Knuckledragger's Treehouse

After 25 years of putting it off, I finally took the exams to obtain my HAM Radio operator’s license. As soon as the FCC receives all of the information and posts my license information to the ULS, I’ll be on the air as an Amateur Extra class operator.

I performed most parts of a good tune-up on my car this weekend. My kids are 9 and 11, and I taught them how to change an air filter and do a oil/filter change. My son did the air filter by himself, and they actually worked together to do the oil/filter change. I only had to get the oil pan bolt started and they did the rest. It took about an hour longer than normal, but they need to learn how to do these things. It’s one of my 3 rules on what kids should be able to do when they leave the house… 1) cook, 2) change the oil in their car, and 3) properly handle a gun

I spent a lot of my time trying to get the fuel filter off the car, which didn’t succeed because the steel line is rusted to the filter. It’s soaking in some liquid wrench, so hopefully with a few more applications over the next week, it will come loose. I also changed the plugs and wires on a GM 3100 engine…. the front 3 take about 20-30 minutes to change… the rear 3, not so much. I probably spent the good part of 3 hours working on the back three plugs and wires. The one under the alternator isn’t too bad, probably 20-30 minutes to do. The one on the drivers side rear was the next best at about 45 minutes. The remaining time was spent on cylinder #3 in them middle… between wiring harnesses, sensors and the fact you have to do it all by feel, it took some time getting things lined up.

I’m bruised, cut, scraped and sore, but it’s over. Those 100,000 miles OEM plugs lasted 126,000 miles, so I can’t complain. But I think I did find the source of the rough idle I’ve had for years that the dealer could never find. None of the original plugs I pulled out had the same gap size. They’re supposed to .060, but some were as far out as .075. I also found a small vacuum hose that was disconnected on the rear of the block. That’s back on as well.

I think the only thing left to do is replace the front brake pads. I put semi-metallic pads on last time, and I’m regretting it due to all the brake dust they generate. I’ll replace them with some ceramics and clean the rims. Then the car will still look reasonably good for being 15 years old.

I just wish the body would last as long as this engine will.

I’ve been in a Cisco Nexus 7000 class this week, and so far, the only thing I’ve learned is that the instructor is smart… but too arrogant for his own good. He claims to have been the network admin for Lehman Brothers within the past few years. I don’t think that’s something I’d be advertising too loudly considering they filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history… If he’d quit putting his foot in his mouth every day, I might get something out of this class. Firefly is supposed to be a good learning company, but apparently they don’t take ego into account in the hiring process.

I got rear ended a few weeks back by someone who apparently didn’t realize those red lights on the back end of my car meant I was using my brakes. This was the first accident I’ve been in since 1990 when a deer ran into my front quarter panel. The deer did less damage too… $1,200 for a new windshield, new driver’s side mirror and paint. This guy took out my taillight, finish trim and crimped the quarter panel… the body shop says $1,537 and change… I call bullshit. $116 for the lens assembly new… the finish trim is a long piece of fiberglass, so even if they have to paint it, it’s probably only $200-300 (and 3 hand tightened nuts hold it onto the body) and maybe 2 hours to pound out the 1/2″ of the quarter panel that was rolled in. At least it’s his insurance company paying for the damages. The front end of his Tahoe looked a lot worse than my car did… my guess is $3-4K in damage on his side. At least it was white against white… my car’s 15 years old, so you can’t hardly tell where he hit my bumper.

The weather’s been indecisive at best lately… Almost every storm for the past 4 weeks has weakened over us or split and gone north or south of us. We finally got a halfway decent lightning show last night with some torrential rain for about an hour. The clouds were too low, so the lightning just looked like white sheets instead of distinct lightning bolts. I charged the camera up to take some more lightning pictures, but the clouds pretty much made it a worthless cause. Hopefully something severe will come along in the next week or two and I can go get some good lightning pictures.

The motorcycle is sitting here staring at me begging to be ridden… but between the weather and my own mistakes, it’s going to be sitting here for at least another week or so. I failed to put the battery on a maintainer over the winter, so once I got it cleaned up and checked out to ride, it wouldn’t start. The battery won’t take a charge, so it’s time for a new one. I don’t quite understand why my 180 CCA motorcycle battery costs more than my 660 CCA car battery… and the motorcycle battery is less than half the size. Oh well, I’ll end up paying it… The bike has to get out soon. It’s almost paid off too, which makes me a happy camper, since it’s a 2009 Kawasaki!