Time for the SUMMER updates!

Woodward Dream Cruise Day overhead 13 Mile Road to 15 Mile Road. Keep in mind the cruise is from 9 Mile to Pontiac!

Summer Header Graphics and Calendar Updates

We are fast approaching the opening of cruise season on June 9 and the  outdoor show season has officially begun as of this last weekend. At least here in Metro Detroit.

There are some updates to the cruise calendar and some adds to the other events calendars so take a look and see what may be coming up. It gets busy so once again I am taking the summer off from working in order to enjoy myself and get out and about. I like being retired!

While there have been some small page tweaks along the way this is basically a seasonal update. The Main headers on all the sections are now the summer versions. The winter versions have been retired until in October / November.

So, with that all said, I am going to get back to work on the cars and get ready for the granddaddy of all cruises, the Woodward Dream Cruise on August 18! Stay tuned!

 

Another Update!

This is a simple structural update

No content was harmed. Actually a few adds.

This update was a unilateral decision for organizational reasons. Not that this is a spectacular high traffic site but more for my own maintainability issues. So consider yourself informed and click on through!

Enjoy!

New Updates for the New Year

Here we are in the new year and I have just updated the main site.

Just the MAIN site for now.

The GARAGE and LIBRARY will get tweaked as time permits.

Most of the changes are an effort to consolidate and tune it up for speed. I pared down the fluff and get it nice without getting carried away. Here is a quick look at the new main page. Click on the image and you can see it live!

For now the winter headers with the snow effect will be up until March .. ish. Then I will put in the summer headers. And the 2018 cruise calendars are being assembled as we speak. Not all of the dates are finalized but they are coming.

All the core stuff is there with a few graphic enhancements along the way. Feel free to give a it a look and spot the updates.. If you haven’t been there before feel free to check it out with the fresh site.

Like I said more to  come! Just be patient.

Burnout – Been there, Done that! Fixed it!

How did I fix it? I retired!

Having one too many bad days at work? You’re burning out! WHAT IS BURNOUT? A state of being in prolonged stress resulting in: Emotional exhaustion Feelings of bleakness Feelings of helplessness Hallmarks: Mental, physical and emotional exhaustion Burnout leaves you feeling psychologically drained Workplace burnout is the most common type You are not alone: Of […]

via BURNOUT — venitism

It’s braking time!

Taking a look at the bearings and brakes on the camper

Disassembly

I spent some time today disassembling the wheels and checking the brake units on the camper. As I suspected the bearings were in good shape and a quick cleaning and repacking was in order.

The Brakes

I can’t say the same for the brake units. This camper has electric brakes. They are small 7′ by 1 1/2″ units. The passenger side was a total disaster. When I removed the drum/hub the brake pad material literally dropped out! Not good! So I removed the 4 nuts that hold the unit on to the axle and removed the unit.

The driver side was similar but this time the coil assembly dropped out! I attempted to get the 4 nuts off to remove the unit only one decided to break the mount stud weld inside the unit so I had to do some additional disassembly of the brake unit to get to the stud in order to get the nut off. Not really hard just annoying. But I did it.

I went to a local parts store and got some new seals and proceeded to clean and repack the bearings. And after a cleanup of the drums inside I assembled the hubs, reinstalled them, and adjusted them uneventfully.

Things To Do

So now it is an online hunt for some new brake units. No biggie. They are fully assembled and install with the four studs and nuts. Then a couple of wire hookups and we’re good to go. Literally. With fully functional brakes! Nice!

 

 

RVAH1 – Smoking Tigers

My first duty assignment was to RVAH1 at NAS Albany, GA. This month RecceNet the online newsletter for the recon squadrons featured my old squadron. Just a bit of military nostalgia. Enjoy!

Vigilante – RVAH NAVY Newsletter

It does pay to be creative and different!

I am part of a Detroit News article!

While “cruising the web” I stumbled across a Woodward Dream Cruise article in the Detroit News

Coolest Dream Cruise grilles and details

As I scrolled through the article, low and behold, there was the grille of MY Mustang! I was kind of taken aback that it was there and then I was pleased that it caught the eye of the photographer. All I can say is that I built it as a diversion from the normal Mustang grille but it gets some other attention because of that fact.

I am pleased with the outcome! Nice!

 

Detroit Car Week Aug 20 -24

Detroit has grasped the Dream Cruise in a unique way by presenting a follow-up set of events at Hart Plaza on the days following the Worlds Largest Car Event -THE WOODWARD DREAM CRUISE.

I will probably attend at least one night.Check it out!

Terminating the engine compartment

Front On

Finishing up the engine compartment on Squeaky Toy

After being side-tracked doing some interior / exterior upgrades to Wun Tun Zoop I turned my attention back to the Squeaky Toy project

See that project here

This morning I took some time and attacked the engine compartment. It was mostly wiring but there were some other things that needed to be addressed. All the wiring has been strung but I hadn’t gotten around to terminating the connections. This allowed me to  re-bundle some of the wiring.

A major portion of this segment project was the front light harness. It is now an all on system. Meaning I am bypassing the whole running lights only to running lights with headlights scenario. Mine is all on or nothing. Including the sport lights. It does make it a bit simpler but it all comes from a single feed to a single point. So a multi-point terminal block and a multi-point ground block got the job done nicely. They are now located on the driver side of the radiator core support. All where they are easy to get to and easily maintained.

Light ’em up and watch the gauges!

Another section that got finalized was the gauge / ignition feeds. Not a big thing but still needed to be finished. I managed to locate my original coil mounting bracket. After a quick cleanup I gave it a nice paint job. And after a bit of rummaging around the goodie bins I found a new chrome Mallory coil. With the new coil mounted on the driver head face it was a nice wiring run with the oil sender and water temp wires.

Some smaller things were cleaning up the distributor clamp and bolt. And I fit the new heater hoses to the pump and intake. It became obvious that the heater hose routing on the new Edelbrock intake would work better with a 90 degree elbow intake fitting. So that is my shop stuff for the morrow.

While we are at it

One side bar item was that we had decided earlier in the project to install a rebuilt distributor so I went shopping online and while I was on the O’Reilly webshop I stumbled across a clearance on AI Cardone distributors! Mine was $22! Plus a small shipping charge. I fluked into a bargain. It is on its’ way!

All in all it was a productive day

It was a bit warmish but I just took it slow and took a lot of liquid breaks. I decided to quit around 3ish. So now it is a shower and Captain Morgan. So long for now. Consider yourself updated.

Power Steering Cooler Replacement

Wun Tunn Zoop

Wun Tunn Zoop gets a replacement power steering cooler assembly

I finally got around to replacing the bad cooler assembly

The power steering cooler was bad when I acquired the van and I just jumped around it way back when. I’m talking  about totally rotting to the touch. The brackets were so gone you could bend them by hand. It has been that way and I had actually went and bought a replacement  GM unit but I never put it in. It’s importance is that the diesel is a Hydro Boost braking system that uses the PS system for its’ power.Lots more fluid and stress on it.

Since I had a free morning I decided to give it a go. After a bit of scouting it was not a bad job.  The cooler is bolted to the frame under the radiator support with the lines going up  to the steering box and power steering pump. The first thing to go was the air cleaner box. It sits right in the the way of all the good stuff. With it out of the way it was an easy go to undo the line to the steering box and the return line to the pump.

The Right Tools For The Job

But … It turns  out this hard line is an 18MM. Of all my line wrenches I did not posses an 18MM. So I went to O’Reilly’s and got one. Easy enough. Then the disassembly began.  With that the line came off with a small bit of effort. Then the return line was a quick clamp removal and a pull. I was smart enough to put a drip pan under the area to catch the PS fluid.

Hair Conditioning

This is where I got a small dose of “what did I just do?” After releasing the lines and the excess fluid was drained into the the catch pan I slid it out of the way. So I thought. As I was undoing the bolts holding the damaged cooler assembly from the radiator support I shifted around a bit to get a better angle and that’s when I  dunked the whole back of my head into the fluid! Oh! Yeah! Nice! But since I was already on it I just went ahead and finished the cooler removal. Then I went inside and decontaminated with a hot shower with 3 shampoos.  Then it was back out to the job.

Hookin It All Up

It was a simple job to embed the new cooler and plumb in the lines. All connected and tight. I topped off the PS system with what I had in the shop. I may need more but that can wait till tomorrow.