I'm not getting what this picture is. A well that is tapped, a hidden propane bottle for a disguised oven?

No rain down this way, it's beautiful out. Got out of work at 10 and went into the hangar for the Veterans Day shindig. Why they aren't having it next week is a mystery to me. Center stage was a C17. That sucker is big. Had a few late model planes, a few old ones, nice display. Left around 1130 and went to Awful house.

Well it's not a school night so I can stay up late. I probably won't but I can if I want. Tomorrow I'm going to work on freeing the Chevy from where it sits, and getting it over to my neighbor so he can work on it.

 

Mike - That isn't a well. It's a still (distillation chamber) w/ a wood fireplace underneath to heat the mash. The condensed vapor (alcohol) is moved from the top of the still via the red hose into bottles (or otherwise) located inside the wood barrel.

 

That's a small kinda crude unit, probably no more than two gallons of mash, which will make no more than a quart of finished booze, but it would make neat lawn art... Tedd

 

I'm pretty sure that's all it is - lawn art; someone w/ a picture planning to sell a picture of it. That's about all it is. You'd be lucky to get a decent pint.

 

I've rode my Indian motorcycle many times throughout Maggie Valley (NC) and Tennessee. I believe it was 2012 or 2013 I rode down to Daytona for bike week staying at the Hilton on the beach - patio door to my room opened onto a plaza on the beach. I opened the door for a peek after waking the following morning after check-in and of all people it's the Popcorn Sutton boys staying in the room next to me. They were some characters I'll tell ya.

EDIT: It was the boys who took over the show after Popcorn died. Have no idea of any of their names. They were there as a promotional item.

 

Although my Monte Carlo did well going to Springfield IL and back a month ago, it was leaking coolant from two places on the top of the system; thermostat housing and two intake to head bolts that I removed while doing valve cover gaskets to get clearance, and they butted into the common V head design feature of being symmetrical, and thus, having a crossover coolant passage back there that is unused, but there. Cooling system would leak under pressure until it was at atmospheric again, and be just fine. It would've boiled at 220, but the radiator held it to 185. I want it to be safe to 250, so we need to be under the radiator cap's pressure regulation.

Shellac compound is getting shelved. Went with Permatex Super 300. Good for antifreeze. Removed thermostat housing, sanded it as flat as I could get it. I have another one that I don't like, so I am reusing stock one. Sanded intake. Chased all threads. Removed paper towel, wiped all down with alcohol. Put thermostat in and put the 300 on the gasket, on the housing, on the other side of gasket, and on the intake. Assembled and torqued to 30 ft lbs. Let sit.

Chased threads in head bolts, they cleaned up nicely. Put Super 300 on them, reinstalled and tightened down hard. Reinstalled coil since it was in the way, and put the radiator overflow bottle back on.

Will refill the system in the AM.

 

I can't handle the suspense, but w/ no caption I'll say I've installed worse looking thermostat housing collars which worked fine.

 

I see some dialogue was added to the photo after I posted. I figured that was your Monte Carlo from the appearance of the fuel flow inlet on the side of the front of the carburetor.

 

Yes. I like to upload from the phone, then type on the PC. Sometimes, there is lag.

Useful trivial knowledge 67 and earlier Oldsmobiles are like that.

 

I know my 1967 had a side fuel flow but I also knew you owned a Chevrolet you were working on.

 

I believe a hideous parasitoid of unknown origin has infiltrated CO.

Quadrajet Carburetor, 71 Oldsmobile 442, W-30 455 CID. 4sp automatic.

 

Yes sir. Someday, I shall work on my 67, too.

I got my property surveyed recently, that is the first step to Car Barn Nirvana, in which the 67 will be rebuilt.

 

Or maybe it was the Chevy orange block that gave it away?

 

As a matter of fact i do have a copper still hidden away and not assembled. Maybe 50 gallon copper cooker. I was going to try to make gasahol. But never got around to it.

I had it for 30 years. Lately I've been thinking about lake art. But I'm afraid someone would steal it for the copper

 

It would make cool lake art, but unfortunately I think you're right, someone would probably steal it!

 

Morning all. Chris glad to hear of the good news on your wife. Sounds like they got all of it. Windy and overcast today with gale warnings followed by storm warnings along the lakeshore, with gusts up to 50mph.

 

If I had that I would be in a different line of work than my current profession.

 

Thanks Dan, we're hoping it's in our rear view mirror for good! We had a wind advisory and heavy storms last night. Not sure how high the winds got, but high enough that gusts shook the whole house. Between the wind gusts and thunder, Monty was a mess. Saw some siding and trim blowing around the neighborhood behind my house this morning. Did a walk around our house about 2-hours ago and didn't see anything missing. Hope you guys miss any extreme weather there at your place.

 

Bloody nice weather today. Removed F250 Diesel engine items to access PS pump/pulley. Ran up to Autozone to borrow a serpentine belt tensioner removal tool as I can’t reach the tensioner pulley w/o removing two fan shrouds. Hope to R&R PS pump/pulley either by end of day or tomorrow. House painting has a high priority as well.

 

Norm - Good luck, hope the R&R of the PS/pulley goes smoothly!

 

Chris - Thanks but this not going smoothly - at all.

 

Hi everyone.

Got up early for the Awful house, then came home and lollygagged around for a little while. After the fog burned off it looked like the sun was going to come out so I went over to the shop and started moving stuff again. Then it started raining. Lasted long enough for me to get things put away and back to the house. Wasn't going to go back out, I didn't want to work in the mud. Maybe if it clears up later and dries up I'll go change the oil in the car on the driveway.

Jamesbo I was going to do the same thing, but I was reading up on it and found that I needed an enormous amount of material for a miniscule amount of liquor. Then gas prices came down and it was moot.

Norm it would be very simple to change that pump if you just take the motor out of the truck and hang it about waste high from a crane of some sort. That's how the motor is built, it would disassemble and reassemble just as easy as pie.

Guess I'll move stuff around for a little while. The rumors of us going to a ten hour shift or second shift seem to have subsided. I would have loved either of those because I'd have more time to myself. Ah, well. Have a good weekend everyone.

 

Well, that tells me alot! If it's a PIA for you, it'd be a frickin disaster for me!

 

Mike - I have an overhead pulley attached to a center steel I-Beam/girder. Your method may prove to be faster than mine. The serpentine belt removal tool would work if this wasn’t this Diesel engine. I can’t get it in a position to loosen the belt to lock the tensioner. I’ll wrangle something up eventually but at the moment I feel I’ve wasted -4hrs. Frustrating.

 

Is it this kind of set up

 

Exactly same setup. I watched that video the other day. Perhaps if I was changing ALT only (esp. w/ another person) I’d go that route. I may have gone that route as a last resort. also just to get the belt off the PS pulley. Not a bad way, w/ my luck I’d strip the threads with the awl. Thanks for the consideration of helping out its greatly appreciated.

 

You betcha Norm - Sounds like a known pita issue with the engineering method. Good luck with it

 

I got the belt off and tensioner is locked in place. Recall I installed a new tensioner, AC compressor, ALT, two additional pulleys and AC drier a couple months ago. Should have done the PS pump then. I pulled the feed/inlet line from reservoir to pump - knew this would be a mess, it was. In reviewing the return line from pump the square metal piece is very loose on the PS steering pump. Wonder if air was entering system? The current fluid is like cherry molasses - bad. Will try to get return line off PS pump next (sprayed with penetrating fluid two hours ago. May need to order a new return line we’ll see.

 

I may have lost one finger, maybe two - I’ll check in the shower later on.

 

My wife made homemade chicken soup and homemade yeast rolls for dinner. She also made a homemade lemon/blueberry pound cake for dessert. Everything was most excellent!

 

Norm as I approach middle age I find that jobs I insisted I do myself in my younger years, I'd just rather pay to have done. Remember automobiles are designed to be built easily, not worked on easily.

Puttered around the house all afternoon. Didn't really accomplish much. Turned out to be a beautiful day. That really chaps my hide. I could have toughed it through the rain and then had a nice day, but it looked like it was settling in, and I didn't want to work in the mud anyway. Eh, there will be another chance.

Chris that all looks delicious. We're having pizza. Gonna go get it in a few minutes.

 

Thanks Mike, I'll let my wife know! I'm lucky she's such a good cook. Ya can't go wrong with pizza, I often have it a couple of times a week.

 

I haven't been in the shower, yet; but, I have washed my arms & hands - all fingers accounted for.

I have the PS pump removed - quite the fiasco - not too dissimilar to a R&R of the AC compressor. Engineering design nightmare.

I have a question. Earlier I suggested I may have a bad PS pump return line this is because I noticed the square brass piece could move inside the piece which is threaded into the PS pump.
NOTE: I have never seen any fluid leak from the PS pump and it still is not leaking from this square brass piece - the square brass piece had me worried because I (most likely) incorrectly suspected it was not supposed to rotate/move. On further examination, apparently the square brass piece is supposed to rotate/move. Is this to allow some freedom of movement for assembly etc.? I'm not real good w/ these types of fittings; so, if anyone who knows about these pieces would like to comment please do so. I'll post a couple pictures and a small video I took shortly. Thanks!

 

Norm, I dunno anything about your specific setup, but on my 90s era Fords there was a banjo swivel fitting on the power steering pump pressure hose.

I know this only because one of them began leaking profusely and I had to deal with it.

 

I believe I have this figured out - hopefully I'm correct. The PS Pump return line has the end connection which contains the square brass fitting & the 13mm nut with the line attached. I loosen (remove) the nut, and the brass fitting and return line are then removed from the PS Pump.
I simply reattach the PS Pump return line (square brass fitting & nut) into the new PS Pump in same location, tighten the nut and that's it. Does this sound correct? I'm most likely making more of this than I should, but assembly/disassembly is a nuisance since as you'll surely notice, that one bolt which feeds into the engine block must be inserted first before I attach & tighten the PS Pump return line fitting.

Any fluid you see is only penetrating fluid and possibly some PS fluid which dripped when I removed the inlet line. The entire assembly is dry.

Any comments let me know. I guess the line is supposed to be able to swivel/rotate. That square brass fitting is what's attached inside the end of the line which is secured w/ the 13mm nut.

Thanks guys!



PS Pump Return Line

PS Pump Return Line

PS Pump Return Line

New PS Pump demonstrating return line attachment point.

 

Kenneth - Thanks! Is this thing called a banjo fitting?

 

Yes, dammit, those banjo fittings fooled me once on a 97 Explorer and we machined it tight. It's not supposed to be tight.

 

John - Excellent feedback. Thanks much.

 

Kenneth - Thanks again. I'm sorta re-evaluating that line right now & considering its replacement (possibly). I've been calling it a return line, but I'm incorrect. It is the PS pump pressure hose/line. This hydroboost (PS + Brakes) system is the first time I've ever worked on such a beast.

 

Windy in whole state today, high wind warnings, etc. Went out to dinner/ drinks and came home. All normal. Let Buddy out, coming in thru garage-BOOM- lights out. Stood there a second or 2, new Generac generator started, few seconds later- lights back on. Ugh, power out, apparently whole lake. well sure is easier than it was, though much costlier- nice to know generator actually works....