Monthly Archive for September, 2011

Page 3 of 4

Mighty Clouds

Published on September 13, 2011 in bike by snm. Closed

Even after doubling back to get something I forgot at work, I managed to get home in time to take the bike out once again on Monday. The weather wasn’t as nice as last Wednesday with thick, opaque clouds crowning the mountaintops, but it didn’t appear like rain was imminent, so I took a chance on taking a spin. The weather held, but there wasn’t a single moment where the looming overcast parted to allow even a spot of sun to reach my path. Again, the limiting factor was a matter of seating, so the duration of the ride coincidentally ended up being almost exactly the same. I managed a couple more kilometers this time out. The two rides bracketed this month’s full-moon night hike, so I’m not sure how all the pain/fatigue dynamics work out, like whether Wednesday’s ride set me up for more pain on Friday night, or Friday’s hike left me drained for Monday.

D = 12.68 km (7.88-miles), Vavr = 17.7 km/h (11.0-mph), Vmax = 38.5 km/h (23.9-mph), T = 43-minutes

Rolling Once Again

Published on September 13, 2011 in bike by snm. Closed

Bike? What is this “bike” you speak of? This word is unfamiliar to me…

Actually got out and rode around on Wednesday. The old saying, “it’s like riding a bike,” definitely holds true – it always hurts, it always kicks your ass, and it’s always somehow fun (even if it hurts and kicks your ass). The tires were covered with lint and dog hair on the bottoms from sitting immobile for over half-a-year. The fuzz patches stayed in place even through the fast sections, clinging between the lugs of the sticky Rubber Queens even against the wind and rotational vectors. It was a little distracting, so I rode through the grass to remove them. There was some construction going on my normal loop, so I had to make some adjustments to the routine. I didn’t push hard since I didn’t want to break anything (on me, not the bike) as I haven’t been riding in like forever, so the numbers will reflect this. During the ride, the knees hurt, the legs burnt a little, and the lungs and heart weren’t quite up to the task, but the limiting factor really was the ability to sit on that little seat for an extended period of time. One day later, the back of my neck was sore, and my calves were tight. Even so, the discomfort paled against the feeling of the afternoon wind and the pure, simple rush of speed.

D = 10.86 km (6.75-miles), Vavr = 15.4 km/h (9.6-mph), Vmax = 39.9 km/h (24.8-mph), T = 42-minutes

Ouch!

Published on September 13, 2011 in SUAR and Travel by snm. Closed

75-yen per $1 USD! Suck!

(0)

Be Well Grounded

Published on September 11, 2011 in car by snm. Closed

I feel like such a doof. Last night Mitch called & we went to the Daikon Festival in Millilani. I’m a bit dissapointed, by the time we got there, there was no daikon! What’s up with that?! Anyway, on the drive out the rally FX was acting pretty wierd and doing a lot of hesitating and check engine light flashing. I pulled the code earlier which indicated coolant temp sensor.  I figured this as a shake down drive, drive home was not any better, and it seemed pretty random. Stalled a couple times at lights, but made it home. So this morning I drained the water, which was in the plan anyway, but pulled the water temp sensor. I’m not exactly sure how the ECU uses this sensor, it’s not the temp gauge sensor for the dash, it’s not the temp switch for the radiator fan, it’s not the cold start temp timer switch. The meter test at room temp was good, but I swapped it out with the original rally FX one for good measure. I then started skinning back the wiring loom to expose some of the wiring for that sensor. Visually it looked ok. I cut the connector and a length of wire off the end, then spliced in a connector from spare harness. I metered the wires of the part I cut out, it tested ok. Damn, I hope its not a problem with the wiring furthur down the harness. After soldering and heatshrinking in the spare connector, I plugged it in and started up the car. It seemed better, but then I heard the miss and saw the CE light flash. Damn! I wiggled the harness around and it indeed seemed to be associated. I worked my way down the harness wiggling it as I went to try & find where the problem was. Doh! I found it, the bolt for the grounding point for that part of the harness was loose, I’d forgotten to tighten it! I felt like an idiot, I’d spent all the morning and into lunch cutting into a perfectly fine wiring harness. Tightening it and plugging everything back in, the car ran well and I drove it out to SCCA. There still is some phantom missfiring, but it’s nowhere as bad as last night, and it doesn’t trigger the CE light. At least it’s liveable, we’ll see how it goes.

Trickle Triumph

Published on September 10, 2011 in car by snm. 1 Comment

Last night took my new Toyota gasket & o-ring & applied rtv all over & assembled. Moment of truth this morning after giving the goop overnight to cure, filled er up with water. Victory, the outlets not leaking! Wtf, I see small drips in another spot! Looks like one of my hose clamps not tight enough, crank it & looks good! Crank the engine over a few times with ecu relay removed to get some lube juice flowing through the engine. Hook everything up, start cranking, nothing. Hmm, I jumper the fuel pump and listen to it run, I hear gurgling through the lines, run until sounds solid. A few more tense moment of cranking, a cough, then it churns right up. Nice! And no water or other stuff spraying all over the place! So I got it over at the service station for safety right now, what a relief!

KC10 Heavy

Published on September 8, 2011 in SUAR by snm. Closed

KC10 just took off, super-labored. Wonder what’s passing through and where they’re going? Something big that can’t be seen?

(0)

Drip Dip

Published on September 8, 2011 in car by snm. 2 Comments

Will it ever end? Got correct water pump, got it installed, the water pipe back in, the starter fits too! Filled the water up and on the final liter, there it was, the drip.  I feel around & try to get a look, it seems it is not the water pump. There is the water outlet just above it, and it looks like the leakage is seeping from the bottom of that. I pull off the fitting and look at the gasket. It’s not actually a problem with the gasket, but the aluminum on the head has erroded away enough at the bottom edge that it looks like the gasket doesn’t have enough flat surface to seal correctly. The one downfall of the Toyota OEM coated metal gaskets. I can either go with an aftermarket fiber gasket, or try get another Toyota gasket and use some RTV on it. I’m torn, I much prefer the Toyota gaskets. To really fix this problem I should take the head back to the machine shop and have them weld and machine the surface, but that would be a hell of a lot of work to do over. Yuck. Time to sleep.

Water Torture

Published on September 7, 2011 in car by snm. Closed

Last night after finishing Scats taillights in the dark, I went for it with the ghetto roller, and installed the hose replacement. Works like a charm no leaks from the pipe. Unfortunately with those leaks taken care of, it looks like the water pump is indeed leaking. I think I disturbed the seal between the two halves of the pump body. In any case I decided to replace the pump and gaskets. Unfortunately the pump I got from Napa is the wrong one.

Snooki Syndrome

Published on September 6, 2011 in Culture, rant and SUAR by snm. Closed

Saw a really short medical professional with a fake orangy tan and purple scrubs.  The “Oompa-Loompa” song started playing in my head: Coffee almost came out of my nose.

(0)

That’s Where You All Went…

Published on September 6, 2011 in car, Culture, rant and SUAR by snm. Closed

In a span of less than five minutes and a distance of less than three miles between two parking lots in Waipahu, I saw three Suzy SJ410’s and an equal number of Toyota MR-S’s.  Do all little cars eventually end up in Waipahu?

(0)