cars

I think this just really says it all. Happy Monday!

It's funny how unusual things become normal. It's become clear to me that fixing my own cars isn't usual these days. Unlike folks that seem to be intimidated by "all the computers" in modern cars, I embrace them. I don't have to do tune ups every 6 months now, since my cars constantly tune themselves up - and if they aren't able to do that anymore, they warn me. It's a handy thing.

But, this week, I had to resort to having my truck serviced by pros. On Sunday, I had the folks at City Garage evacuate and recharge my air conditioning. That seems to have taken care of the problem, so I'll keep my fingers crossed it was just excess moisture in the system keeping it from working well.

Today, a nice young fellow at National Tire & Battery replaced the left front hub bearing assembly. The bearing has been failing (apparently for a long while based on how quiet the truck is now) and making progressively more incredibly loud groaning sounds. The old assembly looks pretty grungy. I'll have to clean it up to see if it's worth swapping a new bearing into the next time a wheel bearing goes, or if I should just replace the whole assembly again next time, too.

At least I got to do the 600 mile service on my own motorcycle... I did finally have to resort to building a "universal" oil filter wrench involving some drilling and a large metal screw... I would have felt silly buying the special Honda wrench to use only once...

I also gave the truck a bath. Now, there's a long overdue date with destiny... Fortunately, O'Reilly's had my trusty Gunk™ Bug & Tar Remover that got the mysterious residue off the roof. It's almost a pretty truck when it's clean. Well... at least it's less ugly.

Yup. We've got zoom. Two Mazdas. Yup. Yay!

Perhaps later I'll be able to form complete sentences again.

OK. Two mornings in a row my commute that should be a swim through the sea turns into a 5 mph fist fight with random lane changers, last minute mergers and mobile makeover studios.

But on mornings like these, I'll forgive them all. It's not their fault. Heck. If traffic had been moving, they'd probably have all been on their best behavior.

So what's the issue?

The last two mornings, we've been waiting for little tiny scratch type rear-end collisions. Driving around Atlanta, I've seen the most beautiful signs. They say something like "If no one is injured, move your vehicle off the roadway [or we'll blow it up with a bazooka]." I may have paraphrased, but they do offer stiff fines. Rumor has it, we have a similar law in Texas. But we need the signs!

We're now a two diesel household. The extra clatter under the hood really does grow on you. Our VW is about to finish its first (of many) fifty thousand miles. Our new (to us) truck just finished its first (of many) hundred thousand miles.

Don't let the size of our truck fool you... It's averaged 22.5 mpg over its first 2500 miles with us. Our VW wagon that will cruise expediently down the highway has averaged just over 45 mpg.

There's a certain beauty to the mechanical simplicity of even modern diesels - all the more so now that they operate with very little smoke and smell. Our VW hardly bats an eye in temperatures below freezing. The truck has a block heater, but its only "recommended" for temperatures down to twenty degrees or so.

There are certain drawbacks. Certain components in the fuel don't evaporate, so the pump handles tend to be a little dirtier than the gas pumps. Not every station has diesel. Diesels will belch the occasional puff of smoke - but don't let the absence of smoke you can see coming from gas cars fool you. There are still considerable quantities of particulate emissions from your favorite gasoline burning car... It's just that the particles are a bit too small to see. And, as Forbes reports today, diesels are about to get cleaner, and probably a lot more popular.

We have found that our diesels are a bit pickier about where their fuel comes from. Sometimes they'll belch a little extra smoke if they don't like their fuel. Sometimes fuel economy and power will be lower. Since the onset of ethanol blended fuels in Texas, though, I've noticed a similar finickiness in the Miata as well.

Diesel is running a bit high in price compared to regular gasoline - still not nearly high enough to counter the fuel efficiency gains and make us wish we had a gasoline powered truck, though. I suppose if the price of diesel gets too high, though, we'll just have to take up another hobby and start brewing our own...

There's probably nothing better to do on a beautiful fall morning than peruse row after row of shiny cars. At least not if you're a car guy! So my Saturday out and about led me to the home of Unique Performance and their annual anniversary celebration known as Unique PerformanceFest. And, of course, I took a few pictures.

If you have a pulse and an interest in cars, you've probably seen these guys on The Discovery Channel. Chip Foose has made a mark on the custom car industry early on in life - and it looks like he'll continue to do so for quite a while. The guys at Unique Performance take first generation Mustangs and Camaros and retrofit modern suspension and drivetrain components. Think about it... What wouldn't be cooler than a '65 Mustang that drives like a 2006!

The highlight of my trip to this show each year is the tour of their shop and the chance to see the cars "in progress" as they proceed from worn out to ready to wear. Think Overhaulin' on steroids and you'll start to get an idea of the complete teardown and re-build the cars go through.

Mark your calendar for the second weekend of October to catch a glimpse of the rebirth of some classic cars.

A little rust never hurt anyone...

302 Miata

In Dallas, three things happen when the dihydrogen monoxide begins to fall from the sky.

First, otherwise rational people begin driving 15 mph on the left shoulder - while doing their best to keep people from driving more than 15 mph in the left lane, by feinting back in to traffic and at the last minute deciding it's raining too hard and they could die.

Second, the evil dihydrogen monoxide works its way into the inner bits of traffic signals, but only at critical intersections. And turns the lights off. Surprisingly, traffic actually seems to proceed faster through these intersections than on normal days.

Third, and most exciting, is of course, Flash Flooding! A close cousin to the flash flood is the 4 inches of water in the far right lane. Which, I've discovered in our four weeks of being truck owners, can be transferred on to the roof of the Prius on your left at the precise speed of 31.527 mph. Not that I would do such a thing.

But the long and the short of it is of course that I spent a lot of extra quality time in the car on the way to work today. Time to think, normally, but today just time to enjoy the pitter-patter of little rain drops on the windshield. And also some great quality time to think about creative ways to hurt the weatherman if the Canadian cold air mass doesn't make it here on Thursday.

Why do today what you can do in the middle of the night? Last night, I decided to hook up the fuel pressure gauge in our new truck. Not a bad idea in itself, but the fuel pump chose that exact moment to die. I couldn't be happier, since it forced me to replace the fuel pump (cheaper) and discover that the injector pump (rather more expensive) seems to be just fine. I should learn better than to trust malfunction codes from computers. I discovered that the replacement part could be had - cheaply - from the Dallas office of Cummins Southern Plains - at the late hour of 10:30 pm! So... I trekked down there and got one. I muttered to myself as I pulled in to the garage, "I should just go ahead and swap those out. It shouldn't be too bad." And it wasn't. Note to self: When changing fuel pumps, put the fuel tank on the downhill side of things. I think I still smell like diesel.