Since the key component, a Crankshaft, is enroute, and I can’t do a damned thing until that is in hand (I don’t want to open the bearing packs until I KNOW that the journals are Factory spec, which is what my bearings are for. Can’t return them opened up,,,) Well, a might borin’ day, it be.

Whats a Wrench puller to do when the wrenches must sit idle?????

THROW STICKS!!!

LOL,,, thats a truly fancy way of saying “archery” >snark off<

And I found YET ANOTHER way that a certain Pittie, no longer gassy or itchy-scratchy Pittie, Bent me over and laid some shit in my world.

Some of y’all know I do most all the aspects of my archery tuning meself. From canvasing the shafts so they all match, fine balancing the shafts with points that match, Fletching my shafts with TURKEY FEATHER because I despise the plastic-y ‘vanes’ (sorry, a pet-peeve of mine, like calling a magazine a ‘clip’. Clips load M-1 Garandes, Mosin-Nagants, SKS’s, magazine’s load most everything else. I digress,,,,)

Wellsah,,, went to reflectch some of my shafts today, brighter feathers, cleaner feathers since some of the current ones look rather abused and in one case, barely hanging on, ready to leave this plane of existence behind in the next shot.

ONLY,,,, The Fletching clamp for my jig is Buh-Bye,,,, Nowhere to be found. And I know I had taken it from Cozzie at one point: but dummy me, put it back where it belongs. Right where Cozzie found it to begin with.

sigh,,,, And that particular jig is no longer in production as I found,,,,

Bite the bullet, buy a new one: one similar so I am not on a learning curve when I get it, though they really aren’t all that different (straight or helical, left or right, pretty straight up.) Cheap version, as some of those are out-flippin’-rageous in price (seriously, I saw one that didn’t look at all different from what I ordered, priced at $300 STICKER SHOCK! That thing had better fletch the arrows for me and play song while doing it, IMO.)

thanks Cozz-dawg! Luvs the mutt and I am glad as hell the chewin’ phase is over. Still workin’ on the Nip phase when playing (and I hope the other puppers he plays with teach him some etiquette there. (Kats do this, teaching the young’uns about teefers and klawbies, and when to keep both sheathed.) He’s still a puppy, though he is physically about as big as he will ever get (still putting on muscle, but I think the bone growing has slowed if not stopped.)(side note: the little miscreant can RUN!!! He was trying to catch me in Buffalo the other day, wanting a ride, and I raced off. He kept up until I passed the 30mph mark! NO SHIT!!!)

As for the other things goin’ on: Bloo, J.O.B., WINTERBLAHS,,, Upcoming campin’ trip was mutually cancelled by the potential attendees. We looked ahead at the weather liar predictions (which, tend to ‘surprisingly accurate’ in the winter months.) and decided to hold off. Testing equipment is one thing: pushing the limits of exposure for some Male bonding thing? Not so much. Temps were slated to be in the LOW TEENS all three nights,,, Brudda B and I did that “hell froze over” camping last year, and knocking the frost out of the inside of the tent was a new experiance for me. Not the sort of trip you want to introduce a newb with (Brudda J is the newb).

BUT, I still want to shorten my work-week at the J.O.B. so that I can focus on getting Bloo out of my Da’s basement. Running that 1ton HVAC unit is costing him mad right now. (and why he wanted that monster to keep that house cool is beyond me. Is whu-t’is!) I’m making no plans at this point because with the weather, the crankshaft may be later than ‘promised’. Can’t say one way or the other, but everything else I have ordered the last couple of weeks has been ‘off schedule’ by at least a day: one week in one items case. In fact, weather has slowed us down at the J.O.B. more than once. Even though we set some poles in concrete last week, the chance of them being set this week is SLIM TO NONE,,, Its been that kold,,, Can’t hang wire on green concrete,,, I may get the text in the morning that ‘no work today’, seeing how its set to rain/turn to sleet overnight.

don’t get mad about it, do something, anything, even if its just tossin’ sticks around. And I am getting more comfortable with my newer bows, that shoot off the knuckle, not a shelf. Getting to where I can call the shots with them, like I do with that Bear Grizzly. Takes time to adjust to the primtive methods after years of ‘modern’ set ups.

blah, blah-blahblahblah,,,, I’m ramblin’ again, t’ain’t I? Poligies,,,,

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Some of y’uns might be thinking I am rushing at finishing Bloo with a vengeance.

ya might be right

several points of order to address here. One: The Da. I’m using his charity of letting me use his basement Garage for these repairs, out of the weather. The downside, he’s paranoid of my burning his place down due to the fact there is a FULL fuel tank with 30 gallons of gasoline sitting 20′ from his woodburning stove.

And now that tank of fuel is sitting there for even MORE days beyond planned. I’m only catching minor grief over it currently, as its pretty obvious some of this is out of my hands,,, Like delivery of a certain key part, and without that part, there is ZERO forward movement. Yeah, I ‘shoulda’ seen it coming and prepared accordingly,,, Woulda-shoulda-coulda’s get people killed in war. I didn’t, but He did see how quickly I jumped on a solution as soon as it was OBVIOUS.

SO, yah, thats one reason,,,,

Second reason: This truck is supposed to MAKE MONEY,,, not drink it like the spiked punch at a Homecoming dance. So far, she has wracked up a SUBSTANTIAL bill, and thats on my labor rates ($0/hr) If someone had taken her to a shop to do all the things I am doing,, that bill would be triple or higher of what I have already spent, and on a truck that bluebooks for $4000.00. I have easily spent that amount as of todays last minute scamble purchase.

Third Point: Buffalo is NOT getting any younger or BETTER by my using her everyday as the Gopher Truck. The intent of having two trucks was so that she could get a rest and I could put some of the finances in her stall and get her back up to snuff. SO far, Bloo is center stage,,,

Just before I made the final call to buy Bloo, I was torn by ‘portents’. Those portents are what you are reading about here, as they are coming true. MY THOUGHTS at the time were ‘Hard choices, easy live, easy choices hard life” and the hard choice in this case was to make the buy, invest in the truck, and make it DOABLE as my escape route from the Armpit of Kentucky, or at least into a future where I have more control over my work conditions. She is already proving her worth on those points as I haven’t needed to revert to ‘going and getting tools’ from Buffalo or my shed at the house. All of the tools I have used in this project are already in her boxes, right there, ready to be put into use.

And hooo-boy are they getting used. I had some that were showing signs of rust: No longer,,, They are all getting re-lubed and wiped down regularly in this project. But I digress,,,

Point of fact, her ‘Functions’ are being ‘tried by fire’ and coming out ‘perfect’. Its the mobility issue, and that is being addressed in these repairs. I could have shortcut things like the Clutch, but dangit, I know the false economy of re-using old parts, even if ‘Good’. (fun fact, Cleaned up the flywheel of dust and odd rusty sections. You can still see the factory grooves in the face. BABIED CLUTCH!!!, never abused. No high RPM clutch dumps on this girl.) I’m in there, its getting replaced.

I would honestly, prefer at this point to do a full build on this engine, but finances prohibit that, timing prohibits that, SPACE prohibits that,,, PLUS, I really need to consider that option for Buffalo FIRST,, seeing how she has over a 100K MORE on the clock than Bloo.

“Dio, with what you are spending on these two trucks, why dont you just buy new?”

Good question, with a BETTER answer. I just read where a certain car company just made it so you are not ALLOWED to do your own work on their car. You buy, it, you own it; only, not really,,,

on top of that, almost everything after 2000 has gotten so computer controlled, that even swapping out a radio in the dash causes computer issues. (fact, after 2015, there isn’t a radio in the dash, its a touch screen interface and the ‘radio’ is IN the BCM,,,)

so the real answer to that question above: I don’t WANT a new car,,, I’ll take the 200000mile beater and make it better, and be HAPPY with it, and the manufacterers can kiss my lily white ass.

There may come a day where buying car parts is akin to bootleggin’, and I will take my chances on that. It’s all part and parcel of that “you will own nothing and be happy” schtick,, Fuggem!!! I have no problems living in debt, but I do have problems with not being able to claim the fruits when that debt is paid off: and thats what Klaus Schwab was saying in that statement,,, You’ll live in debt with no claim to the fruits of that debt. THAT IS SLAVERY,,,,

I ain’t a slave.

I may slave away, but I am NO SLAVE. I can walk away from anything at anytime, and continue to hold my head high that NO ONE OWNS ME. I could even walk away from this debt, but that goes against my ethics,,, I took on that debt KNOWINGLY, I will pay it back intently.

So, stepping away from the soapbox I suddenly found myself on,,, y’all have a good night.

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Talking about ‘Planned obselence” and ‘you’ll own nothing and be happy’,,, This guy popped up in my utoob feeds

I’m not alone in my desire to be the “repair it” guy

It’s 6aye-em and dark out. Been up since 5, gettin’ my cuppa’s in, letting the body wake slowly.

I surely do not know how I did this stuff in my younger days. I feel like I went through the Crucible on Parris Island this morning: muscles feeling that ‘workout’ burn/ache from disuse to full monty activity. I thought I was doing pretty good with the calisthenics: LOL NOT! Maybe I need to ramp that activity in the mornings and evenings. Or at least raise the weight factor in those weight lifting moves I do practice.

The truth of what ails BlooTwuck comes out first thing this mornin’ I’ll be headed down to Da’s here after I hit publish on this; a repeat of getting grimey and gross. Old truck, years of seepy gaskets, everything is a little sticky and greasy. Eventually I will take care of the top end, and seal those valve covers and intakes back up. Too much on the dinner plate this round,,,

I’m feeling the ‘creeping dread’ of watching a horror movie right now. You know the feeling; the one where you are internally screaming at the main character ” don’t open that door, DON’T OPEN THAT DOOR!” ,,, Yeah,,, that,,, I almost don’t want to pull those caps and see the carnage.

Or worse: such as my pulling those caps and seeing NOTHING of consequence. That would tell me that I would be doing the top end sooner, and replacing even MORE parts, like lifters and a camshaft. I feel strongly that my diag is the correct one, but there are so many moving parts in that section of the block, it literally could be any of the above and sound similar. Fingers crossed: the Rubicon of truth is dead ahead. (and it may be a case of my needing to find a scrap yard to find a crankshaft, as RockAuto does NOT have any in stock: yes, I checked,,, )

Either way,,, I’ll know soon enough, and WILL post pics of that carnage as I find it. Stay tuned HERE on this post as I will do those as updates to this post.

more as the day progresses,,,

L.L.L.L.L!

(, ‘)

dunno the amount of damage in thousandths .yet, but its significant, may be terminal for this crank. No 7 shows some wear as well

new crank $400+$75shipping, be here Muhnday. Looks like Dio is taken some time off from J.O.B.

That was behind the flywheel,,,

And someone has been here before. There are a couple of odd bolts on the Rear mainseal cover,,, and as you can see, that looks GREAT. Still gonna replace it since I am in here. Same thing with the near perfect Friction plate on the clutch. Definitely on the throwout bearing and slave cylinder,,, (the slave and throw out looked OE. And the throw out was noisy off n on.) All of it!!!! NEW,, I’m there, Do IT! You can kinda see in the pic, the manifold is already done,, The old one was cracked 90% of its diameter between 5 and 7. Didnt come apart on removal. But I could flex it and open up that crack by hand.

Oil pan is off, but I took one look at the caps and splash plate and oil pump sump, and said “Call it!” 8 straight hours,,, I’m a little whooped right now, needed to eat something, and Of course, the Kidz at home were yowling about my negligence,,,, Cosmos not so much as he hung out at Da’s all day, playing with his girlfriend and keeping me company when I went out to chill off. No fire in the box, but its plenty warm in there.

Tomorrow I find out how bad it is. I could have tonight, but Figured, if I know, I’ll have a hard time sleepin’ tossin’ and frettin’ over it. I can sleep soundly tonight, knowing how close I am to finding out. Prayin’ that catching it early alleviates the worst possibles. Lots of ‘glitter’ in the bottom of the pan, but no chunks,,,

Tomorrow the real work begins.

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(, ‘)

Its Friday. I seem to recall that today is the last day for Mike inFLA’s cancer treatments. Lets all send up a call to God/Yahwah/ your prefered diety of choice, for his complete remission.

I’ll be diving into the lower end of BlooTwuck here shortly, Praying that the Knockin’ about, hasn’t galled the journals and I can get away with a simple clean up of galleys and polishing journals to ensure good oil flow.

My prognostication that we would not be working the J.O.B. was dead on (would that my prognosticatin’ for poli-sci were marginally better like my work prognosticatin’ is.) This would normally ‘gall my bearings’ a touch, but with the BlooTwuck sitting in the clinic right now,,, More time for her, more that can be done, and since its out of the weather,,,

Da gave me a little grief last eve. Worried about all that gas thats in Bloo. Seeing how his woodburner is in the basement as well, I sorta see the issue. BUT, I have never smelled gasoline smells around her. (no leaks found, yet) and a FULL tank is much safer than a partially filled one: Less vapor and vapor is what does the boomy boomy. Explaining that to a Da, not so easy: I’m still the young punk dummy child in his minds eye. Actual experiance is null and void when dealing with an elder ‘Rent: they only remember all the fuck-ups you did as you grew. Doesn’t even matter that you have proven, FREQUENTLY, that your experiance in some area exceeds theirs.

Well, he decided, he isn’t backing out of his offer to let me use the basement, BUT, there will be no fire in the box for the interrum. Just going to use the ginormous HVAC unit to keep the house warm. Fine,,, A little cooler down there, but still better than the ambient on the other side of the garage door. Worked in worse, will again. My gig is to get this done SOONEST, so some of the niggling little details I was hopping to get at will be laid aside. Like finding that Backup lights wire,,, It can wait. The big stuff, bearing refresh, clutch, manifold,,, those are my priorities.

SO, Send up a prayer for Mike in FLA, that his remission is a reality. Bloo, that she didn’t munch critical parts in such short span of badness. ME, that my skills are still on par to my old self. And to anyone else, including yourself, that is on the cusp of some change in life: preferably for the better.

More laters, but likely super early or super late as MY GOAL is to be super focused on metal and physics.

Now, for anudder cuppa as I wait for the lightening of the sky to indicate a new day has dawned. (its super cloudy out, so no sunlight today.)

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BlooTwuck is sitting down at Da’s currently. I’m sittin’ at home. Regular work day tomorrow at the J.O.B. but I’d rather be elbow deep in grease and grime getting things DONE!!!

Patience Grasshoppa!!!

yah, yah, yah,,, I’m tryin’, I am. The running dialogue here in the house is a mirror of this post. Talkin’ to Mama-kat on my lap, telling her how much I’d rather be down there turnin’ wrenches,,, Getting purred at because she doesn’t understand my words, only that I am talking to her.

sigh,,,,

I’m tryin’. Can’t do, not yet: still have some stuff to pick up when I do my banking run tomorrow. Cleaners mostly, some RTV for gaskets, Assembly lube for the rebuild side (I have some,,, Highly doubt I have enough.) Stuff, don’t want to get caught without it and have to interupt my flow. And I fully intend to get into a Zen state while doing this. Yeah, I might cuss at times, but when things get moving (especially on the rebuild side) I already have the gist of the motions down and “Fly!”. Like this afternoon, doing the teardown then build back to running. Maybe I shortcut some points (like just a little RTV as a gasket on the water pump) but it wasn’t critical, just enough to get her down the hill. Doing it ‘properly’ wouldn’t have taken me any longer, but would be wasted since its all coming right back apart.

I did all of that ‘tear down and back to running’ in one hour. I think book time calls for 2 hours for replacing the timing gears. I didn’t replace them, but could have in a matter of minutes where I was.

So, I try to get my thoughts on to a different focus: Just what am I attempting to do with BLooTwuck? Mobile mechanic? (doable) mobile welding? (doable) General handyman services? (doable),,,,,

Hell, that door is WIDE THE F! OPEN, ain’t it? Up to me, so many choices, so many skillsets that I could bring to the table,,,,DO bring to the table already, but for one company,,, Time to take back my life?

Gots some thinks on my plate, don’t I?

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udate: we may not be workin tomorrow anyways

As in, “thats a goodness thing”.

Off at noon today after building a custom gate and some drop rods for all the crap I have built this week (between running demo-hammer and crew.)

Home by 1pm, after stopping at Da’s and checking in the deliveries today. Everything there, even though Da did try to run it all over: FedEx dropped it right in front of his garage door, and he didn’t look before backing out. Nothing of consequence damaged.

Pulled Waterpump, Harmonic balancer, timing cover, and pulled the broken Crank Sensor out of its hole. Put timing cover back on, put the crank sensor in, plugged it up and CHECKED,,,

Vrooom!!!! Fired right up!

Shut her right down since no coolant, no drive belts, no nuthin to keep things running for long, and put her ALL BACK TOGETHER AGAIN just so I can tear it ALL BACK OUT this weekend. ROFLMAO,,,, Not like I don’t know what I’m doing the fourth time (fifth???) time around,,, I sorta lost track of how many times I have pulled the front of this motor apart,,,, Heck,,, I know it well enough I only pulled FOUR sockets out today. I didn’t need a mess of tools to do the job.

THIS

was the sole problem. Well, that and a Harmonic balancer that was machined 1/10″ TOO SHORT on the main shaft. thats why it impacted the sensor when I bottomed it out on the timing gears. I did measure both the old and the new with a depth gauge, and that 10th of an inch was GLARING.

Anywhoozmajigitz, I’m cooking a lunch, warming up, (t’ain’t bad out, 39, no wind. But it ain’t the tropics either.) THEN, I’ll take it down to Da’s and park it (and get it out of my Cousins mind for thievery. He saw the open boxes the other day and I can envision him drooling over the contents.)(no worries, If I see him in action on Twuck, there won’t be a 9-1-1 call,,, Coyotes need to eat too.)

More laters as I warm up, and relax a bit. Feeling much more able bodied about this coming weekend, and what I have to do.

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(, ‘)