trans is back in, crossmember holding but not bolted yet.

yup, this one will work properly, I bled for it.

and I know, because I just put the stick back in and its was smmoooottthhhh

let me wrap up this jib and this digit and Ill be back

Whutaday,,,,

Doc trip with dad, not happy, not overly perturbed either. His EKG looked good, though his BP and Pulse scared the ever loving shit out self and Doc when first checked. Think it was anxiety cuz after a bit, everything settled down and even the Doc made mention of that. Fam’s will be filled in on deets as I can get hold of them,,, Just so y’all know, Yes, he is still on this side of the dirt, just as grumpy as ever,,,

ON to BLOO-TWUCK,,,,

First off,,, CNS just like I was scared was gonna happen. EASY fix,,, Distro was 180 out. Oops! Turn that around, and she fired right the F! up,, Vrooom! only,,, no oil pressure on the dash. SHUT HER OFF and pull that Distro AGAIN,,,, LOL Gettin’ damned good and fast that,,,

And ya know what I found?

Busted Oil Sending unit. Broke right in half, just like I had done to that Crank Sensor a couple three weeks back. Sheww,,,, thank the small gods its something silly and simple.

to the tune of $50 Oops,,, What the heck are those things made of these days,,, a troy ounce of silver?

Some of you might hear it mid-vid. Some may not. I did, but didn’t understand what I was hearing. I minor ticking noise,,, NOT ENGINE,,,

Nopes,,, I had pulled the number one plug to verify TDC when I had the timing mark lined up, to check my distro position. Even put the plug back,,,

Did NOT plug it in,,, that ticking noise is the spark jumping the air gap to ground in the open air. HOT SPARK!!! Plugged it back in and the engine smoothed out even more.

BUT,,,

I ain’t totally happy right now. NOT engine issues,,, Clutch issues. I may need to drop that center support again so I can get at the bellhousing bolts as I can see a slight gap between the block and the bell.(I’m gonna try to get to them otherways, before I make that decision. Long extensions and wobble sockets are your friend,,, I have both.) My dumb fault of course, like every thing else I have done here. Clutch works, but its not QUITE right,,, hard to get in gear right now. That gap is only 1/16″ but apparently enough,,, I know that depressing the arms on the clutch only needs 1/8th to fully disengage the pressure plate so 1/16th would make things ‘iffy’. Bled the system twice to be sure that wasn’t the problem (and that is such a strange way to bleed hyrdraulics. But its a proven method.)

She’s home now,,, I can shift gears enough to do that, even took her around the ‘block’ for test run and shake down with a quick double check over everything at Da’s, before loading up and bringing her up the hill.

Relieved, frustrated, happy, a touch disappointed (that clutch thing,,, I’ll get over it .) but so frellin’ satisfied that she didn’t blow the F! up when I fired her up. No strange noises (that I didn’t induce, that is) just smooth runnin’ Twuck, even if a little on the loud side. (note, I did get some of that exhaust welded up, but I want to wait till I can get at from a better angle with a touch more room underside. Its enough to hold it all in place, not enough to seal it all the way up.

So, Tippin’ a beer, and a shot, and callin’ it a night. I still have two days to get things in order (and I did domestics today,,, bizzy little beaver I was.) before I head back to J.O.B. and bring Twuck along for her first day of work. (yes, I am being gentle as hell with her for a thousand miles or so, gonna do another oil change in 500. I wants this’un to last.)

LIVE

Learn

LAUGH

LOVE

LOAD!

And hopefully the trials and tribulations of Bloo Twuck are too.

No, Not done yet. BUT,,, Everything is back in place with the exception of welding the exhaust (which IS back in place, just not welded.) Even repaired a couple of broken wires found.

BUT bytime I was at that point, daylight was fading, and I need to push BLoo outside to do the initial vroomvroom,,, Ain’t gonna fire her up in my Da’s basement, no way.

Plus,,, I had realized I’d forgotten the keys at home when I came back to change into Grubbies after Christmas dinner. (Redneck I may be, but I did come home and clean my self up and put on clean clothes for Dinner,,,) Probably a good thing because if I had ran into a CNS issue again, I would be chasing that issue like a bloodhound on a racoons trail.

and I am kinda whooped,,,, (update: there is a strange emotion coursing through my system currently. A combined feeling of dread and anticipation,,, I have done so much inside that engine the last 3 weeks, anything could be at fault. And yet, I am also giddy at the thought of hearing her fire up and run smoothly,,, Will know the final score tomorrow when i return to it.)

Tomorrow I have to take Da to the Doc in a box,,, he ain’t been feelin’ well lately since his last Doctor visit(as in PhD type) and now really doesn’t trust any of the acredited types,,, So , Nurse Practitioners,,,, I personally feel they do better anyway, more inclined to FIX the issues or at least give it one helluva shot. Even when I had torn muscles in my arm, they weren’t able to FIX the problem, but were able to show me that simple rest and low use (as in nothing more than a couple pounds lift) would do the trick, and a steroid shot to kick things off.

Hopefully this is just a setback, not symptoms of a bigger issue,,, but will see.

Then, I see about Running Bloo Twuck,,,

Been a day guys,,, been a day,,

Live

Laugh

Love

Learn

LOAD!

(, ‘)

It’s cold in the desert come December,,, And being a small time repair shop in the middle of said desert makes for lots of think time. Living near the witches of Amboy Crater, on the National Trails highway, that really isn’t much of a highway,,, Well, live moves at a much slower pace than nearer the multilane roads going to L.A.

Christmas eve, its lonely in the house ever since the missus joined her parents in heaven,,, I couldn’t take the ghosts of Christmas past anymore, so came out here to the shop, kicked on the “Open” sign and am trying to visit with Ghosts of Christmas future.

They seem a might few and far between these days,,,

Headlights,,, movin’ slow,,, Hmm…

A little beat up Toyota Celica from many many decades past pulls in,,, Front drivers side tire smoking in the chill air. I step out and can smell the burned brake pads and hear the tinking of cooling metal. I already know what the problem is, Too bad it will be a week before I can get the parts though.

“Are you really Open?” says the young fresh faced college age girl from the open drivers window.

“Yes’m. Not much to do but sit out here and think, maybe offer someone some help if needed.”

“Yeah,,, ’bout that.” she mumbles, “I think I need some help here.”

“I can tell you do ma’am,,, Problem being, its Christmas eve and there ain’t a thing but me between here and Needles and Twenty-nine Palms Base. Nothing open, nowhere to get parts.” I slow down a bit; no need to get the girl into a major depression. ” I can get you a room at Roys hotel in Amboy, but repairing your car isn’t going to happen tonight or tomorrow.”

“Shit!,,, I knew it. ” she remarks as she hits the steering wheel. “I was supposed to be meeting up with my husband at the Stumps.” she said, which tells me she is a verfiable Marine wife. No one in the Civvy world calls it ‘the stumps’. “NOW, here I am, in the middle of literal nowhere,,, with a broken car,,,”

“Tell ya what. I can use your car as collateral, and lend you a car to get you where you need, BUT, You gotta make good for me and get back here as soon as the holidays are over. There ain’t a place you could rent one out here and its almost 2 hours back to Needles, the only place with a rental, and they likely aren’t even open today.”

“You’d lend me a car?” she asks incredulously.

“Sure. Its the missus’ car, she won’t mind. May not be what you are used to, but it runs really nice and takes these rough desert roads like a tank.”

“wouldn’t your wife be upset with you lending her car to a young girl?”

“Na, she’s across the highway with the rest of the family we had” I say, pointing
The young girl looks, sees the Cemetary gates and goes pale. ” You just make sure to watch it going, sometimes the sand blows and makes the road fade away at night.”

“I noticed that after leaving Needles. Scary!” she agrees. “What do you need from me, ’cause I am already late and he is probably freakin’ out a bit.”

“Just a way to get ahold of you. I don’t want to repair your car without your approval of its cost. I can tell you, its gonna be a little pricey as the parts for this old girl aren’t common anymore.”

“I know,,, its my grandmas car she left me, and I love it, but it tends to eat my savings up, in upkeep. I’m Malorie,,,,” extending her hand,,,

so we go inside and exchange keys and information. Afterwards, I go back to the house and get Mama’s Volvo and bring it to the shop. And old 80’s model; square like a pile of bricks and just as tough. Funny, its nearly the same year as Malories Celica.

As she is leaving, I watch the tailights fade into the desert night. I do hope she has a better Christmas than she has been having. I turn back to the shop and pull her car in; working on the brakes to find out whats wrong and what needs replaced, until my yawns are too frequent.

—————–Christmas Day————

Looking online to get parts for Malories car, I get an estimate together. Will be 2 weeks she is down, as all the parts need ordered from wholesalers or from scrap yards. It’s getting harder and harder to find parts for some of these older models. I’ll call her with an estimate tomorrow,,, let her have her time with Hubby and friends today.

Yet another lonely day in the desert; at least I have something to work on to turn my mind outward, and not inward as is usual.

Then I hear the rumble,,, ‘what the hell?!?!”

Looking down the highway, a line of Humvees is headed down the highway past my place from the direction of 29 Palms. Highly unusual for a convoy during the holiday. I stand in the doorway watching.

Only, they don’t drive by,,,,

They pull into my lot. Its a tight squeeze for 20 humvees, but they do so and not hog the shoulder of the road.

And then I see Mama’s Volvo,,, with a grinning Malorie behind the wheel. She pulls in as close as she get with all the military hardware occupying my lot, and starts my way. As she does, a young man joins her, head to toe in MarPat cammies. A Captain if I recall the bars correctly. He hugs her and clasps her hand as the two head my way.

“Zack, meet my Husband, Captain Reese” she pronounces the last name like the candy,, “We brought Christmas dinner with us for you and his company.”

And the Captain says, ‘No one should be alone on Christmas, sir,,,

Merry Christmas,,,,”

---

story track inspired by Jays post

For those of you that are,,,, find a church or outreach, find people,,, this day is not one you should be silent and lonely over.

Everything torqued, lubed and final check b4 uphill climb

might be tighter than I’m used to, but she moves. Preload is around 55ftlbs now.

onward!

(note: I did need to continue some hand fitting today as the tolerances were TOO TIGHT. Saw a couple places on the bearing that were ‘dry’ of lube when I pulled it after torquing for the plastigauge.

thats whats taken so long this day. Besides taking a brief lunch.)

(Update) It’s late,, seven-ish,, I worked to Dusk (and caught one HELL OF A SUNSET,,, man!!!) Where Bloo sits: all the top front end is back together shy the secondary ignition system. no plugs or wires ran yet. rearmain seal, timing cover oil pump, pan, harmonic balancer, water pump, belt, fan, all back in place. I decided to take that route after getting the pan back on since I was feeling a little tuckerd out and the thought of wrasslin’ that transmission around did not tempt me. So, do something, as there’s lots still to be done,

Only now, there’s less of it LOL

Currenlty sitting with my writers hat on, finanglin’ a story for y’all. Sorta along the theme this past month has gone: I write what I know eh? SO, look forward to that

Live

Learn

LAUGH

LOVE

LOAD!

a life I know and loved.

Orvan Taurus illuminates the backstage a bit in this little post

its not the faces in the news that keep the wheels on and turning. Nopes, they usually are part of the problems,,,

Its the little guy, the quiet ones, the un-thanked ones, the ones who get cursed at for all the orange traffic cones when you are in a rush,,,

its the sound man in the dark that gets it ‘just right’ at the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show, the lighting guy who matches the lights to the mood seamlessly, the costume chick who nails down the image the character portrays.

its the operator at the sewer plant working Christmas day, the plowman on the streets at 3am, clearing the ways for morning traffic. The electrical engineer at the distro watching the gauges as Christmas morning pulls surges, and keeps the power flowing smoothly.

yeah. The unsung heroes of our modern world

‐–‐————-‐

mors laters. Greasy engine to play with

L,L,L,L,L!

(, ‘)

Kinda late in the day, but wanted to let y’all in on me plans.

I have Plastigauge now,,, red and green strips. $9 from local Napa,,, Can’t complain, enough to do all the mains and two types ‘just in case’ (and for laters as needed if needed.)

I have ZERO events lined up for tomorrow, though Christmas day, yah, more’n likely gonna be runnin’ round with the Da to see peeps. The group around here is all old enough, no gifting anymore (they did it for years but ended up everyone would just buy a cash card for their recipient, and that gets rather lame when you get back what you gave away,,,ROFL) Instead, we eat too much, tell tall tales, and hope to see everyone again at the next. Every year seems we lose at least one.

Its called life,,, Only one way out.

Or another thought on the coming and going of life. “I came in kicking and screaming, covered in someone elses blood,,, I intend to go out the same way.” That was the warrior mantra when we were headed to Kuwait.

ANywhoozzits,,,,I’ll be down at Da’s early-like. Gots lots of things to do before I go putting the polish on. Pulling those two caps off, plastigauging, torquing, pulling, measuring and HOPEFULLY, get the Greenlight, and begin the march back uphill to RUNNING TWUCK!!!

Fingers crossed. Blessing begged, Machine Prayer gun on full on boogie switch.

MOre laters, Christmas story in the works Hope to publish on Christmas day,,,, (even if it means I sleep not,,,)

Live

Learn

LAUGH

Love

LOAD!