Category: Vehiclular Matters

Busy Weekend Ahead

I’m going to be a busy bee this weekend.  Part preparing for school, part vehicle maintenance, part helping out a friend.

My hitch and bike rack were delivered yesterday and I need them to be on the car by Monday, when my classes start.  My bike lock should be delivered today, if FedEx doesn’t mess it up.

I need to replace the front brakes on our car, the rotors are warped – a common problem on Chevrolet HHR’s with factory brakes.

I’m also replacing the brakes on a friends mini-van.  I have another friend who wants me to do the brakes on his car as well.  Do you see a trend here?  Yes, I’m known for being a brake guy.  It’s one of the few tasks (along with changing your own oil) that you can do to maintain your vehicle that will save you thousands of dollars in your lifetime.  Most of the time it just requires a jack (which all automobiles come with) and a few simple hand tools.

After that I’ll have everything I need prepared for this new journey, education at Indiana University.  The only question I have remaining is if my mind is ready for this new endeavor.  I’m hopeful it will be a seamless transition, but I’m worried the content will be more academic than I’m used to.  I have a tendency to worry too much about these things though.  Everyone tells me that I’ll do well, but that little voice inside my head always tells me otherwise.

Just What I Needed

This fall is going to be interesting…

The schedule for my job with UITS came out over the weekend, which has me working at Briscoe, McNutt, Foster and the Information Commons.  While this is great where my working life is concerned, it’s horrible for my academic life.  I have classes at Ballantine Hall and in Swain East.  They are on the opposite side of campus.  For those of you that don’t know,  the IU campus is quite large.

To make matters worse, on two of those days I will get out of work 15 minutes before my class starts.

To try to expedite my travel I’m currently working on solutions to get my bike on campus.  With my bike on campus, I think I can cut down the travel time significantly.  Since I live a good trek away, biking to campus isn’t really an option.  I’ve got some options to figure out.  I’m going to either leave my bike on campus during the week and take it home on the weekend, or take it with me each day.  I’m going to test whether my bike will fit in our car tonight, if not we’ll have to order $300 worth of gear ( a hitch and hitch mounted bike rack).

I haven’t seriously rode my bike in about 10 years, which invokes something else, a more active lifestyle.  I’m sure I’ll be really sore for the first couple of weeks, but after that I’ll in much better shape.  Something I need to do.

I also need these items:

I’ve got my eye on particular ones, but I’m still trying to find the best item for the price.

I had thought about these last minute things coming up, I just never realized it would be so exhaustive and expensive.

Pre-Occupied

Lately I have been pre-occupied with many things, which have diverted my attention away from accomplishing a single task.  So I’m going to merely list some updates as to what’s been going on since I last posted.

Hope is in sight:  My truck is still broken.  We got a deal on a complete fuel pump assembly on eBay.  It’s brand new and OEM, so I’m not too concerned about it working.  Last Saturday I tried to install it, but this job is meant for someone who either works on vehicles all the time, or has power tools.  Since I am neither, I couldn’t do the job.  My dad called last night and my step-uncle agreed to do it for me.  My dad is having it towed to his house today and I anticipate it being completed before any bad snowfalls occur.

Family Memories:  My mother-in-law gave us some priceless family photos to scan into the computer.  Some dating back to 1906!  I’m not sure if she knew it, but many of these “old” photos were actually scanned and printed out by someone already.  Who that is I don’t know.  Some of these pictures need some help, as they have cracks on them or have pieces ripped off.  I hope to sharpen up my photoshop skillz and fix ’em. 

There are several “cards” which I find quite moving.  They are what I would call “death memorial” cards.  They were given out (by the church?) when someone died.  My wifes’ family is from Dubois county, which is rich with German heritage.  This card is written in German and Latin.  I find the artwork on the back quite moving.  What do you think?

Music, Music, Music:  I finally caved and bought an iPod.  I refuse to pay retail for one, so I went second hand on eBay.  I got a nice 30gb model, which is big enough for what I need.  I didn’t buy this iPod for personal entertainment, but to convert all of our CD’s into electronic media.  This way we can get rid of the enormous space they take up.  Once everything is done, we’re going to put them into storage.

I have imported them all into iTunes and discovered one interesting thing.  CD’s over time, with scratches and other defects can sound like old LP’s.  Some of the tracks I have imported have that “scratchy” sound made infamous by LP’s.  Now I have a monumental task of going through roughly 2500 songs and re-importing the ones whose quality doesn’t meet my standards…ugh

Once all is complete, I won’t be lugging any CD’s on trips anymore.  Just an iPod and a FM transmitter/docking station.  It’s a dream come true.

Continue reading “Pre-Occupied”

Down and Out, For Now

Sunday as Rachel, Taylor and I were heading to my grandma’s for some delicious vegetable soup, my truck died.  I was able to get it re-started to get it turned around and on the way back to our home.  It stopped about 50 feet shy of our driveway, and in the middle of our road.  We tried to push, but it wouldn’t budge.

An argument ensued, and I decided we leave it there for the moment and enjoy some soup to warm our souls.  We would return to move the truck soon enough.

When we returned, we couldn’t get the truck out of Park.  It just wouldn’t budge.  I don’t believe it’s my ignition switch again, cause we can crank the truck and the steering wheel isn’t locked up.

All in all, there are 2 problems affecting my truck that if taken to a shop will cost around $1,000 to fix.  My fuel pump has bit the dust, and some safety device which prevents the transmission from coming out of Park.

With the help of my neighbor Bill, I removed the drive shaft and we pulled my truck with Rachel’s Kia.

I can save myself about $600 by installing the fuel pump myself.  There are many “ifs” in this situation though.  I’ve never replaced one before, the weather is not conducive to working in the cold, did I mention it’s cold?

Rachel wants to just get rid of the truck, but it’s imperitive that we have a second mode of transportation.  Should I get a job somewhere not on the IU campus, I will need a way to get there.

With the trucks’ current condition, we would have to give it away.  Something I’m not willing to do.

I hope the truck isn’t still broken down by the time we need it, such as 6+ inches of snow.

Squeeky Clean

This weekend Rachel and I cleaned our vehicles.  The weather was beautiful, and the vehicles were begging for it.

As a teenager I detailed various automobiles professionally for Royal on the Eastside.  The highlight of my career was when I detailed Bobby Knight’s car.  The exciting part was delivering the keys to him.  I had to interrupt an IU basketball practice session.

Back to the point.  Neither of us had waxed our vehicles for at least 3 years, and it was really showing.  I used to be very anal about the amount of wax (minimum of 2 coats).  I would spend a few hours every weekend maintaining the appearance of my ride.

As you can see, my truck has a big problem on the hood.  It’s a common problem with GM vehicles actually.  All in all I think it still shines pretty good for an 11 year old vehicle.

Rachel’s little Rio is clean and happy.  This car takes the brunt of our transportation needs.  Since we carpool, we take her car.  It gets great gas mileage, and you can put that car just about anywhere!  We’ve been talking recently about trading the Rio in on something more suited for our needs.

I plan on keeping my truck until it’s wheels fall off.  It’s good to have “the old standby” around, just in case you need a second vehicle.  Plus it helps with some of the hauling tasks required of a homeowner.

While my truck isn’t the most eco-friendly vehicle, it is only driven an average of 8k miles a year.  It also helps with getting around in the sometimes treacherous winters.

Making Progress

Rachel and I were very productive this weekend.  We painted our foyer, I changed the oil in my  truck, trimmed some tree limbs with the help of my neighbor, and I mowed the front yard.

This week I plan on peeking  under the carpet on our stairs to see exactly what is under there.  If it’s hardwood, I think we might actually finish the foyer area.  It will only require some paint, stain, and some stair rail parts.

I love the look of stained treads with white painted risers.  I want our stairs to look similar to this picture.  I would also like a runner, but that is an issue of contention in the household.

Tired

The past few months have been especially hard on my poor old truck.

It hasn’t been doing it’s usual job, which is to sit right there.  It’s been worked and worked and over worked.

I normally only have to change my oil about twice a year.  The last time I changed it was in early April and I’m less than 50 miles away from that crucial engine maintenance again.

Wednesday while I was on my way home, one of my transmission cooling lines broke – for the 2nd time!  The first time was when I had my paper route, and I was right in the middle of it.  I had it towed to a reputable place in town and they supposedly fixed it.  I never checked their work until now.  Instead of replacing the line, they just put a sleeve over the break.

I took it to the nearest place, so I would do as little damage to my $3000 transmission.  They said they would give me an estimate, which I didn’t think would run more than about $200.  Was I wrong.

They gave me an estimate of almost $500!  I was shocked, my immediate response was to just take it back home and do it myself.  When I found out that other shops concurred with that estimate and the reason why, I decided to let them do the work.

The front trans-axle actually has to be dropped to slide these lines in.  Without getting overly complicated, this is a job I do not have the equipment or tools to do.  Plus working with the front torsion bar suspension is one part of my truck that scares me to death.

Luckily, since I am back at IU for the time being my truck can do it’s main job now.  Be used as a secondary means of transportation, and to haul things too large for our subcompact Kia Rio.

100k is a Magic Number

My truck surpassed an automotive milestone on the way back from Muncie last Saturday night, the odometer turned over 100,000 miles.  Yes, I took this picture while driving.  Illegal perhaps, but it only happens once.

For some strange reason, I am taking pride in it.  This is the first vehicle I have purchased, and not wrecked beyond repair.  I did not buy it new, but this truck is me.  I plan on keeping it until the wheels fall off.  It’s paid for, why spend more money?

For those of you who don’t know the specifics, my truck is a 1997 Chevrolet S-10 Extended Cab 4X4 with a 4.3L V6.  I have tried to make it as fuel effecient as possible, and it does get better gas mileage (17/25) than the norm, 15/19.

We have taken it to Oklahoma, The Great Smoky Mountains, Niagara Falls and driven through Canada.  It’s been reliable and more importantly, comfortable for trips.

With the price of fuel these days, it’s becoming more and more expensive to feed it’s hunger.  When I filled her up last Saturday night it cost $42, for 12 and some odd gallons.  That’s only 3/4 of a tank!

So for the meantime, this truck is mainly driven when needed, or to lubricate the engine parts.  Rachels’ Kia is much more eco-friendly.  Yesterday the price of gas jumped 22 cents a gallon!  It went from $3.24 to $3.46, ouch!

What A Concept

After living in our home with an attached 2 car garage, we have finally parked a car in it.  Hopefully for good.  Last fall, I demo’ed our garage due to many reasons.  It just needed done.  With winter on us now at full force, we thought it would be good to park the car in the garage. 

Several things had to take place before this could happen though.  When I demo’ed the garage, I removed all of the light switches and wiring attached to our florescent lights.  Over the past year or so we have had to plug in any lights in the garage to see.  Around the time of the demo, I purchased a light and heat activated switch and a receiver and transmitter for garage door openers.  Our garage door openers are old, and do not have built-in wireless remotes like they do today.

I finally got around to installing them this weekend.

Here is the switch:

It’s quite interesting.  Right now it is on all of the factory settings so when no motion or heat is detected for 5 seconds the lights go out.  They went out right before I took this picture.  Pretty good for being completely in the dark!

To make this happen, we essentially shuffled some things around.  The other side of our garage is quite “dense” now.

But the end result?  A warmer car in the morning, that won’t have any frost, ice or snow on it.  Which means I can sleep a little bit later, cha-ching!

The little Kia seems to be right at home too.  I have to admit, Rachels’ car is cute, it’s just not right for me.

I think Mr. B will concur with me on the problems with tall men in little cars.