Monthly Archive for October, 2009
Page 3 of 3
Friday was hot and clear when I got home. My legs were chocked full of lactic acid from the Thursday night BMX ride, so I went out for a little spin to loosen everything up, avoiding any hard exertion on the climbs. For S & G, I counted chickens throughout my ride, but gave up after 40. The sun was dipping behind the Ko’olau crest when I was driving home, so the entire ride was in slowly fading light. Even with the disappearance of the sun, the stifling heat remained.
D = 13.37 km (8.31-miles), Vavr = 18.5 km/h (11.5-mph), Vmax = 45.7 km/h (28.4-mph), T = 43-minutes
Oh my throbing middle finger…. I think every begining mechanic should be required to have and use a torque wrench. For some reason everyone seems compelled to over torque oil drain bolts. I guess since they are large bolts they can tolerate quite a bit of overtightening, but if you look in FSMs (factory service manuals) the torque spec is quite low, typicaly in the range of 15 ft lbs or even less. So I was out in the garage tonight, the heat is finally bearable, and was slowly putting things back together with the swapped engine. Figured I better drain the engine oil. Put the small 3/8 breaker on it and tugged at it. Ugh. Alright, fine, I’ll use the 1/2″ 20″ long breaker. I’m working at an awkward angle, so the bigger bar should make it easier. It works, eventually, and suddenly, unfortunately. Going in the pull direction is usually a good habit, but didn’t save me this time since my arms were extended and the angles were wierd. My middle finger met metal car. Amazingly I did not drop the bar, but I was cursing up a storm. Owwie! This was a good one, owwie!
That was it, I could barely muster removing the drain bolt. I’m done for today.
Oh wait, this engine was out of the original FX and the last person who worked on it and did an oil change on it… was me!
Root wandered around the homeless encampments out at the end of Sand Island last week trying to find the new BMX track with no success. I had a little time to kill today, so I spun by the small boat launch facility and found the track. It’s nowhere near done yet, but here are some pictures. The course doubles back on itself three times, so it is pretty long. Some of the jumps are made from some recycled earth with a high gravel content. I don’t know if they plan on covering these with another layer of prime earth, but if they leave it as-is, expect to see some good skin loss on these.
It was intermittently drizzling when I got home yesterday, but I really wanted to get some riding time in. By the time I was geared up, the drizzling had completely subsided, but the ground was damp here and there, especially in the grass. The heat and humidity were incredible but not quite unbearable. Staying inside the house would have been unbearable!
D = 15.40 km (9.57-miles), Vavr =18.3 km/h (11.4-mph), Vmax = 43.3 km/h (26.9-mph), T = 50-minutes
Here are some pictures of the opening reception of the Monster Mash show at Chinatown Boardroom last Thursday. There were a good number of pieces sold on opening night. The show will run through Halloween, so go by and check it out if your’e in the area! Thanks to everyone who made it down. Jackie did an amazing job hanging the show solo and stenciling the walls around the paintings.
Darned rain. Darned food poisoning. October 4th came and went. I missed Tsukimi. Oh, well – maybe next year. Oh yeah – that reminds me – I didn’t get to enjoy any moon cake this year.
Another car weekend. Saturday was spent cleaning rust off the camshafts, and since I had a spare and the work was more than halfway done already, I changed the headgasket.
So come Sunday the engine was together and ready to fit the transmission and reinstall. This would definitely need more bodies to manhandle. Tranny work always involves some muscle. Finally got that purdy clutch on. Last time we’ll see it like this. 
Tranny mated with minimal fuss and bolted together. Ckucky with his 1 ACP (Angry Chinese Power) output installs the starter, and strips out one of the holes. To be fair he was torquing with wrench set to spec. I think I might need a new wrench.
After lunch yesterday, the chills started. I toughed it out through the day and hung about the office after work until the Monster Mash show opening, figuring a little rest would help. Feeling no better, I sucked it up and went downtown to drive in circles in search of parking and walked over to the gallery. I tried putting on my best face even though I felt like krap since this was the first show I’d been involved with in a long time. I struggled through pizza dinner, then embarked on the painfully long drive home, having to stop for late night gasoline in Kalihi on the way. A shower and some antipyretics didn’t do much to improve my condition, but sleep did, although interrupted by fits of cramping. Surprisingly, the expected “blast” so far has not materialized. In case this was the start of “the dreaded flu” (the incubation period would be about right for me to have picked up something on the airplane from KIX), I was socially responsible and stayed home from work today. In retrospect, I could have worked through the pain, and I am now fairly certain this isn’t Novel H1N1. There goes one vacation day… Gastroentertis is not your friend.
Doh, I should have looked at all the photos first. Yesterday at lunch, I found myself in the area of Sand Island so decided to go look for the new BMX track that is supposed to open. Not knowing much except general area, I drove as far into the Sand Island park as I could then parked and started walking in. I went in as far as I felt comfortable walking by myself, in aloha shirt. Found someone’s tent, quickly left that area. Found large loaders. And found killer nasty kiawe, that went straight through my shoe and poked the sole of my foot. After looking at the photos on the website, it looks like the track is way on the other side, much closer to the boats. AH well, we’ll check it out another time!