Author Archive for taro

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The Green Hell

Published on March 2, 2008 in Travel by taro. Closed

dscf1028b.jpgWednesday Feb 27

Leave work early and arrive at HNL interisland terminals. 4:15PM in the middle of work week finds easy parking in the interisland structure. No lines at all at check-in or security. Arrive at Hawaiian Airlines’ boarding area. The sun is dipping down and creating “god” beams in the sky. I am heading to Hilo, Hawaii for an install at the Hilo Hawaiian hotel. The flight is uneventful, the unflight mag is same from a few weeks ago, I’ve already read about the night surfing with Fabio’s co-worker, about the guy in Volcano growing wasabi. We arrive and I step out of the aircraft and my first thought is, was Hilo always stinky? Continue reading ‘The Green Hell’

Damn You Snow Pirate

Published on February 22, 2008 in Uncategorized by taro. Closed

Arr! That’s it, next season I’m forgoing the midseason Whistler and saving up for Japan. With the exchange rate tanking as it has, might as well go somewhere with a high percentage of powder poaching. So far, my midseason Whistler trips have been a little dissapointing. Not to say I didn’t enjoy them, like they say, a bad day of boarding is better than any day at work. And we had some quite good riding. But I want to experience some real, true powder. Not the week old settled stuff some woman called powder. If anything, I think I’ve consistently had more fun on our early season quickies. No crowds all around, and our luck with weather has been pretty good.

So Dave, after reading your posts, I’m going to put aside for the Japan fund now.

Break Brake

Published on February 19, 2008 in car by taro. Closed

img_1071.JPGimg_1072.jpgThe brake parts I ordered came in. Discovered I ordered the wrong front EBC rotors, or perhaps it was a subconscious desiscion to upgrade? What happened is I ordered the later year ones, which are larger. The good thing is that if you order the same later year calipers, they bolt right up to the older hubs. The only thing is you need to either modify or remove the dust shields. I removing them is the easiest to do. Cut with Dremel and wrench it off.

img_1073.JPGimg_1075.JPG Continue reading ‘Break Brake’

Shifty

Published on February 13, 2008 in car by taro. Closed

Go home early to work some more on car. I take apart the donor FX dash, and take apart the ventilation system to find where the heck the remote for the stereo dissapeared to. Finally find it after taking everything apart! Sheesh. By the time I’m done, I decide not to try and swap the dash into the new FX as I prob won’t finish in a sane amount of time. I intead decide to swap in the short shifter since that’s simple and already out of the donor. Continue reading ‘Shifty’

That’s the Brakes

Published on February 13, 2008 in car by taro. Closed

img_1055.JPGSunday, finally decided to do something about my funky parking brake, esp since I signed up for the SCCA Test and Tune event this Saturday. I looked in the manual and took apart a spare caliper. To get to the parking brake mechanism, I needed some tools I didn’t have. So I decided to try and find a reman caliper. Looked online at Checkers, didn’t have it in stock. Called Napa, no deal. I swear finding parts for the FX is harder than finding parts for Scat’s ’51 Chevy. Finally tried Redline and they had it at the Kalihi store, so I booked it over and picked it up. Continue reading ‘That’s the Brakes’

Carday Part 2

Published on February 9, 2008 in car by taro. Closed

So after the auction and getting home, I decide I should look at the Corollas after having pretty much ignoring them for a while. I realized the AE86 has had radiator flush in it all this time. I need to drain that, and take apart the idle valve anyway. It was doing the bouncy idle, and when I flexed the hoses going to the idle valve they were quite crunchy. I’m sure the valve is full of crud. img_1052.JPGThe throttle body comes off without much drama. img_1053.JPGIt is pretty crusty with gunk. Inside the intake manifold is pretty grimy too. Dang egr. Extra Gunky Recirculation is what that is! So I set about cleaning the throttle. I can’t do much with the intake. Debating to take it off and take it somewhere to have them hot tank it. That would be ideal.

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And just as I suspected, the idle valve is crusted with rust. Taking the valve apart reveals that it seems the blockage is just at the hose end. The valve body itself look pretty clean. So just cleaning out the plugged end and changing out the hoses will hopefully solve the idle issue. Hopefully the rest of the cooling system is ok….

Saturday is Carday

Published on February 9, 2008 in car by taro. Closed

So woke up at 7AM on a Saturday to get to Ckucky’s by 8:30. Dang, it was like going to work! Anyway, Ckucky and I joined Scat in his rowdy sled to go down to the Hawaii Convention Center and check out the classic car auction that was being held. It was an interesting experience. Not exactly sure if worth the ten bucks, but then again you can barely see a movie at a theater for ten bucks anymore, and we spent over two hours there. dscf0972b.jpgCkucky was interested to see how much this Camaro would fetch, he saw it listed earlier in Craigslist. Don’t worry, yours is going to be nicer, because it’s yours!

dscf0977b.jpgThis Swedish Volvo command car thing was pretty trippy, much larger when you see it in person! Had some cobbed in parts and what looked like some Chevy V8 conversion. Too bad.

dscf0980b.jpgAnd then there was the “Yamazaki” T-Bird. Gotta love it! There was also some pedestrian vehicles that made you wonder what they were doing here, but someone wanted them. Like the Dodge Ram disco van. All it needed was a disco ball.

dscf0987b.jpg Scat was agonizing over this Oldsmobile 88. He had seen someone just buy it. Looks like they turned right around & sold it. It seems to have been sold the first day so we never found out for how much.

dscf0992b.jpgCkucky was practically springing one for this Studebaker pickup. It was very nicely done. Very clean, quality. Nothing outrageous.

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We only stuck around for the early part of bidding so didn’t really see how much a lot of these vehicles went for. Still it was intersting to see. And look at a couple of the wierd oddball vehicles that were there too.

Doh Doh!

Published on February 4, 2008 in car by taro. Closed

You’d think after all these years working as a technician I’d heed the moto of never assume anything and always check the obvious first. I feel like such an idiot. So tonight I head home early and started taking apart the dash around the steering column. I curse at one stuck nut that is spinning around in the plastic connector so I can’t pull it out. I manage to work the test leads in anyway. The switches seem to check out ok. WTF? The relay checks ok, the fuses check ok, the switch checks ok. Leaves only the wiring between the switch & lights. The highs come on so I know that part of the wiring should be ok. Before I go crazy digging through all the wiring some more, I decide just to be sure I better check the bulbs. Damnit! The heck! Both bulbs (which BTW are tinted) are burnt out. Sheesh, I feel like such an idiot. I thought it was unlikely that both bulbs would burn out at the exact same time and assumed they were ok. You know what they say about assumptions…. On the bright side it’s a simple fix, now I have to go back out there and put everything back together.

Stupour Bowl

Published on February 3, 2008 in car and Food by taro. Closed

So we had the somewhat annual ignore the Super Bowl gathering at Greg’s place. Well, Greg actually follows football so he kinda gives a hoot. Us, I didn’t know this particular game was happening until the email went out Friday. An excuse to get together, eat badly, and drink. Polish sausage, a 6 lb ham, chicken wings, some potato rolls, Doritos, oh look, throw some corn and some bell pepper & onions on the grill, those are veggies! And we only had one beer, split between the four of us even! dscf0969.JPG So it was a slightly big can….

Anyway, the game was actually fairly entertaining. I found the halftime entertainment to be fairly weak. Some commercials were pretty good. I think Amp won pretty well for a memorable commercial that also came at the end of the game. Come on, jumper cable clamps on nipples. That’s pretty good. Continue reading ‘Stupour Bowl’

Check your tools

Published on January 9, 2008 in bike by taro. Closed

Yes, periodically check your equipment and tools. They can become damaged through disuse. Is that anything like blue balls? Anyway, I went pretending I was a roadie (no tightie shorts though!) tonight in a vain attempt to get my conditioning somewhat better for the trip. Started too late, only been doing it for past few weeks. Anyway, I cruised out past Koko Marina. Beautiful crystal clear night, calm to almost no winds so it was fast in all directions! Turned back into Hawaii Kai at the cancer duck corner, cruised past the 7-11 and decided not to do the little hillclimb to the back of that valley. I’d done it before, and Kulioouou Valley the other time. Zipping around on the flats tonight, I got it in my head to climb Mariners Ridge. Continue reading ‘Check your tools’