flagmanruss

If the thieves were using the first stolen car for transportation or joy riding... maybe yours will be recovered. Sadly, I expect it'll be in a ditch too. I'd be lost if mine were to be gone.

I'm going to pursue getting the cowel up. There just has to be a defect in the plastic screen. (THere was one in my Chevy C30, but that was exposed. There was in my Ford Escort but that was exposed.) I had all the screws out (without busting the plastic, which is better than the 'professional' did). I stalled because I could not remove the wiper arm. They are tight like a bears behind... I discovered there is a little wiper removal puller. I've ordered one. I don't want to strip the serations. It's just a detail but I'll bet it's been that way the whole life of the car. I'll post more when I get it off.

I only have experience with gassers. My 454 presumeably hung a valve (rust, humidity). It appears the piston hit it on start. Put tip of push rod through rocker arm, made pushrod into Z shape. I replaced the whole valve train from lifter through rocker arm. Ran like a bear after that. Something caused your failure.

Nope, My scooter has Fat tires! And wrong color! A former truck driver on my forum thinks it's NW Idaho. Sign appears to (fuzzy) read I73 East. He points out the odd numbers should run N-S. I hope it was photo shopped. Yas never know. I see them Rascals all over town, going into the store to buy their powerball tickets... scootin down the side of the road.

Yes, I got the truck back Wednesday... stops like it means it. Yes, no payments!

Where was this taken?

If there's air flow, anything odorous dissappates. If closed up cheap dryer sheets or moth balls... doesn't keep mice out but keeps them from making a home. I have successfully screened many air filters & cabin air... if I can just get to the 'bleaping' thing! I have been frustrated a long time by this cowel. But failed in getting someone else to do it. You are agreeing with me that there MUST BE a defect in the air inlet plastic screen? It only happens when I forget & leave it on outside air. Certain times of the year, mice looking for a nice warm home.

That was what I wanted the shop to do while I had the Cirrus in. They didn't. The mechanic said he freed the cowel enough (the hood hinges extend into the cowel area) enough to view the inlet screen which he claims is intact & tighter than my expander metal. The only place mice can get into is the heater cage & heater core. It's a total "son-on-a-female-dog" for me to pull the heater & reach in by hand & clean it out... and worse still trying to hold the blower motor & install the screws. I'm calling BS on him. There's NO PLACE ELSE in the car with mice. There's no other way in from the outside. There MUST BE a defect in the plastic screen. The plastic cowel part cracked when he was working on it (evidentally). I think he got into trouble & decided to stop. However, getting mice into the car makes me crazy, stinks up the car, spoils heating & cooling. The front of the cowel is held by a rubber seal at the top of the firewall.The back sits against the windshield held down by a few screws. But the windshield wiper arms come through it. I've tried before & got as far as the wiper arms. I think there's a nut under a plastic cover on each arm. The shaft & arm are serated. Gotta be a snug fit! If I mark each arm... what do I need a small puller to pop the arms off? What kind of puller do I need? There just has to be a defect in that screen.

I took the Cirrus in... It didn't get worked on with the short week of Thankgiving. They diagnosed it as the Power Steering pump on it's way out. I decided to go ahead, replaced PS pump, timing belt, water pump, heater core, serpentine belt. I have the car back. Nothing wrong that liberal application of cash couldn't fix.

I own a stock RE bu I'm clueless.

Absolutely, if you don't drive her regularly, use a float battery maintainer &/or pull the fuse mentioned. Otherwise those constant draws while small will evebtually kill the batteries & dead batteries may not recover. They can actually freeze! I have used a little dash solar panel with good luck for a while if the cord wouldn't reach.I've used a timer to run the block heater for a couple of hours... really helped with the cold starts. I managed to get through an extra winter before i had to replace the batteries.

I use my preheat grids to cold start... as soon as I have oil pressure, I flip the switch on the IAT fooler.

My truck had the optional size Michillins when I bought it... 61K so far. I do indeed notice after towing heavy, the tread is dark as it it's wearing more. Someday soon, I'll need new rubber. These tires are supposedly AT but not very open faced for that.

For the last several years, I was concerned about wracking the frame on my C30 with it's built 454. Guys were getting stuck in the mud getting into an encampment & being towed out with a tracked machine. Eventually the sponsers dumped a dozen truckloads of stone in the entrance & fixed it.

My guess would be a bad switch in the column. I read they were troublesome, not strongly made.

Hemi for sure. A college buddy had a Dodge Coronet with a 354 hemi, 4 speed, buckets... nice car. Out cubed by my 383 wedge but still nice. There's definately a following for old hemis.

Inlaws rotissery. 3 beasts roasting, or 3 turkeys, or 1 piggy. Bearings lubed with veggie oil so as to not contaminate the food. The drive... washing machine motor. Needed a heat shield, fire would trip thermal disconnect on motor. Ignore my previous self... a trail meal over a hunter's fire between 2 logs. Some meat on long skewers made by my friendly neighborhood blacksmith 1/4" stock pointed & a fancy ring on the opposite end, extra long to keep hands out of the fire. Grease the skewers & let them season like cast iron. Our daughter cooking over the fire. The grate is made of flat pieces... eye on one end, threaded through a long bar. Opposite end rests over another bar. These bars are supported by forked pieces driven in the ground... tapped in until they are level. See that the grate can be flipped out of the way to tend the fire. When making a fire pit the idea is to cut the sod on 3 sides & to go in with a spade & hinge the pieces up & out forming a dirt barrier for safety. After the encampment, the sod can be restored easily. If we use a dutch oven (with legs) in camp, we dig a key hole pit off the main fire, coals in the bottom, dutch oven, more coals on the top. (Needs more heat from top than under as heat rises.) The ladies get very skilled at judging temperature by holding the hand at the mouth of the open oven. We've done bisquets, pies, stews in the dutch oven. edit: I'm laying out the castle towers on 10" x 48" sonotubes.

I learned on Internet Explorer. With my MS it takes forever to learn a new system... so I HATE making changes. I'm running Windows 7 & my IE has all the automatic updates. But IE just seems to hang up very often, forcing me to close IE & start over. My latest, somethings just won't work... trying to make an online purchase that just won't go through on IE. Recommendations on another browser that works easily?

Hi Mom! Thanks for the ideas. I got as far as discovering that Barbie is 11.5" tall so rooms must be at least that tall. I'm thinking sonotubes (used for concrete footings & available in different diameters) would make raw material for castle towers. Colonial homes cooking was done "over" the fire on wrought iron cranes, also "on the hearth" on trivets where coals were taken fron the main fire to place both under a pan and over & under a dutch oven with legs. Earliest fireplaces had a "beehive" bake oven in the back wall of the fireplace... a fire was built in the oven to preheat it, then the ash raked out into the main fireplace, then baked goods placed in the oven & the opening closed with a wood door. The ovens in the back ofthe fireplace were very dangerous & many women died when their skirts caught fire. A friend restored such a home & reportedly the original owner died as a result of such an accident. This design one must reach over the fire in front. Here's a photo of historic Smith's Castle http://www.smithscastle.org/whats_new/castle_chron_f02.pdf (1678) Although the variations overlap in era, the mid-range ovens were moved to the side of the fireplace but still inside. The most modern has the oven outside beside the hearth. My family farm has this style bought by my grandfather in 1899. My sister & her husband own a historic stone end home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania... which features a "Summer Kitchen" which is an outbuilding a few feet from the back door. It has a duplicate hearth in the summer kitchen, so that in Summer the cooking fire would not heat up the rest of the house. Any hearth can use a reflector oven. Originals were made of tin... my friends had one made of "bright tin" (stainless steel). They've cooked chickens, turkeys & roasts in camp. I don't know if any of this helps you. if you Google some of the terms I've thrown about, you might get ideas (sorry Mike, might have made you a project!) I have seen wood fired bake ovens built on trailers.

My old Chilton's book troubleshooting for reduced mileage includes increased friction losses. I should have used this myself when I had my front brakes rusted up & dragged the calipers frames. It threw no codes. I actually towed heavy with it & it felt fine but the MPG sorked. Check axle, trans fluids, rear brakes too.

OK, I'm going ahead with the mobility scooter purchase (buy your own Christmas present & you get what you want! Besides, wifee doesn't want any more VS gift cards, LOL!!) I was successful in ordering the scooter 'less batteries'. Now I have to make a decision. The whole principal of the unit is it's extreem light weight... & lead batteries are clearly 4X heavier & less useful power. It's easy to source a SLA battery pack? ($75)Do I skip the SLA battery pack & put the money towards a LiFePO4? (lastest generation LiIon chemical composition) ($300)Do I go SLA until they fail in a couple of years & THEN go to LiFePO4. I have the common LiIon experience, laptops & cordless drills... not anything bigger...

NO, I'm not talking about Kate! I'm talking Disney... I'm thinking of constructing a one of a kind Princess's Castle. NOTE*** I've lost my mind*** But the girls (grand-daughters) seem to be well into the doll phase.I'm thinking "like a doll house" back open. Maybe ~36" wide, narrow enough to go on a shelf... so maybe ~12" deep.Needs a plywood base board under it all.I'm thinking largely cardboard & luan plywood. Spray paint. I'm concerned about sharp screws & combined with kids, so planning to use a lot of glue, screws might be temporary until the glue sets. Anybody ever built such a thing?Anybody with ideas?Pictures?? (post or email to me) Russ

I'm interested in the failure also.I'm parked in humid region on gravel, have rust issues underneath. Previously I got stuck for a mechanic drilling out the bolts that anchor the front brake lines near the wheels. The shop also questioned the rubber brake like to the rear axle where the crimped on collar was badly rusted last year. I've wanted to get under with POR15. When the exhaust rusted out I went to SS. The seats on the front axle where the springs sit, rusted out & I had a major expense when I had new parts fabricated & installed. (Dodge says to buy a new axle housing.) I wonder if these brake lines shifted when they repaired the axle, allowing it to rub. I'll post the results.

Yesterday afternoon, I drove the truck by a circle route to the brake shop. I did have one unfortunate incident. I had to go through one light... a double light... It was green as I approached. Just as I got there, traffic came up on the side street & it changed. Well, it was yellow when I went through the first signal but the second was red by the time I cleared the second light. I managed the rest of the route without doing anything questionable. There were few vehicles at the brake shop... I left it with a OMG NO BRAKES!! note hanging from the visor.I had to drive wifee's Hundai (OMG!) & checked on the truck... the left front suspension was soaked with brake fluid. Thought they could start this afternoon. Probably a day or 2 once they start.I stopped to see the Cirus... the shop had it inside. YES!! The mechanic feels the geary noise which varies with engine speed is not the transmission but the PS pump. With this plus the timing belt will take a day or 2... if they are working on it!Progress!

This "GrandPa"is keeping his truck!