March ‘21, “Irish” COFFEE POT, 16 years strong. Corned beef omelette, and colcannon. Not grits.

[Banks]

Hello there,

Snip.....Good luck with the job hunt. What do you  do?

Daughter and I got to visit Mom yesterday, been a year. Half hour scheduled  visits with Mom behind plastic. The year took its toll, she looks rough.

Other than that still plugging away at the kitchen. Best get back toit.

 

Prayers for those in need and the end of this pandemic

[wrmcclellan]

Hey all!

Sunny here (finally)! 60's today!

Some good news re BIL. Docs found he has a serious concussion. He must have fallen. No cuts. He has a full head of hair so nothing visibly obvious. Explains the delirium (he was somewhat impaired prior to this incident). Infection under control. He is going to be transferred to a skilled nursing facility for next (or up to) 20 days (as allowed by Medicare). Daughters are searching for options once he is released from the current place if he is deemed unable to return to his independent living apt.

Got some work done on the El Cam fuel vapor recovery system. This system has the most vacuum lines of any vacuum system on the vehicle and of course in 4 different sizes. All lines replaced. Tested the vapor cannister purge valve and it is kaput, will not hold vacuum. Not available via normal local and on-line auto parts stores but loads of them on the Bay of E - should be here next week. One third of the typ price, brand new, OEM part, free shipping.

Anj - forgot to mention. I found a table of voltages for the O2 sensor and mine is operating. As engine is currently running rich the O2 voltage is 0.7. A voltage if 0.5 is normal. 0.3 is lean. As you noted - the O2 sensor is the main driver for the carb - along with some input from the temp sensors.

Dennis - same thing here in Texas. It is not difficult to find a way to get the inspection if not compliant. back in the 70's to the 90's, mechanics and independent shops hated the smog gear and pretty much ignored any issues. This caused the implementation of some hard rules and big fines. The state follows the FEDs EPA rules. I personally think if the FEDs require this stuff on older vehicles, then they should mandate the manufacturers keep all the OEMs for parts in business so you can find any part you need without resorting to used parts, E-Bay, etc. Otherwise - after 25 years you can do what you want. Any new engine is going to outperform an old one for emissions even with no smog stuff on it. As I have gotten further into this - almost all the smog equipment functions to minimize emissions when the engine is cold. For example, the AIR pump and EFE systems cut out when the engine is up to operating temp.

[ChiefEagles]

45 degrees and SUNNY. Beautiful day. Love it. Animals do too. They have ben cooped up too much with all the rain.

Off to take the Caddy to the dealer to replace the radio. [the screen with all the gadgets and info.] What should have been done 4 trips ago. GM had to give permission to the dealer to do it.

Going on second week after second shot. Feels like being set free.

Hope all have a safe and happy day.

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Been in your shoes...twice, Snip.  It is no fun.  Second time I was a bit smarter (and maybe luckier) in that I had a job lined up before the axe fell.  Good news, bad news day.  Good news is that I got MR, Trains and the Lion Roars all on the same day.  Bad news is that the Mini will be virtual again this year.  That really creates a vacuum.  Still get the bling and shirt, but no kissing the bricks and all the entertainment along the route.  Also, this does not bode well for the race.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[KRM]

Snip, yes RO = Reverse Osmosis. Our water here is 75 to 104 grain of hard depending on when you test it. Hard water is 10 grain of hard. So our 40,000 grain softener is set to 85% (the max)  just to get the water down to 10 grain of hard. That makes it full of salt and you can taste it in the water so we got the RO drinking water system to remove the salt and clean up the water for drinking. It is also sent to the fridg ice maker and water. No more water cooler 5 gallon jugs and plastic water bottles. Hope that helps. I know the water up in your area is also very hard but ours beats all of our neighbors around and a few water people said NO WAY till they tested it.

Only got to about 34 today, should be better tomorrow.

[dougdagrump]

ChiefEagles

Don't know if they are still doing it.  Dougsagrump took me to one South of his place in a town.  They close the street each week and have a car show.  Some prime stuff there.

 

Unfortunately "Cruising Grand" has not been happening since the Wuhan Flu outbreak. If, and that is a very big if, the virus slows down sufficiently they will restart this late spring early summer.

cruisin grand escondido ca - Bing video

[anjdevil2]

Hey, March 1st.....time MARCHes on......lol

Snip, sorry about your employ - something will come up - it usually does...

Happy Birthday, MartyE!!

Hmmmm - hot rodders....OK I'll bite....

I drive a muscle car - well, 2 actually....my 1970 road runner convert is always a cool ride, rowing the 4 speed to RPMs untold and when the weather sucks (like it has the last 3 months) we jump into the Hemi Magnum R/T wagon.  When we need fuel economy, since January 20th, we use Dad's Fiesta (not preferred, but gets the job done....)  Looking forward to more car and train shows this year.  Oh, yeah, I work on my own rides, with or without computer control, I work on them all.

Nice weekend with the future in laws, prime rib was the bribe....lol.  I installed a new bathroom fan, which took me about an hour.

Brought home a TYCO HO race set from the in laws and set that up on Sunday.  That was a blast.  Dinner was leftover Prime Rib and I made Risotto to compliment the mashed potatoes and Prime Rib.  

Ended the night with laundry and Agony and the Ecstacy.  A Heston Classic!

Alas, no train attic this weekend.  Meetings Tomorrow night, Wednesday and drill on Thursday, then circle back to Friday and not sure what is on tap at ths point.

I might run out a get Jenni her N Scale CSX Caboose, need to connect with the seller, so we'll see what transpires

[Snip]

KRM

 

 I always told everyone that Caterpillar taught me how to live without Caterpillar.

 

Those smocks that installed the RO system a week ago have never came back to finish the job or even called? Thought they would of by now, I have not even got a bill and it will be just over 1K if they ever show up to finish??

 

RO?

Reverse Osmosis (water softener)?

I bought some professional water hardness test strips (Hach.com) a week ago, they arrived Saturday (FedEx).

Tested out the incoming well water yesterday, it maxxed out.

So, I tested the water after the softener; it maxxed out!

So, I doubled the grain setting, and programmed a recharge overnight.

We'll see...

 

Thanks for all commiserating the recent layoff. I've checked a couple of job boards, so far it doesn't seem encouraging, but I'll keep looking.

[wrmcclellan]

Afternoon/morning all!

Been dealing with a lot lately. BIL (Wife's side), 77, ended up in the hospital Friday night. We drove to Denton Sat to pick up his dog. No Medical Power of Attorney, his wife passed 11 yrs ago, so his daughter's (who put off the attorney stuff) cannot make any decisions for him even though he is very impaired. And he is in a ward where they have COVID patients so not easy for anyone to visit him. Wife did get in for a short visit Sat while son and I retrieved the dog.

Snip - sorry about the job. Hope you bounce back quickly!

Marty 

It is a new month so Buckeye 

If you guys watch these hot rod shows - Texas requires a license/registration windshield sticker. You cannot get the sticker without proof of insurance and a state safety/emissions inspection. You cannot pass inspection without having proof of insurance and all emissions gear operating (or if over 25 years old - present, does not have to operate). None of the Texas hot rod shows have cars with the window sticker. Certainly one can find places that will pass the inspection - but significant fines ($25K?) if caught. This is why so many of the shows focus on mid 60's and earlier vehicles (prior to some emissions controls). My '68 Vette had an AIR pump, PCV, and a mechanical EFE valve in the passenger side exhaust manifold. Trucks were allowed to go for several years past autos before emissions stuff required which is why trucks are so popular. In Texas the chassis year determines the year of the vehicle which is why you can stick any engine you want without any emissions controls in early years hot rods.

[KRM]

 

Sunny but will only hit 34 today, slowing the thaw down some.

 

 Ship, sorry about the layoff. I have been laid off, locked out and on strike many times. Of my 36+ years at Caterpillar over six were lost to layoffs. I had some neat jobs in the gaps and a great mid life retirement at age 30 during the 1980s trickledown economics years. I always told everyone that Caterpillar taught me how to live without Caterpillar.

 

We went and got supplies today, pension payday.

 

Those smocks that installed the RO system a week ago have never came back to finish the job or even called? Thought they would of by now, I have not even got a bill and it will be just over 1K if they ever show up to finish??

 

Happy Birthday Marty!

[Flintlock76]

Sorry to hear about your lay-off Snip.  It's happened to me several times and it's no fun, especially when it's due to matters you had nothing to do with.  I suspect it's happened to most of us here at one time or another. 

[fifedog]

Marty - 

[Snip]

V8Vega

I saw a 80's El Camino like you guys have. Real cherry a entheuasts car. Had a bit of a lope to it so he must know someone to pass smog.

Southern Calif. the hot bed of hot rods, smog controls have killed hot rods here. The only ones you see anymore are driven by a old man going to a show and that's very rare.

Smog controls may have but a damper on hot rods, but, times have changed.

Young people are more interested (nowadays) in computers and being on social mendacity.

(If they are interested in anything at all! [sacrcasm]) and the old hotrodders are literally dying off. So the young aren't so much interested in modifying (evil, anti-green) cars.

And the old Ford Flathead V8s are also fading away too, it is harder to get people in hot rodding one of those when a stock Honda engine puts out more HP (oh, I guess they call it KW nowadays).  Not accounting for inflation, but the prices mentioned for a good Flathead 20 or so years ago, are now being asked for seized blocks.

And there is the "it's what I grew up with" sentimentality regarding fixing up old cars.  The Datsuns and Toyotas that were the young folks cars when I was young rusted away decades ago.

It was nice to watch Velocity, now Motor Trend channel shows where Chip Foose, or, Fantom Works, or Kindig fixed up the old cars, but when I took a tour of Kindig's a few years ago, he mentioned that it generally takes $100,000 to "get his attention", and if you show up with $1M, he'll invite you into his office. (I cut the cable this past year, so I haven't watched those shows lately)

 

Anyway I got laid off on Friday, was called into the Boss's office shortly before closing time on Friday to be told that.

Well, the job was not a good fit for me anyway...

[ChiefEagles]

Don't know if they are still doing it.  Dougsagrump took me to one South of his place in a town.  They close the street each week and have a car show.  Some prime stuff there.

[MartyE]

March Already.   Another trip around the sun wraps up this month.  Hopefully I get a few more.

Hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy.  I've been up at 3 in the morning lately.  It's getting old.

Not a lot of train activity the last few weeks. 

Still waiting on my turn for the vaccine.  Again when I get it, I get it.  Take care of those who really need it first.

Stay safe my friends!

[ChiefEagles]

Thanks Fifey for getting March started.  Had a line come through and turned dark.  Outside lights came on.  Poured but got only .13" of rain.  59 degrees and suppose to drop all day.

Dr.'s appointment this afternoon.  Miss Daisy says I am to drive her around afterwards. 

Have a good one.

 

Don't forget, April 1 will be 17 years old. 

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

True enough what both of you said.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[Buckeye Riveter]

If you’re enough lucky to be Irish… You’re lucky enough!  

[fifedog]

May the siderods of our friendship never turn rusty - Irish proverb