Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Warped Tour

Going to Warped Tour tomorrow. Hoping to catch:

Band
3OH!3
A Rocket To The Moon
Anti-Flag
Bad Religion
Big D and the Kids Table
Flogging Molly
Gallows
Less Than Jake
NOFX
Scary Kids Scaring Kids
Senses Fail
Streetlight Manifesto
The A.K.A.s
The Maine
Westbound Train

911 woes

So I went to Columbus for an autocross. Took 2nd, I think, in my class. . . out of 2. On the way back, I stopped for a burger in BFE. Came out to the car, did not start. Checked all the fuses, checked all the relays, everything seemed to be fine. Panic sets in. I am on the side of the road for 2 hours trying to diagnose the issue.

Some very nice gentlemen in a MG midget stopped to help. They opined that the voltage regulator or the alternator went. The 911 not having electrics by Lucas - the prince of darkness - I dismiss their suggestion.

Another nice couple in a SUV stopped. They had a 356 and a 911 restored by a shop in Columbus. I make arrangements to drop the car off there.

I dither around for a while about that, as how I get home from Columbus raises it's head.

In the end, I tow the car back to Cleveland - 100 miles.

Now that I have a voltmeter, I can test the alternator, the voltage regulator and the battery. Nothing is wrong with any of these.

Turns out I forgot to tighten the positive terminal on the battery. Problem solved. Egg all over my face.

Lessons learned:
0) DON"T PANIC
1) Run in a pack of cars on the way home
2) Take your tools with you
3) It might just be something stupid
4) Listen to the nice guys in the MG, they may know a thing or two

Friday, May 8, 2009

All Ohio PCA autocross calendar

I found this on the MOR site. It is a single calendar listing all of the events in Ohio.

http://www.morpca.org/page2/page22/files/autox2009schedule_rev030509.pdf

I.R.A.C. Autocross schedule for 2009

I found this schedule on the Ohio Valley PCA website.

May 31 -
NOR, Lakeland Community College

June 28 - MOR, OSU Buckeye Lots

July 12 - OVR, Live Oaks

July 19 - EBR,Hartville Marketplace/Hartville OH

August 9 - MVR, Owens College

August 23 - MOR, OSU Buckeye Lots

September 27 - NOR, Lakeland College

AutoCross Video

This is an interesting video of autocross, from a IRAC event.








Wednesday, April 15, 2009

959 factory photo tour

This is a very interesting photo set - http://jalopnik.com/5208299/vintage-porsche-959-factory-tour-78+photo-ber+gallery?skyline=true&s=i

Monday, April 13, 2009

Update on the car . . .

Over the winter, with the coming of the sprog, I thought I should sell the car. Winter is not the best time to try and sell a classic car. I did not get many calls, and no one came to look at it. I had one person nearly ready to come look at it, but the temperature that day was well below the flow point of 20W50 Swepco, so I cancelled that appointment.

In the end, I decided to sell the car to the most deserving person, myself. I liquidated some assets and paid off the loan on the car. This achieves the end of increasing my monthly available cash, while reducing overall wealth.

Over the winter I noticed a minor oil leak. I expect that this is due to the oil return tubes, as Eric warned me I should replace them last spring. Given sprog, I will be doing this project myself, along with some other items. I'll be giving the car a tune up by replacing the spark plugs, wires, distributor and rotor. I will also be bleeding the brakes and replacing the brake fluid. I am hoping to track down issues with the various fans, specifically the fresh air blower and the heater blower. I've ordered the parts and I will post photos of the various jobs when I do them.

I'd like to be ready for the Autocross school on April 26th, but that will depend on how soon the parts get here and how quickly I can do the work. I'd like to sign up for the Mid Ohio DE in May, but I am not sure the car will be ready.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Monday, January 19, 2009

Car, house and kid - what is going on?

I checked the flow point of Swepco 20W50 oil and found that -11F is near or below the flow point, so I called off the demonstration with the buyer. Flow point is the temperature at which the oil will not move for 5 seconds when held at an angle. In other words, starting the car with the oil that cold is a potential disaster.

Thanks to: my father in-law lending me his truck, my mother in-law delivering the truck, Jason Pettigrew helping me move things, Duffy's cousin John and his wife Wendy providing things, and my parents providing still more things - we now have a baby room full of furniture, clothes, car seat, stroller, diapers, bottles, formula, etcetra. Now if I can just find room for it all . . .

If I can only get of my butt and clean this week, we might have a house for the child.

Health wise, both Duffy and the Sprog (fetus) are doing well. Amneo is still scheduled for 1/28 with delivery to follow if he has achieved full development.

You can keep up with Duffy's point of view on all of this at: http://chezcranky.blogspot.com/.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Update on Thomas Edward

So far Teddy is doing well. There have been none of the issues I have worried about with JK(a), JK(b) or the Kell antibodies. Duff is being a real trouper through this whole process. I do not think I can possibly over state how much I love her and how proud I am of how she is handling all of this.

The one surprise for me is that they are planning an amneo for the 28th and if Teddy is fully developed they will deliver him on the 29th. This removes two weeks from my project plan to get the house ready for him. We need to respond quickly. Things need to *get done now*. We need to:

  • Get a car seat
  • Get bottles
  • Get formula
  • Get more diapers
  • Get the cradle, changing table etcetera from my parents
  • Get the other items from John and Wendy
  • Get the house cleaned
  • and so on.
Fun! Plus it is going to be 4 F tomorrow, and I have a feeling my prospective buyer will not want to see the car under those conditions.

Oh well, Teddy will be the only kid on his block riding in a 911. There could be worse things.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

A few more "new" photos of the car

These are from several different autocross events. One of the guys had a camera and snapped a number of photos at each event.
















These are from several different autocross events. One of the guys had a camera and snapped a number of photos at each event. Some of them made the local PCA newsletter.