Tales of a Plebeian Classic Car Guy, or Prose for Auto-minded Insomniacs
In January our family was at the Scottsdale car week
perusing exotic cars and million-dollar classics (including a ride in my friend’s
high-performance Porsche) but then vacation
was over, and it was back to normal.
Since we returned from Arizona it’s only rained twice in Oregon, but each time for
two months straight. And it seems like my car endeavors have mirrored the
weather, being somewhat dreary; I realize this may be the worst first-paragraph hook yet used in literature, but perhaps there’s room for writing that might relate, rather than inspire. Continue reading for tales of the auto everyman.
On a positive note, the MGA’s chassis is largely together;
the car is now sitting on its tires. I
felt like I was really moving along with the MGA project the day I could roll
it around the garage.
Then the normal silliness started. I noticed one of the transmission bearings
was grumbling, so I ordered the bearing clearly described to replace it. Long story short, several weeks later I
worked with the company selling the bearing to revise their advertisement because
they mixed up their bearings.
My small delay had turned into weeks.
And life kept coming at me.
All the rain was getting behind our plastic siding. Reaching behind our
siding I could feel moisture and rot. The
moisture ended up costing me a lot of money to get the siding and some
sheathing replaced. Biggest purchase of
my life… and what a boring purchase, it barely looks different. I would have
much preferred to have bought a toy hauler for my family to travel with.
After the new siding was on, I needed to paint the house (the
second time in two years) before the roofers came so that I wouldn’t get
overspray on a new roof. Oh yeah, did I mention our roof was leaking too?
So now we’re completely broke and I’m spending my spare time
hocking collectibles from around our home on the internet to try and regain a
little savings in case of an emergency.
If a financial emergency happened today, it would probably be, “Bye bye project
cars”. Wouldn’t be the first time, I once had a pretty nice little BMW M3 that went down this road.
My MGA’s transmission is still laying broken apart on my
workshop bench waiting for the bearing to be inserted, which finally arrived
(the right one).
You’d think the Locost (my fake Lotus 7) would offer some
respite, a chance to break away from the realities of middle-age, but of course
it broke. Well, to be fair, I broke it.
It’d been running rich and the spark plugs looked fairly
black. So, I bought smaller fuel jets
(they shoot, or jet, the gas into the engine in small droplets floating in air
for firing).
But when I put the carbs back in, the car seemed to be
running richer. And it was backfiring. This was very confusing.
I thought maybe it was the air screws (they adjust how much
air comes in), so I adjusted the screws to let in more air. No change. Still rich with gas, and
backfiring.
I was utterly confused.
How can you put smaller fuel jets in and get more fuel?!
I began to suspect my timing (when the car fires the gas/air
mix, based on the position of the pistons).
I plugged a computer into my ignition box and spent several hours
relearning my circa 1995 ignition system.
The timing map seemed fine, that didn’t seem to be my
problem. I put the laptop away, still confused.
Then later, standing in the shower, vacantly thinking about my
car issues, I realized what was likely happening to make the car run rich.
I’d earlier noticed, when plugged into my laptop, that my ignition’s
“load graph” had always been a straight line at 100{aa25fa8b82bb550df44f4514fef8e475020994699e2c082d49d75b275e3029cc}. I thought it was odd, but didn’t understand
what it meant. Only later, in the wisdom
inducing atmosphere of a warm shower, did I realize that a 100{aa25fa8b82bb550df44f4514fef8e475020994699e2c082d49d75b275e3029cc} load was likely
causing my timing to always be at the max setting.
I wonder if my wife wonders what I’m thinking about when I
stare into space in the shower, normally it is car problems/solutions.
After another hour of probing the car, I found that I’d
messed up the throttle position sensor’s ground wire when I took the carbs
off. The car’s ignition thought I always
had the gas pedal mashed to the floor, so it would advance the timing to its
max setting. Apparently, this timing
setting made it run a little rich and backfire.
This was hard to diagnose, because every time I’d touch the
throttle position sensor with the voltage probe it’d ground and clear the
voltage on the sensor, which would then turn my “load” to 0{aa25fa8b82bb550df44f4514fef8e475020994699e2c082d49d75b275e3029cc} on the computer’s
graph and solve my issue. Several times I thought I’d fixed the problem, only
to be disappointed. The ground wire wasn’t disconnected (or visibly broken), it
was just a tiny factory wire with a crappy (although soldered) connection that
wasn’t electrically connected to ground anymore.
About the time I was figuring out what the solution was (430
PM on a Wednesday), my neighbor came over to complain about the noise; I’d been
revving the car to investigate the timing issues.
Once I added a good ground to the Locost’s throttle sensor
the timing returned to normal and the car stopped backfiring.
I installed a bluetooth stereo (really, just an amp) with a nice classic look; these things are fairly cheap on Amazon (I think I paid $40). It is nice to not have wires running to my phone in order to listen to music. I’d be much more excited about this stereo, but the speakers that I installed at the same time have turned out to be complete junk. They’re by Pyle, which is humorous because I think they’re a steaming pile.
I’m hitting some physical speaker limitations. It seems all thin speakers are weak, but I have 1″ frame tubes, therefore I can only recess my speakers circa an inch. Driving, my leg rests nearly against the speaker. To use deeper speakers I could use spacers, but then the speakers would intrude into my leg space. Small car issues.
There was a track day last weekend, but it also snowed several
days and the highs were in the 40s.
It didn’t seem like the best weather for a roadster so I withheld. I also missed the first local autocross
because I couldn’t make the event. I’m
looking forward to getting some play in.
I did build some houndstooth seat pads for the Locost’s go
kart seats, also cutting, glassing and painting the mis-matched go kart seats to appear
to match.
The pads came out ok, but I think
the seats are more comfortable without the pads. I may try a second attempt at pads, this time without wooden bases, but I’ll need to learn to sew.
I drove the Locost today, turning to avoid every little
black cloud dumping rain (it worked, I succeeded in driving around all the
angry little clouds and barely being rained on). I think the car is running too lean now, the
engine RPMs staying momentarily high after I let off the throttle. I jumped two jet sizes down, guess I’ll have
to come back to the middle. But maybe I overcompensated my air screws; I’ll try
those first before spending any money.
Oh, and I had some headlight stone guards laying around from the All British Field Meet swap meet, so I threw those on. I dig ’em.
And this is it. This
is normality. I come back from looking at exotic cars and million-dollar
classics in Scottsdale, to barely keeping my car projects afloat. And the neighbor is
unhappy. And the other chores are taking most my free time and money. I don’t
say this in a bad way, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d best be
described as normal.
I feel like society is trying to tell us a positive outlook
will make us healthy, wealthy and wise… and we can just think our way into it.
The power of positive thought. I know
it’s not true. Only Jesus offers fulfillment,
and that’s with God, not the world. I’m
not complaining, but I do want my grandkids, if they read this, to understand
that my hobby wasn’t some sort of glorious fulfilment, replacing the need for
Jesus. No, some seasons in this car hobby are sort of dreary.
But don’t get me wrong!
I am blessed. Plebeian doesn’t
mean God’s turned away from me; no, I’m just another sheep in the fold
(thankfully) with plenty of blessing.
For example, I am thankful I survived the clearances and still receive the
paycheck that allows me to deal with all these house issues.
The “clearances”?
Yes.
“Clearances” is a term used to describe how the Scottish
land owners, in the 1800s, rid their properties of the tenant families that had
been on them for centuries so that they could have nicer estates, free of problematic peasant issues.
In the same way, I think the events of 2020 were used to
clear our military, educators, law enforcement, fire departments, etc. of those
that would not submit to an overreaching directive. It was a large-scale
clearance of a problematic group of people.
I’m surprised I wasn’t cleared of my employment, because I
did not comply. I feel like I was simply lucky, nothing more.
For example, my wife’s good friend was just forced to move because in Arizona a fire department would employ her non-compliant
husband that was fired from his department in Oregon. His Oregon firing was based solely on his
non-compliance with one directive. He’d been a leader and trainer in his department before
2020.
Those that were fired for non-compliance are the very same
people that would say no if our government overstepped their reach on other
issues in the future.
Just this week Obama and Hillary called for more
restrictions on free speech on the internet, justifying it by saying the first
amendment doesn’t apply to private companies. While technically legal, like the
clearances of Scotland, it’s a convenient way to get around the 1st
amendment because social media has become a primary source of communication for
America and there is no “public owned” space where free speech could
exist.
When you’re being arrested, or fined, for speaking (or typing)
a truth that the government finds inconvenient, remember that in 2021 we didn’t stand up when the people that had the courage to stand against government overreach were being fired.
Now, the places that fill basic needs of American society are filled
with people that, even if they disagree, are more likely to go along with what
they’re told.
You may think that the politics are in your favor so you’re ok with this direction, but you’d be sadly mistaken. You are a plebeian, just like me; they will
suppress both of us if you allow them too, if only to further their power and
wealth. History is filled with this. Ask
yourself, no matter your politics, do those in power always make logical
decisions?
Oh, they won’t be honest about their endeavors. They’ll say the new schema is better and they’re protecting and helping
you (like every Corporate Communication’s announcement as they reduce your benefits, again and again, to give two more cents to a shareholder). If you’d like to try it now, move to China.
They’re farther down this road of deciding what’s best for their population. I’m not
joking.
After the clearances there are fewer people like me here in
Oregon and I’m feeling it. For starters,
my hair isn’t purple or green so I’m immediately recognized as an outsider. Odd thing, a large number of the families around my
neighborhood that also flew the American flag are gone; I find this such a
weird and telling sign.
I have friends in Arizona. It’s not as rainy. I could do with more sun. And their car culture seems strong, maybe I’d
enjoy that. I think the Locost might be
more usable in a desert. The kids love Arizona, and my wife seems tired of
being eternally cold. Hmmm. Maybe an Arizona
trip in July is in order to see how we handle the heat. Guess I better stop
writing and hock some more old books on the internet.
