Well, it's been a while so I thought I had better post something.
The Voyager got 25 mpg on the last two fill-ups, still better than a swift kick (but 34 looked so nice).
Gas is up to $2.85/gal.
The Gladiator's brakes are fixed. After swapping tires and bleeding and flushing the brake system did no good I took it out on the side road, ran it up to 25 and hammered the brakes, hoping for a revelation. The revelation occurred the third time when the pedal went straight to the floor and the van continued going straight ahead. Turned out to be a bad flexible line to the caliper. Replaced both and it stops nicely now.
Working evenings re-doing my vlans. I have a theory that there should be no more than 20 IP phones on a vlan, so I'm reconfiguring the network to match that and we will see what happens. I currently have 110 phones on one vlan, 60 on another, 50 on yet another. The 3 vlan's with less than 20 phones have almost zero complaints and none in the last 60 days, while I get 3 or 4 complaints a day from the 110-phone-vlan.
Trying to fix the LeMans oil leak still. Replacing the Oil Pressure switch is next; I can't see any other leaks until that well is dried up.
Trying to design my 'bent bike. Too many ideas running around my head, I think I need to find some time and just start building and see what happens.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Thursday April 13, 2006
Success!! I've been aiming for 25 mpg or better on the Voyager. Unless I did my math wrong OR unless it was a fluke I recorded 34 mpg at last night's fill-up. It feels even better since gas went up to $2.69/gal yesterday, another nickel. It has gone up a dime this month alone, and we are not even half way thru the month yet. Not unexpected, but it is still aggravating.
Easter weekend!! PTL!!
Easter weekend!! PTL!!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Tuesday April 11, 2006
What a beautiful morning. What a beautiful evening last night. This is my favorite time of year. Pollen is still relatively low, No mosquitoes yet (maybe tomorrow?) Warm enough to have the windows open.
Amazing how much better the Voyager runs since I changed the throttle body. Still need to fix the fuel leak from the fill pipe.
Amazing how much better the Voyager runs since I changed the throttle body. Still need to fix the fuel leak from the fill pipe.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Monday April 10, 2006
Bad headache this am, having trouble focusing my eyes, we'll see what happens.
An eventful weekend. Started out with pulling apart the rear brakes on the Voyager. Shoes are at about 25%, but the right self-adjuster was frozen and the left self adjuster was broken. There was a piece of metal in the right drum that looked like a broken coil of a spring. Both wheel cylinders are just starting to weep. So, I cleaned and lubed everything, replaced the broken self adjuster, and put it back together. One of the things I wanted to do was fix the parking brakes, but everything was missing. No cables, no nothing. So, maybe next month I will see about robbing some parts from another of my vans and repalcing the wheel cylinders.
Then we drove to Bemidji. Changed the oil in a Jeep (first time I've touched a Jeep in 16+ years) and gave Evan's new car the "once-over". He bought a 92 Ford Tempo. Pretty nice shape, some rusting on the right fenders and rocker but not too bad yet. Changed the oil in it and added coolant. It has been parked for about 9 months but it started right up and runs pretty good I think.
Also fixed the right front parking light on the Voyager. The wires were rotted off of the light socket, so I spliced a socket from one of the other vans. When I was putting it back together the side marker lens fell off. I gotta remember to fix that.
On our way home from Bemidji Saturday as we were leaving GR I noticed a big cloud of smoke in the sky in the general direction of home. As we got closer and closer to home it looked more and more like it might be at home! As we approached 434 we saw it. Turns out that a neighbor, Roger, was burning the grass around his garage and caught the garage on fire. The garage and a shed are total losses. The FD barely manged to keep the fire from the house. Roger built and restored wooden horse drawn wagons in that garage; all of his tools and at least one wagon and sled and a leather buggy top that he was restoring are gone. No-one was hurt as far as I know. The hay baler that I've been trying to buy from him was parked next to the garage; that is also gone.
That is too many fires too close to home for me, we don't need any more.
I was browsing around www.Allpar.com the other day. An excellent website for anything to do with Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth. One of the things I saw there looked familiar; an idle problem. Seems the IAC passage can become gummed up a bit. So Sunday after church I pulled the TB from the 89 Voyager, tore it down and cleaned it up. Then I installed it on the 88. I also recalled something else I had seen at www.Allpar.com about map sensor problems. I looked at the 89 and it had the air bleeder on it, so I moved that to the 88. I've probably started the 88 a dozen times now and it idles just fine. A big "thanks" to the folks at allpar for the advice.
Also worked on the Allis-Chalmers RC/WC a bit. It looks as though the starter needs to be rebuilt, haven't actually torn it down yet but it no longer spins under its own power. So Matt and I are making a crank for the tractor. All that is left is to install a pin. We tried a couple of items we had laying around but a 20d nail just isn't hard enough. It will turn the engine over easily when the plugs are out but it just wrapped up after we put the plugs in. I need to look for a 2.5" x 3/16" roll pin today.
Changed the oil from 5w-30 to 10w-30 in both the Voyager and the LeMans. While under the LeMans I noticed that the oil was just running down the engine on the passenger side. Got Matt and a bright light to look on that side of the engine, Matt thinks it may be coming from the valve cover on that side. I replaced that last fall, but that side is very difficult to reach because of all the plumbing and AC and "stuff" on that side of the engine. I think I need to get another gasket set and redo that job.
Oh yeah, I paid $2.57 for gas in Bemidji on Saturday, I notice that the price of gas in GR is at $2.65 today.
An eventful weekend. Started out with pulling apart the rear brakes on the Voyager. Shoes are at about 25%, but the right self-adjuster was frozen and the left self adjuster was broken. There was a piece of metal in the right drum that looked like a broken coil of a spring. Both wheel cylinders are just starting to weep. So, I cleaned and lubed everything, replaced the broken self adjuster, and put it back together. One of the things I wanted to do was fix the parking brakes, but everything was missing. No cables, no nothing. So, maybe next month I will see about robbing some parts from another of my vans and repalcing the wheel cylinders.
Then we drove to Bemidji. Changed the oil in a Jeep (first time I've touched a Jeep in 16+ years) and gave Evan's new car the "once-over". He bought a 92 Ford Tempo. Pretty nice shape, some rusting on the right fenders and rocker but not too bad yet. Changed the oil in it and added coolant. It has been parked for about 9 months but it started right up and runs pretty good I think.
Also fixed the right front parking light on the Voyager. The wires were rotted off of the light socket, so I spliced a socket from one of the other vans. When I was putting it back together the side marker lens fell off. I gotta remember to fix that.
On our way home from Bemidji Saturday as we were leaving GR I noticed a big cloud of smoke in the sky in the general direction of home. As we got closer and closer to home it looked more and more like it might be at home! As we approached 434 we saw it. Turns out that a neighbor, Roger, was burning the grass around his garage and caught the garage on fire. The garage and a shed are total losses. The FD barely manged to keep the fire from the house. Roger built and restored wooden horse drawn wagons in that garage; all of his tools and at least one wagon and sled and a leather buggy top that he was restoring are gone. No-one was hurt as far as I know. The hay baler that I've been trying to buy from him was parked next to the garage; that is also gone.
That is too many fires too close to home for me, we don't need any more.
I was browsing around www.Allpar.com the other day. An excellent website for anything to do with Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth. One of the things I saw there looked familiar; an idle problem. Seems the IAC passage can become gummed up a bit. So Sunday after church I pulled the TB from the 89 Voyager, tore it down and cleaned it up. Then I installed it on the 88. I also recalled something else I had seen at www.Allpar.com about map sensor problems. I looked at the 89 and it had the air bleeder on it, so I moved that to the 88. I've probably started the 88 a dozen times now and it idles just fine. A big "thanks" to the folks at allpar for the advice.
Also worked on the Allis-Chalmers RC/WC a bit. It looks as though the starter needs to be rebuilt, haven't actually torn it down yet but it no longer spins under its own power. So Matt and I are making a crank for the tractor. All that is left is to install a pin. We tried a couple of items we had laying around but a 20d nail just isn't hard enough. It will turn the engine over easily when the plugs are out but it just wrapped up after we put the plugs in. I need to look for a 2.5" x 3/16" roll pin today.
Changed the oil from 5w-30 to 10w-30 in both the Voyager and the LeMans. While under the LeMans I noticed that the oil was just running down the engine on the passenger side. Got Matt and a bright light to look on that side of the engine, Matt thinks it may be coming from the valve cover on that side. I replaced that last fall, but that side is very difficult to reach because of all the plumbing and AC and "stuff" on that side of the engine. I think I need to get another gasket set and redo that job.
Oh yeah, I paid $2.57 for gas in Bemidji on Saturday, I notice that the price of gas in GR is at $2.65 today.
Friday, April 7, 2006
Friday April 7, 2006
More gasoline stuff.
Quote from Forbes magazine:
"Assuming a price of $2.20 per gallon and driving 15,000 miles per year, the difference in fuel cost between a car that gets 20 mpg and one that gets 30 mpg is $550 annually. If your car doesn't match the way you use it, consider getting another one if the replacement cost pencils out."
OK, let's makes this more realistic. The Gladiator gets approx 14mpg. The Voyager gets 25mpg. The Ford Escape hybrid gets an EPA rating of 36mpg. I drive close to 20,000 miles/year. Todays unleaded gas price is $2.66.
Cost of fuel to drive Gladiator $3812
Cost of fuel to drive Voyager $2224
Cost of Fuel to drive Escape $1482
So, if I can find a Ford Escape for $2330 I would start saving money after the first year. Wait a minute, a Ford Escape hybrid costs HOW MUCH? Base MSRP is $27,515. Configured similarly to the Gladiator would cost closer to $28,000. I haven't even considered dealer prep yet.
OK, so let's get realistic. I could probably pick up an old Geo Metro that gets 40+mpg for $1500. That would work. For $3000 I could get an old Metro and a motorcycle. One for winter and one for summer. That would work for commuting.
But I want to take a family trip to CA this summer. A realistic guess would put the average fuel cost at $3.00 (I would bet higher in CA by then). 2200 miles each way; plus we need to visit rellys, plus seeing sites, etc. Shall we say roughly 6,000 round trip? In the Gladiator? How does $1300 fuel costs sound?
Guess I need to start saving some pennies.
Quote from Forbes magazine:
"Assuming a price of $2.20 per gallon and driving 15,000 miles per year, the difference in fuel cost between a car that gets 20 mpg and one that gets 30 mpg is $550 annually. If your car doesn't match the way you use it, consider getting another one if the replacement cost pencils out."
OK, let's makes this more realistic. The Gladiator gets approx 14mpg. The Voyager gets 25mpg. The Ford Escape hybrid gets an EPA rating of 36mpg. I drive close to 20,000 miles/year. Todays unleaded gas price is $2.66.
Cost of fuel to drive Gladiator $3812
Cost of fuel to drive Voyager $2224
Cost of Fuel to drive Escape $1482
So, if I can find a Ford Escape for $2330 I would start saving money after the first year. Wait a minute, a Ford Escape hybrid costs HOW MUCH? Base MSRP is $27,515. Configured similarly to the Gladiator would cost closer to $28,000. I haven't even considered dealer prep yet.
OK, so let's get realistic. I could probably pick up an old Geo Metro that gets 40+mpg for $1500. That would work. For $3000 I could get an old Metro and a motorcycle. One for winter and one for summer. That would work for commuting.
But I want to take a family trip to CA this summer. A realistic guess would put the average fuel cost at $3.00 (I would bet higher in CA by then). 2200 miles each way; plus we need to visit rellys, plus seeing sites, etc. Shall we say roughly 6,000 round trip? In the Gladiator? How does $1300 fuel costs sound?
Guess I need to start saving some pennies.
Friday April 7, 2006
Doin' some diggin about fuel costs. It was discovered a few years ago that MTBE, an additive to gasoline, was contaminating groundwater. Some places, like California, banned MTBE, and so gasoline sold in CA has no MTBE but instead has ethanol added. As of this summer (2006) nearly all remaining oil producers still using MTBE will be switching to ethanol because of more bans going into effect.
This will have severe impact on our gas prices:
1. Ethanol costs more than MTBE even with the federal ethanol subsidy,
2. It costs LOTS of money to convert to ethanol because while MTBE was mixed with gasoline at the producers, ethanol cannot be mixed with gasoline until it is being loaded on the truck for delivery to the gas station. This is because of ethanol's affinity for water.
3. The U.S. does not produce enough ethanol currently to replace all of the MTBE. Right now the U.S. has the capacity to produce about 283 thousand barrels/day of ethanol. We are currently using 275 thousand barrels/day. We need another 130 thousand barrels/day of ethanol producing capacity
4. A refinery requires more production capacity to use ethanol blended fuels than MTBE. Most of our refineries have been at or near capacity for quite a while now, and it costs money to add capacity.
5. Ethanol must be shipped separately from the gasoline. Gasoline+Ethanol uses more volume to ship than Gasoline+MTBE. There is not currently enough rail or barge capacity to move the additional ethanol around the country.
6. Some ethanol could be imported, but ethanol is subject to 2 tariffs, one of 2.5% on the value and one of 54 cents/gallon. Since the federal subsidy for blending ethanol into gasoline is only 51 cents/gallon, that appears to be an expensive proposition.
7. An option is to reduce the amount of ethanol from 11% to 5.7%. The octane of gasoline is a function of the oxygen content. Ethanol contains oxygen. To reduce the Ethanol content requires that the oxygen content of the gasoline increase. This would be similar to replacing regular gas with premium gas, but a bit more complex. Because the gasoline may be transported via pipeline (as it is here), is may take over a month for the reformulated gasoline to make it to the pump.
8. Some of our gasoline (especially on the East Coast) comes from overseas. Many of these suppliers CANNOT ship MTBE free product.
So it looks like prices will continue to go up and that gasoline may occasionally be in short supply this summer. Better not plan on much travel. This is just the beginning.
You can check this info by visiting the D.O.E. website, most of this came from a publication available at http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/feature_articles/2006/mtbe2006/mtbe2006.pdf.
This will have severe impact on our gas prices:
1. Ethanol costs more than MTBE even with the federal ethanol subsidy,
2. It costs LOTS of money to convert to ethanol because while MTBE was mixed with gasoline at the producers, ethanol cannot be mixed with gasoline until it is being loaded on the truck for delivery to the gas station. This is because of ethanol's affinity for water.
3. The U.S. does not produce enough ethanol currently to replace all of the MTBE. Right now the U.S. has the capacity to produce about 283 thousand barrels/day of ethanol. We are currently using 275 thousand barrels/day. We need another 130 thousand barrels/day of ethanol producing capacity
4. A refinery requires more production capacity to use ethanol blended fuels than MTBE. Most of our refineries have been at or near capacity for quite a while now, and it costs money to add capacity.
5. Ethanol must be shipped separately from the gasoline. Gasoline+Ethanol uses more volume to ship than Gasoline+MTBE. There is not currently enough rail or barge capacity to move the additional ethanol around the country.
6. Some ethanol could be imported, but ethanol is subject to 2 tariffs, one of 2.5% on the value and one of 54 cents/gallon. Since the federal subsidy for blending ethanol into gasoline is only 51 cents/gallon, that appears to be an expensive proposition.
7. An option is to reduce the amount of ethanol from 11% to 5.7%. The octane of gasoline is a function of the oxygen content. Ethanol contains oxygen. To reduce the Ethanol content requires that the oxygen content of the gasoline increase. This would be similar to replacing regular gas with premium gas, but a bit more complex. Because the gasoline may be transported via pipeline (as it is here), is may take over a month for the reformulated gasoline to make it to the pump.
8. Some of our gasoline (especially on the East Coast) comes from overseas. Many of these suppliers CANNOT ship MTBE free product.
So it looks like prices will continue to go up and that gasoline may occasionally be in short supply this summer. Better not plan on much travel. This is just the beginning.
You can check this info by visiting the D.O.E. website, most of this came from a publication available at http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/feature_articles/2006/mtbe2006/mtbe2006.pdf.
Friday April 7, 2006
Another Rant!!
Yesterday between 10:45am and 11:15am the price of unleaded gas at every gas station in GR went up 10 cents to $2.66. And the State Attorney General says that there is no price fixing in GR. HAH!!!
So, over the last 3 months the price of gas has risen about 30 cents a month. I see the price of Crude is around $66 a barrel, up nearly $9 this year. Hmmm. Gotta get my 'bent put together and/or see about getting a small motorbike.
Addendum: If I'm correct, the price of Crude has risen about 22 cents/gallon so far this year. The price of unleaded has risen +30 cents/gallon this year. Guess who the winner is? 8 cents/gallon more profit than 3 months ago? How many million gallons? How can I get a cut of that pie? I wish I knew.
Yesterday between 10:45am and 11:15am the price of unleaded gas at every gas station in GR went up 10 cents to $2.66. And the State Attorney General says that there is no price fixing in GR. HAH!!!
So, over the last 3 months the price of gas has risen about 30 cents a month. I see the price of Crude is around $66 a barrel, up nearly $9 this year. Hmmm. Gotta get my 'bent put together and/or see about getting a small motorbike.
Addendum: If I'm correct, the price of Crude has risen about 22 cents/gallon so far this year. The price of unleaded has risen +30 cents/gallon this year. Guess who the winner is? 8 cents/gallon more profit than 3 months ago? How many million gallons? How can I get a cut of that pie? I wish I knew.
Wednesday, April 5, 2006
Wednesday April 5, 2006
Rant time.
I've been a bit P.O.'d lately (and it's about to get worse) because I'm allergic to everything green and growing, so I live on antihistamines. Nowadays preferably Claritin-D. So why am I getting P.O.'d? Because for the last year under MN law I can only buy 20 days supply every 30 days. Why? Because I might want to make Meth with it. Spring is starting up again and my eyes are getting swollen, etc, and there is not a lot I can do about it for another week or so.
Q1. Why am I presumed guilty without due process? I thought that the laws of the U.S., particularly the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, say that I am to be regarded as innocent until I am proven guilty. Why, then, am I presumed to run a meth lab just because I wish to purchase antihistamines?
Q2. Why the heck is making meth against the law, anyways? For that matter, if it is legal to use tobacco or alcohol, why is it not legal to use meth or cannabis? Tobacco and alcohol each kill more people every year than just about anything else I can think of, including "illegal" drugs. Why not make it a crime to make or use alcohol?
Oh yeah, they outlawed alcohol back in the 1920's. Funny thing was, it increased alcohol use and abuse, increased crime, increased organized crime, increased gang warfare. Since Prohibition was repealed and the manufacture and consumption of alcohol was regulated (instead of prohibited) all of those problems decreased...until we started a "war" on drugs. A "War" that, now, incidentally, prohibits me from buying my allergy medications.
Q3. Let's just extend this another step. Why is it assumed that just because I want to own a gun that I want to kill someone?
I think I just saw some statistics recently that doctors kill 10 times as many people every year as guns do. Anybody want to dig that info up for me? Scary. Maybe we need to outlaw doctors!!! How many people do lawyers kill every year? Maybe we should outlaw them also?
Q4. What has happened to the "Land of the Free"?
Check out these websites starting with the first one. I think you might get a bit of an eye-opener if you look at this carefully and honestly.
http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/victor/victor1.html
http://www.drugwardistortions.org/
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/
I've been a bit P.O.'d lately (and it's about to get worse) because I'm allergic to everything green and growing, so I live on antihistamines. Nowadays preferably Claritin-D. So why am I getting P.O.'d? Because for the last year under MN law I can only buy 20 days supply every 30 days. Why? Because I might want to make Meth with it. Spring is starting up again and my eyes are getting swollen, etc, and there is not a lot I can do about it for another week or so.
Q1. Why am I presumed guilty without due process? I thought that the laws of the U.S., particularly the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, say that I am to be regarded as innocent until I am proven guilty. Why, then, am I presumed to run a meth lab just because I wish to purchase antihistamines?
Q2. Why the heck is making meth against the law, anyways? For that matter, if it is legal to use tobacco or alcohol, why is it not legal to use meth or cannabis? Tobacco and alcohol each kill more people every year than just about anything else I can think of, including "illegal" drugs. Why not make it a crime to make or use alcohol?
Oh yeah, they outlawed alcohol back in the 1920's. Funny thing was, it increased alcohol use and abuse, increased crime, increased organized crime, increased gang warfare. Since Prohibition was repealed and the manufacture and consumption of alcohol was regulated (instead of prohibited) all of those problems decreased...until we started a "war" on drugs. A "War" that, now, incidentally, prohibits me from buying my allergy medications.
Q3. Let's just extend this another step. Why is it assumed that just because I want to own a gun that I want to kill someone?
I think I just saw some statistics recently that doctors kill 10 times as many people every year as guns do. Anybody want to dig that info up for me? Scary. Maybe we need to outlaw doctors!!! How many people do lawyers kill every year? Maybe we should outlaw them also?
Q4. What has happened to the "Land of the Free"?
Check out these websites starting with the first one. I think you might get a bit of an eye-opener if you look at this carefully and honestly.
http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/victor/victor1.html
http://www.drugwardistortions.org/
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/
Monday, April 3, 2006
Monday April 3, 2006
A tiring weekend. Worked on the Voyager. The problem with the Speedometer was a bit frustrating but was rather obvious once we figured it out. Last fall when I was getting it running I discovered that the Speedometer cable sheath was broken, so I pulled the sheath from the 89 Voyager and installed that. It installed OK and worked fine -- until it quit working on Wednesday night. The cable looked good. But, when I drove the car down the road with the Speedometer romoved and held my finger on the cable I could feel the cable turning but if I put ANY pressure whatsoever on it it would begin to 'skip'. I pulled the gear drive from the tranny, it looked OK, but I was convinced that something was wrong with it. Matt pulled the drive from the 89 Voyager. We were surprised to find that it has a very different cable connection from the 88; the 'nose' where the shaft is connected is longer. This means that when the 89 cable was connected to the 88 drive that the cable was barely into the gear instead of the inch or so that it should have been. Installed the 89 drive in the 88 tranny and it works great.
The wheel bearings on the Voyager appear to be OK. Couldn't get the lug nuts loose but I pulled the dust cap and there is plenty of grease. They are just a bit loose but not badly. I can hear the brakes grinding on the right, so I do need to replace those first chance. I will keep the lug nuts soaking in penetrating oil and see if I can do that next weekend.
Picked up the trailer. I need to raise the hitch on the van 6 inches which seems a bit much. I need to study the trailer a bit and determine if I can lower it any. Bed height is nearly 4 feet! But it is heavily constructed, whoever built it did a good job.
Spent most of Sunday going thru slides. Saw more photos of myself and my siblings than I ever knew existed. Found a set of slides of Christmases from 1953 to 197? Kinda funny to see Dad when he was a kid, I don't recall ever seeing pictures of him from then. Also some pics of one of Dad's boats, and family and friends that I had forgotten existed. I have gone thru nearly 1500 slides now, one tub down and four to go. I hope to start scanning them soon and adding them to the Hartshorn.org website.
The wheel bearings on the Voyager appear to be OK. Couldn't get the lug nuts loose but I pulled the dust cap and there is plenty of grease. They are just a bit loose but not badly. I can hear the brakes grinding on the right, so I do need to replace those first chance. I will keep the lug nuts soaking in penetrating oil and see if I can do that next weekend.
Picked up the trailer. I need to raise the hitch on the van 6 inches which seems a bit much. I need to study the trailer a bit and determine if I can lower it any. Bed height is nearly 4 feet! But it is heavily constructed, whoever built it did a good job.
Spent most of Sunday going thru slides. Saw more photos of myself and my siblings than I ever knew existed. Found a set of slides of Christmases from 1953 to 197? Kinda funny to see Dad when he was a kid, I don't recall ever seeing pictures of him from then. Also some pics of one of Dad's boats, and family and friends that I had forgotten existed. I have gone thru nearly 1500 slides now, one tub down and four to go. I hope to start scanning them soon and adding them to the Hartshorn.org website.
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