Monday, February 27, 2006
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Thursday February 23, 2006
Figgered out what is wrong with the LeMans; choke isn't coming off and is loading up the engine with gas. Now I need to find out why the choke isn't coming off.
I keep forgetting to post that the new fishes name is Sir Palomides.
I keep forgetting to post that the new fishes name is Sir Palomides.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Wednesday February 22, 2006
Figured out why the radio died in the Voyager last night: the 2 rear speakers are shorted to each other and ground. Don't know how or why, just know I need to pull new wire. Darn.
Going to take this afternoon off and look at the LeMans and see if I can find out why it has quit using oil. I have heard otherwise, but in my experience cars don't go from using a quart of oil every 30 miles to using NO oil for 50 miles without some serious help, so I have grounded the vehicle until I can figure out why (I'll accept a miracle). After I look at the LeMans I will be doing the chauffer bit until 9 PM or so.
Need to get my desk cleaned off. Papers keep sliding off the desk and burying my keyboard tray. You would think when that happens people would quit putting thing on my desk; instead they put more on and ask why I don't get this all done ('cause I'm blogging, that's why!!).
Going to take this afternoon off and look at the LeMans and see if I can find out why it has quit using oil. I have heard otherwise, but in my experience cars don't go from using a quart of oil every 30 miles to using NO oil for 50 miles without some serious help, so I have grounded the vehicle until I can figure out why (I'll accept a miracle). After I look at the LeMans I will be doing the chauffer bit until 9 PM or so.
Need to get my desk cleaned off. Papers keep sliding off the desk and burying my keyboard tray. You would think when that happens people would quit putting thing on my desk; instead they put more on and ask why I don't get this all done ('cause I'm blogging, that's why!!).
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Tuesday February 21, 2006
Hey, who turned down the thermostat? I thought it was supposed to stay above 0F last night and it was -8F when I got up. Drove the Voyager anyways although it (the Voyager) was unhappy about starting. Heater output temp got up to approx 80F although I don't think the interior of the van got over 40F. Definitely the next project is the heater.
Spent a lot of time yesterday working on the CEO's Treo 700 from Verizon. It wouldn't AutoSync. It would connect for about 15 - 30 seconds then disconnect. Remove it from the cradle, return it to the cradle, briefly connect then disconnect, repeat. Learned that the new AutoSync 4.1 (required for the Treo 700) uses the TCP/IP stack for connectivity, the USB connection shows up in Device Manager as a Network card. The PC thinks it is a 10 Meg network device!
Coincidently, since the Treo was installed the PC has been taking a very long time to start. It was because the PC was looking at this network device and trying to connect to it (which it can't do until ActiveSync is loaded after login!). If the Treo is not connected to the PC until you want to AutoSync then boot times are back to normal.
Rebuilt the TCP/IP and winsock stacks using netsh, uninstalled and reinstalled ActiveSync, cleaned up the Startup sequence, do a soft reset of the Treo. Same thing: connect briefly then disconnect. So I performed a Hard Reset of the Treo and now it works great.
Of course, you don't want to perform a hard reset unless absolutely needed because it resets the Treo to factory defaults, but sometimes that is the cure. Why the heck Palm is using M$ ActiveSync I don't know because I have never had a problem with HotSync and I have never had a good experience with ActiveSync.
'Til later,
E
Spent a lot of time yesterday working on the CEO's Treo 700 from Verizon. It wouldn't AutoSync. It would connect for about 15 - 30 seconds then disconnect. Remove it from the cradle, return it to the cradle, briefly connect then disconnect, repeat. Learned that the new AutoSync 4.1 (required for the Treo 700) uses the TCP/IP stack for connectivity, the USB connection shows up in Device Manager as a Network card. The PC thinks it is a 10 Meg network device!
Coincidently, since the Treo was installed the PC has been taking a very long time to start. It was because the PC was looking at this network device and trying to connect to it (which it can't do until ActiveSync is loaded after login!). If the Treo is not connected to the PC until you want to AutoSync then boot times are back to normal.
Rebuilt the TCP/IP and winsock stacks using netsh, uninstalled and reinstalled ActiveSync, cleaned up the Startup sequence, do a soft reset of the Treo. Same thing: connect briefly then disconnect. So I performed a Hard Reset of the Treo and now it works great.
Of course, you don't want to perform a hard reset unless absolutely needed because it resets the Treo to factory defaults, but sometimes that is the cure. Why the heck Palm is using M$ ActiveSync I don't know because I have never had a problem with HotSync and I have never had a good experience with ActiveSync.
'Til later,
E
Friday, February 17, 2006
Friday February 17, 2006
Busy day today and not much to say beyond IT"S COLD!!!!!!!!. The high today was, maybe, -6F? Tonight it may get to -30F? Brrrr!!!
Think I will just stay in the house this weekend and veg. Maybe rip some old 78's if I can get the ambition. Maybe play Myst 4 or Myst 5 or URU D'ni or Shell. That would take a lot more ambition then I have right now. Cold makes me want to hibernate.
Spent some time last night on the Arms & Armor Webring. Lot of junk out there but there are a few gems. WWW.KirbyWise.com. Kirby is a proud member of the S.C.A and makes arms (and formerly armor) for them and others. His "Links" page is worth the visit alone. Also his link "A Word About Weapons".
Also came across www.AnvilFire.com. Just about anything involved with blacksmithing including farrier work and, of course, weapons. It will take me a while just to skim that web site.
Think I will just stay in the house this weekend and veg. Maybe rip some old 78's if I can get the ambition. Maybe play Myst 4 or Myst 5 or URU D'ni or Shell. That would take a lot more ambition then I have right now. Cold makes me want to hibernate.
Spent some time last night on the Arms & Armor Webring. Lot of junk out there but there are a few gems. WWW.KirbyWise.com. Kirby is a proud member of the S.C.A and makes arms (and formerly armor) for them and others. His "Links" page is worth the visit alone. Also his link "A Word About Weapons".
Also came across www.AnvilFire.com. Just about anything involved with blacksmithing including farrier work and, of course, weapons. It will take me a while just to skim that web site.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Thursday February 16, 2006
Another cold morning but not as bad, -12 F this morning. Nothing else to say today. Maybe tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Wednesday February 15, 2006
Too cold this AM, -17F this morning. Plugged in Gladiator and drove it this morning.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Tuesday February 14, 2006
Found a cool website, www.swordsmith.net. They are also part of the Arms and Armor Webring which has some interesting sites; haven't really had a chance to look yet.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Monday February 13, 2006
www.salon.com has never interested me, but I did find an archive there of Richard Lederer's Verbivore which provides a fascinating view of the English language. A punny example is http://www.salon.com/weekly/verb960708.html.
Monday February 13, 2006
Busy busy weekend. Spent all day Saturday between shopping and visiting in Bemidji.
Went over to JimJ's on Sunday afternoon with Matt. Matt went to look at JimJ's ham shack and I took the Voyager so I could use JimJ's heated shop and work on making the doors lock. Since I have been unable to lock the doors I have been unwilling to carry my tools in it which has been rather inconvenient. Took apart all the latch mechanisms, cleaned them out, lubed them up. Found one that had a flipped spring, fixed that. Now all the doors lock and unlock properly.
Helped JimJ some with his sisters Geo. She hit a moose the other night which kinda skooshed down the drivers corner of the roof. JimJ cut the roof off along with the bent front piller and got another roof with pillars. We got it pretty well aligned by the time we left. JimJ made reinforcing brackets to weld inside the pillars, so we were able to set the roof in place then bolt up the doors and test for alignment. Pretty tricky and far beyond anything I would have attempted, but I think it will turn out nice. He is going to clean up and put in new undercoating and add some foam insulation in the quarter panels. It should be a pretty nice ride when completed.
JimJ loaned Matt a couple of Radios to listen to, now Matt needs to build a couple of Antennas.
Now I need to determine the next priority for the Voyager Project. Should I replace the (dead) factory stereo next? Fix the (frozen) Parking Brake next? Replace the Heater core next? I suspect that I will be replacing the stereo next, I really miss having tunes. I do have some heat, and I haven't yet had a car in MN that had a working parking brake.
What I'd really like to do is put this power train in my black Voyager body which is in much better condition and add the Turbo from my Caravan to the Voyager. I think a Black 89 Voyager with a 5-speed 2.5 Turbo would make a nice ride. We'll see. Before I can do any of that I need to fix a Horizon and a LeMans and a Gladiator.
Went over to JimJ's on Sunday afternoon with Matt. Matt went to look at JimJ's ham shack and I took the Voyager so I could use JimJ's heated shop and work on making the doors lock. Since I have been unable to lock the doors I have been unwilling to carry my tools in it which has been rather inconvenient. Took apart all the latch mechanisms, cleaned them out, lubed them up. Found one that had a flipped spring, fixed that. Now all the doors lock and unlock properly.
Helped JimJ some with his sisters Geo. She hit a moose the other night which kinda skooshed down the drivers corner of the roof. JimJ cut the roof off along with the bent front piller and got another roof with pillars. We got it pretty well aligned by the time we left. JimJ made reinforcing brackets to weld inside the pillars, so we were able to set the roof in place then bolt up the doors and test for alignment. Pretty tricky and far beyond anything I would have attempted, but I think it will turn out nice. He is going to clean up and put in new undercoating and add some foam insulation in the quarter panels. It should be a pretty nice ride when completed.
JimJ loaned Matt a couple of Radios to listen to, now Matt needs to build a couple of Antennas.
Now I need to determine the next priority for the Voyager Project. Should I replace the (dead) factory stereo next? Fix the (frozen) Parking Brake next? Replace the Heater core next? I suspect that I will be replacing the stereo next, I really miss having tunes. I do have some heat, and I haven't yet had a car in MN that had a working parking brake.
What I'd really like to do is put this power train in my black Voyager body which is in much better condition and add the Turbo from my Caravan to the Voyager. I think a Black 89 Voyager with a 5-speed 2.5 Turbo would make a nice ride. We'll see. Before I can do any of that I need to fix a Horizon and a LeMans and a Gladiator.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Friday February 10, 2006
TGIF!!! Been a long week. Might take a trip to Bemidji this weekend if anyone will be home there (hint).
Thursday, February 9, 2006
Thursday February 9, 2006
Busy day today. Good to hear E&J are still kicking. Voyager gas mileage is improving; up to 21 MPG last night. I hope to get that up to about 25MPG, I still haven't done a lot of work on it that I would like to. Maybe when the weather gets warmerAND it is not snowing....
Wednesday, February 8, 2006
Wednesday February 8, 2006
-10F this morning; drove Gladiator. Dings in Voyager windshield better than they were but not as good as the kit implied. My guess is that it should NOT be applied in cold weather. Try again this summer and see if it works better.
Monday, February 6, 2006
Monday February 6, 2006
Thought I should enter something, but don't know what.
There are a few dings in the windshield of the Voyager, so I bought a windshield repair kit at wally-world. It doesn't say anything in the instructions about temperature, just says that it must be applied in the shade and then moved into direct sunlight or use a UV lamp to cure the resin. Don't know if temp got over 15F yesterday; but it was the first sunny day that I wasn't doing umpty-nine different things so I decided to try it. Put an electric heater inside the Voyager to try to keep the glass a bit warmer from inside and then followed the directions. Resin didn't want to flow into the cracks as described by instructions. We will see what happens.
Left the heater in the Voyager all night. -5F this am but inside of car nice and toasty. Unfortunately, by the time I had driven up to the corner this morning the engine hadn't warmed up yet and it was starting to cool off inside. Heater still not as good as Gladiator. Have to work on that some time .
See ya next time.
There are a few dings in the windshield of the Voyager, so I bought a windshield repair kit at wally-world. It doesn't say anything in the instructions about temperature, just says that it must be applied in the shade and then moved into direct sunlight or use a UV lamp to cure the resin. Don't know if temp got over 15F yesterday; but it was the first sunny day that I wasn't doing umpty-nine different things so I decided to try it. Put an electric heater inside the Voyager to try to keep the glass a bit warmer from inside and then followed the directions. Resin didn't want to flow into the cracks as described by instructions. We will see what happens.
Left the heater in the Voyager all night. -5F this am but inside of car nice and toasty. Unfortunately, by the time I had driven up to the corner this morning the engine hadn't warmed up yet and it was starting to cool off inside. Heater still not as good as Gladiator. Have to work on that some time .
See ya next time.
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
Wednesday February 1, 2006
Happy Birthday, Evan!
Drove up to Oak Hills today and surprised Evan for his birthday. Drove the Voyager for its first real road test, it did very well. Gave Evan a car for his birthday (a small toy one, hehheh).
Found a great website, http://ejmas.com. Lots of Martial Arts info there and well worth a visit.
Drove up to Oak Hills today and surprised Evan for his birthday. Drove the Voyager for its first real road test, it did very well. Gave Evan a car for his birthday (a small toy one, hehheh).
Found a great website, http://ejmas.com. Lots of Martial Arts info there and well worth a visit.
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