A New Idea March 30, 2008
Posted by tony in : Pointless, Hobbies, Recreation , add a commentSo, we traveled up to our cabin this weekend and encountered a little snow. Unfortunately, the only real snow was around the gate and the first 75′ or so of driveway which happens to be a bit of an incline. Needless to say, the 2wd Ram couldn’t make it 10 feet through the snow. The heavy front end just buried itself in the snow. I spent about 2 hours digging out a path in the snow, moving the truck forward, getting it stuck and digging it out again. The Range Rover would have been fun but it has no load capacity. We are hauling up more furniture and stuff so it just isn’t practical for anything more than the drive to the train station.
So, I’ve been looking around at a diesel van. Really, only the Ford E-350 because it has a good engine (the Powerstroke) and it can be found with four wheel drive or it can be converted with some work. And I’m all about doing some work… I’ve been wanting to learn about fabrication for quite a while and I think this may be a very interesting project. It’ll give me some time through the summer to collect the parts and then I can work on it maybe this fall. That’s my goal anyways. My wife scoffs but I like a challenge where I have to learn on the fly. I’ve become more interested in working on cars as I’ve gotten older. I enjoy figuring out the mechanicals, I guess. I wish I would have gotten over my high-school idiocy and taken a shop class back in the day.
So, I’m probably going to sell my current two trucks and start working on a new one. Fortunately, my commute is short to the train station and I’m probably going to start riding my bike when it gets a tad warmer. At any rate, it sounds fun. Right?
Another Rover February 3, 2008
Posted by tony in : Pointless, Hobbies, Recreation , add a commentSo, I picked up another Range Rover. I found a 1991 for pretty cheap. It’s nothing spectacular but most everything works and the things that don’t are pretty much only minor nits that I can work on. Or so I thought….
So I was driving it home (the night I bought it) in a raging snow storm. It took me about 90 minutes to go about 10 miles. So, I spent most of the drive idling in traffic. I immediately figured out that there was no heat. The temp gauge doesn’t work but I don’t know if that’s due to a bad thermostat or a bad sender. Because, after looking a little further, the entire heater core is bypassed. My guess is that it leaks and was never fixed. It was just cheaper/easier to bypass (nevermind the heat). But I get the knock for not catching it when I was looking at the Rover. Oh well, I need heat… so it will get fixed. It’s just a heater core and about 10 hours of work to replace it.
That wasn’t the least of it as I had made some progress towards home, the Rover was running fine and other than fogged up windows and no heat, I was doing ok in the snow. And just as suddenly, the oil light started to flicker on. WTF, was my first thought. I did notice that if you gave it a little gas, the oil light went off. Very strange. Fortunately, I was only a few blocks from home so I took it easy and pulled in the driveway and pulled the Rover in the garage. Fearing the worst, I thought I was lemon’d or that I’d overheated the engine or something like that. Fortunately, doing a little web searching gave me a lead on an issue where non-LR filters can cause air in the oil lines that can cause sporadic oil light flickering. So, I struggled with changing the oil (popeye evidently tightened the drain plug) and filled it with fresh 15W40 Rotella and a Cooper filter. I fired it up and the oil light went off and I was very happy. I took it out for a drive that night and it ran great (but still no heat).
Today’s fun was removing the joke of a brush guard. I was rusted and posed more of a risk for bending back and damaging the hood than protecting it. So, again, the struggle with rusted bolts and falling rust chunks into my eyes, I finally was able to remove the brackets. In the process I destroyed the valance holding the fog lights (it was already cracked and broken anyways. But, I felt better. I got to break something.
So, I’m Rovering once again. I have to register it tomorrow and order the heater core, but I’m going to start driving it because I don’t go that far every day and my diesel truck wouldn’t warm up during that time anyways. Pictures to follow when we get a nice day.
Long Way Down December 3, 2007
Posted by tony in : Hobbies, Recreation , add a commentSo, I’ve been interested in motorcycles for a while now. I’ve become pretty partial to BMW as a brand choice…. not sure why, maybe just my first experiences have been so good. So, I subscribe to the ibmwr.org mailing list and found out about this interesting motorcycle adventure. It features Ewan McGregor (of Obi-Wan Kenobi fame) and Charlie Boorman (not sure who he is, but he’s very entertaining) and a 15k-mile (give or take) motorcycle ride from the north of Scotland to the tip of Africa near Capetown, South Africa. Of course, there’s a supporting cast including cameramen, a medic, producers, helpers, etc. But, I’ve very much enjoyed the series (thanks to Bittorrent. We don’t get BBC in the US). But, I’ve asked my wife for a pre-order of the DVD and maybe a T-shirt for Xmas. Did you read that media companies? Good programming I’ve obtained for free and I still want to buy? It’s awesome compared to the absolute drivel on TV here in the US.
You can find information about Long Way Down here.
A New Day October 31, 2007
Posted by tony in : Kids, Hobbies, Recreation, career , add a commentHi. It’s been a while since I’ve done anything new here. Let me give you the update…
I’ve moved back into a position that’s put me in a position to do a bit of both of what I like to do, Unix and Security. I recently joined a firm downtown that has been fairly progressive regarding their infrastructure. Virtualization, SAN, etc., etc. I think it’ll be great to learn some new stuff again and the guys/gals that work here seem to be highly proficient at what they do. All of this without being cluttered by project managers, architecture review boards and sixteen levels of approvals. Refreshing. To say the least.
I sold my last truck (the F250) and bought a 98 Dodge. Why a 98? That year is the only one that has the 12V Cummins diesel and the quad-cab (4 doors). It has to be family friendly, if anything. The 12V engines are noted for their reliability and efficiency and I have no doubt this truck will run for a good long time. I also sold my 94 Range Rover. I’m thinking about picking up a 4×4 for the winter months especially since we bought a cabin up in Wisconsin. The road will not be plowed regularly so I don’t think our van or truck (a 2wd) will be able to make it in. So, buy a 4×4 just so I can drive the 1500 feet of driveway o our cabin? Well, yeah. And I won’t break the bank either. This will just be a “fun” truck for the winter. I’ll probably end up getting another Land Rover, but I’m thinking a Discovery this time. They can be had for pretty cheap. The gas mileage is abysmal but it won’t get driven that often… mostly just to the train station and the cabin.
We bought a cabin in Wisconsin near Lacrosse. It’s a great parcel of land, almost 40 acres of mixed woods and pasture. So, it’ll be good for some atv’ing, hiking, a treehouse or two, hunting and a great playground for the kids. The neighbors are really nice too. It’s just a great place to kick back and relax.