Another busy month, it seems, as I have been negligent in keeping this up. I didn't do anything up for November at all!
At school, things have been going fairly well.
Metal 8 students completed a machined aluminum whistle, a pendant/keyfob, a cast ring, and a sheet metal hinged-lid pencil case.
Metalwork 11/12 students have been working on their major projects. Some have been working on midget karts, a design I have been working on to refine the Motorized Lawnchair. I should have a page for this in the next few months.
Metalart 11/12 students have progressed through the skill builder projects and have moved onto the Steel Sculpture project, where they design a figurine out of steel performing some action such as tennis, dancing, sword fighting and the like. One student is making a scale Harley Davidson hardtail. More advanced students are working through some Medieval armoring techniques.
I also ran across some old 60's vintage metalwork curriculum. Some nice timeless ideas, and worth a good looksee.
There are two months left in the semester.
In early November, I had the remaining backordered KYB AGX struts shipped in, and I installed all four in one hour at school. I also swapped the cut bumpstops for full-length bumpstops that I had drilled with 24 holes to soften them considerably. This allowed the car to hit the bumpstops earlier, but allow the stops to increase in rate much more gradually, producing a must softer, progressive bottoming of the suspension.
The car is now much more stable, much more predictable, much more forgiving and much more confidence inspiring with these struts and bumpstops. Whereas the Tokico Blue struts would handle in such a way that you drove anticipating what the car would do, the KYB AGX's just do what you want the car to do. I am totally impressed with the handling of this car now. Totally impressed!
I can see, however, how vastly important rebound dampening is over compression dampening. Koni struts would be the all-time best set-up, however being unable to adjust them on-car is less than appealing to me. Perhaps on my next car I will run Koni struts.
In November, I drove down to the coast for the CACC year-end banquet and awards ceremony. Although I took the Championship in F/SS, and placed 5th overall, this turned out to be the Weekend From Hell. Allow me to elaborate.
Friday
- Head to the coast
- It's raining
- I hate rain
- Get lost in Coquitlam (319 North Road is ACTUALLY in the 3400 block of North Road!!!! Who designed these streets????)
- Windsheild wiper fails, scratching glass
Saturday
- Head out to do some Christmas shopping
- Store isn't oppen until 11
- Go for lunch with friends
- Restaurant won't honour coupon
- Go to Crafts Canada
- (Fighting insane IKEA traffic)
- Crafts Canada is permanently closed!
- Back on the highway to visit friends in Chilliwack
- Gas up at Bridal Falls at Shell
- I comment to my sweetie about how Shell gas has caused problems in fuel injected vehicles
- My fuel injected vehicle stumbles
- Car losses power quickly
- Outside Hope I decide the car won't make it home and I turn around
- Car quits
- Coast off highway into Hope
- Get towed to the only shop open accepting work (5:30pm)
- An hour and a half later, there is still nobody looking at the car
- Tow truck operater seems pleasant, in a simple kind of way
- Mechanic does not inspire confidence
- At all
- In the immortal words of Han Solo, "I got a bad feeling about this"
- Mechanics suggest coming back Sunday, but only if I have parts, as it is a long weekend and LordCo won't deliver
- I leave a number where they can reach me
- Back to Chilliwack to stay the night
- I fear that the shop is going to spend large sums of money chasing the problem
Sunday
- Church in the morning
- No call from the shop
- I call, they say "it's the fuel pump"
- Fuel pump costs $320 - I want to know how they determined that it was the pump; I don't like throwing parts at a problem
- "Can't hear it running"
- I've had the car for over a year and I never heard it running either; not good enough
- No other response
- I call Chilliwack LordCo - they list a pump in stock
- I go to Chilliwack LordCo - No pump on shelf
- I call friends in Burnaby to see if they can bring a pump out from the warehouse
- Nobody is home
- I call Hope LordCo to have a pump and filter shipped in for Tuesday
- I call the shop and resign to wait for the parts
- I fear that the shop is incompetant
Monday
- Day spent hanging around Chilliwack waiting
- Large amounts of anxiety about the shop
- Large
Tuesday
- Get a ride into Hope first thing (8:00am)
- Shop is closed, car is outside unlocked, steering wheel and column is filthy, fuse box contents on dashboard
- Walk to LordCo
- Wait for delivery truck (9:30)
- Back to the shop
- Still nobody
- "Mr. Simple" tow truck operator arrives (10:20), but has to leave to pick up mechanic
- Tow truck operator arives, alone
- Mechanic from the night before shows up
- I ask when the car will be done
- They can't tell me - they have to wait until "the boss" gets there
- When?
- "About an hour"
- I voice how concerned I am at how long this is taking, and that they don't realize how imperative it is that we get home
- "Mr. Simple" asks the Mechanic guy to push a truck out and clean up the bay in preparation
- Mechanic guy says "yup," but does not move
- Again I emphasize how I really need to get going
- "Mr. Simple" asks the Mechanic again
- Mechanic guy says "yup," but does not move
- I say that I am going to go find another shop that can do the work
- They seem surprized, but no change
- I cross the street, mention my dilemma (and frustration), and within 5 minutes another truck is called and another shop is expecting the car
- I return to settle my bill
- They enter $3333.00 in the credit card machine for a two-block tow charge
- I mention that that is a bit steep
- They can't cancel the entry - I have to show them how to use the machine
- I go back across the street to get cash
- I return, they have no change - they have to root through all their pockets and ashtrays of the cars in the shop to find $2.50 change
- Then they lose my keys
- I am feeling violently angry about their glaring incompetance
- Finally I have my keys, and I get the hell out of there as fast as I can
- The car is towed to another shop, they test the problem thoroughly and within an hour and a half and $140, the car is running and I'm on my way
- Back home to do report card marks
- ...but after I rebuild the computer from the Virus that struck on Friday morning
- ...and then only to drive to the school, since I lost the files I needed (9:30pm)
Egad what a weekend.