Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 It's always something, the more cars you have the more stuff there is.

Sometimes I feel like I'm buried
at the bottom of that pile!

I reported that I replaced the radiator in the XJ6. 

I'm quite concerned about the up coming smog test. 

There was a code displayed concerning the air injection, so I took a look at the pump and plumbing. I had posted a question about the code on the Jaguar forum and I had received an answer. The reply was to check the valve that connected the output of the air pump to the exhaust manifold. The valve can fail causing a problem. I thought I'd take a look at the area to anticipate how difficult replacement might be. 

I found a vacuum line to the pump that was completely disconnected from the air box,  How long had that been like that? For the previous smog test I had checked the air ducting from the MAF sensor to the throttle body and had found a loose connection. I fixed that and was able to reset the CEL. The car passed the smog test but it needed about fifty miles of varied driving with a a 3/4 full fuel tank. 

I once again used the code reader that my Son had lent me, and successfully cleared all codes and extinguished the CEL. I hadn't done that since the last smog test.

I will fill up the gas tank and drive the car until the CEL trips again and recheck for codes. If I can make it to 100 miles without the CEL coming back on, I'll rush down to the smog station.

Maybe I'll get lucky!

The Explorer got a little attention. I wanted to drive it up to Lake Tahoe next week, so I gave it a going over.

I'm been keeping an eye out looking under the hood, checking for leaks and the condition of the belts and hoses.  No leaks found and everything else looks good. Checking back in my photo files I discovered that I've owned the Explorer for four years! It didn't seem like that long ago that I brought it home. 

However one morning it refused to start, so I had to use another vehicle. 

I checked the battery and found one dry cell. Interestingly enough it  restarted a bit later without a jump and I put it in the driveway. I hooked up a charger and brought it up to full voltage. It fired the motor enthusiastically but the next morning it was almost dead.

Time for a new battery. I just put one in the '07 Mustang a few months ago! 

It turns out the battery is five years old, right about at the end of it's lifetime. It must have been about a year old when I bought the Explorer. 

This time I just decided to quit shopping around and go to my local auto store, Winchester Auto. They provided me with a Napa Legend replacement battery, knocked 15.00 off for a AAA discount and I carried it out the door for 130.00.  Ouch! 

A week later I decide I'm taking it to Tahoe so I check the air filter. It's definitely dirty. For some reason Winchester doesn't have a listing for it and I have to order it from O'Reilly's! 21.00

An oil change was needed and sounded good. I took it down to my usual place, Oil Changers. They have a service special that gives you four oil changes for the price of three. Only 154.00! Well, it is a savings of around 45 bucks, and it's not like I don't have five more cars! It's a good deal. 

Here's what it looked like when I got it.That scuffed up old front tire
was still there until a couple of days ago.

When I replaced the rear tires a couple of years back, I had them mounted blackwall out, I figured that I'd be getting new front tires soon enough and could ditch those RWL (Raised White Letter) Bridgestones.

I've been driving it with RWL letters in front for years I hate obviously mismatched tires like that. It just looks so declasse!

Being the classy guy that I am, I tried to paint the sidewalls black with a spray can. Should have used lacquer, the enamel flaked off and it looked even worse. 

Since I was already in that part of town, I dropped by Calderon's Tires. My favorite used tire store.

Last time I was there, about a month ago, I had them remove the tires from the '51 Jag's original wheels, so I could more easily store the rims in the car. I'm sure that some future owner pf the Jaguar will want to mount some bias plys on those old wheels. They gave me what sounded like a good deal on removing and disposing of the tires. Forty bucks. I guess they wanted to make their money back, this time. They wanted 25.00 ea. to flip and balance the tires! Why haggle over a few bucks? I wanted it done. It looks so much better now. I went home and washed the newly exposed sidewalls with Blechewhite then treated them with Turtle Wax protectant spray.

It looks so much better than the RWL.

A wash, quick wax, vacuum, and cleaning of all the windows, and the Explorer was standing proud. Standing proud is a term that I read in a book about auto detailing. It seems to fit.

Presentable. That's a word that I like to use. The word is presentable. It doesn't mean that a car is restored, or even in prefect shape. It just has to be clean, well maintained and project the impression that the owner actually cares about the machine. I don't feel embarrassed to drive my Explorer anywhere, It looks like it's been fairly well cared for. Or maybe it's just me, I don't shame too easily.

Standing proud.

I like to tell my Wife. "One of the good things about being an old man is that you don't care any more about how you look. And... one of the bad things is, that you don't care any more about how you look!

I've been a bit concerned about my '96 Mustang. I replaced the radiator cap after returning from Lake Tahoe. It did spill some coolant after that. I may have overfilled the coolant and I might have failed to completely screw down the cap. It has a different feel from the OEM cap. The temperature gauge seemed to move a round a bit still. I figured I'd just drive it and keep and eye out.

A couple of days ago I thought that I'd take it out for a little spin out to Los Gatos, about a forty mile round trip, primarily made during afternoon commute traffic on surface streets with 85 degree weather. The gauge didn't go past midway though it looked a little jerky, maybe the temperature sending unit is going bad. It didn't get hot or puke any coolant. I might replace that next. 

I've been so fired up that I even started doing some work on "fabbing up" the master cylinder mounts for the old Mark VII.

It's not more money more problems, it's more cars more problems!

Maybe I'll have to do something about that situation.