Busy, busy, busy

Haven't had much time lately to post here, so thought I would take a few moments to do just that...

Baseball

Since last we met, the boys in purple (Seymour Owls) have improved their record to 16-4, which includes a disappointing loss yesterday evening to the Jeffersonville Red Devils, in the Hoosier Hills Conference tournament final game. It's especially sad since during the course of the season, we've seen them play much, much better and they were fully capable of winning the game. But it was not to be, so best we just move on.

I will just say that poor officiating played a part in the 12-3 loss as at one point, the home plate umpire had to ask both teams and the park announcer what the count was on the batter. He still managed to get it wrong though.

Buick

Well, since last I talked about it, I've gotten the carb changed to the rebuilt one, fixed a problem with that which caused it to not get any gas, and moved the car out to Randy and Autumn's place. That trip was in itself kind of funny as my only real requirement for the trip was the absence of rain (my wipers don't work). My granddaughter Jordan was kind enough to follow me out after she got off work, just in case anything happened. It had been sunny and nice all day long and no sign of rain, but half-way out there, a cloud burst just popped up and so we sat there on the side of the road for about 20 minutes until it passed.

That was last week and I wasn't able to do much more until just yesterday, when I went out and flushed and drained the cooling system using clean, fresh water. Once finished, I mixed up the K&W Block sealer as instructed and proceeded to pour that mixture into the radiator. After that, I started the car and filled up the radiator with water, put the radiator cap on and sat there with the car idling.

After the car had been running for about 20 minutes, I noticed that the idle began to improve. It had been a little rough and it smoothed right out. Also gone was the distinctive note from the exhaust which told me there was a problem in the first place. I was very pleased that these changes took place as it just affirmed my suspicion that there was indeed a head gasket problem. I shut the car off after it had run for 30 minutes and waited for it to cool down enough to drain it.

The product says to drain the coolant and then open it up as much as possible to let air into the cooling system, so that the chemicals have a better chance to cure properly. I had already removed the thermostat in preparation for this procedure, so I removed the top and bottom radiator hoses at the block, which is the  best way to get air into it. It is supposed to have at least 24 hours to cure, but I don't plan to do any more to the car until perhaps Monday, so that should allow plenty of time for it to set up.

In other Buick news, I have been following a thread on the V8-Buick forum about using the heater core from a '62 Olds in my Buick as it is the same size, but does not have the poorly designed heater valve attached to it. Instead it uses a more traditional approach of using an inline valve in the heater hose under the hood, thereby eliminating a potential leak inside the car.

The core was available by special order from Advance Auto Parts ($56,44), so I bought one to use on mine. Once it arrived I immediately checked to see that it was the proper size (it was), so now all I need is the firewall to be repaired and I can replace the heater boxes.

Family

In addition to getting the car going, Jim and Melody have decided to come up here to work on the firewall of the Buick where a hole rusted through from the previous leak in the heater core. That means I don't have to drive it down to Lexington, KY, which is good news for me! Plus I think Kathy may be able to come up as well so Autumn has promised a feast of the cookout type for the event.

This joyous occasion will hopefully happen during the first part of next week, and will give us a chance to go over more of the trip details as that is now less than 3 weeks away. Jim has promised to bring the tools necessary to repair the hole in my firewall caused by a leaky heater core. Another hole in the front floorboard was also discovered so perhaps we can take a good look at that as well.