Camp Oven 4.0

A camping trip is planned for the near future. I decided it might be time to build another camp oven.

The previous one (see Camp Oven 3.0 here) was very successful. We used it to bake cookies, cakes, brownies, muffins, bread, etc. on many trips to NC, TN, and AL. The only real problem it had was a hot spot directly over the burner. This tended to cause the food to cook unevenly sometimes. I would use a rock placed over the burner to spread the heat.

This is my latest attempt at a DIY light weight camping oven for back packing.



The oven itself weights 23 oz. That does not include the weight of the grill or burner. I reused the burner, grill, thermometer, and PVC from the previous design.

The oven is made from 20" aluminum flashing formed to make a cylinder. The cylinder is held together by 3 qty 4-40 screws. The diameter is 17" so that two 6-cup muffin tins will fit in it.

The top is simply another 20"x20" piece. The top is removed to gain access to the cooking rack. Because the top is so light, I expect a good gust of wind may try to carry it off. To resolve this and to improve the seal between the main body and the top, place an item on top. I have found a handsaw works fine. Alton Brown would be proud because this makes my saw a multi-tasker and gives it a legitimate use in my outdoor kitchen.
I hung a wind screen below the grill to improve its overall heating efficiently. (It will preheat to 350 F in less than a minute). The wind screen does not completely encase the burner for several reasons: ease of changing the tank, ease of lighting, and not wanting to get the burner valve hot.

The previous oven was used many times. From it we learned that a wind screen was absolutely necessary on a windy day. The outside temperature doesn't seem to matter much though, Oven 3.0 was used many times while the temperature was in the 30's or while it was raining. Simply adjust the valve to compensate for the current weather conditions.



Below you see the oven at 350 F. Reaching over 500 degrees is no problem. The lowest setting on my burner only reaches about 225 F. I have found most things I want to bake need 350 to 450 F.

I drilled a second hole in the top for a second thermometer. I don't expect I will have the diverse temperature range with this oven between the two as I did with the previous version. I haven't verified this yet, as I only have one thermometer. I will be borrowing the second one to verify this soon enough.

According to the spec's for my burner, the propane tanks last 2 hours on the highest setting and 4.5 hours on the lowest. Most cooking occurs somewhere in the middle.





The final picture was from the test-run. The oven heated up quickly. I cooked a few mini-corn-dogs. (My son ate them for dinner.) Below the pan you can see the blue ring of fire on the burner.

The rack shown here is simply aluminum wire. I drilled 12 holes evenly spaced 6 inches from the top. Six inches allows plenty of room for baking a loaf of bread. You can also see a couple of the screws holding the cylinders shape if you look closely.



If you have any questions or want additional details to build your own, email me and I will try to help you out.

Madison Street Festival Parade

This morning the 1925 Chevrolet Truck was rolled out of the garage to attend a local parade. The local temperature was just under 50 when I left the house. I stopped at the nearby gas station to top off the tank, surely the most expensive gas this truck has even seen. (It made me wonder what the least expensive gas price was.) The trip to the parade staging area went pretty fast, probably about 7 miles. The speed limit was mostly 45. The truck was position 16 of 38. We loaded up the truck with our troupe of Girls Scouts along with a brother or two. All total, we had 8 people in the truck. The truck was pretty full thought we might have been able to fit two more small people.

I was amazed again this year at the number of people I there that I know. I met a couple of guys with the local chapter of the antique car club.

All in all, it was a nice little trip.

Election 2008

While attending class on Thursday, I heard some students discussing who they would be voting for in the upcoming presidential election. And why. Their reasons were ridiculous and uninformed. What about your reasons?

You still have plenty of time to select your candidate based on the issues.

What's the Difference?

This evening I finished assembling the 10 bolt GM differential for my '72 GMC pickup. I was having a tolerance problem this weekend while working on reassembling it. The pinion pin did not seem to have enough space to slide between the end of the axles. The solution turned out to be as simple as removing some grease from between the thrust washers and gears. This potential solution came to me while I was driving home from school today. Glad it worked. Who would have thought a little grease would make that much of a difference. The tolerances on these parts were definitely tight.

I have not filled the diff case with fluid. I will wait and do that after the diff has been bolted to the trailing arms. Oh yeah, I also need to touch up the paint on the differential. I scratched it up a bit, flipping the diff end over end a few times while it was up on jack stands. Again, it is a minor thing. I am calling it done.

Next Step? Assembling the rear suspension I believe.

T-F-Oh-Doe

I just found out U2's Under a Blood Red Sky is about to be released on DVD. Time to pre-order!

Now when was that new CD going to be released? Oh, yeah, it was pushed out to 2009.

The tanks in both my cars were empty Monday morning just in time for the spike in gas prices.

The Charger normally gets 89 octane as recommended by Dodge. This week it got a tank full of 87 as everything else was unavailable. I don't bother to calculate MPG on the Dodge. The number would be below 20 and no one needs to know that.

The Miata is fine with 87 octane and that is what it got as well. The calculations on the Miata this time yielded 29.3 MPG.

GMC Progress: None

After what seems like months, thought it has only been a few weeks, I finally got back to working on the differential for the GMC. What was suppose to be just a buttoning up process, turned into a minor struggle. The stuff is suppose to just go back together, easily. It did not.

I am guessing I have less than an hours work to finish it up. Just as soon as I figure out what is not right, I will start the clock on that hour. It could be a while.

I went by the parts counter at the local Chevrolet dealership to buy a special bolt today. This particular bolt is a retaining both that goes through the shaft in the chuck of the differential. According all the information I have read, this bolt needs to be replaced anytime you take it out. Failure to do so could be catastrophic for the differential.

The data in the computer at the parts counter only went back to 1973 so the parts guy had to get out an old parts catalog. Once the experienced guy took over for the new guy, he found the part number very quickly and then located the bolt in the parts room in less than a minute.

Total damage: $5.02 for a bolt. Golly-gee.

#1003

If your interested in reading a blogger's notes on hurricane Ike, check out Ain't Chicken. The author, Carol, lives in the Houston area.

Post #1002

Somehow in all the cheese excitement, I overlooked the fact that I was making my 1000th post.

Go back and read it again. It was just that good.

Kaboom!

After a mere two weeks, today my head no longer felt like it was going to implode, explode, to simply turn itself inside out. Hopefully I will be one hundred percent in another day or two.

This week I spent Wednesday and Friday working as a substitute teacher.

Wednesday was in an 8th grade math class.

Friday was in a high school class with AP Calculus, Calculus, and Pre-Calculus. During my free block I also filled in for Geometry B.

Having said all that, TGIF.

Huh?

"I spelled island wrong.  I spelled it I-S-E-L-A-N-D because I was thinking about cheese.  Cheese has a lot of 'E's in it"  - JM

Sometimes I have a hard time following his train of thought.

Is Your Computer Running Slow?

I often get asked to work on other peoples computers. (I have been using/working with computers since the mid 80's.) Sometimes I know what is wrong, sometimes I don't, but I am very persistent and usually resolve the problem.

Last year I was asked to figure out what was wrong with a computer that seemed to be running slow. Very slow. It turns out that computer had 3 different virus scanning programs running on it. Once these were removed, the computer was once again a speed demon. Removing three simultaneously running virus scanners is more time consuming than it should be, but I digress.

I personally don't run any virus scanning software on my computer. I feel like the virus scanners are usually more of a hindrance than a help. First and foremost, it causes the computer the feel sluggish. Inevitably it begins the system scan at the most inopportune time. And then all the nagging, and begging for money via upgrades and other virus/security services.

Do you really need a virus scanner? Probably not. How often does your scanner find a virus on your computer? Hourly? Daily? Weekly? Probably not. But in the mean time it is annoying you to no end. But mostly just causing you to spend a lot of time waiting on your computer to boot, open files, etc.

Let me ask you that question again. How often does your scanner find a virus? Do you really need it?

My recommendation is to remove the scanner. In my opinion the scanner is as annoying as the stuff it is trying to protect you from. Really. You will be fine with out a virus scanner so long as your have a decent firewall (usually built into routers) , stick with reputable websites, and don't open email from folks you don't know.

Should you ever get a virus on your computer, just download and install a free demo of your favorite scanner, remove the virus, and then remove the virus scanner again.

Pros: 1) You will save money by not buying a update of your virus scanner next year. 2) Your computer will run faster. 3) No more nagging from the scanning software. 4) Faster more responsive computer.

Cons: 1) When you finally do get a virus on your computer, you will have no one to blame but yourself. (You should not have been on that site.) 2) You will get no tech support from me because you forgot to say please.

Post a comment to let me know how much you are enjoying living without your virus scanner virus.

I had this very productive idea where I was going to wash and wax the Miata this afternoon.

But first a trip to WM for break and milk. And a few side trips. And stops at various neighbor's garages. And a trip to the Harley dealership with yet another neighbor. (No I didn't buy a bike)

I never got around to the wash, much less the waxing.

My head has felt like it was going to explode for about the last week. That would be one nasty mess. Sinuses, who needs um? Hopefully this little episode will be over soon.

Hopefully.

Useless Fact o' the Day

Yesterday's fill up of the Miata yields results of 28 MPG. Pretty good considering not a single mile was on the interstate.

According to some random site on the 'net, Mazda spec'ed the car at 21/27 MPG. Another site listed it at 22/28.

What kind of mileage are you getting?

The Fall of Rick

Fall semester is off to a good start. I have been busy, but not too busy. Definitely more manageable than the summer was.

On Wednesday, I substituted at a nearby middle school. Seventh grade math. This school was on a traditional 7 period schedule instead of the 4 blocks I have become accustomed to during my field work. The day flew by. I had the opportunity to apply a lot of what I have learned from the classroom management class I took this summer. Overall things went very smoothly, but I know I still have a lot to learn. I have 3 more days of sub'ing lined up. (AP Calculus, 7th grade math, and Spanish III).

I still haven't gotten around to buttoning up the differential. Only a couple hours effort remaining. I hear it calling from the garage. Soon, very soon. Unless of course I decide to take a nap instead.

Last Friday my sinus's started bothering me. I don't know exactly what caused it but I have been miserable since then. Taking meds helps, but then I end up feeling spaced out for several hours. I took some allergy medication at dinner last night which caused me to be very sleepy by 8:30 PM. By 9, I gave in and went to bed. The problem with going to bed early is waking up early.

The date for the Fall camping trip has been chosen. We have 4 ACKs, 3 NAKs, 2 MAKs, and several "No Replies". That usually means their wife hasn't decided yet. :)

I rotated the tires on the Charger today.

Odometer: 14,839

Doh!

Yesterday afternoon around 2 PM I drank a Monster Loca Moca. Mystery solved.

Time to catch a few Z's.

990

Occasionally I wake up during the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep for a few hours. When it happens I usually get up and find something to read on the internet. I don't ever watch the tv because I don't want to wake anyone else up. I use to just lay in bed but that gets restless after a while. I will start to get drowsy again in a few hours. Probably around 5:30 am, within a half hour of the time I normally wake up. I have started keeping track of when this occurs. For a while it seemed like it happened about weekly. The last time it happened was twenty days ago. This summer I have had the luxury of not having to get up at 6:00 am, but the internal clock is still wound pretty tight so most days I still wake up within a couple of minutes of 6, plus or minus.

Tonight we had takeout from Rosie's for dinner (Mexican). I woke up thirsty, but normally when that happens, I drink some water or tea and go right back to sleep.

My seester made a delivery in HSV today. We had lunch at Casa Blanca (also Mexican). She let me sit in the big rig. Nope, I didn't get to drive it, though I did wonder if I would have been able to break it loose like I did Danny's dually. I bet I could!

After lunch I drove by the Dodge dealership so that she could take a gander at the new Challenger. On Wednesday they had two on the lot. One black, one Hemi orange. Today they also had two, but they were both orange. The window sticker's MSRP was about $41,000 before the additional dealer markup of $15,000 was added. I guess the guy that bought the black one wanted it pretty bad. The engine is a 6.1 liter, 425, and it gets something like 14/18 MPG. Sweet. To me, it appears that Dodge doesn't really want to sell many of these cars. While there is a lot of interest, this car is priced to high for most folks. I suppose all the numbers will be more reasonable when the non-SRTs reach the dealerships. The Dodge website lists the starting price at $21,995 for the base model. The R/T will have 370 HP. I forgot to ask for a test drive. To borrow someone else's slogan, Zoom zoom zoom.

This afternoon I trimmed all the trees in the front yard. All four had many limbs that needed to be removed to ease mowing. I have been told that these butcher jobs should wait until the fall though I seem to always do it during the middle of the summer. It is easier to see the shape of the tree when it still has leave on it. That of course is not the real reason. The real reason is that tree trimming is usually a spontaneous event that follows having a tree limb whack you in the head while your minding your own business.

Planning for the fall camping trip is under way.

Last week I spend a few hours on a couple of days working on the differential for the old GMC. I was on the home stretch last time I touched it. Perhaps I will finish the diff up this week. School comes first though. I hope to not get too far behind too often this semester.

I recently signed up with the county school system to do some substitute teaching on the days I am not it class. Friday I sub'ed for the band director at a nearby HS. I lined up a couple more jobs while I was there.

Friday evening I helped the inlaws unload the moving truck. They bought a house nearby.

It is now 3:20. Only a few more hours to go.

This is post 990. I plan to celebrate post 1k with the mundane label also.

I recently read that the new U2 album was schedule for release in October. And then it was changed to November. They have a working title which I have inconveniently forgotten.

This week I picked up 3 lbs of okra at the big garden down the road. Mmmm. Fried okra is good. I boiled a few pods too, just to gross you out. It never occurred to me to try to steam it. I read about that here: Okra and Proud of It.

I have used some of my free time this week to work on rebuilding the differential out of the GMC. I was very lucky during the assembly process. I got the backlash within spec on the second try and the pinion shim was already correct. All that is left is to get the pinion pre-load set by crushing the crush collar and then button I can button it up.

We are home from the beach and I resolved the problem with my IP address.

The trip home took about six hours and twenty minutes which included three stops.

Before leaving the beach this morning, I went out on the balcony early enough the see the sun rise. Again, I missed it, not because of clouds this time, but because the sun rose to far to the north. Instead of being above the gulf, it rose behind the condo next door.

Last night we dined at the Crab Shack. The crab dip was excellent.

Some folks staying in the same condos, had their wedding ceremony on the beach Saturday evening. Seems risky to me, what with the possibility of sunburn, seaweed, jelly fish, sharks, thunderstorms, and sand in your shorts.

It is good to be home.

Assuming you count the day we arrived, today is day three at the beach. The Ada guys would all count that as Day One; the C guys count it as Day Zero. Big Bird would simply increase the array size by one and not worry about what he doesn't understand.

Day two went very smoothly, no jumper cables were required. The kids (and Seester) all awoke before me. I think she was actually a victim. G' prepared pancakes and bacon for breakfast and then we all headed for the beach.

After a brief interaction with the omnipotent god of the beach umbrellas, we set up shop and began to make a sea wall of sand to hold back the waves. (I thought I was going to let it go with just that single statement, but it appears I was wrong. As I can imagine iMike saying "Hey buddy, there is a reason there is only one dollar in your tip jar." ) The sea walls eventually collapsed.

We have watched two movies so far. Juno and Thankyou for Smoking. Juno was definitely the better of the two.

The dinner hour last night consisted of a trip to The Light House restaurant. The place was huge though practically empty. The food was good, the prices reasonable, and absolutely no wait at all. I decided the reason the place was empty was simply its location; it was not on the beach, and not directly on the main road.

Time to head back inside. The thunder and lightening are getting closer and the sunrise will be obscured by the clouds.

We have enjoyed having Seester here with us.

I woke up early this morning. Good thing I didn't take a nap yesterday or would have probably been up all night. I am sitting on the balcony in a fairly comfortable chair with my laptop waiting for the sunrise. I am equipped with a camera in case I decide the moment needs to be captured along with a small Starbucks coffee Frappuccino.

A small Ford tractor just passed by on the beach below with its headlights on. It was heading west dragging some sort of beach grooming device behind it. The clouds to the south above the water appear dark and occasionally I feel the rumble of thunder coming from the west, obviously further down the beach than the current location of the tractor. The waves are large this morning keeping the scavenger birds along the beach on their toes. The flags will definitely be red today.

As the sun approaches the horizon, a few adventurous souls head toward the waters edge. From the east a woman approaches carrying a coffee cup, probably almost empty. Directly below me, a family of three emerges. The son appears intent on crab hunting, the mother on seeing the sunrise, and the father on ruining the moment because he would rather still be in bed. Lightening appears to the southwest followed several seconds later by a mild clap of thunder. Or two. The small family turns around and heads for the boardwalk.

Life's a Beach (again)

I went to sleep Wednesday evening at home and woke up this morning in Florida. Yeah, I know today is Friday and I failed to mention Thursday.

Thursday consisted of a quick 6 hour trip from HSV to FL. We arrived about 2:30 pm, 30 minutes early for check-in. I shall not elaborate about the next hour and a half other than to say I need to buy a set of jumper cables for G's 4x4.

Seester also drove down from ATL, GA so we have a whole condo full of fun here.

We went to the Back Porch for an early dinner consisting for fried seafood goodness.

Due to my bouncing Internet back at home, my IP address has changed and this entry shan't be seen by you until after I return home. Probably.

I brought a wireless router with me so that we could all share the network connection here. As I look around me, there are 4 laptops being used for various purposes. What a bunch of nerds. It's good to be king.

My internet connection has been bouncing a lot in the last few days. The cable guy dropped by this evening and replaced the cable modem. Things appear to be OK now. With crossed fingers.

Even though the temperatures was down about 20 degrees yesterday compared to the day before, I believe everyone is going crazy due to the heat.

My last final exam for the summer was this week so the Summer of Rick is now officially here.

Unfortunately Ginger has started making noises regarding a list of things that need to be done. How droll. [Go ahead and look it up, I can wait. I first heard the word as a kid while watching Disney's Robin Hood. Good times, good times.]

iMike has lost it just like Sean Connery. I realize it is not funny if you have to explain it. Make sure you use the accent when saying it. "And now I've lost it!" Yeah, anyway, iMike it talking about raising chickens in his back yard. Times must be hard.

Summer Update


Finals are finally here and I will be finishing up the summer semester next week. It's all good.

Last weekend we went to GA to visit my seester. Or was it to go to Six Flags. Good times.

Weekend Update Posted Mid-to-Late in the Week

The posting has been slow around here lately. This is mostly due to my class schedule for the summer. Not that I am spending a lot of time in class, as I am only in class about 12 hours a week, sometimes slightly less if they let us out early, but still at least 10 hours. The real reason is the amount of time required to complete all of my assignments. The last few weeks has seen me spending anywhere from 40 to 60 hours per week on school. Can you say projects out the wazoo? Go ahead and try to say it. I knew you could. What happened to theSummer of Rick? It is absolutely insane, insane I tell you. Fortunately, all good things must come to an end. There are only about 2.5 weeks left of this semester.

Last Saturday I did manage to find the time to take the Turnip Truck out to the Greater Tennessesseessesseeesse Valley Antique Car Show. (Sorry about that extra eessee.) The trip to the car show was like three separate adventures. Count them.

The forecast for the day was 80% chance of rain all day long starting at 6:00 am. There were no clouds in the sky at 7:00 am so I decided I was going.

#1 Driving to the show. Driving an 83 year old vehicle is always an adventure. Doubly so when you attempt to drive 30 miles at a top speed of 35 miles an hour. No trauma on the trip out but we were amazed to see nearly twice as many cars there at 8:00 am this year than there were last year. Technically, I arrived at 8:10 AM this year. Last year I was right on the bell. When I registered, they gave me registration form #426. I assume that means I was the 426 car to arrive but I doubt it. And yes it was hot. And no, I didn't win any of the door prizes.

#2 Spending the Day at the Show. It was hot, but we came prepared. (We = me + 1 of the Brians) We had a cooler full of ice, a gallon of water, and a nice tent-tarpy-thingy along with several soccer-mom chairs, sans the soccer moms. I walked the parts swap and did not find anything I could live without. I also viewed like 70,000 old cars and trucks. OK, maybe 300. I ran into several people I knew, no surprise, and spent some time talking with Mr. Trailer Queen (Tim T.) who brought his 1924 Studebaker in on a trailer. I gave him the business because I had pretty much driven past his house on my way to the show.

Around 3:30 or 4:00 or something like that It was time to head home. Still no clouds in the sky but a call from home informed me it was raining there and had been for a couple of hours. Complete with dogs and cats.

#3 The trip consists of about 30 miles, probably an equal number heading north and east and unfortunately no roads go north east. As I am heading north, I notice large dark clouds to the east and some lightning. And some more lightning. I decided to change my route home in hopes of going around some of the rain. And lightning. I managed to find a nice bank drive thru to park under just as the rain came rolling in. The truck (and '66 Mustang) sat parked for about an hour while we waited out the rain. Eventually the rain pasted and clouds cleared and the pavement dried up. Still we sat there. Why? Have you ever tried to solve a differential equation in your head?

The rain is heading NE at 6 mph. We have a top speed of approximately 35 mph. The house is approximately 15 miles away almost due east. How much of a head start to we have to give the trailing edge of the rain before we leave so that we get home without driving back into the storm? So then we set there for another 10 minutes after agreeing we should wait at least 15. No patience to be found among us, for sure.

We did not catch the rain on the way home though at times we were just behind it. We experienced a little fine sprinkling but nothing worth blogging about. Getting home mostly dry was a major accomplishment. I guess it is good that I didn't win a door prize at the show for surely that would have used all my luck up leaving me to be drenched all the way home.

And in other news, this weekend is my favorite car show of the year. Yes, it is once again time for the air cooled Volkswagen show at Point Mallard. I will probably wait until Sunday to venture forth. See you there.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog


Got a few minutes to kill?

Jordan just asked me a tough question.

"Why is Iraq spelled with a 'Q'."

"But not a 'U'."

"Because isn't 'Q' always supposed to be followed by 'U'."

I didn't have an answer for him so we blogged about it instead.

This is How We Roll

Check out this short video featuring the kids, my Sister's Mustang and my Miata.

Top Gear and F1

I wish this show was available in the US. Here is a bit they did on F1 a good while back. It predates Alonso leaving for McLaren before returning to Renault.

Listen to all the stats he quotes on this car. And the tolerances. The engine is effectively siezed up and must be warmed before cranking.

I hope they bring F1 back to Indy in the near future!

Filled up the Miata today. 28.5 MPG for the previous tank.

BR549

OK, after figuring out my plan, I measured both my frames and then looked at some photos of Guy's frame. At this point I realized that I was wasting my time. The difference between my two frames was due to the fact that one was a SWB and the other was a LWB, not that one had been cut off. So now the plan is to just leave it alone.

Monday I went to the dentist to have my teeth filed. No charge.

Today I pretended like I was starting the rebuild of the differential for the '72 GMC. I was limited to pretending because I did not have a bearing separator to remove the old bearings from the pinion. Quick trip to the china store to discover they are out of lower dollar goodness. What to do, what to do?

I have been trying to get caught up on my school work but I don't yet see the end in sight. I think four of the ten weeks for the summer semester are complete. Note to self: work on time management skills, if you can find the time.

The '25 auction is rapidly progressing towards various stages of completion. It is currently 45% sold.

Saturday afternoon, I called up Brian (no not that Brian, the other Brian) to borrow his plasma cutter. As I told him then, "I have some plasma that needs to be cut". Some things seems funnier before you say them out loud.

My eventual plan is to replace part of the GMC's frame with part of another frame I have. Essentially my appears to have been attacked by a torch at some point in it past and I will be replace the foot or so with a section from the other frame that is in pristine condition.

The plan is:
1. Learn how to cut a straight line.
2. Determine where to make the cuts.
3. Mark the frames.
4. Make the cuts.
5. Weld in the piece from the other frame onto my frame.
6. Grind grind grind.
7. Amaze friends and family with my mad skillz.

Step 1 is complete.

Everyone needs to play with a plasma cutter at some point.

Ebay Motors is once again having a $1 listing special. Look for the 1925 Chevrolet truck to appear later today.

Drip Drip Drip

While rolling around under the Miata Friday morning doing a visual inspection, I decided that the oil leak from the CAS O-ring was not the only leak. There was a drop of oil on the front of the oil pan. (I cleaned up the oil pan while I was working on the clutch last week.) So it appears either the pan seal or the front main seal.

I thought I had replaced the front seal last year when I did the timing belt, but after reviewing last years write up, it appears I skipped it. I guess I didn't want to loosen the oil pan at the time for fear of creating an oil leak. Doh! Here's to hoping this is the only leak. I am currently debating whether I want to fix this one any time soon. The parts cost will be negligible but time wise it could kill a day.

I also had a drop of anti-freeze on the radiator drain valve. I had noticed this before also. I think the drain plug just needs to be replaced. This can wait until I replace the front seal, assuming I do, as the radiator needs to be removed during that procedure.

I keep asking myself why I am so obsessed with the car leaking. Why can't I be satisfied just sliding a pan under the car? Myself never answers.

About the time I was finishing up the inspection of my car, David arrived and we replaced the o-ring on his '91 Miata also. Having done the replacement on both a 1.6 and 1.8 liter engine, I believe the 1.6 is a slightly easier task. (It is actually possible to get the CAS out from between the engine and firewall.)

Sixth Grade

Today I finished my eighth day of field experience in sixth grade at a local elementary school's summer school program.

The math teacher offered to let me teach a lesson. It seemed like a good idea to me so I agreed. This week I taught a total of 8 blocks. And since you only have to teach your very first lesson once ever, I have that out of the way. And that is one less thing.

Don't tell anyone, but I had a really good time being back in 6th grade.

MMM

(Common Miata Oil Leak)

While replacing the pilot bearing, clutch, etc. on the Lil' Zoom-Zoom I determined my oil leak was located somewhere high on the block, probably near the rear. Googling for common Miata oil leak clued me in to the CAS O-Ring. And the location was exactly in the general neighborhood of where the oil appeared to be originating.

This evening I replaced the Cam Angle Sensor O-Ring on the Miata. After removing the CAS a quick inspection of the underside revealed black gold. The sensor was definitely dripping oil. Jackpot! Hopefully this was my only leak. I will let you know.

The entire procedure took about 2 hours including a trip to the parts store and dinner. Actual under the hood time was probably between 20 - 45 minutes. The instructions over yonder say 10 minutes. It didn't happen like that here.

Total cost including two o-rings and one of this little mirror on a stick thingies was less than $5.

Why two o-rings? Because tomorrow David M. will be bringing his car over for a little More Miata Maintenance. I bet we don't get his done in 10 minutes either.

Odometer: 107K and some change.

Sunday Afternoon Maintenance

This afternoon, in the extreme heat of the afternoon sun, I washed the Miata. (I had two helpers so it took a little longer than normal.)

While washing the car, I found a bunch of tar along the lower half of the car, especially on the drivers side. I happened to have some tar and bug remover so I made a pass at the tar. Unfortunately it leaves a residue so the car is ready for another bath. It will have to wait.

In additional to the wash, I cleaned the windows and applied rain-x.

Next was a quick 8 mile drive to drive to fill up the tank. Technically it should only be about a mile, but I often get side tracked by curvy roads when driving the Miata on a Sunday afternoon.

The fill up proffered a mileage rating of 29.5 per gallon. Sweet. Not as good as my hypermiling experiment but not bad for my lead foot.

Odometer: Just over 106,900, which is what was on the clock when I finished the clutch job.

Zoom Zoom Zoom