Changes

It's funny how little time it takes to change a person's life around. My last post I was happy to report that I had a new radiator in the old Buick and life was good. Then, in what now seems like a year ago, I made a mistake. I told everyone how stupid it was after it happened, but now that I've had a lot of time to think about it, I really think it should not have happened.

As I mentioned in my last post, I had the new radiator in place, but needed to clean the cooling system by running some clear water with a cooling system cleaner and then drain, refill, etc. So the next day (July 31), I filled it with water and added the cleaner, then ran the car for about twenty minutes, mostly just idling.

I shut off the car and opened the hood. It seemed to be quite warm, but I figured no longer than it had ran, it would be fine to open and proceed with the next step. So I unloosened the cap to bleed off any hot water and/or pressure which had built up. A little hot water came out, but then nothing more. I figured it was safe to open the cap the rest of the way.  WRONG!!!

As soon as the cap was in the open position, it blew up and hit the hood with a thud and I was instantly drenched with steaming hot water and cooling system cleaner! The shock caused me to jump back and then I hit the ground. I quickly got back up and removed my shirt which was covered with the extremely hot liquid and ran into the house.

I first went into the bathroom to put some cool water on the affected areas (my arm and side), which did relieve the pain a bit, but not much. I was hurting and I needed some relief fast. I called my daughter first, but didn't get an answer, then I tried my sister and again, no answer. It was Sunday and they were both at church.

I called my daughter's number again and left a message, next I called my neighbor, Kevin and asked if he could get me some help. I didn't really want to call 911, but I guess Kevin figured it was the best course of action as when I went back outside I heard the siren headed my way.

They arrived a short time later and soon we were on our way to the hospital. I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice to say I suffered 3rd degree burns on my arm and side which resulted in a mandatory 4-6 weeks off work. My daughter arrived at the hospital shortly after I got there and it was decided that I would stay with her and her family during this time which is exactly what happened.

Prior to this event I had been thinking a lot about early retirement and ways I could accomplish this goal. Of course after this happened, it made more sense than ever, so with the help of my daughter and her fiance (Randy), this goal has been mostly realized.

I still have to go to wound care 3 times a week and they say that will probably be required for a couple more weeks, but I have a new place here in Seymour, Indiana and I have received my retirement packet from the USPS, which I will be sending in shortly. All in all I am very happy with the way things turned out.

Of course none of this would have been possible without the help of my family, mostly Autumn and Randy and the kids (who have put up with me for the last 5 weeks), but also to everyone else who helped along the way, I just want to sent a big THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. You have helped make an old man very happy.

The Buick rides again!

Finished up installing the new radiator, thermostat, hoses, etc., just before dark. Had to wait for the heat to calm down to the low 90's from the raging inferno it was earlier. Filled it with water and cooling system cleaner and went to start it to let it circulate. No start. Thought maybe the battery was down from sitting there since I brought it home but jumping it with my Monte Carlo didn't help either.

After calling my brother-in-law, Jim to tell him what I had done, I remembered that I didn't even bother to check to make sure the car was in Park. Went back out and it was, but I moved the lever to neutral and it fired right up. Guess the neutral switch is out of alignment.

Now dark, I checked all of the lights.  Amazingly everything is working!  Head/tail lights, dash lights, turn signals, brake lights, even my license plate and dome lights work.  That is unreal for as long as this car has been sitting.

Drove it around the block and then went up town for just a bit. Figured everyone I wanted to show was probably in for the evening so I just brought it back home and parked it. Tomorrow I will drain the cooling system once again, refill with clear water and run it for another 20 minutes or so before draining and refilling with antifreeze.

I did notice a small leak on one of the transmission lines where it connects to the radiator, I will have to check that out tomorrow as well. Really felt cool riding around town, I think I am gonna love having a classic car to drive around!

Very Productive Weekend!

Well, even though it was terribly hot outside, I managed to get a lot done this weekend. Mostly inside, but I did at least get that broken bolt out of the water manifold on my Buick yesterday evening.  A little heat in the right spot, a few daft raps of the hammer and of course who can forget a little Marvel mystery oil and PB Blaster to loosen the crud around it.  Then using a very small pipe wrench I was able to turn it out and remove the broken stub completely.

Once out I used the correct tap to clear the threads of additional crud and blew out the holes with a blast of air from Kevin's little air compressor.  Of course I didn't have a new bolt to put back in, but that will be found as I also need to get some adapters so the transmission lines can be reattached.  That will have to wait for a hopefully cooler time maybe next weekend.

Inside I managed to get the latest OS from Apple (Lion), installed on no less than 4 of my computer systems, including the Apple Mac mini.  In addition to the mini, the list includes 3 of my Hackintoshes, a GA-P35-DS3L, a GA-945GCMX-S2 and an MSI P55-GD80.  My remaining Hackintoshes are all Atom based which means they will be more difficult, so they can wait for next time.

Just stepped outside on the front porch to check the weather.  Saw that the temp is down to 82 at the moment and it definitely feels less humid out. Even though we didn't see any rain here today, it has been all around us and I'm sure part of the cooling trend. Of course I also see it is supposed to be in the high 80s and low 90s for the rest of the week.  Would be nice to have a break, but it looks to be short lived.

This is crazy!

Yeah, I know it's been hot in a lot of areas around the country, but this is just plain crazy:

Note the time, 9:06 PM, note the heat index, 100 degrees F.  WTF is going on???

Up on Lion

Well, at least my new Mac mini is.  I did copy the installer for later attempts on my Hacks, but for now I am content with the newest cat purring on my little mini.  Installation is a bit different than the past installs and it took a considerable amount of time to get the job done.

I have the installer on a flash drive and plan to make a stab at perhaps the easiest one of my Hacks tomorrow evening, that being the GA-P35-DS3L system.  This was also my easiest machine to update to 10.6.8, so hopefully that trend will continue with 10.7.

BTW, if you didn't already know it, it is hot here in southeastern Indiana, with the heat index of 110 today and more of the same promised for tomorrow. If this continues I may never get my Buick finished in time for any car shows coming up in August.

It's back!

Yes I have the Buick back again, went over and brought it back last week one day after work. Judy took me over and followed me back, the car ran fine, but it overheated on the way back. I've known for some time it would need a new radiator, so that was ordered and arrived today.

I managed to snap off a bolt removing the thermostat housing, so that needs to be fixed, plus there are some mounting problems with the new radiator, nothing so bad it can't be overcome, but it will prove to be just a bit difficult.

Was hoping to have it ready to drive to work on Monday, but that doesn't look to be feasible at this point. I just take it one day at time time and get a bit done as I feel the inspiration.

Also I posted a new video of happenings from my front porch yesterday morning, you can view it here http://bit.ly/plDpQx if you have some time to kill...

Should have been!

Unreal, the Buick is purring like a kitten, as quiet as a mouse and all of the brakes have been fixed and even the charging system is now working, but I can't drive it! No friends, it seems when moving the car from the garage to the parking lot, in it's pristine and quiet condition, a new noise was heard, one which begged to be investigated.

Yep, another problem has been discovered, and this one is not going to be an easy fix. It seems the drive shaft carrier bearing has come loose from it's mounting which means either a new one will be required or the old one will have to be fixed. Nope, not available from any of the normal parts outlets (NAPA, AutoZone, etc.), and even the places which specialize in hard to find parts for old cars don't have it.

So far only one possibility has popped up and that is having the old one renewed at a place called Steele Rubber products, located near Charlotte, NC. At this point I'm not sure whether I can just buy a new one from them or have to send the old one in, but if I do, it's a minimum of a 3 week turnaround to have it fixed.  I hope to find out more when they reopen on Tuesday morning.

I was so looking forward to driving this thing back to Vevay on Friday, but it just wasn't to be.  Hopefully soon...

UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE

I found the parts I needed at oldbuickparts.com and they have been ordered. S'pose to be here in 2-5 days so maybe I will get to drive my car next weekend!