Director of Cynicism

I saw a program the other day that said almost 80% of our universe is composed of dark energy, a force that we know virtually nothing about. We know this because distant galaxies are red-shifted, which means they are moving away from us. Not only are they moving away, they are supposedly moving away at an increasing rate. Accelerating a galaxy takes a tremendous amount of energy, thus the supposed near 80% of the universe being dark energy. I call BS. If our current understanding of physics is so flawed as to miss 80% of the universe, then our understanding that says we missed 80% of the universe is also flawed. There is definitely something wrong here, but an explanation that requires we make up a new type of energy that has never been observed, and say it's bigger than all of everything we have observed—is not an explanation at all. This dark matter hypothesis--postulating a new kind of energy, so far undetected, and contrary to physics as we know them--It's a cop out.

So let's look at this. Hubble correlated distance (by brightness of a kind of star in distant galaxies) with red-shift. There's no significant red shift for galaxies close to the Milky Way, that's because we're in a galaxy cluster—but that's a separate issue. That red-shift is thought to be caused by the Doppler effect—if a wavesource is moving away, the wavelengths get longer. Now we get to the funky bit—galaxies that are further away are more red-shifted than galaxies that are closer. Does that mean that as galaxies get further away they accelerate? The Dark Energy Hypothesis is based on an affirmative assumption here.

So a few alternate hypotheses are in order:

First, that Earth itself is accelerating. We know our sun is in orbit around the center of the milky way, which looks like water going down a drain. When water goes down a drain, as it gets closer to the center it accelerates. So the natural operation of gravity over time will accelerate our sun. Could it be that our point of view is accelerating, whereas the distant galaxies are merely moving away from us? A: No. If this were the case, all galaxies in one direction would be moving away, and galaxies in another direction would be moving towards. And all these movements would be of approximately equal degree. This seems not to be the case, with a few exceptions (other galaxies in our cluster) other galaxies are moving away from us. Some spiral galaxies are red-shifted on one side and blue-shifted on the other, so we can tell which side is moving towards us.

Second, that the red shift is caused by some other factor than the doppler effect. Space is not empty, it has the occasional particle of whatever floating in it. If particles were (fairly) uniformly spread across the universe as the background microwave radiation appears to be, they could color light passing through—just as our atmosphere colors sunlight. It is also possible that, just because of the nature of photons—that over immense distances their wavelengths shift towards red. Or that, due to interaction with other electromagnetic radiation over extreme distances, wavelengths shift towards red. I guess this is really 3 separate hypotheses, it would take some imaginative testing to determine which of these (if any) is correct, but they are falsifiable. If any is correct, red-shift may be useful for determining rough distance.

Third, that our whole understanding of linear time is wrong. Einstein understood time and space to interact with one another, but his understanding is probably not the last word on the subject. To take a very simple thought experiment—imagine a rocket traveling at 100 miles per second relative to earth. Now imagine that it has a headlamp, which generates light. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. If you measure the speed of that light from the rocket—it's 186k. If you measure it from Earth, it's—Einstein says it's 186k, though it may show a Doppler shift. Because, to Einstein, the speed of light in a vacuum is an absolute constant, 186,000 miles per second from any frame of reference. But space and time are malleable, and a distortion in time, over all that space--that might account for the red shifts.

Fourth, that these distant galaxies are red-shifted because they are going faster, and they are further away because they have *always been* going faster. There is nothing in accepted scientific theory that requires the Big Bang to eject all its material instantaneously, with all materials traveling at the same velocity. Watch any explosion in slow-motion and you'll see different materials fly out from the center at different speeds. If some of the materials from the big bang were ejected at higher velocity than the materials that formed our own galaxy were, the ones that are furthest away now are the ones that were going fastest to begin with.

One of these explanations does not require a great re-working of scientific knowledge, does not prove that everything we know about physics is wrong, and does not rely upon phenomena that have never been observed.

Yesterday I fixed windshield wipers and set the carbs on the MG.  Later in the evening, the front brakes went out in my truck.  Front half of the reservoir was bone dry, back half is contaminated, possibly with oil.  I haven't looked under the master cylinder cap in ages, not sure if it's a slow leak or a fast one, whether the fluid's contaminated recently, or whether it's been getting that way for a long time.  Don't see any large quantities of brake fluid coming out anywhere, but I haven't taken the wheels off yet. 

Then my fridge sprung a leak, then the shutoff valve that goes to the fridge broke too.  Not fun.

This morning, the windshield wipers broke again.  I'm sure it's the electrical connection that had corrosion before, a little wiggle and they started up again.  Gr.

In other news, the case I had in court today went very well.

The other day I decided to try and fix the windshield wipers in my wife's 1996 Olds Bravada.  I found bulletins online about how there was a recall, saying a dealer will fix it free--except it would have had to be taken to the dealer by 2004.  Too late for me. 

The problem is a circuit board that controls the intermittent wipers, this is built into the wiper motor.  The recall says the problem's a weak solder.  I own a soldering iron, so I figure--I can probably handle it.  If not, Autozone has a new circuit board for $30.  

Getting the board out is a pain, I ended up taking the whole wiper motor out just so I could get the cover off.  With the motor out, I found the one-more-fastener, another torx screw, under a sticker on the circuitboard cover.  I probably could have taken the board out without removing the motor.  On mine, there was no evidence of any broken solder, but there was one slightly bent electrical contact, and another contact that was visibly corroded.  I bent the one contact back just a smidge (a technical term) and cleaned the contact trio with electric connector cleaner and a copper brush.  An emery board would probably be ideal for cleaning that, I just didn't bother to go find one.  Then I put it all back together, and it didn't work.  The motor was trying to turn, it was making a humming noise, that's it.

Today I took it back apart to see if I'd got the linkage hooked back up incorrectly.  The mechanism of these windshield wipers is different from others I've seen.  There's a linkage under the plastic trim (between the hood and windshield) that converts the motor's circular motion into back-and-forth.  Turns out, when I put the motor in last time, I did not have the linkage lined up properly so it got stuck trying to pull something a direction it couldn't go.

There are about a hundred different positions the linkage can be in when  you attach it to the motor, but only one is right.  I had to grok the mechanism to get it to go, which meant putting it together and taking it back apart about 5 times--this is not something described in the Haynes manual.  Got it now, and I'm hopeful it'll work for a while.  The key is, the crank--the part of the wiper linkage that connects to the motor--is supposed to point towards the right side of the car when the wipers are in the down position.

In all this process, one of the plastic trim panels cracked, you may have noticed last time you drove it.  My next Pull-a-Part trip I'll be looking for a replacement.

With 100% gasoline, and new fuel filters--Hugo fired right up, first try.  I idled up a little before I let the choke out, with choke it was running about 800 rpm, not enough, because idle drops as the choke goes in.

With this new gas, the fuel mix on both carbs was way rich.  Which leads me to believe I had a fair bit of water in the old gas.  But both carbs adjusted pretty easily, I'm pretty confident I've got the fuel mix right on both carbs now.  Also, got the carbs synched pretty good.  Better than before, anyway.  There is still a little bit of an intermittent misfire, it's better than before, and less noticeable now that the exhaust manifold is tight.  Hugo is burning a little oil, so most likely issue is a gummed up spark plug.

For all those reading about my car with rapt attention, another post about my car.

Went to replace the gas cap and fuel filter this weekend.  I decided I wanted to carry an old fuel filter with me, to make sure I get the right size.  One of the two filters is under the hood and easy to reach, the other is behind the right rear wheel, you have to jack up the car and take a wheel off to reach it.  Really the one behind the wheel is the one that needed replacing, but they're the same size.  Unfortunately, when I went to remove the front fuel filter, it came apart in my hand.  Alcohol in gas is not good for 1980's plastics, I'm sure these filters were last replaced in the 80's.  So, two filters. 

Went to Autozone, found that the cheapest fuel filter in the store is the right one.  They had two in stock, also a replacement gas cap.  The filters come with two short sections of fuel hose, as well as 4 hose clamps.  Replaced both filters, and some of the misc. sections of hose in the fuel system, put clamps on most everywhere just to make sure I keep all that sealed up.  Turned the key--fuel pump is very loud.  Poured two gallons of gas--100% gas, I went to the Philips 66 at the corner of Memorial and Thompson Lane 'cause they're the only station I know of that still has gas without alcohol.  Turned the key--after about 8 seconds the fuel pump quieted down to where I can barely hear it.  Evidently the fuel pump likes the new filter.  Pulled the choke, cranked the engine, and it started on the first try.  Ran rough and died when I let the choke off, though.  I think I need to adjust the idle, last time I attempted to set the carbs was before I tightened the exhaust manifold bolts.

I found another technique for adjusting SU carbs online, it says first disconnect the linkage, turn down the idle screw on one carb and turn it up on the other (engine running) until the car is running on only one carb, adjust that one, and then do the same deal with the other.  Seems to make sense, takes a big variable out of setting the mix.  I'm pretty sure the aft carb is right, the fore carb never did quite get there.  Why would one carb settle right into adjustment and the other one not?  Could be a vacuum leak around the fore carb gasket, or butterfly valve bushing.  Could be that the fore carb gets fuel first, and therefore water in the fuel settles into that carb's float bowl, and not into the aft carb's.  Could be the exhaust leak (now hopefully fixed).  As director of cynicism, I'm guessing b--water in the fore carb's float bowl.  Because that means I'll have to avoid alcoholic fuel for this car, and that's kind of a pain. 

Alcohol is not great as a fuel.  I mean, regular gas with 10% alcohol makes less power than regular gas without.  Alcohol contains about 2/3 as much energy as gasoline, by volume.  So that 90% gas, 10% alcohol blend you get, that makes about 96.6% as much power as regular gas.  Which means, if driving is a constant, 3.4% lower mpg.  But when there's water--alcohol is hydroscopic--I have to wonder how much water is in the fuel I pump into my gas tank. 

Once again, Hugo won't start.   And again, I've got the really loud fuel pump.  Gas gauge reads about 1/8, but the fuel pump can't reach that gas.  Seems this is about where the gauge was before, I don't think I could possibly have burned over a gallon of gas during testing/carb adjustment  the other day.  Well, I did run the engine for probably an hour--maybe I did.

Jacked up the car and took off the right rear wheel today, to take a look at the fuel pump & hoses.  They're all ok as far as I can tell, except the pre-pump filter has visible water and gelled crap in it.  That may be my problem right there.  Pulled the fuel hose off the carb and verified, no gas is coming through. 

I think the problem is the gasket on my gas cap.  It's letting fuel evaporate, also letting water in.  Water in the gas could account for my not being able to get the carbs to act right, and would also explain the misfire.  Although that could be an issue of compression (I haven't adjusted valve lash yet) or just that I don't have the fuel mix quite right yet.  From what I've read, water in the gas can make the car run lean, definitely can make it misfire.  I'm thinking next payday I want to spring for 5 gallons of 100% gasoline gas, a cheap universal fuel filter, and a gas cap gasket.  And maybe even a bottle of Heet water remover.

Got the starter going again.  I just took it out, cleaned the bendix with Lectra Motive electrical connector cleaner, and put it back in.  I'm hoping I don't have to do that again any time soon.  Tightened up the exhaust manifold bolts that I could reach.  Some were really quite loose.  It's leaking much less exhaust under the hood, but there is still a little.  I will have to move some parts to reach the remaining exhaust manifold bolts, I may do that today.  I got the rear carburetor adjusted, finally I have the fuel/air mix right.  It's cool, when you get it right, if you raise up on the air piston just a little, the idle rises for 4-5 seconds and then drops back.  Front carb is close, but still not exactly right. 

Examined the water pump for leaks, water is coming out from inside the pulley.  Only one way to fix that is replace the water pump. 

I found out this morning my tie rod ends shipped.  Finally.  That'll be good, when those get in I can get the steering tightened up a little and rough-set the alignment.  

I have a new wish-list for parts: 
Delco 12si alternator rebuild kit, ebay $22.
Water pump, ebay $44.
Stereo--I'll probably spend between $40 and $80, I want radio and cds.
Radio Antenna
2 "lift the dot" studs, so I can get the top seated on properly.  $1.15 each, Moss Motors
Spare tire
Gas pedal
ground strap.  There's one missing off the bottom of the car.  Probably $6 at my local autozone.
patches for floor pans (there are rust holes)
Gas cap 13.50 Moss Motors (my gas cap's gasket has broken down)
Modern starter--I have a Honda starter I might be able to modify, found directions online to modify an isuzu trooper starter (about $78).  I may have to dent in the passenger side footwell to get it to fit, though.
Door stops.  The doors hit the bodywork, they've put holes in the paint and it's starting to rust there.  I have to stop that. 
Paint.  Really I need to paint the whole car.  Dad's paint job has held up pretty well, it's been over 20 years--but it's getting rust underneath in places, really the whole car needs redone.  If I had my druthers I'd paint the whole car british racing green.  
Windshield wiper blades.  Outrageous prices, $13 each from Moss.
Headlights.  Mine work but are dim, I'd love to upgrade to H4's. 
And of course, a license plate. 

Hugo runs again.  Turns out cars work better when they get gas. 

Gas gauge was on 1/8 tank, adding a gallon and a half brought it up to almost 1/4, and the fuel pump noise went right back to normal, engine started right up.  The car was out of gas.  Well, not Out out, just not enough in there to suck any through the pick up tube.  Which probably means the end of the tube has rotted off in the alcohol-gas mix.  But it's possible there was just not enough in the tank.  I'll have to remember that the car quits running before the gas gauge hits E.

Got the exhaust flange bolt back in, and got the exhaust flange tightened down so it's not leaking.  Still getting an exhaust leak at the manifold.  Also getting a little water coming out near the water pump, haven't had a chance to investigate exactly what's the matter there.  Starter quit working again, I've gotten to where I can pull the starter very quickly.  I've pulled that darn thing more times than I've needed to change oil, which is a shame because the oil filter has to come off to get the starter out.  I really want to upgrade to a modern starter, but that'll be a couple hundred bucks.

So remember 3 days ago?  I had it running.  I tried to cut new threads on the exhaust stud, to no avail.  It's too rusted, too much material is gone.  So I went and got a new bolt, approx. the right size.  I say approx, because the one that was on it is not any size at all, as far as I can tell.  The head of it fitted a 12mm--which is weird, because this car's a 1970 model from England.  That's fairly close to 1/2", but it's smaller.  Anyhow, a 5/16" x2" bolt fit right in, and I tightened it up and started the car--and it started and then died immediately.  

I figure--ok, with more exhaust back pressure, that means my fuel mix is off.  I take it back to the starting point, I take it to all the way rich.  Nothing.  I reset the timing--various sources say it's supposed to be at 0, 4, 7, and 10 btdc, respectively.  I intended to set it at 7 (Moss Motors recommendation) but I went just a little too far, got the timing mark to 4 and decided I'd go with it.  Now it's not kicking over.  The starter spins it up, but no fuel is getting burnt in the cylinders.  

So what changed?  I'm not sure.  I did notice the fuel pump got louder, but I"m still seeing bubbling at the fuel filter, so I know the pump is still doing something.  One fairly recent repair is I added a new fuel return hose.  I suppose it's possible that this hose was blocked (where it attaches into the tank) and it finally popped through whatever gunk/obstacle was there, so now I'm getting less fuel pressure.  I tried pinching the fuel return hose with vise grips, but that didn't make it work.  I guess I'm going to have to go through the steps of a no-start diagnosis.  In this case, since the fuel pump changed it's sound, I'm gonna have to start by verifying fuel's getting to the carbs.  Then verify spark, then compression.  I'm also going to take the exhaust bolt back loose.  Gr.

After briefly getting the Midget--I've decided it's name is Hugo--to live, he promptly got sick again.  The alternator I installed isn't working, and it was enough of a pain to modify it to fit that I'll probably rebuild it rather than replace.  That should be cheaper anyway.

So I had Hugo running, then I had the battery discharging issue.  Then one day, after charging, I turn the key and get nothing.  After some poking around, I discover the issue--massive amounts of corrosion on the inside of the positive battery terminal.  Apparently disconnecting it for a couple weeks was enough.  I had 12.3 volts between the battery posts, but 3.75 volts between the battery terminals.  That's a significant voltage drop.  So I clean that out, and turn the key--the starter goes whirr, but the bendix doesn't engage.  I figure, maybe it just needs the battery all the way fully charged to spin up enough that the bendix will go.  Charge all the way up, turn the key...whirr.

Gr.  Maybe the battery posts aren't clean enough?  Voltmeter says 10 volts between terminals.  Nope, not clean enough.  Go to work, come back another day. 

Got my package from Moss, it's intake gaskets.  Install those.  Ok, well, install some of those.  I had a few, some of them didn't want to come off and I didn't want to scrape.  Turns out I'd put it back together with some gaskets missing, way back when.  That would explain why I couldn't get the carbies synched.  Anyway, installed those, set the jets all the way up less 6 flats.

Battery fully charged, posts clean, 12.3 volts between the terminals.  Pull the choke..and it pulls too far.  Re-attach choke cable, pull choke.  Turn the key...whirr.

So I take the top bolt out of the starter, wiggle the sucker around a little, and on a whim, go turn the key with that bolt completely out.  Cranks, kicks over, but won't stay running.  Try again, and it runs, poorly, until I let the choke off and it dies.  Fuel mix is way off.  No surprise.  Idled it up, fired it up.  Starter seems to be working again, even though only half-installed.  Weird.  Got the carbs adjusted tonight, running much, much smoother.  Though I'm beginning to think I started the process 6 flats from the wrong end of the adjustment, it had to adjust a LOT to get to where it was running right.  I don't have a uni-syn, but with a mechanic's stethoscope (e.g., a piece of rubber tubing stuck in the ear) I could tell pretty well when I got the carbs the same.  Just stick the other end of the tube in the throat of the carb, all the way up against the piston.  Adjusted the idle 'till the pitch was the same in both.

Fuel mix--when it's right, you can press the button that raises up the carb piston, just a little--and the engine speed increases and then if you push it further it falls back.  I think that's right anyhow.  Seemed to run better that way.  I had to re-adjust the idle after that.  

Now it seems to be running fair.  There's still a roughness to how it runs, an intermittent, uneven popping that seems like it might be coming from the exhaust.  It's not a bang like a major backfire.  I guess that could be the sound of unburnt gas flaring in the manifold, though the I know there's an exhaust leak, I'm getting a fair bit of exhaust fumes coming up through the hood.  Probably that's the manifold-exhaust pipe junction.  It could just be when the engine vibrates, sometimes it cracks open the seal at that junction.  The solution is, I try and cut new threads on the bolts there, and install a new nut--one that actually fits this time, I hope.  If that doesn't solve the issue, next step is get a timing light and set the timing for real.

Anyways I've got it back to "drive around the block" status, I tried 4-5 times tonight, the engine was starting up on the first try, every time.  But with that starter, who knows?  I really want to replace that starter with a modern gear reduction design.  I think it would be worth doing.  I also want to replace both battery leads.  Ah, money here, money there. 

Oh, another thing.  Strangely and mysteriously, without my doing anything to it other'n let it sit for a week with the parking brake on, the brakes are no longer soft and spongy.  Only thing I can figure is the bubble worked its own way back up to the master cylinder.  That part kind of rocks.

I am so looking forward to getting a new license plate for this beast. 

No less confused.

Left the + terminal unplugged from the battery, the battery didn't discharge.  That tells me it's not the battery itself.  Good to know. 

Double checked some things with a multimeter, then hooked up all the wires to the alt. as described on a site for the alternator itself.  More research online.  I can now say with some confidence--that when the idiot light for the charging circuit is lit up and the key is off, at least in this car and probably in most--that means there's a bad diode in the alternator.  

Fired it up anyway, and attempted to adjust the carburetors.  The engine is running rough, with an intermittent miss/stumble that seems to be primarily on the back two cylinders.  I got the carbs synched (took some fiddling, and adjustment of the choke stop screw) but I got it done.   Then on to adjust the fuel mix, and that didn't work very well.  I could turn the adjuster screws easily, but there was virtually no difference in how it ran through almost all of the range--it would start to miss and bog down at almost all the way rich, and at almost all the way rich.  With virtually no change through about 3 whole turns of the adjuster screw.  Back to research.  Since the miss is intermittent, I suspect it is not the timing--which should effect all cylinders equally.  I suppose it could be a weak coil, or my points out of adjustment.   But I really think the carbs are out of adjustment, I've never actually gotten it set right since I rebuilt the carbs.  Best guess is it's a vacuum leak behind the aft carburetor, it looks like one of my carb gaskets is missing-I seem to remember having not enough of these when I rebuilt the carbs, I may have put it back together with some of the gaskets missing.  If the engine is sucking extra air intermittently between the carb and the spacer plate--that would cause that fuel/air stream to lean out, and no amount of adjusting the carb is going to keep it from leaning out--when it's sucking air that's not going through the carb, that reduces the flow of fuel/air from the carb.  So I can't stop it by adjusting the carb.  I need to order some gaskets, luckily they're only about $0.90 each.  I'd like to go ahead and get a replacement tie rod end and some wiper blades while I'm at it, make it an order worth shipping.  But that would mean spending money, which is tight right now.

And of course I need a new diode trio for the alternator, but that won't come from the same place.

Also, while I was adjusting the carbs, my wiper motor got really hot.  I need to move the field wire, I think it's using the wiper motor as the most convenient path to ground.  I hope I haven't burned that sucker out, that'll need more testing.  

Ok, I'm confused now.

I got the car running and driving, it's wonderful and fun--but there's something wrong in the electrical system.  The battery has been dead each morning when I check on it.  The first time, I also found the key was left in the "run" position, I blamed the kids playing around the car since I clearly remember turning it off.  The second time, I blamed the fact I had an alternator and a voltage regulator, so two regulators in place.  So I removed the regulator and rewired most everything.  Third time, I figured I had done something wrong, read online and found advice that if you leave the "field" wire of the alternator hooked to an unswitched power source, it'll drain the battery overnight.  So I located a switched power source (at the fuse box) and hooked it up there.  

Now, this morning, it's dead again.  Everything tests ok, but I noticed as I started charging the battery that the alternator was getting warm.  I have a fracking bad alternator.  More specifically, I have crossed up wires inside the alternator.   I should have guessed there was a problem, when I noted the field wire gets current and the idiot light, when connected, comes on with the key off (though that might indicate a different problem elsewhere, come to think of it).  But I tested, even with the battery still mosty discharged, the alternator draws .2 amps load. 

The most likely problem a bad diode trio (rectifier).  I only know that because I've been reading up on it.  The good part is, I can get a replacement for $16, or an alternator rebuild kit for $21 (which will convert it to a simpler one-wire alt, which'll take away some guesswork).  Either option is cheaper than a new alternator, and also I won't have to modify another alternator to make it fit.  The bad part is, I have to spend another few bucks, and also wait for the shipping.

Meh, I can still drive the car, just need to disconnect the battery when I park it.

I am deeply ambivalent about the cash for clunkers program.  I agree it's a good idea to get crappy cars off the road, and I would rather do it through incentives and bribes rather than through mandates or simply taking people's property.  But there's just something about the program that I don't like.  

It's not about what the thing costs, I'm not happy with that either, but anybody who reads my journal already knows how I feel about deficit spending and I don't need to get into that.  My issue is really with the wastefulness of it, the requirements to qualify for the program the demographics of who qualifies--and what this program would do to the used car market if it continued indefinitely.

First the wastefulness.  I'm a bit iffy about our government paying $4500 for cars that are worth $500.  I mean, if somebody has a car that's really worth $4500, they're not going to trade it in under this program.  And if they do--it seems an awful shame to crush that car and make it be worth $140 in scrap metal, rather than resell or part it out.

Second thing--this program is for cars that get less than 20 mpg, that have been registered for at least one year.  I'm fine with that one-year requirement as a means to prevent fraud (otherwise I could go buy a $300 car, and turn it in on this program for $4500 towards a new car).  But don't we want those $500 cars, many of which are true "clunkers," off the road as well?  Also, since I've always been fuel conscious--even my full-size pickup (a diesel) gets 22--we don't qualify.  Never mind there is not another full-size pickup on the market that gets better mileage.  What if I wanted a Prius?

And that gets into demographics.  I couldn't have a Prius, or any other new car, because I'm neither willing nor able to take on more debt.  Even if I qualified for the program, I'm not willing to go $6,000+ into debt for a new car (the cheapest new car for 2009, the Hyundai Accent, starts at $10,655) .  Really, only people who qualify for the loan, or who have $6,000 cash lying around, can take advantage of this offer.  Which, ok, most people have better credit and less aversion to debt than I do--but the program really does little to help people at the bottom of our economic pecking order.  And the fact of the matter is, they're the ones who really drive clunkers.  They're the ones driving the cars that pollute the worst.  If there were a car on the market for $5,000--even $7500--this program would reach more of the working poor, and it would reach more of the cars we really want off the road.  But seriously, "people who buy cars for less than $3,000" is a big demographic, and this program doesn't do anything good for them.  Us.  Yeah.  If the program were really about helping people, or about reducing emissions--it would apply to used car purchases as well (though perhaps with stricter mpg requirements for the car that's purchased, and  never pay more than the KBB "fair" price for the purchased car).

Finally, I don't like the pressure this program puts on the used car market.  If I had a qualifying car that was worth $3,000 and I wanted to trade it in--under this program, that car will be crushed.  Without the program, it would be for sale on the used car lot.  If this program continues, there are going to be a lot less used cars available, and a lot less parts too.  Reduced supply means increased price--so people who can't buy new cars will end up paying more for their used cars.  

And the part that's the worst shame--many of the most beautiful cars that have ever been built get less than 20 mpg and some of them will be crushed under this program.   I have my list of 17 cars I want to own someday, most of them are available in running but not showcar condition for less than $4500.  With this program in place, my odds of finding a good running example of the cars I want--as well as my odds for finding parts to keep 'em on the road if I do find 'em--go way way down.  Don't crush the '73 Mustangs, it makes me cry.

IT LIVES, muwahahahahaha!


Turns out there are not 3 wires to connect to the alternator, one of those is meant to connect up to the distributor.  Got that sorted, and it starts and runs.  And drives! 

Brakes still need bleeding, and the engine sort of putters (I think I may need to adjust the spark timing since it was set by static timing) but it starts, it runs, it drives, and it stops too.   I also still need to hook up a  I took it out yesterday, and the odometer turned over from 59606 to 59607.  This is so exciting, I've never had a car with such low mileage.

I thought I would get the Midget to move under it's own power today, but no luck.  See, I found this gigantor free copying machine (craigslist fu!) and I hadda get it out of my truck.  So I finished bolting and wiring in the alternator (pretty sure I've got everything right) and filled up the radiator, and went to fire it up.  And for some reason I'm not getting any spark. 

But I had to make some room in the back of my truck, so I just rolled the MG forward in the garage.  Dangnabbit.

The engine is out of the CRX, and I have a replacement engine getting some machine shop work before I put it into the car.  

What I said before about the previous owner being an idiot--well, that was an understatement.  The chain on the motor mount was there because the fool drilled crooked holes into the block where the motor mount is supposed to attach, and made it where he could not attach the motor mount properly.  It's a good thing I'm not trying to re-use that block, unfortunately I'm not going to be able to re-use that motor mount either.  At least not the part that bolts to the engine.

Now that I've had the engine apart, I can say for a certainty what happened.  The connecting rod on the #2 piston broke right where it connects over the bearing.  The connecting rod bolts over the bearing and crankshaft with two bolts, and I found one of them in the oilpan.  The other bolt--well, there was a lot of ground metal in the sump, but I don't really believe a class 8 bolt could get ground up into nothing.  Either the bolt got launched out through the block or was left out last time this engine was being worked on.  Many things in this car bear the mark of idiocy, but my guess is it got launched out through the block.  Anyway, the connecting rod broke while the crank was turning, and the bottom half of the rod plowed right through the oil line (which sends oil to the main bearings.  Something knocked a hole in the bottom of the oil pan, continued reciprocation of the crank knocked the top half of the rod through the block.  It also knocked the piston up against the head (there are marks from the valves on the piston) so I'm going to need to replace 2 valves.  All this would have been extremely noisy and violent.

From the research I've done, the connecting rods are the weak point in Honda engines.  This engine should have been able to handle 200 horsepower (it makes 108 hp stock) but only if care is taken to avoid preignition.  If the gasoline explodes while the piston is still going up, that explosion is trying to make the engine run backwards.  This puts an extreme amount of pressure on the piston, connecting rod, and crank.  I imagine a team of 108 horses all running one direction, and then 27 of them spontaneously decide to start backing up while the rest of them carry on running forward.  That gets ugly really quick.   Preignition happens if the piston is too hot, if compression is too high, if spark timing is too far advanced (advanced spark makes more power), or if the engine is running too lean (this causes combustion temperatures to be higher).  So they disabled the O2 sensor, further advanced the spark timing, and bang! 

So glad I'm not trying to re-use that engine.

I've got the Midget where the wheels will turn and stop turning, using the engine and the brake.  Whee!  There's still air in the lines somewhere, I tried to bleed 'em with my mityvac suction pump, but I can't get it to seal well enough.  I just end up sucking air.  I will have to bleed the brakes the old fashioned way, with an assistant to push on the brake pedal.

On the plus side, my brake caliper rebuild seems to be holding pressure just fine.  Good news, that.  I said before that I didn't exactly follow instructions, I'm on the Internet talking about this so that maybe somebody will find this useful.  I'm not a mechanic and I don't know how well this will work, your mileage may vary--so here's what I do to rebuild a brake caliper, ignoring the instructions:

Take off the brake caliper
Hook it up to compressed air to try to expel the pistons, cuss, make a mess
Re-attach caliper to brake line, pump brake pedal until the pistons come most of the way out
remove brake line, make another mess
separate the caliper!  Directions say don't, but hey--there wouldn't be those two easily accessible bolts right there if they weren't made to be turned, would there? 
Notice I only got one piston out?  Well, the inside piston (the one on the side where the brake line attaches) can be extracted with a bolt (smaller than the hole) and a hammer.  Just put the bolt onto the back of the piston, and drive it out.
Use a screwdriver (needle nose pliers would have been better) to prise out the old brake seals and dust shield
clean up the inside of the caliper with an emery board or copper brush.  Neither will significantly scratch the iron caliper.  Afterwards clean up with compressed air, then wash it all out with brake fluid.  Until it's clean, you don't want any bits of copper brush left in there.
Install the inner seal, just like the Moss instruction says, using lots of brake fluid or brake caliper lube
Now throw the Moss paper away, or better yet, use it to clean the other half of the caliper.
Get the dust cover started in before putting in the outer seal.  Just lube it up and press it in with your thumbs, take your time 'cause it won't want to go in straight.  One of mine, I ended up using a wood block (2x3) and tapped the seal in with a hammer.  If one side of it goes too far in, a flat-bladed screwdriver under the edge and gentle twist--it'll come back out a bit.  Now put the outer seal in, between the dust cover and the body of the caliper.  Goes in just like the inner seal.  Once the seal and dust cover are in place, lube up the piston and slide it in.  Repeat the process for the other side, put the caliper halves back together, and viola!  You have a rebuilt brake caliper. 

Still have to do whatever it is I'm gonna do with the alternator, and get the radiator hooked back up.  But I could drive the car around the yard today, if I wanted to.  Which will be exciting, because it's not moved under it's own power since 1991.  

Worked on the Midget brake caliper yesterday and today.  I have new seals in, but I had to separate the caliper (Moss Motors says don't do that) and didn't exactly follow the directions.

Now I've hit another brick wall, I can't find my hub socket.  I have one, I used it on the other side--so I am loathe to go buy a new one.   I need to clean up the garage to find it, otherwise I can't replace my brake rotor.  Trouble is, with the MG in the garage, there's no space in there to clean up.  This is a major frustration.

Just starting to really look at my CRX project.  Previous owners were idiots, that's why the engine blew.  I'm finding lots of places where they made modifications that make the engine less safe and stable.  Good thing I'm replacing the engine.

First thing I noticed was they relocated the battery to the trunk.  No big deal, as far as the engine goes, but it's ill-advised.  I mean, ok--putting 40 lbs of battery in the back instead of the front does wonders for a car's balance, but if you're racing--why not just keep it up front, where you don't have to add 12 lbs of wiring?  That's a fair bit of work to go to just to make a car a little heavier, dude.

Next thing I notice is they put in an aftermarket air filter and removed the intake tube.  Ok, that's common.  But in doing that, they plugged the valve cover vent tube (it's supposed to vent into the air intake tube) and that may have contributed to the engine blowing.  Next thing I notice is they've got a chain attached to the driver's side motor mount, allegedly for extra support.  Just means they don't understand how the motor mount is supposed to function, again it adds weight without contributing anything useful, and adds vibration to the engine--which also may have contributed to blowing the engine.  Next thing I notice is they did kind of a hack job with wiring when they moved the battery.  Looks like they rigged up the cooling fans to not work off a thermal control, but to just be on.  Which I'm ok with, but it's weird.  And they didn't do a professional job with any of that wiring.  Also, the oxygen sensor is not wired up.  Again, something that could have contrubuted to blowing out the engine.

What dude described happening was that the oil pump lost pressure, then the rod bearing got real loose and the rod started hammering on the inside of the crankcase.  The old block is 80 lbs of aluminum paperweight., which I intend to recycle.  I'm just thinking if he'd had the O2 sensor hooked up and the check-engine light off, and the engine running without detonation--maybe he would not have been putting that kind of stress on the bearings and it would not have lost oil pressure.  Just a thinky.  

So anyway, now I've got to decide exactly how I'm dealing with it. I Of course the old engine block has to come out.  It looks like there's room to take it out through the top, although I've read the standard method is to drop it out through the bottom.  I think I'll do it the standard way, there's got to be a reason that's the standard way.

Really it doesn't look like there's a lot of stuff to detatch to drop the engine.  Nothing but hoses and a ground strap in the front, nothing at all on the driver's side, throttle cable and 3-4 vac hoses on the back, and the wiring harness on the passenger side.  But if I get the head off first, I'll have all the hoses and wires off before I ever start hooking up the hoist, and that seems like it could be an advantage.

This weekend I traded our Acura for an 88 Honda CRX.  The CRX has a blown motor but comes with a replacement block, I'll need to take the head off the old engine and put it on the new one, with a new head gasket, oil pan gasket, new timing belt, and front & rear seals.  And then install my shiny new engine in the car, which itself has a shiny new paint job and a kinda crummy interior.

This CRX has the 1.6L engine, which (stock) makes 135 hp and 33 mpg.  There is a different engine/transmission combo that makes way less hp but 47 mpg, I really wanted that kind but I really like the CRX design and I just wanted to have one, and this one I could have for a trade.  I may consider trying to find an HF transmission just to see what kind of mileage I can get, but I probably won't do it.  This car has everything I need to put it together other than gaskets and seals, I should be able to get it going down the road within $250. 

What amazes me about this car is how light it is.  This 135hp engine has a block I can pick up and carry unassisted.  The block definitely weighs less than 100 lbs, probably about 85 (I've considered putting it on the bathroom scale, but my wife would be cross).  By comparison, the block in the Acura weighed well over 200 lbs, probably over 300.   Aluminum engine block for the win!