So, to install AC in the Mustang or not? That is (probably one of) the next question(s). And whether to install a Pertronix Ignitor in place of the points. And there's still the paint and (minimal) body work...
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tires
This morning (well, almost noon) I ordered some tires from TireBuyer.com (for the Mustang). Pretty good price on the tires (local shops - if they had 'em - were asking "full retail price" - about 25% cheaper at TireBuyer.com). Free shipping, too. That was a little before noon. At 2 pm I got an e-mail from TireBuyer that the order had shipped (again, free shipping). Checked the tracking number this evening, and the "estimated delivery date" is... guess when? TOMORROW! Free shipping on a set of four tires, FedEx Ground, and estimated delivery is the day after I placed the order! Granted, they shipped from a warehouse about two hours away from here, but still. That's 108 lbs of tires, shipped free, arriving the day after the order was placed. I'm impressed! Granted, I'll still have to load up the tires and take the car and tires somewhere for installation (wal-mart will do it for around $60, and I expect that will be the "going rate" for most places; I'll check around and see if I can find a closer place than wal-mart in the morning that will be around that same price). However, this is a total savings of about $100 off what I'd been quoted for "out the door" from local shops (one shop quoted me about this price on that tire, but didn't have any available source with the tires in stock).
So, to install AC in the Mustang or not? That is (probably one of) the next question(s). And whether to install a Pertronix Ignitor in place of the points. And there's still the paint and (minimal) body work...
So, to install AC in the Mustang or not? That is (probably one of) the next question(s). And whether to install a Pertronix Ignitor in place of the points. And there's still the paint and (minimal) body work...
Friday, July 22, 2011
Carbs... and I'm not talking nutrition!
A few weeks ago my beloved BMW bit the bullet. (OK, that sounds stupid, even if alliterative... the car is dead.) The last time I saw it was this:
Yeah, it was a pretty awesome car! Comfortable, near-perfect handling, reasonably peppy, and still returned 30 mpg highway! (It was a 2003 5-speed 525i with the sport package.) If you ever have a chance to own or at least drive one, please take it. (I'll admit, it wasn't a perfect car: the cupholders were quite lacking.)
So, in its stead, I decided that, as long as I'm working from home (really nice, by the way!), I'll just "fix up" my old 1967 Mustang and use it as my "around town" car. This Mustang was bought my my uncle brand new off the showroom floor in November, 1966. It has just over 100k miles on it. It's been living at my brother's house (thanks, Jayme!) while I was renting in South AL, and this past weekend I rented a U-Haul and trailer to bring it down (now that I have my own house). Here it is on the trailer:
(By the way: I was pretty impressed with my own trailer driving... I managed to back the trailer down my brother's long driveway, unassisted, without hitting anything! And I'd never really driven anything with a trailer before!)
Now, the old carb was basically disfunctional; accelerator pump was shot, vacuum issues, and just basically ran horribly, if at all (often wouldn't idle, and took forever to get started, and even longer to stay running). It was an Autolite 4300, which my uncle said he'd had problems with basically since the car was new. Looks like this:
My uncle, back when he'd given me the car, suggested that I put a Holley Street Avenger on it. Well, I should have. I should have done that LONG ago. I finally got around to putting a new carb on it yesterday (an Edelbrock 1406, not a Street Avenger, because the Edelbrock is what they had in stock at the semi-local O'reilly Auto Parts). Spent last night getting it (mostly) hooked up, but didn't crank it. Finally, this morning, I hooked up the last little bit and cranked it... and it started! Own its own! Without my having to pour gallons of fuel down the carb and crank and crank and crank... and it idled! High, very high... I hadn't hooked up the electric choke yet, and my first test drive: it was idling at 30 mph. But it was idling, and running.
Hooked up the electric choke, and it's running fairly well now (phenomenally well compared to the older carb: like a totally different car!). Without even spending any time "tuning" the carb. Really, it's amazing to me how much of a difference the carb has made... I may not even bother with going to an electronic ignition (like Pertronix Ignitor or Ignitor II). I'd expected it would run better, but this is much more than I'd expected.
Granted, the vacuum gauge (in the aftermarket gauge set under the dash) is showing no vacuum, but I think perhaps it's the gauge itself and not the vacuum (pulling the tube from the back, I can hear the vacuum, and I can feel it when I cover the tube with my thumb). The car still needs some brake work, tires (the ones on it have tread, but have mostly sat idle for the last ten years), and some body work (minimal rust areas and a leaking front windshield - at least, I think that's where the water in the driver's floorboard when it rains comes from) and a paint job (when it was restored in 1987 they painted it "the wrong color" - a very nice "Firethorn Red," but the car is supposed to be Dark Forest Green), but it's running fairly well now.
If you want to see more pics, check my Flickr gallery. And feel free to honk if you see me driving around Spanish Fort... but make it a melodic honk, so I'll know you're not just being a jerk. Maybe do a tune of "Superman" or something (OK, "beat of" the Superman theme song - I know you probably only have a single tone on your horn, not multiple ones!).
Yeah, it was a pretty awesome car! Comfortable, near-perfect handling, reasonably peppy, and still returned 30 mpg highway! (It was a 2003 5-speed 525i with the sport package.) If you ever have a chance to own or at least drive one, please take it. (I'll admit, it wasn't a perfect car: the cupholders were quite lacking.)
So, in its stead, I decided that, as long as I'm working from home (really nice, by the way!), I'll just "fix up" my old 1967 Mustang and use it as my "around town" car. This Mustang was bought my my uncle brand new off the showroom floor in November, 1966. It has just over 100k miles on it. It's been living at my brother's house (thanks, Jayme!) while I was renting in South AL, and this past weekend I rented a U-Haul and trailer to bring it down (now that I have my own house). Here it is on the trailer:
(By the way: I was pretty impressed with my own trailer driving... I managed to back the trailer down my brother's long driveway, unassisted, without hitting anything! And I'd never really driven anything with a trailer before!)
Now, the old carb was basically disfunctional; accelerator pump was shot, vacuum issues, and just basically ran horribly, if at all (often wouldn't idle, and took forever to get started, and even longer to stay running). It was an Autolite 4300, which my uncle said he'd had problems with basically since the car was new. Looks like this:
My uncle, back when he'd given me the car, suggested that I put a Holley Street Avenger on it. Well, I should have. I should have done that LONG ago. I finally got around to putting a new carb on it yesterday (an Edelbrock 1406, not a Street Avenger, because the Edelbrock is what they had in stock at the semi-local O'reilly Auto Parts). Spent last night getting it (mostly) hooked up, but didn't crank it. Finally, this morning, I hooked up the last little bit and cranked it... and it started! Own its own! Without my having to pour gallons of fuel down the carb and crank and crank and crank... and it idled! High, very high... I hadn't hooked up the electric choke yet, and my first test drive: it was idling at 30 mph. But it was idling, and running.
Hooked up the electric choke, and it's running fairly well now (phenomenally well compared to the older carb: like a totally different car!). Without even spending any time "tuning" the carb. Really, it's amazing to me how much of a difference the carb has made... I may not even bother with going to an electronic ignition (like Pertronix Ignitor or Ignitor II). I'd expected it would run better, but this is much more than I'd expected.
Granted, the vacuum gauge (in the aftermarket gauge set under the dash) is showing no vacuum, but I think perhaps it's the gauge itself and not the vacuum (pulling the tube from the back, I can hear the vacuum, and I can feel it when I cover the tube with my thumb). The car still needs some brake work, tires (the ones on it have tread, but have mostly sat idle for the last ten years), and some body work (minimal rust areas and a leaking front windshield - at least, I think that's where the water in the driver's floorboard when it rains comes from) and a paint job (when it was restored in 1987 they painted it "the wrong color" - a very nice "Firethorn Red," but the car is supposed to be Dark Forest Green), but it's running fairly well now.
If you want to see more pics, check my Flickr gallery. And feel free to honk if you see me driving around Spanish Fort... but make it a melodic honk, so I'll know you're not just being a jerk. Maybe do a tune of "Superman" or something (OK, "beat of" the Superman theme song - I know you probably only have a single tone on your horn, not multiple ones!).
Friday, July 15, 2011
Livin' on the edge... (not really, it's GPRS)
I'm in my car (ok, wife's van), blogging on my computer, which is connected wirelessly to my Android phone (My Touch 3g Slide). So, I'm "living on the edge" - but not really: my phone isn't displaying the "E" of EDGE connectivity (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution - why it's not "EDRGE" I'm not really sure!) - instead it's displaying the "G" for GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). 3G? - hey, I use T-Mobile, what's 3G? (Although, according to the Wikipedia EDGE article, EDGE technically qualifies as a 3G standard.)
Got me thinking about Styx' "Edge of the Century" - and I found the video (above); note: I haven't watched the video yet (as it hasn't finished loading yet on my GPRS data connection), so use your own discretion when deciding whether to watch.
Anyway, kind of cool that we live in a world now where you can be conencted while driving down the road, working (as I was) or blogging (as I am) or whatever (having Facebook discussions on whether "nuclear bomb" can be used as a unit of measure when attempting to describe large quantities of energy like the sun to non-scientific folk - see what you started, Alex?). We're out of town, but don't bother trying to steal all the stuff from my house. First, it's probably not worth much. Second, I have dogs in the back yard that will bite you (they bite me, and I'm familiar to them!). Third, I have a house-sitter in my absence. Fourth, it's probably not worth much, so you'd be wasting your time (i.e., you could probably make more per hour at a clothing factory in South America or Asia than by robbing my residence).
On the other hand, it's kind of uncool, too... the more "connected" we become (as a society), the less "unwinding" time we seem to have. Yesterday evening I was wading around my pool (small, above ground thing - nothing spectacular, but nice to cool off in), thinking how nice it was to just be "off the grid" for a while, taking a break from the fast-paced society that is the norm these days. Sometimes I wish I'd been born 100-200 years ago instead of about 40 (yep, I turn 40 this year!). Granted, the work would probably have been much tougher, but I'd also be in much better shape. The interior environment in my home wouldn't be as "comfortable," but I'd be more acclimated, and stepping outside in summer wouldn't hit me like a really hot hitting thing. Evenings would be music and reading and stories, maybe some rudimentary board games with the family.
Oh well, we've pulled off the interstate now, gotta go get me some fast food, another of our modern societal joys. Later, all!
Got me thinking about Styx' "Edge of the Century" - and I found the video (above); note: I haven't watched the video yet (as it hasn't finished loading yet on my GPRS data connection), so use your own discretion when deciding whether to watch.
Anyway, kind of cool that we live in a world now where you can be conencted while driving down the road, working (as I was) or blogging (as I am) or whatever (having Facebook discussions on whether "nuclear bomb" can be used as a unit of measure when attempting to describe large quantities of energy like the sun to non-scientific folk - see what you started, Alex?). We're out of town, but don't bother trying to steal all the stuff from my house. First, it's probably not worth much. Second, I have dogs in the back yard that will bite you (they bite me, and I'm familiar to them!). Third, I have a house-sitter in my absence. Fourth, it's probably not worth much, so you'd be wasting your time (i.e., you could probably make more per hour at a clothing factory in South America or Asia than by robbing my residence).
On the other hand, it's kind of uncool, too... the more "connected" we become (as a society), the less "unwinding" time we seem to have. Yesterday evening I was wading around my pool (small, above ground thing - nothing spectacular, but nice to cool off in), thinking how nice it was to just be "off the grid" for a while, taking a break from the fast-paced society that is the norm these days. Sometimes I wish I'd been born 100-200 years ago instead of about 40 (yep, I turn 40 this year!). Granted, the work would probably have been much tougher, but I'd also be in much better shape. The interior environment in my home wouldn't be as "comfortable," but I'd be more acclimated, and stepping outside in summer wouldn't hit me like a really hot hitting thing. Evenings would be music and reading and stories, maybe some rudimentary board games with the family.
Oh well, we've pulled off the interstate now, gotta go get me some fast food, another of our modern societal joys. Later, all!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Sorry about that, Facebook friends...
For those of you who are my friends on Facebook (note: if you're reading this "note" on Facebook, you are most likely my friend!), I apologize for the unrelenting onslaught of "status" posts from Empires and Allies. Now, I like the game (for a FB game, it's not bad), but I didn't realize just how much "junk" it was throwing on my wall! I've revoked its publishing rights, and painstakingly gone back and removed (most of) the entries it posted to my wall. That's one downfall of Facebook games - they all-too-often spam your wall (and sometimes that of your friends!) with too many stupid posts. And there's no way to say "clean up all posts by " - granted, you can "remove post and remove " - but then you've removed more than just the posts, you've removed the application as well. At least, I think that's how it goes.
I also found that my blog posts - via my "notes feed import" on Facebook - were not being updated. Looks like perhaps Feedburner had altered the feed URL since I started the import (long ago), but I've fixed that (by removing and re-adding the note-blog-post-feed-import setting on Facebook). Hopefully you'll be able to read this on my Facebook within three hours. If not, I'll have to look for some other way to get it there... not that it really matters, since I don't publish all that often anymore. Life getting in the way... but hopefully things will ease up a bit soon(er or later).
I also found that my blog posts - via my "notes feed import" on Facebook - were not being updated. Looks like perhaps Feedburner had altered the feed URL since I started the import (long ago), but I've fixed that (by removing and re-adding the note-blog-post-feed-import setting on Facebook). Hopefully you'll be able to read this on my Facebook within three hours. If not, I'll have to look for some other way to get it there... not that it really matters, since I don't publish all that often anymore. Life getting in the way... but hopefully things will ease up a bit soon(er or later).
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