Monthly Archives: December 2009

Deadly Couger with Long Criminal Record Attempts Abduction and Murder of Pornstar Mother’s Youngest Child

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Just in case you were wondering, I was listening to CBC and a journalist was defending the tabloid crap they cover by claiming this is the stuff that people want to read. Mom fends off cougar attack on her kid is the epitome of the news story that garners the most appeal. Death, heroism, children in danger. And it even has animals!

If this is actually the case, adding a crime and porn element should draw even more eyes. Let’s see if this works.

We still haven’t finished that reno job (not by a long shot) and the owner moved in today. what a frickin disaster. The halls and 1\3 of  the living room stall haven’t been covered, and the painting still hasn’t been done. I have no idea how we are gonna do this with all her stuff in there now.
But because today was moving day it gave me a chance to work on the boat and get the engine put back together. And I’m not happy. It was a real bear trying to get that engine started. Now it could just be that after having everything ripped apart it would take a lot longer to start. I’m going to check it out again tomorrow. If it’s still hard to start it has to be compression, glow plug circuit, or injector pump.

Once I get it going it purrs very nicely, much better than it has before, which is why I don’t get the hard starting. Once the engine was warm it started fine. Now that I have those busted glow plugs removed I can check the compression. I should also make sure that the plugs are getting proper voltage. If these check out then I’m thinking injection pump, but then if this was faulty it shouldn’t run so smoothly. I need to spend a little more time with it to narrow down the problem. But at least I got it put back together and it runs. SO I CAN GO SAILING!

For what it’s worth, I really screwed up last time I worked on the injectors. I checked the torque settings for the injector hold-down nuts and they are only supposed to be set at 12 foot-lbs. I probably had them yanked down twice that or more, which is why the nozzles screwed up. On my next post I’m gonna show the guts of the injector nozzle.

Come sail with us. www.selfdiscoverysail.com

Not so Sure About Avatar

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Tracy, my son, his girlfriend and I just got back from watching Avatar in 3D. Here’s an interesting analysis of then movie, and I have to agree with it. Aside from that, it was also plagued by awful writing and a predictable, stereotype plotline.
Why then, am I not sure? because it was very beautiful in places, and visually stunning. It reminds me of when I first saw Star Wars as a 17-year-old, that overwhelming feeling of seeing something far beyond what you have experienced before. If this is what’s in store for the future of animation, all I can say is bring it on!

The weather of late is absolutely killing me. It has been so sunny and warm and utterly gorgeous on the water, and my engine is in parts until Wilson and Proctor open on Tuesday and I can get my injectors back. This is probably the longest run of sunny weather that I have endured without taking advantage of it, and it’s driving me crazy.

In some ways I’m glad that I can’t sail, as that would be irresponsible of me. My buddy Sheldon and I have landed a job replacing the flooring on a condo and It’s a huge job as the hardwood has to be installed over concrete, which is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg. We also have to haul up lino and while parts of it were loose, parts were so strongly adhered we were reduced to grinding it off with a belt sander! It took 30 man-hours to get maybe 50 square feet off.

I feel torn in doing this work. by the time the job is done the owner will have invested maybe 7 grand into this, simply because the current fashion is hardwood over carpet (an arbitrary reverse over when carpet was often laid over hardwood). This is the epitome of conspicuous consumption and a massive waste of resources from what I can see, but it is her money and it’s part of what makes the economy function so I don’t know what to think about it. I just wish the world was such where people invested that kind of money into things that have greater intrinsic value instead of passing fashion trends. Am I prostituting myself by taking on this job? I really don’t know as what right do i have to decide where people should or shouldn’t spend their money?

Carpet up and most of the lino ripped off the kitchen and hall.

The scene of the crime. Hard to believe it took so many hours to get that crap off. Couldn’t have done it without the sander on the right. All that grey isn’t cement but the backing of the linoleum that wouldn’t lift off. You would think there was an easier way, but apparently there isn’t.

Rather mundane issues. A bigger problem confronted a friend of mine, who is one of the captains aboard this tug which ran aground on the same reef that ripped the belly out of the Exxon Valdez. My friend was not on duty at the time of the accident. I wouldn’t want to be the captain that was.

Come sail with us. www.selfdiscoverysail.com

Ongoing Engine Rebuild

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I got the head back from the machinist, and they got the busted glow plugs out and tested the valves for proper seating. Cost: $80 and well worth it. I had a top-end gasket kit I had ordered from the UK a couple of years ago so it was a matter of two of us sliding the head into place and dropping it over the studs. I make it sound easy as the space is very tight and the head is cast iron and weighs like sixty pounds.
The huge struggle we had getting it off was due to corrosion between the studs and the head, so I smeared their shafts with grease (not the threads!) to make it easier next time. (there’s always a next time). I wish it used bolts instead of nuts and studs as it would make things so much easier.

Hoisting the head over those studs and push rods and getting it all lined up was a real PITA. You can see the new head gasket on the block. It would have been easier if we had pulled out the push rods but they were stuck inside the tappet heads and when I tried to do so, it actually pulled a couple of the tappets off the camshaft and out of their bores, and I thought I had really screwed up the engine.

I was relieved that there are these two access panels where you can retrieve the tappets and reinsert them into their bores. The old cork gaskets were leaking oil so I would have pulled them off anyway.

While everything is apart, time to do some preventative maintenance. The coolant hose on the top was pretty marginal so I bought another from Lordco (not OEM and it will have to be cut to length). Also the drain for the heat exchanger is pretty well screwed up. The little tit second from the end on the right side of the heat exchanger is what’s left of it. I got a replacement for a few bucks also from Lordco. I’ve never seen leaks from the base of the exchanger, but the corrosion suggests I should replace those gaskets as well.

Tightening the head nuts.


In their wisdom, Leyland set three nuts under the rocker shaft. There is a spacial C-shaped boxend wrench that was designed for this, but it’s no longer available from any source. This is my solution. It works well, but you have to lower the torque setting as the extra length increases the effectiveness of the torque wrench. A conversion is available here.

This was as far as I got before a blown clutch on a borrowed car put everything on hold.

I took in those two malfunctioning injectors to Wilson and Proctor and the tech told me that in both cases the pintles had been jamming in the bores of the nozzles and scoring them. One was able to be cleaned and lapped while the other one needed a whole new nozzle.This can happen if the nozzle is overtightened on the nozzle holder or, and I suspect this is the case, the nozzle is overtightened in the head. I doubt the guys over at Surrey Injection did a bad job of rebuilding them, and since I installed the injectors without reference to torque specs I must have overtightened the mounting bolts. Blast and damn.
Note to Self: use torque specs; that’s what they are there for.

I’m so glad Xmas is finally here. I have post traumatic stress disorder associated with xmas, due largely to an alcoholic father who would often flip out at xmas and terrorise us. It used to be really bad for me, but as each year goes by and I concentrate on rewriting the script burnt into my head, I am gradually changing the experience. I used to be terrified that something horrible would happen on the 25th, and it felt like waiting for my execution.

There’s something particularly sinister, if not actually evil about so thoroughly corrupting that one date that is suppose to symbolise love, peace and kindness, and I know that I’m not alone in this. There are so very many people I have known who dread Xmas and become quite distressed by the day. As far as I’m concerned the jury is out as to the presence of spirits or gods (science cannot say anything on this subject, one way or another), but if I was an evil spirit or entity, Xmas is the one day I would try like hell to corrupt and turn on it’s head.