Two guys, a dog, and a repair shop

Ten Bucks

2010-01-05T15:21:00.005-06:00

Yup, I got myself Ten whole Dollars for 30 seconds of work. Well, actually I got more than that for the work I did later on but that was not the fun part.

A Customer, who will remain nameless (thanks Mr. Harrington) was having issues with his Chevy Truck. It had been running like crap and then finally one cold morning it wouldn't start. He stopped by and asked me what was wrong. Well.....I don't know, I haven't had a chance to see or hear it let alone begin diagnosing it. Tow it in and I will take a look. He asked if there where any tricks he could try to get it running. I gave him a few. In the end though the tricks didn't work so he pulled the truck in.

When he arrived he let us know how unhappy he was with his attempts. Dad, jokingly, told him to leave it in the lot and we would start it and drive it in. Well, that went over well. Our customer (thanks Mr. Harrington) said out loud. "I'll give ten dollars to whoever can start that truck right now!"

Sooooo, I jumped in and spun the engine over, put the throttle down to the point of clear flooding the ECU and it started to fart and pop and then started. Flooded out.

The look on his face was priceless. Not to stop there, I put my hand out and asked for the ten dollars. He grinned and told me I would get my ten dollars and in the end, I did.

I've got nothing...

2009-12-30T08:54:00.004-06:00

Just shake my head. No amount of explanation will justify this.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-16T07:38:00.003-06:00

That is all.

Slow month, no projects on going, just workn' for the tax man comin' and shoveling snow

The picture above is the adventure during our 18 inches we dug out from last week. The deep snow and now cold has keep us running at the shop which helps. It does take away from our fun time though. First time I got the TrailBlazer stuck, but after a little digging it was out and on the road again.

Slave Labor

2009-12-03T16:28:00.005-06:00

To hell with child labor laws. Work boys, work hard. ;)

Actually, they came to the shop this afternoon since Dad went home with the Flu early. No way he would get any rest with those two screaming through the house.

At least the floor is clean again!

What Color?

2009-11-30T16:30:00.003-06:00

What color or combo of colors should the 320i be? It is in need of paint. It doesn't look like the Metro will come in this Winter unless I can bug Dad enough to get it out. So in the mean time I need some ideas for the Autocross car. Troy and I want to get back into Autocross and the Bimmer needs paint. What should we do? Something basic, single color? Something with stripes again? Something loud and obnoxious like Group 5 320i race cars had in the early '80's?

Fire away.

Very nice

2009-11-18T16:26:00.001-06:00

All that needs to be said is. "About God Damn Time"

The Axis

2009-11-10T17:59:00.003-06:00

We went out in search of a 320i BMW for LeMon's and found a Alfa. Well, we really didn't find a Alfa since we had seen this car once before when we went this way to look at a Opel GT for Troy. This time though the Alfa had a whole new look about it since we are still in search of a proper car for LeMon's. After wandering around it for ten minutes we snapped some pictures and grabbed the number off the car.....which is disconnected....so now the search begins for the owner. Wish us luck.

Proportion

2009-11-02T07:35:00.002-06:00

This is about right. When a small engine comes in for service, have your little man jump in and tear it apart.

Brock insisted on helping me tear the head of this Civic, a D15B7, it was in proportion to his size. He got the plug wires and cover off for me. Next up, I'll have him start rebuilding transmissions ;)

Auto Art

2009-10-30T08:02:00.002-05:00

I credit this find to my brother, Troy, who sent me the link and found out the price which is $890 dollars. I guess it is time to get in the art business? Nice find, Troy.

http://vandm.com/1935-Red-Chevy-Truck-Hood-as-Sculpture/0_260_dealer=14729_product=114163.aspx

New Grape Scent

2009-10-21T11:22:00.003-05:00

Thanks GM, for making it smell good when I breathe in the harmful vapors.

It's On

2009-10-16T07:29:00.004-05:00

We are going to throw our collective tails sides into the racing ring for the 24 hours of LeMons.

Our dream, because every good idea begins with a dream made of Unicorn Farts and Pixy Dust, is to have a car built and ready before this event.

Rod Blagojevich Never-Say-Die-500

This race will be run at the Chicago Autobahn in Juliet Illinois. As of now it is just a scribble on some paper and we don't even have a car picked out to get ready for racing. What we have are four guys who said "Let's do it." Troy, Mike, Shawn and I have all decided we can do this. Shawn has the only W2W racing experience. Troy and I have extensive Autocross experience and Mike knows where the pedals are and how to use them properly.

We still would like two more drivers. We also are sure to need pit crew assistance, maybe a team manager to allow us to concentrate on the race that day. We also need sponsors. Money isn't cheap you know.

For a theme, because every good LeMon's team has a theme, we are going Deer Hunting on the track. Blaze Orange is the color of the day and it will be just like the Second Week of Deer Camp if we actually put this all together and make it to the track.

One year, and some change, I think(hope) we can do it.

.28 Cent Lawn Mower

2009-10-14T07:39:00.005-05:00

Not really automotive related but it could easily be a car for free.

When they fall from the sky and are free, you take them and run. This bad boy is a '96 I believe John Deere STX38 Riding Lawn Mower. I scored it for nothing from a friend who had trouble with it and decided to hell with it and bought a much larger and faster Zero Turn Mower.

We talked before I picked it up and he mentioned it was running horrible, throttle was racing, and then it made a horrific rattling noise and went wide open throttle then died. He told me if I hauled it away I could have it. Fine, no problem. The Deck and Chassis are in excellent shape so if it needed a Engine I would spring for it. It sounded as though the Governor took a crap from his description so if that was bad, a engine tear down would ensue anyways.

Well, once in the warm shop I went to diagnosing the problem. On start up it did go wide open throttle, any throttle movement didn't change anything, the cables were fine and the Governor had proper tension and movement. Then we saw the issue.

Taking the carb off the Throttle plate fell completely off.

The Screws, they most likely were the rattling noise. Since they are brass I wasn't to concerned about the health of the engine. Sure, the Cylinder wall most likely are scored some but it has good compression, minimum leak down on the valves and now with two new screws and a LOF it runs like a champ. If it starts to have some engine issues from the screws traveling through it then I'll have to do a rebuild, no big deal.

Lesson of the day? Never ass-u-me what the problem is without diagnosing it first. As for the previous owner? It doesn't bother him a bit it took little more than a Quarter to fix it. He has his new Rider and is happy I have a new Rider.

A '57 Vert for your eyes

2009-10-09T08:30:00.004-05:00

Slow few weeks in the auto world. The weather hasn't made for great cruising and with school and Soccer going full swing there isn't a lot of free time for toys.

Winter is almost here. One last piece of eye candy before the snow flies.

Flooded MATC Campus

2009-09-22T16:37:00.003-05:00

This one is happening today, and I get to see the results of it.

Here is the News link to the story from Channel 15 in Madison. They should also have some new video's up later and on the nightly news.

Unfortunately, one of my customers cars was in that lot and you can see it in the video and online in pictures. It looks worse than it is. The interior was soaked up to the bottoms of the seat. It will take some drying and cleaning to get it back to normal. Thankfully she was a smart customer. They pushed the car out of the water and she never turned it over, tried to start it or anything. She just had it towed out to us and said "Help!"

I think we can save it, we have the technology ;)

Vintage Festival at Road America

2009-09-14T08:04:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned quickly last week I was to be at RA for the VSCDA Vintage Festival on Sunday. The wife and I did make it there just as the last warm-up session ended and got plenty of time to tour the Paddock area, snap some pictures and then enjoy some great racing.

I don't think RA has ever disappointed me, and I expect it never will. There is just something perfect about the place that makes people want to go back again and again. Leslie also now understands why I am such a car junky and why I act the way I do. She got to witness first hand my "kid on Christmas morning" attitude for the day. Which she got a laugh out of.

Some highlight pictures if you follow the link here.

Little Update

2009-09-12T06:56:00.003-05:00

Yes, it has been awhile but things have been slow on the auto front. The only little glimmer of fun is coming this Sunday as I and the wife will be going to Road America for the Vintage Racing.

Pictures on Monday that is for sure.

This will be a first for Leslie. She has never gone with me for a day of racing. I hope she has her walking shoes on :)

Wheel Weight Grand Champion

2009-09-02T09:49:00.002-05:00

I've never seen this much weight put on a wheel before. It has to be the Grand Champion in attemped balancing I've ever seen.

That is four 2.5 ounce weights and then 1.25 ounces of stick on weight. for a wonderful total of 11.25 ounces on the inside of the rim with no weights on the outside of all four. I guess they ran out of lip style with the stick on used. It was the worst of the four tires. Fronts had 3 on the RF, 7 on the LF and the RR had 10. Amazingly it doesn't have a vibration when driving but with that course of a thread, they howl something terrible at highway speeds.

No, I didn't mount and balance these tires.

Free Pizza!

2009-08-26T14:34:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned yesterday. I was off this morning to the Papa John's in Verona to do three things. One, score some free Pizza. Two, to take the Camaro for a drive. And Three, to make the wife happy.

I choose the Verona Papa John's because Leslie works in Verona at Verona Vision Care. I thought what better way to make all of the lady's there happy then free lunch on my Camaro, Papa John's and Jalopnik for helping find John's Camaro. I was second there. The Silver 2000 Z-28 was first.

I did manage to get one slice and it was excellent. I can't recall ever having Papa John's. I may have but today's slice was extra special.

Hey, my Camaro can't get me laid anymore but it can get me Pizza. Almost as good. Now if I could get Miller Lite to give me free beer for painting the Camaro the same color as the Miller Lite Label I'll be in Heaven.

More on Papa John's story

http://www.papasroadtrip.com/

Papa John's, Camaro's and Free Pizza

2009-08-25T14:30:00.003-05:00

If any has been following this then you are just as car crazy as I am. Papa John sold his Camaro years ago to help finance his beginning in the Pizza business. Years later, he wanted the Camaro back but couldn't find it. So the search was on.

Jalopnik explains all that is Papa John's hunt for his Camaro.

So tomorrow, at 11 am I will be firing up the 69' and taking a tour into Papa Johns in Middleton to get a free pizza. Hey, it isn't like I need a excuse to drive the Beast but if I get free Pizza for doing so, win-win I say.

Ya, I am a tad bit crazy and weird. I know.

15 Days of Cobra is over

2009-08-21T13:28:00.004-05:00

Dan is back to Iraq and the Cobra is tucked back in storage. 500 some miles over the 15 days which is pretty good considering some of the weather he had and all the other places to see and people to do that occurred.

We did another QSL run last Thursday, this time he lead us home and it was a fun drive through some back roads between Mazo and Black Earth. We even had a 944 trying to keep pace with us. It did, in the corners. The straight a ways though, he had a tough time.

0.30$ Makes me look the fool

2009-08-13T09:53:00.003-05:00

This was a two part repair. Previous week the car came in
with at the time I was told a "Check Engine Light" on. After
talking with her for a few moments over the phone I
explained to drop it off and I would look at it. Once at the
shop I jumped in and low and behold it was not the SES but
the SVS light, service vehicle soon.

Only one code present, B2585, ALC Parklamp Voltage out of
range. A quick turn of the switch and nope, no lights.
Another quick check of the fuse and the #6 trunk fuse
(10amp) was burnt. I installed a fuse buddy to monitor amps
and they stayed a steady 3.5 with no issues. I left the fuse
buddy in and tried all the lights and switches and no
problem found. I placed another 10amp fuse in and took the
car for a quick drive around the lot, along the bumps in the
back by this time the SVS light was off and everything was
fine, or so I thought.

Customer picked the car up, was happy as heck and I really
didn't have a explanation for why the fuse burnt. I didn't
take it any further than I did since through the day I never
duplicated the problem.

Fast forward 5 days and a phone call with "my light is back
on" which meant I didn't do my job I was betting. Thankfully
the customer was understanding since I was honest to a fault
about not knowing why the fuse burnt the first time and if
there was another problem I'd gladly continue looking. Sure
enough, same code, same fuse burnt so I again put the fuse
buddy in and this time paid more attention. I walked around
the car with my coffee and no one bugging me and just looked
at the car. With the hood up I noticed I didn't see a
Federal Emission sticker anywhere. Red flag!, I brought it
in the shop and could start seeing some areas that had been
repainted up front. Why don't body shops put the Fed sticker
back on?

Anyways. I just started pushing, pulling and tugging
everything up front and when I pushed on the passenger
headlight assembly, the fuse buddy went nuts. I walked away,
let it stay lit and pushed other parts, no issue, then back
to the passenger light and this time I got the fuse buddy to
pop it's fuse.

hey hey, I found something.

Once the Assembly was out I could see where the wires for
the running lights were touching the body edge that was
sharp. A little rewiring and routing and I am good to go.

I really messed up the first time the car was here. You can
pick apart that to death (by all means, please do for
everyone to learn, and to explain I did no good.) but the
second time around I had my head out of my arse and am good
to go now. :)

It is always the little things that get ya.

QSL, Thursday, Aug 6th.

2009-08-11T14:42:00.001-05:00

Good times had by all. We got to see some friends with their rides, talk cars, and have a "spirited" drive home.

15 Days of Cobra

2009-08-03T17:41:00.003-05:00

The Soldier returns. 15 days. Here he is off to see Mom, grab a Burger at Gordons, then go for a drive.

This will make you cry

2009-07-31T18:55:00.003-05:00

A "Cash for Clunkers" Volvo being disabled and prepared for the crusher. This Video is hard to watch if you are a car guy. Watching a seemingly perfect engine be destroyed because the Government has deemed it "Unfit" for automotive society just makes me sick to my stomach.

Hey, don't blame me, I didn't vote for the guy. What you are now watching is a Automotive Holocaust.

Two Edsel's at once

2009-07-29T14:23:00.003-05:00

Seeing one is something special. But two at once is really cool. Especially when the second one is a customers. A 1959 Edsel Ranger was in the shop today for a rear axle seal replacement. Great looking car that ran like a top. The owner was not from around our area but had bumped into me once day when I had the Edsel out so I guess he trusted me with working on his.