Just got back last night from another trip I took, this time to Arkansas to visit my son and his family. My granddaughter Carly went along, plus a little feller that I hadn't seen before up until the time I picked him and his mother up, my great grandson, Trevyn Edward Bailey! We had planned to leave about 9 last Monday morning, but Carly thought the ride would be much more pleasant if we traveled at night so Trevyn would sleep.
And sleep he did, all the way down. We left Carly's house about 12:30 AM and arrived at my son's house about 7 AM. We stopped once at Henryville to fill up and once again on 1-24 to use the facilities. I only drove 65 mph on the highway and I think we made pretty good time.
They live near Blytheville, and as such they are on central time, so it was only 6 AM when Carly called her dad to open the door so we could go into the house. He was very surprised as he didn't know I was bringing Carly and Trevyn with me. I'm pretty sure it was a very pleasant surprise.
We had a very good time while we were there, had some good food thanks to Krista. Played games, went to town a couple of times, and spent a lot of time sitting in the backyard where Bryce loved to ride his little electric four wheeler. He can be seen in this picture destroying the packing styrofoam which was used with the bunk beds they bought for the boys. Never a dull moment when you have a couple of young boys to keep things lively!
Of course there was some down time as seen here with Bryce and Chris just taking it easy. Chris works odd hours with mixed days and nights, so sometimes a day of rest is called for. I guess Bryce decided if dad was sleeping there wasn't much for him to do either. Quiet time can be a nice thing when you live with a houseful of kids! Living alone as I do, I know I can appreciate it.
A day at the park was planned and we went to one in Blytheville so Bryce could feed the "chickens". He can be seen here doing just that. We spent a good amount of time there letting the kids run and play. A little excitement happened while we were there as some gunshots could be heard. Chris informed a local policeman who was passing through the park about it. The way Chris talked, this is a normal thing to experience in Blytheville. Thankfully they don't live near town so hopefully they are away from the violence.
A couple more photos in the park, Christian and Bryce swinging, with Breonna pushing and Christian and Trevyn in the stroller. Trevyn enjoyed a nap most of the time we were there.
Friday was cold and rainy, so we spent that day inside watching TV. I ended up going to bed kind of early as I knew we were leaving the following day. So after everything was packed and goodbyes had been said, we headed towards Indiana about 1:30 PM after filling up in Blytheville for this unheard of price. Took $31.25 to fill up my car.
The trip back home was fairly uneventful. Trevyn got a little fussy a couple of times, but nothing that bad. We made a couple of stops along the way, but after dropping Carly and Trevyn off at their house I arrived back home about 9:30 PM. Trips are great fun, but it's always nice to be back home...
Had a great time visiting my sister Melody and her family over the weekend. Never a dull moment there. Running here and there, I don't see how they do it! But is was a welcome change of pace for me as my life is just the opposite.
From left to right, Angel, Melody and Allie.
One of the many trips we took was south to Lancaster and her daughter Angel's house. You can see in the picture at the left that Melody is showing off her best side! Then we traveled on to Crab Orchard, where my youngest sister Sharon operates a restaurant called the Past Time Cafe. We were joined there by another sister, Kathy, and we all had lunch. Food and company was excellent and I really enjoyed the visit.
After that we traveled back to Lexington, dropped Melody off at the UK medical center to take care of some family business and Jim and I went to look around at Harbor Freight. I bought some plastic trim removal tools I had been wanting and checked out a tool chest I am interested in. I always enjoy a visit to that place, tools, tools and more tools!
Back home we watched TV for awhile and before we knew it the clock struck midnight, which made it Melody's birthday! I gave her the card I'd bought before coming down and soon after that it was time for bed as I was wore out from the trip down as well as all of the running around we did.
After a good nights rest, we got up to do a few things. Jim got an old Corolla wagon he had bought ready to junk by pumping up some tires and removing the catalytic convertor from it. After that he loaded it on his dolly and away we went to make a deposit at the scrapyard.
Once finished, we stopped by a house where their grandson Rodney had spent the night with a friend to bring him back home. Also got a look at a '66 Buick LeSabre there that the guy had. Then, after dropping Rodney off at the their house, we proceeded to the local pull-a-part junkyard to see if we could locate a few parts I needed for the Cavalier.
Before
After
The gatekeeper there told us a red Cavalier had been brought in very recently and he thought the right front fender was still on it. We went to look at it first, but unfortunately, the fender was not in very good shape. We walked around the entire lot, looking for parts, but didn't find a lot. I did get the missing piece for my console though and I picked up some sun visors with good plastic holders as well as a spare hubcap.
I was also looking for a jack and lug wrench as my car had neither, but none were found at the junkyard. I did find a spare tire cover which I also needed, but unfortunately I left it laying on top of a car while I was searching for something else. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
We left the junkyard after Melody stopped by to get some money from Jim. She was taking Rodney back to his mother's place in Lancaster. Jim and I went looking for his mechanic friend to see if he could tell what the noise was in the back of my car. He wasn't at his shop so we stopped by a nearby Hardee's to get a bite to eat. I had wanted to try their Memphis BBQ Burger ever since seeing this commercial:
I was not disappointed at all, it is a very good sandwich. Jim asked where the girls were, but no one seemed to know where they were. Probably for the best, I doubt I could of eaten if they were around!
Jim's friend was going to be awhile, so we went back to the house to watch TV while we waited. After awhile, he called to say he was at the shop so we headed over there. He and Jim took the Cavalier for a ride and once back the man said he thought all of the wheel bearings needed replaced, but we might get away with just doing the ones in the rear for now. He also said it could be driven as is for awhile, but they would need to be replaced soon. He also had a jack and lug wrench which he gave to me, so mark a couple more things off my list. I really appreciated that.
We headed back to the house to wait for Melody to get back and once she did, we headed out to eat supper. Texas Roadhouse seemed to fit the bill so we headed there for a pleasant meal and some people watching. Although people were waiting outside, Jim saw his friend, the owner, who promptly seated us near the bar, which is the best place for people watching.
I had my usual roadkill, well done, with mashed potatoes and mixed veggies, along with a cold Bud light to drink. I don't often drink beer, but I was just in the mood I guess. Food was great, and watching a certain girl wearing sparkly shorts was nice too. All in all a very pleasant evening out.
Once back home we had another fine evening talking and watching TV. Melody made some fresh baked oatmeal cookies of which I had several. After which I retired to the bed once more. Slept pretty good with my belly full and the beer probably helped too.
Next morning I got up and ready, but didn't leave until around 11 AM. Then after saying goodbyes I headed back towards Louisville and then north to Seymour. I arrived home about 1:20 PM, so Google was right on the money when they said the trip would take 2 hours and 20 minutes. Of course I only did 65 on the highway to save gas, which was excellent by the way. I filled up before leaving Seymour Friday and still have about 3/8's of a tank left. Not bad for down and back and running around Lexington.
To Melody and Jim, I just want to say thanks so much for your hospitality and I really appreciate all you have done for me. You have helped me a lot and I have truly enjoyed our times together. Hope we can do it again someday soon.
Finally made it down to the car lot last Friday to test drive a new ride. Overall the results were good and so I ended up buying this 2002 Chevy Cavalier. The most serious problem revealed by the test drive was a lot of noise coming from the rear of the car. Looking at the tires, one was worn much worse than the other one. On a car with a dead axle, this is usually an indication of a bearing or alignment problem. In either case, the fix is not all that expensive, so it was not a deal breaker.
The body and paint were in good shape, with one glaring exception. The right front fender has a bad spot just ahead of the door and it is buckled just a bit also. If I can find a replacement fender in the right color, that will be an easy fix. Add a little touch up paint on the door and it will be good as new then.
Some minor annoyances like the trunk lock cylinder was not secure and would tend to pop out of the back hanging by a wire. That has already been fixed with a trip to Advance Auto Parts to buy a pack of these clips for $5. Not sure why they are only sold in this style as there are 2 door clips and 2 trunk clips. Don't know of many vehicles with 2 trunks LOL. At least I have some extras if I ever need one.
Another annoyance was the drivers side sun visor was very loose. It seems the plastic piece which holds the visor was broke and so it was just held on by being too big to fit through the hole. The image at the far left is how it should look (of course a good one should not have any cracks in it), and the one at the near left is what it actually looks like.
The passenger side still works as it should, but I took it off to check it and found that the same problem is already started on that side as well. It is still in one piece, but won't be for long at the look of this picture. The crack has started in the same exact fashion as the one on the other side. I bought some plastic repair epoxy with hopes of fixing both of these, but I don't know how successful that will be.
In case I can't fix them, at least there are some on Ebay which are not too expensive. I can get both the left and right side for around $50 shipped. Plus I have already contacted my brother-in-law (Jim McKinney, Lexington, Kentucky) and we plan to take a trip to the local junkyard to see what parts we can find next time I'm down that way. My primary reason to go is for a visit, but if I could score some needed parts while I'm there it would make the trip even better.
We went to the tire shop yesterday and had a new rear tire put on to see what effect it would have on the noise. It did seem to help the problem, but it's still there and I don't know whether it's a problem or just the way small cars sound as I'm not really used to smaller vehicles. I will feel much better if the bearing can be checked. My grandson (Billy) is supposed to change my oil and filter today after school, so perhaps we can pull the back wheel and see if there is any obvious problem. I would have liked to think the guys at the tire shop would have mentioned it if they saw it, but you never know.
Well, I would have posted an update, but there is really nothing going on since I removed the dash pad on the Buick and cleaned up the speedometer. I did pull the car out last weekend and clean the area under the dash pad on the right side, but I still need to do the other side. Just haven't felt like doing it.
No, I'm not sick or anything, just sometimes get the blahs and don't feel like messing with things. Plus cooler weather has settled in and I'm not a fan of that at all. With highs in the 60's and the lows dipping down to near freezing, I'm content to stay in my room where it's warm.
I did disassemble my main computer system earlier in the week and clean that. It was caked with dust and cobwebs, but it's clean now. I also attempted to put Mountain Lion on it, but I can't get that to work with the video card, so I will have to wait for that until I get a better/newer card.
Been awhile since I had anything to say so I thought I would update a few things. First is the Buick, which is still sitting in the garage waiting on parts. I did get some of the stuff I needed, a sending unit for the hot and cold temperature lights as the old one was bad. Got that in and it works as it should now.
I was also able to fix a problem that had been bugging me since I got the car. The dash lights which should be green, the turn indicators and COLD light, had faded over the years and were now white. I suppose the filters used to make them glow green were not as good as those used on the red ones for GEN, OIL and HOT lights, as those were still fine. I found replacement type colored LED bulbs, but they were kind of expensive.
So I was ordering something else on Ebay from a supplier in China when I thought perhaps that might be a good source to check for cheaper LED bulbs. Sure enough I found a deal there for 5 LED bulbs for less than the price of one of the more expensive ones, so I ordered and have received those. As you can see from the before and after pictures, makes all the difference in the world!
I have since replaced both of the turn indicator lights with the green LED bulbs and those work also, but for some reason, the right one is not as bright as the left one. I will have to investigate that at another time. At least they all work and are the correct color now.
While working with these lights, it quickly became apparent that the small plastic sockets which those lights fit into do not hold up well over time as one of the tabs have broken off on several of them. I did buy a couple of replacements, but now I need a couple more. Of the joys of working on an old car!
On to the floor pan problem. I did have a chance to really get into that with the wire brush and quickly found out the floor is in far worse shape than first expected. I can get away with replacing just half of the pan, but my original plan to just uses patches will no longer work. The entire right side of the pan is pretty much gone, so I'm back to my original idea of ordering one of these replacement pans to repair the area.
I also made a slight mistake when working in this area as I left the right side front door open for over a week not realizing that the dome light came on while that door was open. Of course it ran the battery down to a point where it would no longer turn the car over, but a night on the trickle charger fixed that problem.
It also made me wonder why the light doesn't come on if the left door is opened, so more investigation followed. I discovered the door jamb switch for the dome light was hidden behind an access panel which hides the inner fender from view. Removing that allowed me to remove the bad switch in hopes of finding a replacement.
After scouring the internet, I did find one (actually a pair), but subsequent discussions with the seller revealed that he wanted $85 plus shipping for them. I understand making an extra profit b/c the part you have is kind of rare, but no $2 part is ever worth that kind of markup. I plan to post a picture or two with a description of the switch in the parts wanted section of the V8 Buick forum in hopes of finding a much cheaper alternative.
As for other items, I went out to get a bite to eat the other evening and didn't get far. Seems the battery on my Monte Carlo decided to go dead. I had just taken a trip to Vevay the week before to visit my mother and it seemed fine then. But as I very well know from years and years of messing with these infernal automobiles, they like to surprise you. Lucky it happened here and not out on the road.
Took awhile, but I finally managed to get it out. Time was you could just unhook the cables and pull out the battery for the most part, but not on this one, I first had to remove a body brace, then the windshield washer pump and bottle, and finally a bar which supports the windshield washer bottle and also holds the battery down. Then I barely had room to remove the cables and wedge the battery out!
I found the side terminals and cables to be clean and free of corrosion, so no problem with a bad connection, but the sides of the battery were bulging so I think it is time for a new one. It was in there when I bought the car, several years ago, so no telling how old it is.
I went online to look at some prices and was very shocked to see how much batteries have gone up since the last one I bought for my mail car a few years back. Okay, maybe it was 5 or 6 years back, but I still couldn't believe that a car battery now costs a cool C-note. I did discover that Advance Auto parts was having a sale, but it ended that day and I was not able to take advantage of that. Would have saved me almost $20, but it was not to be. Hopefully I will be able to find a cheaper alternative at WalMart.
Guess that is enough for this update, will catch everyone up again at a later time...
We left about 9:45 AM on Tuesday, on our way to the windy city. Our pilot/tour guide (Randy) for the trip decided we would stay in a small city near Gary called Merrillville, Indiana. Roughly an hour from Chicago, this turned out to be a very good plan as we checked into an inexpensive hotel and then made our way on up to the city.
Having just been there recently, Randy knew the way to the sites and we all just sat back and enjoyed the view of the lake and the tall buildings including Trump's new place, which is the second tallest building in the city. The ride around Chicago was very nice and was dual purpose in nature. One to see the sites, but second, to kill some time before we were able to enter the ball park to see the game.
The White Sox Vs. Yankees game at U.S. Cellular field was the primary reason for the trip as Billy wanted to see the Yankees play and I had not been to a major league ball park since I was a child myself. I forget who the Reds were playing, but I do know where it was at, Crosley field in Cincinnati. Of course it is no longer there, but thankfully I have my memories.
Of course that was not the only ball park we saw while in Chicago, we also went by the home of the Cubs, Wrigley field. The park opened in 1914 and it was the last major league park to get lights, which finally happened in 1988. The reason they finally installed lights was that MLB threatened not to hold any post season activities there until the park was lit.
Once we saw all the sites, we headed for our primary destination as we thought we could get into the park by 5 PM. Turns out it was actually 5:35 PM, but it wasn't too bad of a wait.
Once inside, we found our seats on the top level and at least there were escalators all the way up. We had a pretty good view of the field and I truly enjoyed watching the game. Billy was a bit disappointed b/c the Yankees lost, but all in all it was a very enjoyable time for all of us.
The drive back to the hotel was not too long and we got into bed around 12:30 AM. Got up the next day around 7:00 and started back home about 7:30. Around 3 1/2 hours later we were back in Seymour. While I enjoyed the trip, it's always good to be home again!
I got a lot done this past week as I keep getting closer to a time when I can actually drive it around as a regular car. The first thing I tackled was the fuel gauge. I figured it had a wire off from when they put the exhaust on, but turns out the fuel sending unit in the tank is bad. Still might have been caused by the exhaust installation as I'm sure one good blow to the gas tank would be enough to crack the fragile old rheostat, and the muffler is adjacent to the tank.
Believe it or not, I found a place online that sells rebuilt sending units, so now all I need is the money to buy one, ($79 + shipping). Being as I don't have the money at this time, I decided to move on to another troublesome area. Both front door windows have problems going up and down, so I figured they were off the track or something simple like that.
Turns out the window setting channel was very bad on the drivers side and the right side has a broken roller which caused it to come off the track. Of course that window setting channel is not in great shape either, so I'm hoping to find some replacements for those. A guy on the V8 Buick forum says he thinks he has a good pair from a '62 full sized Chevy that will work.
Also got my first good look at the right side front floor pan as I totally removed all of the carpet and padding. It's worse than I originally thought, so right now I'm kind of up in the air about what to do to fix it. A new floor pan can be had ($90 + shipping), but there is a lot of time and effort involved in replacing the complete pan.
I have a POR 15 starter kit ordered which should be enough to do the job if I add metal or fiberglass patches. This product effectively turns the rusty metal into good metal and may do the job if I decide to go that way. Too much to ponder at the moment, so I'll move on.
Next I decided to find out why the COLD light on my dash doesn't light up. When I replaced the fuel pump recently I noticed that both terminals on the temperature sending unit were not hooked up, partially due to the plastic housing for the wires being melted. I broke the wires out of the plastic and hooked them up as they should have been, but the COLD light still would not come on.
I decided to check the bulb in the dash to make sure it was good, but when I started to twist the socket from the circuit board, the socket fell out. Looking at it I found one of the plastic ears which holds it in the circuit board was broke off. So I borrowed the socket and bulb from the HOT light next to it just to test whether or not the COLD light would come on or not. It didn't.
Reading the wiring diagram, I determined that cold side terminal on the sending unit should be a dead ground when the engine is cold, but when I checked with the meter, I found that was not the case. So a new sending unit was required ($11.02 + shipping). I went ahead and ordered that from Rock Auto, along with a couple of sockets for the dash to replace the one bad one and in case another one breaks.
And lastly, yesterday I tore into the wipers as they have not worked since I bought the car. A little troubleshooting to make sure the motor was getting the proper voltage and that the other wire was indeed grounded when the switch was turned on, I found that the trouble had to be in the motor. After some fussing and cussing b/c one screw would not come out, I used my dremel tool to cut a groove so I could remove it with a straight screwdriver, which worked.
Once the motor was out and apart, I found that it was very rusty inside, but that the rust was on the inside of the motor housing and not really a factor in it not running. What was a factor was that corrosion on the armature was not allowing it to turn, so I used my dremel tool with the wire brush to remove all of the corrosion. Once that was done I put some lube in the end cap bearing and reassembled the motor. It ran!
I put new lithium grease in where the worm and plastic ring gear are and buttoned it back up. It is back in, but I still need to find one screw to replace the one I had to bugger up to get out. I'll try to do that sometime today, but I don't plan to do much to the car this week.
For one thing, tomorrow I will be going to Chicago with my son-in-law Randy, grandson Billy and his friend to take in a Yankees Vs. White Sox game. Billy is a huge Yankees fan and since I have not been to a major league ballgame since I was a kid myself, I decided it was time. So look out Chicago, tomorrow I'm gonna have me a beer and a hot dog at the big game!
A couple more photos in the park, Christian and Bryce swinging, with Breonna pushing and Christian and Trevyn in the stroller. Trevyn enjoyed a nap most of the time we were there.
