died down a lot, and some units are pulling out, so I'll take a SWAG and say they have things well under control.

If you do the Fakebook thing, you can find more here: https://www.facebook.com/PoudreFire

The Mandatory Evacuation area is here:

That's a pretty big chunk of land. The Kids work at the yogurt factory next to the Morning Fresh Dairy Farm.

Latest on the fire. It's 600 acres, and zero containment.

https://www.facebook.com/PoudreFire

Perfect Song For Today

 It's over 100* here today (and yesterday, and tomorrow) with an absolutely massive Relative Humidity of....(drum roll, please)...Twelve per cent!

Just have to put that in for Sig!

BTW....it's one of my favorite songs, and I like her version. A good example of how you "Belt Out A Song"..

Keep cool and stay hydrated!

Funny Beach Boys Parody Video

 Sent to me by my sister, of all people!

Hope y'all have a safe weekend. I'll be enjoying my "Old Jap Car" out on the road. It's been so long since I've driven it, I need to get reacquainted with it....

It's Alive!

 Backed her out of the garage, washed her, and went for a 45 minute ride around the area. Runs good for 2 year old gas (with Sta-Bil in it), and while it still has a "hot oil" smell, it's not dripping oil everywhere.

I'd forgotten how nice it is to drive, even though I didn't push it hard. The alternator needs replacing (new one is on the bench) as it holds 13.9 Volts, barely enough to charge the battery and power the car. The new one is from a later year Camry, which drops right in, and raises the output from the OEM 35 Amps to 80 Amps.

Minor Setback From An Oil Leak

 Thankfully I pulled the dipstick the other day before I ran the start-up procedure.

It was bone dry!

The second-to-the-last time the oil was changed was in Long Beach, and besides putting in 5W-30 instead of 10W-30, they used a gasket on the drain plug that was too big, and didn't seal properly.  When my son and I changed the oil last fall, I reused the gasket, as it looked "OK" to me. Over the last 10 months, it's been dripping slowly, and lost ALL the new oil we put in. Just happy I had cardboard and carpet scraps under the car, but I'm going to have to pressure wash "my" side of the garage. Since I use the pressure washer to wash the car, I'll give it a try when I have the car out in the next day or so.

Trip to the auto parts store got me a selection of new gaskets, AND a magnetic oil drain plug, which I was going to use. With the magnet on the new plug, it goes into the oil pan far enough to hit the oil pickup, meaning I can't tighten it, meaning I can't use it.

Oh, well.....One of the gaskets in the kit fit the OEM plug, so that went back in, with the new gasket.

It's been holding a pan full of oil for about four hours now, and not a sign of a drip. I'll run the car tomorrow, and check again after I shut it down to see if it dripped any after warm up.

Ms. Swan's Nose Job

 Is just about finished. Still have some cleaning to do, and the front license plate has to get bolted on, but otherwise, she's about ready to go around the block a few times. That will happen later this week, after I get the jacks out, drop her on the ground, roll her out and give her a good bath.

More to come this week.....

The Unveiling.....

 Posted these last night at the bottom of the previous post, but I think everybody missed it.

Have a safe weekend. SLW and I are are off to my belated Birthday Dinner. No, not at Sonny Lubick's Steakhouse. Were going to Austin's American Grill tonight.

The bison meatloaf is to die for....and there's enough for lunch tomorrow.....

I'll Call This Segment "Back In Black"!

 Did some minor sanding today, then read the instructions on the can, and sprayed the special flexible "Bumper and Trim Paint" on. 

Only has four medium-light coats of paint, so after it sits another hour I'll spray it again.

Huh....how'd the heck did I miss this?

A couple of pinholes on the left, and a divot in the center.

I'm not terribly concerned about the blemishes I missed that show through the paint because they're in areas that can be spotted in later without tearing the lights and grill out. I'll address those in the future. I don't know how well this paint holds up, but I don't think it matters much because of the environment the car is sitting in most of the time.

Tomorrow is clean up the garage and take the tape and paper off to see if I messed up anything else, like not masking it properly.

OK, time's up! Pulled the tape and paper, and found a couple of small areas where some paint got through. Easy-Peasy cleanup with some solvent on a Q-Tip, but the rest of it was masked off OK.

Starting to look like a car again!

I still have to scrub the front valence under the bumper, and I'll do that while it's still on stands and 10" higher in the air. Just can't crawl around on the concrete as well as I could when I was younger.

"Pretty In Primer", c'est Fini!

 GROOOAN...............Six-and-a-half hours of block-sanding later, it's ready for the topcoat.

I'd been worried about some of the sanding scratches that were showing through the primer/surfacer/filler, but after I remembered I have like four coats of the primer on it, I went ahead and blocked it out with 240 grit. There's was plenty of primer to sand on, and they just about went away.

Blocking it again with 320 grit made them disappear.

I was temped to tack it off and spray the edges tonight, but.......I'm going to hold off until tomorrow. I'll inspect it again with fresh eyes, and if I decide it's ready.....SHOWTIME!

In celebration of this joyous event, I brought out the grill, fog lamps, and turn signals that I restored oh....two years ago?

Having my hip get crazy, along with the scamdemic being set loose upon us, AND having issues with my medications (lose 60lbs, and you'd better adjust the dose!), kinda knocked the stuffings out of me for about a year. Oh, well....I'm still on this side of the turf, so Press On Regardless!

I even dug out my front license plate and bracket, which had to come off so I could mask the area.

The rest of tonight will be spent down in the Electronics Workshop coming up with arcane things to do.....