The past week in Car repair

[Briano1234]

Rode by TRF HQ waved, and honked... (ok from the interstate.)
Drove to Desoto St. Park in Ft. Payne Ala... (home of Alabama) for a wedding.
While there the water pump on my van decided to take a dump.
During a break in the festivities, I drove 20 minutes to Ft. Payne and got a WP.
After the Dinner, and before the heavens started to open I changed the wp out in about 1 hour.
WP 20 bucks
Tools that I didn't have 50.

[CalAltaDubber]

Yesterday, while I was driving Topless Bunny the Alternator light came on and the volt meter dropped. I was a little perplexed because I had changed the voltage regulator last summer. So I got the car home and pulled the alternator out and removed the voltage regulator. Well the regulator was fine, so I looked at the slip rings on the alternator. One of them was, shall we say worn out. There was more plastic showing than copper. So I guess it's safe to say It was worn out. I can't fault it, after all the alternator came on the car so it is only 28 years old.

i should have taken a picture of it.

What surprised me is how easy it was to find a new one at the Auto Value. for less than I paid for the voltage regulator. Oh well. It's done and the car is running great again.

[Briano1234]

Install new Cat on Green Car, installed the 12 dollar single wire o2 sensor, got Emissioned.
Removed the Cat from the Green car, installed by-pass pipe.
Repaired the 10V jumper to the dash on the blue one, seems the Tach, Fuel and Water gauge was intermittent.
Remove by-pass from the blue car, and installed the Cat, now to get emissioned.

"Always" something isn't it.

[Briano1234]

Wow it passed, and to think, all I have to do is get underneath it and remove the cat and install by-pass then repeat for next year... I may just have to move to a non-emission county.

[Calimus]

Yup, we like our smog out here in the country. Still no emissions here. And we daily a pair of oil burners.

[CR500Rider]

Wired up the "Hot Start" fix. I mounted the relay to the ground stud just behind the battery on the fender.

[CalAltaDubber]

Well Posh Bunny decided to give me a hard time on the week end. I parked the car and when I pulled on the parking brake, it just felt weird. It also took a little finesse to get it to release as well.

Ok, so I get the car home, pull Topless Bunny out of the garage so I have some room to work, get Posh Bunny inside, pull the seats out and take the Parking Brake handle apart.

The clip that holds the pin in place had broken and fallen out, so it was just a matter of time before the pin worked itself out of one side of the mount and the brake handle became useless.

Somewhere along the way, some previous owner had been in there and bent a few things around so when I tried to put the whole thing back in place, it wouldn't line up. (O'Toole's Theorem)

Once I got that assembly back together and working, I figured I'd have the seats installed in no time. (O'Toole again)

A little piece of carpet (about the size of a small screw head) was getting caught inside the seat rails so the nylon guard on the seat would jam. Very frustrating, because when I would take the seat out it would push out of the way and the rail would look clear.

Long story short, I finally got it all back together and went for a cruise.

PS. O'Toole's Theorem is simply stated. MURPHY WAS AN OPTIMIST!

[Briano1234]

Blue Bunny's lower steering column bearing decided to move. But unlike most, the plastic collar decided to break at the bottom, and the bearing decided to loosen but not totally move on the shaft. I am thinking that I ought to run to a yard and obtain a bearing so that I can take it to a good bearing store and match a replacement.
As knowing the proper bearing part number on a good replacement would be a good thing to know.

[CR500Rider]

Replaced the knock sensor, replaced the fan-on switch and put the new plug wires on. Didn't notice a difference in the way it runs but I feel better about it.

[Briano1234]

Replaced the knock sensor, replaced the fan-on switch and put the new plug wires on. Didn't notice a difference in the way it runs but I feel better about it.

Aint' that the truth.

[CR500Rider]

Finally got around to fixing the sagging air box. It's definitely flatter than it used to be. The front passenger side tab was broken off so I drilled a hole where the tab used to be and used a carriage bolt. Is there supposed to be some sort of spacer on the back side where it clamps? I had a gap so I used a thick piece of rubber (ie: a left over 2 stroke exhaust mount). Now when I clamp the back of the air box it doesn't pull it down. The air box is now nice and tight.




Here's what it looked like before.

[Briano1234]

Wow, Cleaned the Windows.....reset the clock... Does that count?

[Calimus]

Man, I feel terrible. I don't care to admit how long it's been since I've done anything to either the bunny or the rocco. I was thinking I would finally get some time to tinker with them this fall/winter, but we will have to see. Things at the job might be changing which means even less time for me to do anything outside of work.

[Briano1234]

Things at the job might be changing which means even less time for me to do anything outside of work.

Gee, I have a wheel bearing that went out on the blue bunny, so that is for next week, then I too was in a meeting of the minds at work, and basically was told that If I got a retirement package, that I should take it as 75 percent would be laid off in the following 12 months.

[Calimus]

Brian, I really, really hate to hear that. As retirement is better than the alternative, I hope that is what comes your way. I know none of it is great news, but maybe you can at least get a glass or two of lemon-aide instead of just some lemons. As always, let me know if there is anything I can do.

Cristine and I just got back from a MC rally in Maggie Valley. Rode up on Friday morning and just got back home. It was an opportunity where we could both get away and we took it. Now if I can just get some damn junk outta my garage, maybe I can tinker with the bunny. Have some parts that I ordered back in May that I'd really like to get on the car.