It moves… but not quite fixed.
Its new home.
Well, Biebs and I may have killed a few brain cells in the process from all the fumes… but we managed to drop the gas tank and rewire the fuel pump CORRECTLY. Note to anyone who’s looking to attempt any gas tank removals on these vehicles. Removing the bumper makes the job 100x easier!
So once we got the tank down and could get a good look at the wiring it was clear there was some real Frankenstein stuff going on. I pulled the tape off one of the connections and the wires were literally just connected by a thread. Hmm… that can’t carry much juice I wouldn’t think.
I hate wiring.
When the previous owner (whom I’ll refer to from here on as “Captain Genius”) put the new fuel pump in, he decided that there’s no need for these fancy schmancy “connectors”. So he just spliced into the existing wiring. This adequate, but you gotta at least give it a good college try. Some of this wiring was so weird that I don’t even know what a person was thinking. There was wiring run underneath the weather stripping for the tail gate, which basically kinked it around a sharp piece of metal. And the funny part is that there was an access hole drilled under the carpet like six inches away from where they tucked the wires. And some of the wire was spliced two or three different times within a yard of each other! It was ugly.
It's not that hard.
So we got it put back together and fired it up tonight. It runs a lot better, but there’s still some gremlins in this thing. It still sputters when you really get on the gas, but it’s much more driveable now than it was. It will get up and go if you were driving normally, but if you wanted to mash on it and pass somebody, good luck. I still think it’s something electrical, so a few more things to try before I decided it’s worth it to get tags and insurance! haha!
…Like a hole in the head.
Well after two months of assisting with the Trading Post on a daily basis. I brought home a stray. A guy had advertised this for a couple of days, and I decided to give him a call because it sounded like a good deal. So for $400 we’re the new owners of a 1994 Chevy Blazer 4×4.
It’s certainly not without its flaws. The reason we got it so cheap was because there’s an issue with the fuel mixture causing it to run super rich. So if you try to give it too much gas it dies. You have to feather the gas pedal to get it going. When it is running though, it runs pretty smooth and the transmission shifts firm. It’s rusty in some spots, like I think every one of these old Blazers are. But there’s only one spot where it’s rusted all the way though. So the body is in better shape than I expected for $400. It needs a whole host of things replaced, too numerous to mention. But like everything we seem to have, it’s a work in progress.
It’s not going to be daily transportation by any stretch of the imagination. It’ll be for hauling stuff around, and fishing and camping. That sort of thing. But first I need to get it to the point where I know I won’t get stranded at the lake! Ha ha. I have a few ideas so far, but I need to do some more research on these V6 motors.
I called Andrea this morning and asked what she thought about it. To be honest I was hoping she’d talk me out of it. But she was all gung-ho on the idea. So over lunch we both went and looked at it, and the old fella had a tough time getting it started. I was actually thinking, “Ahh good, a reason NOT to buy it!” Ha ha. But it started, died a couple times, and I’m looking at Andrea to give me the thumbs down. But nope, she just says, “It needs a little work, we can handle it.” Welp that was about it. We went for a short test drive and I was confident it could make the trip home. So the deal was done.
Almost home anyway. After taking the side streets all the way across town (Ya know, no tags or insurance *wink* ) it finally died two blocks from home. We waited to see if it would settle down, but we had to get back to work, and it wasn’t starting. So we pushed it the final two blocks home. Ha ha! After work today though it fired right up. So wish us luck. Hopefully in a couple weeks we’re cruising around in this dirty old thing.
07.20.09Little weather.
Had a breif whistle of the tornado sirens this evening as a storm rolled through. Andrea and I were just sitting out on the porch watching some pretty heavy rain come down and maybe some pebble sized hail. After it moved on we noticed the clouds moving weird directions (like three directions at once). Right about the time I got to thinking, that kinda looks like “rotation”, the sirens started to blow. Never did see any funnel clouds come to bare, but it was kinda cool watching it all develop. Too bad I didn’t think to grab my camera until after it all passed!
Best Friends
Old Hat
So I have my first remote today in a LONG time. Even while I was working at Rocking M I think I only did one or two remotes the whole time I worked there, as opposed to the near weekly remotes at Platinum.
I’m not nervous, but I’m not really looking forward to it to be completely honest. It’s kinda nice not having to lug all the stuff around, hang around for a few hours. And hope that all the equipment works right.
It didn’t help when they told me what the talent fees were. : – | I never really have ENJOYED remotes other than a select few locations. (St. Patty’s day in Aggieville comes to mind.) But I will admit that Platinum Broadcasting usually made it worth your time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not peanuts or anything. Just I would probably be happy to pay somebody else the same amount to do it for me. Ha ha.
I suppose it’s like getting in the swimming pool. Getting in is the hardest part, but once you dive in it’s not too bad. It’s the After Harvest Festival and the weather is supposed be nice so I guess I should shut the heck up! Ha ha.
07.14.09Meet Sydney
Well, we got us another cat. Andrea had been hinting for quite some time that she wanted a kitten. And I kept saying, “No”. So she used my birthday as the perfect excuse to get me a kitten. I have to admit she’s too darn cute (as most kittens are). There was an e-mail at Andrea’s work for free farm kittens. They had cats of all ages out running around. It was hard to pick one, but this little gal was just so relaxed, I figured THAT’s the kind of cat I like.
The Nala and Daisy aren’t too sure what to do about her yet. Nala is happy to pretend like she isn’t there. But Daisy I think is afraid we’re going to forget about her forever. I’m sure they’ll get along eventually though. Sydney doesn’t seem too shy, but not quite ready to rub noses with anybody just yet. Infact just about all she’s done all night is sleep!
Check out my Picasa Gallery for a couple more pics and full size versions of these.
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| Sydney |
Chopped
Welp, I cut my hair off. Err… Andrea did. It was getting shaggy, and I was tired of messing with it all the time. And not to mention it was friggin hot. I dunno how you girls do it with all the hair all over the place come summer time. Too hot, I’d be sweatin’ up a storm!
Sorry I haven’t been blogging in a while. It seems like it’s been busy, but I really can’t think of what’s been going on. I promise to do better in the days to come.
Recently we went out to the Barton County Fair since we had some free tickets to go see the Big Red One Rock Band from Ft. Riley. They were a pretty good group. They had a horns section and everything and sounded real good. We took some time to walk around and check out the exhibits. I couldn’t help but think how the fair probably hasn’t changed a whole lot in the last, what, 80 years? All the kids were showing off their calves they’d been tending, and no shortage of rabbits, chickens, goats and the like. It was just kinda nice to see that there’s still old standards around in a time where it seems like technology is invading everything.
Yesterday, Andrea, my friend Kenny, his girlfriend, and myself all went to a little restaurant just south of Timken, KS along the highway. It wasn’t anything spectacular. But the portions were HUGE! Andrea ordered “Loaded French Fries” for an appitizer and they brough out a full size dinner plate HEAPING with home cut fries and covered in cheese, ranch and bacon. I had the chicken fried steak, and that thing was almost an inch thick and buried in more fries! They don’t screw around. The food was good, everything was hot, but nothing was just packed with flavor. Still worth the drive from Great Bend once in a while. And it’s the only place on earth that I know of that you can get Keystone Light ON TAP! Weird.