The H2O heater drain valve is on hold until I can wrap my head around making a decision. I'll sleep on it tonight & make a decision in the morning. I'm not going down a rabbit hole where I break what I intend to replace & end up ruining what is already working - just not quite as good as it could/should be - bad design & cheap material don't always mix well.

 

Jim - I've never had a valve spring break on any engine (knock on wood). I've had a valve keeper break & I had, of all the weirdest things, one lobe on a motorcycle camshaft wear prematurely. Still not sure how that could happen other than metal fatigue on a poorly poured block of hardened steel. It was enough (can't recall the micrometer measurement) to create some serious pinging & loss of compression.

 

Mike - A H2O heater anode is made of Mg, Al or Zn. The anode is a sacrificial piece of metal which attracts particles of iron, limestone & other minerals present in water. Those elements & other minerals will eventually corrode the steel inside a H2O heater. The anode corrodes (is sacrificed) which hinders/abates corrosion of the steel inside the tank.

Think of something like the thousand pound blocks of Zn you find on ocean going vessels. Those blocks of Zn are anodes - they are there to abate electrolysis of the ship's metal.

 

A simpler explanation is the anode rod corrodes so that the water heater tank does not corrode. When the anode rods is gone, the tank starts corroding and will eventually develop a leak.

 

Got the jeep purring like a kitten

 

Nice job, Jim.

 

I've elected to maintain the current (plastic) drain valve rather than replacing it. New sturdy (proper) galvanized inlet/outlet piping installed, tank filled & currently heating up. Finished the remaining painting front side of house yesterday. Will begin tearing down & setting up scaffolding on final (South) side of house today.

 

Norm, In the word of "New Coca Cola" If it ain't broke don't fix it

 

 

Hi everyone.

What a pretty day. Was chilly, warmed up, then is chilly again. I heard Chicago got snow. I didn't look it up I might start twitching.

We went to Walmart and then Mom wanted to come to my house to "help put away." Really I think she just wanted to run the dishwasher. Heaven only knows why. But then she started to not feel good and had a nap in the recliner. So I put a few things away and then we came back to Mom's. I don't think she rested enough after Walmart. That place is a challenge to anyone.

Thanks for the explanation guys. I would say that for either one that I have it's not that big of a deal to change them now. One's already trouble and one's old. Carry on.

Jamesbo glad you got the Jeep going. Where did you find the spring? Did I tell you the guy by me with the M38 died? I wouldn't mind having that Jeep but there are other vultures out just waiting for the son to start liquidating.

Okay gonna fix myself something quick then head home and take care of Tiger. Heck if I get to bed early enough tonight I might show up for overtime tomorrow morning.

Have a good evening everyone.

 

Sah weeet!!!

 

Headed a bit south yesterday to snag a big pumpkin and apples, came back with apples, apple bread, blueberry/banana bread, and apple cider, which I haven't had in ages. They had regular sized pumpkins, no giant ones this year (100lb +). Voles ate a lot of their seeds, and deer munched on the only big one that they had. Went north to a place today, that has them as well, but they had no pumpkins at all this year.

 

Mike, My friend in town [ Clayton] has 2 M 38 A 1's and never throws away anything. He had one. He was telling me about putting 4 chains on one of his when he was a pup and driving the forest service roads in the snow. Nice guy

Remember the Jerry can you were going to give me? If you'd fill it up with gasoline you mower would certainly work better /longer

 

Jim- Glad ya got it fixed so quickly,!

 

The weather for the car show was perfect again, sunny and high 60's. No awards, but a great time talking with other owners and spectators. Had great company, my buddy with the '66 Vette met me there.

My wife got finished with the hallway bath with the exception of building a frame for the mirror. It looks great, I wouldn't expect anything less out of her! She's waiting for the some of the flexible type water lines to be delivered so she can hook up the new faucets in the master.bath. She's almost done with both and should get done before her surgery on the 19th, which was her goal.

Sounds lile everyone had a pretty nice day. Hope ya'll have a great week!

 

Wanda hear a laugh?

I called a CO member today [who name I won't mention] He said ," I feel like I'm talking to Joe P. " I said NO, He's much smarter than me and the only reason I'm a mod was when CO 1st started they were short handed and needed warm bodies

I really had no idea anyone thought I was so "special : Cause I ain't [ in the vernacular ]

 

You are Special Jim, not to be confused with Special Ed.
I am finally pulling thru a heck of a cold. Not covid, ( I checked). The Hospice lady asked when I got back from Florida if I could go see my 1st patient as a volunteer on Monday-(today). She could tell by my voice on phone that I was sick. She asked me to test for covid. I will see how long it takes to pull out of my crud. I feel better but once in a while have a coughing fit that sounds like I'm dying. I surely cant go to a person's house and have a coughing fit even if I can say- "don't worry, It's not Covid". This guy is 83, has Alzheimer's and lives with his wife near here. We'll see how it goes, maybe this week yet.
Got 2 big pontoon boats in barn now, I guess I have to wait to get third in before I put in Olds. I have to waste a bunch of space as pontoons are 8' wide and building is about 23' wide on inside. Cant get 3 across. So with a foot or so between them, end up with a 5' strip too narrow for Olds or truck. It really is a bummer putting stuff away....

 

I'm dedicating this week to Jim's M 38 A 1.



Non-broken valve springs...

...required to maintain compression...

...did someone say Suck-Squeeze-Bang-Blow?

 

Finished w/ H2O heater yesterday, took down scaffolding & stacked materials. Took an hour & greased all the coupling pins, locking pins & spring retainers. These are the couplers which hold each scaffold section in the vertical direction. Without good freedom of movement you end up fighting metal-against-metal when assembling & in particular disassembling sections.

Tee time 11:11 am.

 

Tanks Norm but the 4 pistons are in line. with the exhaust valve going up from the bottom and the intake coming down from the top Kinda wierd

But i enjoyed the camel toe

 

I realize it's an in-line-4...still....

 

I know you did, but did you know about the valves coming in from the bottom and the top?

 

Those are a unique design, one half flat head, other half overhead. You would think they would go one way or the other. There was a war going on, that does hurry things up some... Tedd

 

Tedd, That's exactly what I call it 1/2 flat head

 

Here ya go Chris, a pic of the Kzoo river, in New Richmond, Mi. from this weekend.

 

Well, I see Richard [Gearheads78] is in the car transport business

Boy does that add a new dimension to buying a car in East Istanbul. Having a friend and CO member in the hauling business could make getting whatcha want easy to get delivered

Some of you newer members probably haven't gone back and seen his build thread. He can weld standing on his head. Mike how old do you think his cute little girl is?

 

Hi everyone.

Well I didn't go home to take care of Tiger. Mom started feeling worse and we ended up at the Emergency Room for the rest of the night. Stomach/intestinal trouble. She was in such pain I was really concerned. We waited a long time and then they drew blood and did a cat scan. Then waited some more and went into a room and waited some more then an hour for drip medication then we came home. Got home after 2. She felt fine today. I stayed home from work because I didn't get to bed until after time to get up. Oddly enough not a really full emergency room and no one that seemed indigent. Odd for that place.

Jamesbo I remember Richard from when I first signed on, and the little girl I believe was a toddler, which would make her college age these days. At the time I was infatuated with a 54 Super 88 and couldn't find one, and he ended up with a nice car that needed a light restore, and had some plan he was going to cut it up and make a hot rod out of it. Hope he never did that.

I think that chick's name is Mud Flap.

So Greg are you going to tell us why you're keeping your neighbor's pontoon for the winter when you obviously don't want to?

Chris new bathrooms will be exciting. My bathrooms are old and gross and I have great plans for them. I probably will never get to them because they will be total guts and my money goes elsewhere. Ah it's fun to dream.

Okay time for the Monday night cruise in. Only two more tonight and next week. Beautiful night. Hope everyone has a good evening.

 

Mike, Glad Mom's Ok

 

Dan - I can't see any picture attached to your post???

 

Mike - Sounds like a scary ordeal with your Mom. Glad she's doing better and hope she stays that way!

The new bathrooms will be nice when she's done. Plans for her finishing up before going in for her surgery Wednesday got derailed today because some parts she bought online came damaged. Two trips to Lowes today and we still don't have everything she needs to finish. At least we have one of the 2 fully functional, the other will have to wait. I don't care, but know she really wanted to get them both done.

 

Mike you are a good son- actually a good man.. My neighbor just built a new 40X60 pole barn and this is the first winter he has had it. It is already full of families and friends boats. Rv's and trailers! This is what happens around here. I have been very careful not to volunteer my barn. Anyway my neighbor is in the restaurant business, has 22 or so franchises. I think with Covid and employee shortages/ high cost of supplies he is hurting. He pays about $800 a year for a marina to pickup boat at boat ramp, winterize, and store it during winter and bring back in spring. He doesn't have a trailer. So we asked him if he wanted to store boat in barn. My fault. I hope it is only this year.

 

Greg - You are a good neighbor, friend, and man too for helping your neighbor! I think if I owned 22 franchises I'd be too embarrassed to ask a neighbor friend to store my boat without offering them something near the going rate per month to store it. Actually, if I was in your neighbor's position, and I was truly hurting, my first thought would be to sell the boat and get a new one when/if times got better. Everyone's different though, we sure know that. Hope things work out better next Fall.

 

Good morning guys,

Cold start this morning, it was 29° F at 0700, with a light frost on the roof tops. Supposed to be a little colder tomorrow morning. Supposed to warm up to 50'ish with sunshine though.

Feeling the stress about my wife's surgery tomorrow, I can't imagine how she's feeling! She found out last Friday she is scheduled early, 0530 arrival, which is what she wanted, but means we'll have to leave the house shortly after 0400 because the hospital is an hour's drive away, and we need to leave a little cushion for parking, etc. Her last surgery was only 25-minutes away, but this one is at the main hospital in this group of hospitals because it's where the 2 speciality surgeons that are doing her surgery practice out of. It will be a long day tomorrow, and several long days after as she recovers from what will be severe soreness. I'm sure the toughest part for me will be trying to keep her from trying to do too much too soon, she's a tough one!

Hope ya'll have a great day!

 

Norm, I have a really old, squat (smaller sized) electric water heater at my cottage. The drain valve is an old, plastic twist-style that gets frequent use during the fall, when I drain it every time we leave (I turn the heat completely off). I've been thinking about replacing it with a ball-style levered valve, but am also of the opinion: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" My fear is that I'll begin to remove it, and it somehow damages the tank and leads to having to purchase a replacement. My projects around the house frequently result in me singing that song from Hee-Haw -- DOOM! DESPAIR!!! AND AGONY ON MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! -- after Murphy's Law decides to kick me in the stones in the middle of the project.

 

Chris, I'll keep Dawn in my prayers

 

Thanks Jim, we'll appreciate all the prayers we can get!

 

Hi everyone.

Whew, afternoon. All morning we couldn't do anything, as the operating system that signs off the wheels was not working. When it did start working it took 10 minutes to sign a card, which usually takes two. It's slowly been getting better, but I'm guessing we won't hit our number by 230. I'm sure the lead will try to pin this on us.

Chris good luck and prayers for your wife tomorrow, and everyone involved for that matter. You'll be getting up around my time tomorrow.

Jamesbo even though I forgot about your jerry can, I haven't forgotten about your jerry can. When I come to get some tin I'll bring it.

Greg the only way you won't have to store your neighbor's boat forever more is to buy another car. "Sorry, no room with this new car here." Or another trailer full of sleds.

Big turnout at Summit last night. Though curiously, nothing to write home about. Lots of ricers. Next week is the last one, I expect it to be well attended. I don't think I went to but a handful of them this year.

Okay break is over. We're on the back stretch. Hope everyone is having a good day.

 

Mike, I got a message from Richard. His daughter is 17 and of course the Blazer I wanted him to bring from DFW is now off the market. The guys going to restore it

 

Just for you, Chris. This probably beats a lot of your summer high temperatures.

 

Mike - Thanks for the prayers for my wife, like I told Jim, we'll take all we can get. Yes, it will be an early morning and a long day. Not used to getting up that early since I retired. Used to get up at 4:30 every morning for 35-years to be at work by 6:00. Not as early as you, but early enough. I liked going in as early as possible to avoid the rush hour traffic, which could be horrible having to go into downtown St. Louis every day.

Glad you were able to get out to Summit on a nice evening, but too bad there wasn't anything special or unusual there!